Talking it out: Do I buy a console or the Oculus Rift?
So my old Xbox 360 finally gave up its ghost last weekend and presented me with the most dreaded of error codes, the 'Red Ring of Death'. It wasn't an entirely shocking turn of events, mind you. I'd had that console since 2006 -- it survived four intra-state moves, countless roommates and a bitter ex armed with a croquet mallet (seriously Ashley, if you're reading this, you still owe me a croquet set) -- but the increasingly common and severe loading screen freezes made it clear my 360 was reaching the end of its operational service life.
Now I'm faced with a difficult choice: What gaming platform do I buy next? Do I suck it up and embrace Microsoft's current console, Xbox One? Should I jump ship to the PlayStation 4 which all my own friends own and use? Or, do I say goodbye to console gaming altogether and get one of those fancy new Oculus Rifts?
Xbox 360's dreaded 'Red Ring of Death'
I should point out that my hardcore gaming days are quickly fading. I simply don't have the time or energy that I once did to sink into the role-playing games and first-person shooters that I prefer to play. That's not to say I won't spend eight hours on a Saturday powering through Far Cry 4, but I'm no longer blowing every Saturday that way. More often than not, if I am spending that downtime on my couch, it's going to be binge-watching Netflix. As such, I want whatever I buy next to give me the broadest entertainment options possible -- including games, video, audio and social content.
Let's start with the Xbox One. The Xbox One is Microsoft's latest and greatest entertainment console. Beyond having the exclusive Halo and Gears of War franchises, of which I'm a huge fan, the Xbox One also offers Blu-ray playback and my preferred mix of streaming services including Netflix, Hulu, Crunchyroll and HBO Go (which, as a Comcast customer, I wouldn't have access to on a PS4). What it doesn't offer, however, is a compatible virtual reality headset. Granted, Microsoft talks a good game about the augmented reality-based HoloLens, but there's not much chance that it'll be compatible with the Xbox One when it debuts.
My hardcore gaming days are quickly fading. I simply don't have the time or energy to sink into role-playing games and first-person shooters.
The system itself, with a single wireless controller, retails for $350, though that number can rise to $500 depending on what accessories and games you want bundled with it. As I said, I'm not a hardcore gamer by any stretch of the imagination so the $500 Elite Bundle -- which includes a terabyte "Solid State Hybrid Drive" and an "Elite" controller -- is automatically out. I am going to need at least one game ($60) and another wireless controller (also $60). So even with the base starter pack, I'm looking at a minimum ante of $470 plus tax.
The Sony PlayStation 4, on the other hand, offers a couple specific advantages over its rival console. The PS4's base price recently dropped to $350 -- the same as an Xbox One -- and now includes either Star Wars: Battlefront (which, if you bought it separately, would cost about $110 if you opt-in for the $50 season pass) or the remastered Uncharted collection. I'd still need to buy a second controller, though. Even if I want a terabyte drive instead of the standard 500GB, I'll still be paying roughly the same price as a the Xbox One starter pack I detailed above (about $450). What's more, the PS4 also offers MLB: The Game (literally the only baseball game worth playing these days) as an exclusive franchise. That alone is a deal-maker for me because, quite honestly, I do love me some simulated baseball.
Sony PlayStation VR
The PS4 also holds an advantage over the Xbox One since Sony is already hard at work developing an honest-to-goodness VR headset, the PlayStation VR (formerly, Project Morpheus). Microsoft has promised the ability to stream Xbox-to-Windows games on the Rift, but that effort lags far behind what Sony's managed to do with the PSVR. PlayStation's headset is slated to debut in the first half of 2016, though there's not much beyond rampant speculation as to the price. Still, between games like Eve: Valkyrie, Tekken 7, Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and RIGS, throwing down for a PSVR headset seems like a no brainer, regardless of its price.
VR and game franchise choices aside, the PS4 and Xbox One serve up nearly identical entertainment features including Blu-Ray players, and major streaming services. Additionally, the annual subscription prices for Xbox Gold or Playstation Plus are roughly even -- $60 and $50, respectively.
The Oculus Rift, on the other hand, is still a very big unknown. We've seen a bunch of playable demos illustrating what the system is capable of and a number of indie game developers have already jumped on board, as well as a few console emulators. However, the list of top shelf studios signed on to produce game and movie content is still pretty thin. That's likely to expand exponentially after the the Rift actually hits store shelves, but jumping onto an untested console like this is a gamble I'm not sure I'm willing to take -- especially when you look at what the Rift is supposedly going to cost.
Oculus Rift
Spending $1,300 to play the same games I can on a console just to watch Netflix with a screen strapped to my face doesn't sound like a good investment.
There are no firm numbers yet on how much the Rift will cost when the Facebook-owned VR system arrives sometime in the first quarter of 2016. However, in a recent interview with Oculus founder Palmer Luckey at the company's annual developer conference, Luckey ballparked the headset's price at around $350 -- roughly on par with the starting prices of both the Xbox One and PS4. That's just for the headset; it doesn't include the $1,000 or so I'd need to spend on the desktop tower that the system needs to actually run everything. Of course, with the addition of a gamepad and traditional monitor, that tower can pull double-duty as a PC-gaming Steam machine which adds to the Rift's utility. But spending $1,300 to play the same games that I can on a console just so I can watch Netflix and a smattering of immersive indie movie shorts with the screen strapped to my face doesn't sound like a particularly good investment. Even if it does let me live out any Teddy Ruxpin fetish fantasies I may or may not have.
In the end, I think I've talked myself into getting a PS4. It offers the games and core entertainment services that I want right out of the box for a reasonable price (at least by first-world standards). What's more, the PS4 is a known quantity: I know exactly what games and content I'll have access to on Day 1. It also combines the gaming, streaming and VR functionalities that I want. Whether I want to play Star Wars: Battlefront for three hours, watch Netflix for an evening or just spend 15 minutes messing around in virtual reality, I totally can. That functional flexibility and ease of commitment is precisely what I'm looking for in an entertainment box. So long as Sony's VR headset costs less than a grand -- which would put the whole package on par with the Rift -- I don't really see a reason not to pick one up come Black Friday.
Image credits: izzyb412/Flickr (red ring of death); AFP/Getty Images (PlayStation VR); Bloomberg via Getty Images (Oculus Rift)
