The release dates of next generation Consoles Playstation 4 and Xbox One are closing in. They will be released officially either end of November or during December. Many gamers will probably know their number one Christmas present at this point! Amazon.com,  one of the biggest online-stores around, currently lists release dates for both consoles at December 31 2013, while some other sources claim they could be available weeks before this. While there are still from four to five months until the release, Amazon.com, has already revealed their initial selling prices for the both consoles. Both, Xbox One and Playstation 4 are already available for pre-ordering, too.

Currently, and perhaps surprisingly, Standard Edition of Playstation 4 is priced cheaper than equivalent edition of Xbox One. Amazon has currently set the price of PS4 Standard Edition to $399.99, while Xbox One Standard Edition costs $499.99. As we do remember from last generation consoles, PS3 was a lot more expensive compared to Xbox 360, and was criticized to be way too highly priced at the time. Perhaps Sony has learned their lesson.

Each of the consoles and their initially planned packages seem to contain only one controller, which is a bit shame, since they're expensive when bought separately, and almost necessary. I, at least, favor playing with friends live face to face over online gaming. Though, both gaming styles have their good sides. An additional PS4 controller (wireless dualshock) will cost $59,96 currently.  An additional Xbox One controller (wireless) is currently priced exactly the same, so no difference there. But keeping this in mind, PS4 Standard Edition with a second controller costs already $459.95.




Different PS4 bundles include "Playstation Plus" membership combined with a different single game such as Battlefield 4 or Killzone: Shadow Fall. Bundles range from $459.99 to $499.99. Amazon doesn't yet show the possible bundle packages for Xbox One, or their content.

Lets take a quick glance which games are known so far to be released for Xbox One and PS4, and are already available for pre-order.

List of PS4 games available for pre-order
(* = additional releases for other platforms  |  amazon release date):

1. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (ltd. ed.) *xbox360, xboxO, ps3, wii u, pc | Dec 31 2013
2. Battlefield 4 *xbox 360, ps4, ps3, pc  | Dec 31 2013
3. Call of Duty: Ghosts (Hardened ed. / Prestige ed.) *xbox 360, xboxO, ps3, pc | Nov 5, 2013
4. Deep Down (not final name) *exclusive! | ?
5. Destiny *xbox360, xboxO, ps3 | Jun 30 2014
6. Diablo III *ps3 | ?
7. DriveClub *exclusive! | Dec 31 2013
8. Dying Light *xbox360, xboxO, ps3, pc | Mar 31 2014
9. Fifa 14 *xbox360, xboxO, ps3 | Dec 31 2013
10. Final Fantasy XV *xboxO | ?
11. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn *ps3, pc | ?
12. Just Dance 2014 *xbox360, xboxO, wii u | Dec 31 2013
13. Killzone: Shadow Fall *exclusive! | Dec 31 2013
14. Kingdom Hearts III *xboxO | ?
15. Knack*exclusive! | Dec 31 2013
16. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes *xbox360, xboxO, ps3, wii u, pc, nds, n3ds, psvita | Nov 30 2013
17. inFAMOUS: Second Son *exclusive! | Dec 31 2013
18. Madden NFL 25 *xbox360, xboxO, ps3 | Dec 31 2013
19. Mad Max *xboxO, ps3, pc? | Apr 30 2014
20. NBA 2K14 *xbox360, xboxO, ps3, pc,mac | Dec 31 2013
21. NBA Live 14 *xboxO | Dec 31 2013
22. Need for Speed Rivals *xbox360, xboxO, ps3, pc | Nov 19 2013
23. Skylanders SWAP Force *xbox360, xboxO, ps3, wii u, wii, n3ds | Dec 31 2013
24. The Crew *xboxO | Feb 26 2014
25. The Elder Scrolls Online *xboxO | Dec 31 2014
26. The Evil Within *xbox360, xboxO, ps3, pc | Dec 31 2014
27. The Order: 1886 *exclusive! | ?
28. Thief *xbox360, xboxO, ps3 | Dec 31 2014
29. Tom Clancy's The Division *xboxO | Dec 31 2014
30. UFC *xboxO | Dec 31 2014
31. Watch Dogs (also Limited Edition) *xbox360, xboxO, ps3, wii u, pc | Dec 31 2013
32. Wolfenstein: The New Order (ltd. ed.) *xbox360, xboxO, ps3, pc | Dec 31 2013
1. *exclusive! x 6

List of Xbox One games available for pre-order
(* = additional releases for other platforms  |  amazon release date):

1. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (ltd. ed.) *xbox360, ps4, ps3, wii u, pc | Dec 31 2013
2. Battlefield 4 *xbox 360, ps4, ps3, pc | Dec 31 2013
3. Call of Duty: Ghosts (Hardened ed. / Prestige ed.) *xbox 360, ps4, ps3, pc | Nov 5, 2013
4. Dead Rising 3 *exclusive! | Nov 27 2013
5. Destiny *xbox360, ps4, ps3 | Jun 30 2014
6. Dying Light *xbox360, ps4, ps3, pc | Mar 31 2014
7. Fifa 14 *xbox360, ps4, ps3 | Dec 31 2013
8. Final Fantasy XV *ps4 | ?
9. Forza Motorsport 5 *exclusive! | Nov 27 2013
10. Halo Xbox One *exclusive! | Dec 31 2014
11. Just Dance 2014 *xbox360, ps4, wii u | Dec 31 2013
12. Kinect Sports: Rivals *exclusive! | ?
13. Kingdom Hearts III *ps4 | ?
14. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes *xbox360, ps4, ps3, wii u, pc, nds, n3ds, psvita | Nov 30 2013
15. Mad Max *ps4, ps3, pc? | Apr 30 2014
16. Madden NFL 25 *xbox360, ps4, ps3 | Dec 31 2013
17. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom of Pain *exclusive! | ?
18. NBA 2K14 *xbox360, ps4, ps3, pc,mac | Dec 31 2013
19. NBA Live 14 *ps4 | Dec 31 2013
20. Need for Speed Rivals *xbox360, ps4, ps3, pc | Nov 19 2013
21. Quantum Break *exclusive! | ?
22. Ryse: Son of Rome *exclusive! | Nov 27 2013
23. Skylanders SWAP Force *xbox360, ps4, ps3, wii u, wii, n3ds | Dec 31 2013
24. Sunset Overdrive *exclusive! | ?
25. The Crew *ps4 | Feb 26 2014
26. The Elder Scrolls Online *ps4 | Dec 31 2014
27. The Evil Within *xbox360, ps4, ps3, pc | Dec 31 2014
28. Thief *xbox360, ps4, ps3 | Dec 31 2014
29. Titanfall *xbox360, pc | ?
30. Tom Clancy's The Division *ps4 | Dec 31 2014
31. UFC *ps4 | Dec 31 2014
32. Watch Dogs (also Limited Edition) *xbox360, ps4, ps3, wii u, pc | Dec 31 2013
33. Wolfenstein: The New Order (ltd. ed.) *xbox360, ps4, ps3, pc | Dec 31 2013
1. *exclusive! x 8

As you can see there's tons of multi-platform titles. Exclusives for certain platforms are rare. That's how it goes nowadays, I suppose. However, another thing I also noticed is, that several games are also multi-platforming backwards to previous generation consoles (example: Watch Dogs is also for PS3 and Xbox 360). This leads me to think that several games out of the first set of the upcoming games for next generation consoles won't necessary take full advantage of the next gen. consoles technology, if those games can run well on both old and new generation console platforms.  The one game I'm especially holding the thumbs up is Thief 4. A sequel for the old classic game series started by once so great, now dead game studio Looking Glass. The sequel will be made by Square Enix.




It will remain interesting to see how the sales will go. While Playstation 4 has got better reception initially from it's preview, even PS4 won't be straight backwards compatible with PS3 (and older) games. Neither will Xbox One be. "Cloud services" will most likely handle the case where players can play previous generation games on both consoles. I'm not sure, but I believe that it won't be free and you will have to buy the titles from online, so pre-owning some actual physical copies of the older consoles won't help, though. Xbox One sales might have already taken a dent from Microsoft's rather greedy initial approach to control pre-owned game sales, by requiring a new user to activate any physical second-hand game copy bought from other user online. The activation would had cost almost worth of new game's price, in addition with the actual fee paid to the actual seller of the game. Microsoft abandoned their plans considering second-hand games later on, but did they react fast enough to stop the sinking ship?



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