Seven Things that Brought Xbox One and PS4 Closer to PC
Are consoles becoming PCs? PS4 and XOne brought many surprising solutions that were considered standard on computers for a long time. The lines seem to become blurred.
Table of Contents
- Seven Things that Brought Xbox One and PS4 Closer to PC
- Graphics options – to you heart's content
- PC exclusives and ports
- Mouse and keyboard on console
- Junk shops
Graphics options – to you heart's content
The same generation of consoles present on the market in two iterations occasioned the unprecedented introduction of customizable graphics options in games released for PS4 and Xbox One and their more powerful siblings – something that used to be the exclusive domain of games for PC. Some devs opted for a simple choice: 30 frames per second in 4K or 60 frames in 1080p. The developers of Redeemer: Enhanced Edition, among others, have gone all-in, offering console customization options for anti-aliasing, chromatic aberration, and shadow lod.
This excess of freedom has divided the players somewhat. While some were happy to be able to match the graphics their preference, some seemed to prefer the old simplicity. But here comes the argument that, after all, there is no need to fine-tune so many options. You can stick to the default settings. Either way, this step makes for a stark contrast with the good, old brightness adjustment bar. So, bearing in mind all the sexy tech such as ray tracing, 120 FPS, and perhaps 8K, do you suppose there will be even more customization of graphics on next-gen?
Mods
Modding is still predominantly a PC thing, and consoles are just beginning to catch up, with considerable progress. The revolution is led by Bethesda, who now include mod support in two of their biggest games – Skyrim and Fallout 4. Here, Sony remains very conservative, and the offer of mods for PS4 games is limited to a handful of certified assets completely integrated with games.
The Xbox, which with the Universal Windows Platform is pretty much already dating PC, is doing a bit better, and here, Paradox like to emphasize the freedom offered by their games. Players of games like Cities: Skylines or Surviving Mars can access mods at will. There have also been fan-made addons to Farming Simulator 17, and modding support was announced for Snowrunner and Flight Simulator 2020.
