@bentleyj10: you say this like Im someone who hasnt been buying consoles for 25 years. My statement stands. You are talking about not knowing what a console is going to get over its lifecycle, but thats a decision for early adopters. We are mid cycle right now. At this point the cards are on the table. We know what third party support looks like, and unless ps4 sales drop off a cliff, they have won this generation. At best MS catches them by the end, but i doubt it, Sony caught MS by the end of last gen because MS never had a market in Japan and Sony caught up in Europe, right now Sony has a commanding lead, and i dont see massive growth in some market coming at their expense, but i guess anything is possible. If you are picking up a console, at this point, if you arent buying what all your friends have, you are basing it largely on exclusives. It is by no means the only factor. But going on 4 years of a cycle, you already know which console has the larger multiplayer base, and third party exclusives are rare, at best normally being timed only. Exclusives is what drives a sale. On the flip side, if you are picking up another console and already own one, the main driver is going to be exclusives. I have a ps4, there is zero reason for me to pick up a xbox one, unless i really want a 4k blu ray player, outside of exclusives. They have the same streaming apps, they have the same third party releases, unless i want JRPGS and then ps4 has more. PS4 gets dlc on cod earlier (not that i personally care) and is more likely to get exclusive dlc from third parties or at least timed exclusive dlc. So without a strong line up of exclusives on the horizon, outside of 4k blu ray, which i dont see as a huge incentive for most, where is the appeal? Now xb1 will still sell, and exclusives arent the only factor, but at this point, for a console that is not the sales leader, exclusives are how you entice either late gen adopters or people who already own the other console.

@domiddian: i didnt particularly like mgs4 (which is a shame because mgs was one of my favorite series until that entry, not a popular opinion i know) so it didnt occur to me off the top of my head.

@zfazal84: I dont personally see the appeal of backwards compatibility, but thats just me, i get that is matter to others. But if backwards compatiblity is a big concern in the fourth year of a console gen then that is kind of sad. If i want to play my ps3 library...i have a ps3. I prefer the DS4 to the xb1 controller, but like you said personal preference. I was in the group that never like the 360 interface, i think the xmb is cleaner, but again personal preference. In general id still argue that if you are not the sales leader, then you need to have exclusives, because otherwise how do you combat the other console? They get the bulk of multiplat sales, have the larger online communities and are more likely to get exclusive dlc (see 360 with Cod mappacks, and timed exclusives on GTA dlc last gen, see Destiny dlc and Cod DLC, this gen, and ive heard rumors that ps4 is getting exclusive Red Dead dlc, though just rumors).

@zfazal84: but that has nothing to do with what the top comment i responded to was about. Exclusives arent the only thing, but they are definitely the deciding factor for most people. 4k blu rays arent the driving force in console sales, not by a long shot, blu ray sales have never matched dvd sales and i dont expect 4k blu ray sales to match blu ray sales. Its nice, and i see the appeal, but 4k tvs are just now coming down to good prices. Its only annecdotal, but i dont know anyone who is rushing out to buy a 4k tv, they are simply going to get a new tv when the old one breaks, this isnt the same as last gen. I still know a ton of people who dont have blu ray players and less and less people amassing big blu ray collections, i can only guess that its even less than that for 4k. Again, im not saying these are factors for people, but its definitely reduced compared to the HD drive and blu ray drive last gen. Anyone who has gotten to 2017 with out buying a new console...i dont see that person as someone who is heavily weighing online infrastructre. MS might have a better one, but the psn is more than fine this gen. Its gone down a few times, but never for a prolonged period. The store is fine. Multiplayer is fine. Again, i never said exlusives alone are the sole reason to, but i dont think the other factors are bigger at this point in the console cycle. You are either buying what all your friends have, or you are buying for multiplayer (assuming you play with randoms), or you are buying for exclusives.

@zfazal84: Yeah, but in the situation where the big name third party titles come out on each, exclusives end up being the deciding factor for people who care about single player games. If you primarily care about multiplayer third party titles you will go where the majority of players are. Last gen that was 360, this gen its ps4. If you dont have the player base and multiplats go to both, and the majority of multiplats are selling more on the other console...what do you have to bring in owners? If i play CoD, FIFA, AC, and GTA and the majority of multiplayer is available on PS4, what incentive do i have to buy a xb1? I dont unless something else is there. If all my friends are there, sure, but those people have likely already made a console choice and then releases dont matter. But for the undecided buyer who hasnt bought a next gen console, why would you pick up a ps4 or xb1, they get all the same multiplats, ps4 is more powerful, but not dramatically so. Sure a 4k player is nice, but i dont see that being as big a draw as a blu ray player was in 2006 (though im sure its a factor). It has to be exclusives. Or else what? The Wii U analogy doesnt hold, because they dont get the same third party releases as the other two. Again, this is about a hypothetical undecided buyer at this point, so number and quality of exclusives is going to matter since the third party games are on both systems. Last gen i got a ps3 over a 360 because i knew online multiplayer was less important to me than single player, and I was more interested in playing Uncharted, God of War, and Little Big planet than halo or gears.

@valtair: yeah, but the difference is nintendo still has mario, mario kart, zelda, and a few others that people will come back for. They keep putting out quality mario and zelda....there are a lot of people who will buy a nintendo just for their first party titles. Switch will be a real test to see how true that remains.

@H0RSE: i guess thats possible, but at that point, and with all future MS titles also coming to windows...why not just spend the 800 bucks or so towards a gaming pc. If they come in above 600 i just dont see that thing moving units. At the same time if its that much more powerful than the xb1, i cant see them coming in below 500.

@H0RSE: You're right i should have specified. Sony has more games coming out. Whether its better is a questions of how these games turn out and individual preferences.

@bentleyj10: Im still curious. I should have been more specific, i dont care for halo, gears, forza (well any car game really) and i actively disliked Fable, crackdown...id try it out if i had an xbox but it doesnt sell me a system. Some of the third party exclusives, or ms published but third party developed exclusives pique my curiosity. I was intrigued by the pedigree behind recore. I follow the game industry in general.

@jerjef: ...what do you mean context? He stated its looking better than Sony's 2017 lineup. That is the context of his comment. If you are picking between this and sony for this year, Sony has far more announced 2017 exclusives. Im not bashing MS, but in no math is this a better lineup than Sony's, maybe someone likes the look of one game more than anything Sony has, but that is a different discussion. Someone who was waiting for Crackdown was always going to get an Xbox. I dont think this is a good list for a single year just based on exclusives...but then MS exclusives dont appeal to me, hence why i dont buy their console. Cuphead looks good, but its not enough for me to buy a console, im sure it will end up on PC eventually like everything MS is doing.