There’s nothin꧙g more toxic in the world of video games than the console war. Fans of a particular console company—and the games that they release—will almost always die on their own hill. It’s a long-term battle, that hasn't stopped burning since the launch𒊎 of the competitors Xbox (original) back in 2001.
Prior to the launch of the Xbox, PlayStation fans ruled the world. The PlayStation (1) came to the home console market in 1995, more than half-a-decade before Microsoftᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ entered the race. It was a simpler time. A time where Nintendo even had a leading horse in “The Console Race” with their Nintendo 64.
Since, it has been a war between꧙ Microsoft’s Xbox line, and Sony’s PlayStation line-up. There was a time, when the Xbox was a formidabl💮e opponent.
Competition is the biggest ingredient in success. In every industry. So when PlayStation finally had a comparable rival, they had to step up their game and cease relying purely on being the “console for serious gamers” which had served them 𝓀well when their only competition was Nintendo. PlayStation has since been superior than the Xbox, but it owes a lot of that success to the existence of the Xbox.
Here are 25 memes that hജave crossed🧜 our desk that prove without a doubt that Sony’s PlayStation is a better console than Microsoft’s Xbox. The comparisons span a few generation, so you’re in for a nostalgia trip as well as a comedic journey through he annals of this great console war.
25 THIS SO𝓡UND (Admit It, You Heard It In Your Head) 🐓
The GameCube might come close, but nothing sets off a gamer's "nostalgia buzz" like the boot-up chime of the original PlayStation console. Whether it was kicking on the power to drive a Le Mans race in Gran Turismo or ready to collect a few more crystals in Crash, you just knew it's on w𒁏hen you ꧙heard it. Chances are, you've heard the sound in your head just now, looking at this meme.
Does the Xbox have a delightful boot-up noise? Absolutely not.
It was a nefarious-sounding scientific lab like cluster of noises, only pleasing us when it was over. But if you were to blindfold any gamer from thꦯe 90s and play the sound that accompanies the “Sony Computer Entertainment” logo during the PS1 boot-sequence, I would wager that nearly 100% of them would recognize it. It’s delightful.
24 The Last Of Us 🎐
This monster of a meme is both a humble brag about the cut-scene fidelity in Naughty Dog's The Last of Us, but also a jab at Xbox fans because there's no such title on their chosen console, and the story-driven adventure is one of the greatest games to hit shelves in the last twenty years. The Last Of Us, and its very anticipated sequel, came out of left field for gamers back in 2013 when the first title in the series was launched on the PS3—later remastered for PS4. Naughty Dog had previously developed the family friendly franchise Crash Bandicoot (who was PlayStation’s leading Mascot in the 90’s) and the insanely over-the-top Tomb Raider inspired Uncharted franchise, starring a salty Nathan Drake, and dozens of shooting gallery set-pieces. The Last Of Us was personal. It was (is🍬) a dark story, based in the post-apocalypse.
23 ✃ HALO Really Isn't That Great ꦏ
There is no question that Halo matters. Or at least it did, a short time ago. It helped usher in a blockbuster game-type: the First-Person Shooter. But, HALO isn't the ꦗemotional journey thaꦏt fans claim it to be. Master Chief—a superhuman soldier—became the least likeable hero in gaming history and his “struggles” were so inconsequential that it is difficult for anyone with an IQ more than a baked-potato to relate to the man in the armor.
The only reason gamers have their heartstrings tied to the franchise, or the characters at all, is familiarity.
The characters are shallow. Plot points are predictable. Even the unive🐻rse they've created isn't very 🐲tight. Playstation fans are all too aware of the "merits" that Xbox fans claim Halo has.
22 🦹 PlayStation / Sony Uses Conceivable Naming Conventions
The Japanese manufacturer behind the most successful gaming platform of all-time knows how to count. In order. It's phenomenal. While there is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to their naming conventions in the mobile-console department, Sony has༺ kept with the simple, in order, numbering system with their home consoles. Even the mid-gen system redesigns are not difficult to follow. The original Playstation had the slimmed down PlayStation ONE, the PS2 and PS3 had the “Slim” versions, and the PS4 has a Slim, and now a PRO. There’s no confusion with those titles at all. Nothing has ever been announced, or teased, regarding their next console, but you can bet that it'll have a "5" in the title, with a slim version a year later.
21 ꦬ Xbox DOES NOT💎
Wait. What? The origi🅷nal Xbox was going to be called the "Directꦕ Xbox" because the team that pitched the idea of getting Microsoft into the console race was the internal Direct-X team.
Luckily they decided on just "Xbox" but it has all gone downhill from there. Case in point ... this meme.
This delightfully Dr. Seuss-ian One Xbox One X Box is a cluster of nonsense, and while the meme might be the source of a very good laugh, it also brings up many questions. Most felt like Microsoft was on the right track with the Xbox 360 naming con꧒vention. You could have easily gone to 720, or 900, or 108▨0. But they released the Xbox One instead—claiming that the “ONE” was to symbolize that it was the one device you needed in your home for all of your entertainment needs.
20 Xbox Lives In Their Pas🧸t ♚
Halo, Gears of War, Fable, and Crackdown have opened a lot of doors for the Microsoft console, but they've got to let them go eventually. Still, in 2017, they're riding the no-longer-living hype train of past successes. Halo is rehashed. Gears of War 4 mostly flopped. Microsoft shut-down Fable creators Lionhead Studios. Crackdown 3 was announced at Microsoft’s Press Conference at E3 in 2015 (YES, 3 years ago) but has ghosted us since. Last year, nothing new was shown but the developer did announce that they were pushing the game’s release date back to 2018. At this stage, we’ve seen very little, and if nothing is shown at E3 this year that inspired confidence in the Crackdown fandom, 🧜the game very well might flopඣ upon release (if it ever comes out).
19 𝄹 PlayStation's Sleek Console Design Puts The Tanks From Microsoft To Shaᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚme
North America has only just realized that Japanese designers are at the top of their game. We've seen home-product stores like Muji, and Miniso both arrive in the past 12 months. When Japanese designers seek out a product to invent, it is nearly always their intent to make it clear, with utmost purpose, and without flash. Especially if thiﷺs is something that is going to be in people’s living rooms. Often—as we’re used to hearing from and seeing the American arm of Sony—we forget that the console manufacturer, and publisher is a Japanese born and bred business.
America, however, is still stuck in this "bigger is better" mentality that has been producing hideous console designs since the debut of the Xbox in 2001.
Though, Microsoft is getting closer, with ꦗthe newly launched Xbox One X.
18 ജ🎃 Original IPs On Xbox? Naaaaah.
Scalebound was a bright light at the end of a very long, dark tunnel. A tunnel that housed the haunting voices of repetitive and rehear꧟sed games from the past decade. It looked different, a little weird, and it was coming to a console that is known for not taking risks. It was too good to be true. Originally revealed to the Xbox fanbase in 2014 (with a teaser trailer), the world grew anticipation with gameplay shown in 2015, but was ultimately cancelled outright in January of 2017.
PlayStation, however, has created a dynasty on the shoulders of the interesting and weird.
Persona 5 (a PlayStation exclusive, and a front-runner in 2017 Game of the Year talks) is all those things, plus the decidedly beautiful polish of a💞 game studio such as Atlus.
17 Xbox Will Just Milk Franchises To Death Instead ꦺ
Instead of franchises that push themselves beyond their own limitations—like the aforementioned Persona—Xbox exclusives have a sullied "rinse & repeat" formula that has ensured that their fans grow weary. In 16 years, Microsoft has released 13 Halo titles. THIRTEEN! The Gears of War franchise has seen 5 titles since the first was launched in 2006 for the original Xbox. But the Gears franchise rests its success on the shoulders of an interestingly new way/feel of the third-person shooter gameplay. Never breaking great ground with their storytelling, and inc🌜luding some of the flattest charac🅰ters in video game history.
Find some originality folks!
On the other side of the coin, it has been long rumored that the PlayStation HQ has a specif꧟ic boardroom where "weird s**t" is gleefully pitched, daily.
16 🐠 Two Words: UNCHARTED RACING
Yeah, okay, we got Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy instead of a kart-racing game. But we can still dream right?! This glorious timeline meme shows that PlayStation has a history of taking adventure games and turning them into kart-racers. Crash Bandicoot got Crash Team Racing (one of the only kart racing games to challenge the popularity of Mario Kart from Nintendo), along with Jak X: Combat Racing, which was a more serious tilt on the kart racing genre staring the company’s newest platforming hero Jak (from Jak and Daxter). PlayStation is known for taking weird risks with their established IPs. They just put Crash Bandicoot in a Spyro toys-to-life game! That's weird. So while we wait for UnCART꧑ed (no? ... I thought it was good), 🐲let's just boot up CTR and relive the glory.