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Friday, November 6, 2020
The Spokesman-Review
CULTURE & LIFESTYLE
Fun and Games
Xbox Series X
New consoles excite video game fans By Theresa Tanner
EVERCANNABIS WRITER
It’s a good time to be a gamer. With all the extra time at home and indoors in 2020, both novice and veteran video game players have relied on the form for hours of entertainment. And with online play, gatherings in a virtual space are a creative and safe way to connect with friends and family scattered across the globe. Just in time for the holidays, some big developments are on the horizon that will have you even more excited to hunker down at home for a long, cold winter.
Console Wars
Xbox Series X and Series S Release date: Nov. 10, 2020 Introductory price: $499/$299 The Microsoft consoles are the fourth generation of Xbox models, succeeding the 2013 Xbox One. The highend Series X will support up to 8K resolution and frame rates, real-time ray tracing and high-speed solid-state
drive to reduce loading times. It also includes a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray drive. The low-end Series S uses the same central processing unit (CPU) but with reduced graphics processing, memory and internal storage. It lacks an optical drive, which requires digital game downloads. Both consoles feature backwards compatibility with previous Xbox games, controllers and accessories. PlayStation 5 (PS5) and PS5 Digital Edition North American release date: Nov. 12, 2020 Introductory price: $499.99/$399.99 Sony Interactive Entertainment is also succeeding its 2013 PS4 release this season with two consoles that are virtually the same, save that the Digital Edition is not equipped with an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive. With identical technical specifications – instantaneous load speeds, 8K graphics and advanced 3D audio – the choice between the two versions will depend on the preferences of the gamer. If you don’t care about owning physical copies of games and you have reliable Internet that will allow for speedy game downloads, the Digital Edition will save you $100. But if you want
to continue playing old PS4 discs on your new console or watch DVD/Blu-rays, the standard PS5 will be worth the extra expense.
Game on
What good is a flashy new video game console without some brand news games to explore? Here are a few titles you’ll want to get to really create the perfect gift package for your favorite gamer, plus some 2021 titles to look forward to in the new year. “Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War”: Capitalizing on the wave of 1980s nostalgia ushered in by Netflix’s “Stranger Things” in 2016, the latest COD installment pits original “Black Ops” characters against Soviet spies in the middle of the Cold War. The multiSee GAMES, 17
PlayStation 5
