 It's been a year since the PS5 and the Xbox Series X and S hit the market. Now let's find out if it's been worth it after a whole year. Hey guys, Thundie here and welcome to my one year review of the PS5 and the Xbox Series X. Now if you're joining us for the very first time, go ahead and hit that subscribe button, notification icon to watch more videos like this. I also want to give a big shout out to our sponsor of this video, Seagate, because they make some awesome hard drives which I use for a lot of my PC builds. Now the Xbox Series X and PS5 launched roughly around this time last year and it was a big thing because we're getting new consoles, we're getting some crazy amount of new performance and we're getting of course new games. Now consoles went on sale, I got myself a PlayStation 5, I got an Xbox Series X from Microsoft, big shout out to them for that. And I have been using both consoles for a whole year and I wanted to just kind of leave my thoughts on just what you have with both. Now let's start off with the design look, that kind of thing. I think the Xbox Series X is the better looking console. Yes, it looks like a mini refrigerator or a tower or router, but it's simple, it's slick, it's black, you can use a deep brand skin on there if you want to and best of all, I can fit into any cabinet I choose in terms of just storing in your location as opposed to the PlayStation 5 which has a very bolder look. I do like it too, but it's just a much bigger console in terms of size so it doesn't fit in traditional cabinets and you might have to upgrade to something that will fit your PlayStation 5 properly or just set it on the side like I do just in my own case. Now, in terms of just the custom ability, I do like the fact that you can replace the back plate to the PlayStation 5. I prefer that over putting skins because I'm just terrible at sticking that. But design-wise for me, the Xbox Series X kind of takes it. Now, besides that though, you have two powerful consoles that, you know, one's 12 teraflops, Xbox Series X, the PlayStation 5 is about 10.5. Roughly, I'm just throwing numbers out there but it really doesn't matter. It's about performance and it's about games and over the last year, we've seen a ton of games from both companies. Now, we've also seen a lot of third-party games and that's what we've seen the most from both consoles with the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X and that's something that I think is really important to have that conversation with, especially as a gamer, if you're looking for exclusives and looking for something to drive you to either consoles. They haven't been a lot of exclusives yet but they are coming and we know that, of course, Microsoft has Halo Infinite dropping this holiday season for the Xbox Series X while the PlayStation has had a few cool games, of course, like Spider-Man, Miles Morales, we've got Ratchet and Clank out there, which again, fun games to play. Now, when you talk about games and you talk about, you know, how to access those games, you can get the consoles either the disc versions or a discless version but honestly, you're gonna be downloading and installing the games onto the hard drives. Now, both of them come with sizable hard drives with a terabyte for the Xbox Series X and roughly around 800 gigabytes for the PlayStation while the actual numbers are at 999 gigabytes for the Xbox with about 669, 670 for the PlayStation 5. Now, that might sound like a lot but honestly, as you start playing games, it fills up quite quickly with my Xbox. I had to uninstall Cyberpunk just so I could install Halo Infinite multiplayer. So these games are getting bigger and bigger and you definitely need more storage which brings us to our sponsor of this video, Seagate. Now, Seagate makes some awesome drives that of course work for both the PlayStation 5 and the official drive for the Xbox Series X. Now, this is where it differs between both companies, Microsoft and PlayStation. Microsoft has the storage expansion card which is very simple and easy to use, comes in two sizes currently, a terabyte and 512. You basically pick it up, you basically slide into the back of your console and boom, you're connected, you've got your upgrade right there. So that is pretty cool and that is from Seagate. Now, for the PlayStation 5, you can get your own NVMe hard drive, something that is PCIe 4 and that is something that Seagate provides with the FireCuda 530 with HeatSync. I really love this drive because the HeatSync is very important because you're going to need it since your PlayStation has an enclosure for your storage and it goes up to four terabytes. So I actually have the four terabyte version which means I've got almost five terabytes of storage for my PlayStation 5 and that's absolutely awesome from Seagate. And that drive, by the way, has drive protection so if there's any issues, it gets corrupted, or damage, you can send it back to Seagate and they'll get your data back for you, which is pretty cool. So definitely check them out, use the links down below and honestly, you're going to need those drives for your gaming sessions. The more games you play, the longer you keep these consoles, you're definitely going to need it. So with that being said, there's something that's quite interesting with these storage models for both the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X. The Xbox Series X and Series S are just easier. You just plug and play and you're good to do. While on the PlayStation 5, you do have to open up the console, you do have to install it and then you have to go ahead and format the drive before it fully recognizes it. Granted, that would give you more storage options, maybe a better bang for your buck in terms of you adding a bigger drive, but that lends to what the Xbox Series X does well, the ease of use overall. Now, the other side, so of course gaming is the controllers. Both of them have newer controllers or should I say new and an updated controller. The PlayStation 5 controller is brand new. It's different, it's better, it's the best thing I've seen from PlayStation. It's a very comfortable controller to use and hold. I do like the haptic feedback and just the sensory overload you get from the controller. And I wish more developers use it and will showcase it in their games. We'll have to wait and see. But honestly, this is a solid controller. Now, the updates have been very good, improving the battery life on the controller and I do like that as well. Now, the Xbox controller is a standard Xbox controller. It's a little bit updated, but Microsoft said tried and true, this isn't broken and it works pretty well. Compared to the PlayStation controller, it does feel a little dated and older, but you can't go wrong with this controller. It feels a little bit smaller, but very comfortable in the hands. Now, there are no internally built batteries like the PlayStation controller, but you can always swap it out with rechargeable batteries and I think sometimes that kind of works, especially if you have a long gameplay session. So let's jump into the games. There's so many games in these consoles and there are many games you can pick from. For myself, I have Ghost of Tsushima, which is a PlayStation 4 game, I've got a War, I've got Street Fighter, I have Second Son, I have Spider-Man, Miles Morales. I'm not a big Ratchet and Clank fan so I never actually got that game, but they are games for you to play there and the PlayStation experience is a game-to-game experience. The dashboard says I am focusing on one game and checking out another game and playing another game and that's what PlayStation wants you to feel. You're a gamer and you are in that gaming experience. Microsoft is a little bit of a different approach. We know the Xbox dashboard is different in terms of how it actually layers for each section, but it also is very game-focused in a different way. And what I mean by that is Microsoft's big push for Xbox Game Pass. So since I've got my Xbox Series X, I have not bought a single game. I paid for Game Pass month to month and that has allowed me to play games like Forced Horizon without actually buying the game and also Halo Infinite, being able to play the multiplayer without actually buying the game as well. So that is a very different approach and Microsoft feels that look, you know what, have access to our full library of games, have access to select third parties who join our program and you get to enjoy the games you want to by simply just buying the Xbox Series X or even the Xbox Series S or on your mobile device. You guys have seen me use Game Pass that way and I think it's a very different approach. I like it and maybe because, yes, I'm older, I don't game as much as I used to, but I can still jump into the games that I'd like to play. Now, there are no killer titles for any of these two consoles yet. There's nothing that is driving consumers other than brand recognition. And we know, yes, the PlayStation brand is strong. It is the highest selling console right now and yes, it is worth that monkeye, but there's nothing that can lead you that way or lead you the other. I think for the most part, Microsoft has a really good product with the Xbox Series X and I think Xbox Game Pass is their new driver, if you will, something that will get people down there to buy the console. Now, it's gonna be hard for anyone to pick up any of these consoles right now, but there's certain things you definitely need if you're gonna be gaming on the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5. You definitely need a TV that supports 4K 120, which both consoles do, VRR, and that is the LG C1 OLED, which you've actually seen throughout this whole video and what I have been gaming on with this. Now, this is a fantastic look in TV. I mean, it supports everything plus G-Sync and AMD FreeSync. So again, PC gamers will enjoy that as well, but you'll have those capabilities built in and it fully supports your consoles. Now, this TV also has a really good sound system, but honestly, I would go with the soundbar, which I use the Sonos Beam 2. This supports Dolby Atmos, which of course we have Dolby Atmos on these consoles, we have Dolby Vision as well. So you've got that clean, clear surround sound from the Sonos Beam and Sonos speakers are fantastic. They really do a good job of just making the game sound good, but honestly, just take a listen for yourself. All right, so that being said, there's been a lot I've talked about with both consoles and I think they are fabulous. And I wouldn't say you should pick one or the other. I think whatever games you like to play or want to play on either of these consoles, you can find. I think though, if you're looking to play more third-party games, the Xbox Series X might be the console for you, specifically because of Xbox Game Pass, allowing you to play more of those games the way you want to without actually buying any specific game and just playing month to month. Now, if you don't want to spend all that money for either the Xbox Series X or the PlayStation 5, then the Xbox Series S might be the console for you. I've said this before in the previous video that this is currently right now a better buy than the PlayStation 5. And I still stand by it. I think it's still a little better buy than the Xbox Series X because it does a lot of what that console does in terms of VRR support. It doesn't do 4K 120, but you do have 1080p 120 on the console. And you still have access to Xbox Game Pass to all those functionalities. But it's been a fun year with those consoles. If you can pick one up during this Black Friday period, honestly guys, hopefully good luck. But I would say both consoles are definitely the future of gaming and there's a lot to see as we move on. So hopefully next year as I do my second year with the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X, I'll leave my thoughts on what I guess this console should do. Till then, don't forget to like, share, subscribe, definitely check out our sponsor, Seagate. Use the links down below and always enjoy your entertainment.