Overseas Console Owners

Looking at the Giantbomb footage of the Xbox ONE, I have been pretty impressed. I am not sure which was to go, PS4 or ONE. My wife will get me whichever I prefer for Christmas. Both have pros and cons for me. Really, with media streaming and the way it looks, even with the 'exclusive' games that are coming, ONE seems to have the edge.

I legitimately like the look of the Kinect functionality. I think my wife, kids etc would love to use that.

However.

As I've heard, that functionality won't work here in Australia to begin with (apparently our accents stuff it up. What if I put on a fake Bostonian accent?). Also we don't have Netflix, Hulu etc. If we had Netflix I'd use the hell out of it, but whatever. I don't know what the NBA app is planning to do, that's something I use regularly. Also internet speeds here are borked and that will not change with the current government.

So, for overseas console owners or potential owners (particularly Australians, but all nations welcome), how do you feel about both consoles? Do the various overseas differences concern/impact you?

Well I'm in Sweden, so my choice is easy. Xbox One doesn't even have a release date yet.

I feel that the XB1 is very US orientated with most of the TV stuff being for the US market only. It comes down to how much you like the idea of voice commands in my opinion as while the initial batch of games look okay (Forza looks the business!) for MS they have nothing to follow that up with whereas Sony have many 1st party titles to announce.

I also cannot overlook the better performance of the PS4, it may not be that big a difference but I know that it would start irritating me when the differences start to become more distinct.

Basically it comes down to, I'm not going to pay more for the less powerful console that is already struggling performance wise with a motion control peripheral and gimmicky voice command companion. I'll buy an Xbox One to play some decent exclusives (if it has any I really want) in a few years when it's cheaper and sold without a Kinect. (it will happen)

Sony are also the less shitty company right now between the two, PS+ seems way better than Xbox Live Gold (surprise surprise) and the Vita link-up stuff seems great.

I have a PC, I'll play Titanfall there, it'll look and run better anyway.

@techdemotrex: I'm in the same boat, man. I believe the rumored release date in Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and a few others is March next year. They really shot themselves in the leg this time, since those countries are the ones with the best buying power in Europe.

Here in the EU there is always a feeling that the added functionality of consoles is US centered to say the least. Almost everything that gets mentioned during conferences (TV stuff, sports stuff, Netflix) etc was US exclusive.

That being said, some of the features are trickling in from across the Atlantic. Some eu countries are beginning to have access to netflix, although not with the same wealth of content.

From what I've seen the PS3 made some region specific added functionality, for instance a news app that streams the tv news to the console.

The 360 basically did nothing along those lines and still required the same (or even more expensive) fee that US customers had to pay with much less bang for buck.

I suppose next week after the PS4 comes out I'll have a better idea. I'm not sure if I should got the route of building/upgrading my PC to use with my TV. That has its own set of issues too. Playing on consoles is something I enjoy and this is really the first generation where I could feasibly get a system at or around launch. I'm not a fanboy of any. Loved my N64 and PS1. Loved the hell out of my PS2 (hated the Xbox). Xbox 360 blew me away, my PS3 has never really gotten a lot of use.

Media Streaming is a big thing for me, even just downloading and watching GB Quick Looks is useful, so the PS4, without that is a bit behind, obviously my other consoles still do that, but ideally I won't want 3 or 4 consoles out at the one time. That relatively small dot point from their FAQ could swing me to the ONE.

I was fully on board the PS4 train until recently. The lack of promised functionality, the media streaming, the dodgy push towards their music unlimited service plus I tried the controller it looks good but the rubber easily comes off the analog stick.

These aren't compelling reasons to not get a PS4 it's just made me rethink and look at PC gaming again.

As for Xbox One, it seems like the same as PS4 but more expensive and I don't trust microsoft after the RROD thing

This is pretty much it for me and I live with my gf in japan and she want nothing to do with the kinect. Even if I get it, the kinect will not work in my average size living room (japan standard).