Which console to buy in 2024 so as not to regret the money spent. I tell you the pros and cons of PlayStation 5, Xbox and Nintendo Switch

2024 is slowly coming to an end, the beginning of the sales season, and for the New Year you need to pamper yourself and your loved ones with something. And on the Internet you can often come across the question: “Which console should I buy now among the current ones?”

And in this material we will briefly look at all the pros and cons of modern consolesLet’s see who is suitable for what, and in the end we will try to choose what to buy – PlayStation 5, Xbox Series or even Nintendo Switch?

Disclaimer in advance: we are talking exclusively about gaming devices. This means that the PC flies by. Why? I ordered it in a separate article and I don’t want to repeat it.

Pros and cons of PlayStation, which one to choose

Let’s start with the undisputed market leader. There’s not much that can be said about the PlayStation 5, everything has already been said for me, but it’s probably worth briefly formulating the arguments for the purchase.

PlayStation 5 can and should be boughtif you:

✅ Love exclusive projects from Sony. On PS 5, you can comfortably play hits from PS 4 and master various PS 5 games that are not yet available on PC.

✅ Never played The Last of Us, God Of War, Bloodborne and other hits.. PS 5 is a great entry point into the Sony ecosystem. Most games are available with a PS Plus Deluxe subscription.

✅ Want an enhanced gaming experience?. For me personally, DualSense was a real discovery. Tactile feedback and tailored triggers really excite me in gaming.

For example, I have Death Stranding on both Xbox and PS5, but the vibration on PS5 makes the game feel better. It’s quite difficult to explain in words, and Sony understands this themselves. That’s why there is Astro’s Playroom, which very coolly shows all the features of the controller. They were used, among other things, in other games.

However, there are also disadvantagesfor some they may become critics:

❌ PS The store is completely closed in our positions. If you have already purchased some games, you can still download them, but you won’t be able to pick up new ones, even for free. The same applies to next-gen updates.

I wrote a separate article about this, I don’t see any point in repeating it.

❌ You must have multiple accounts on your console in different regions to purchase games.. The most popular regions are India and Türkiye. The account is tightly tied to the region and cannot be changed. To register yourself, by the way, medical workers also pay for this at the entrances.

❌ It’s not so simple with regions. Türkiye used to be a very good and cheap choice, where games were much cheaper. However, the price tags for games began to rise with alarming frequency, both on new and old projects.

India is more loyal in this regard, but there is another important nuance – localization. For example, “Spider-Man 2” in Turkish factions is not translated into Russian at all, but is translated into Polish. Only the game is more expensive there. This happens infrequently, but it is unpleasant.

❌ The DualSense gamepad has a weak battery. It is advisable to have two devices at once so as not to find yourself in a situation where you forget to charge the controller after a long session, which is why you will have to play by wire for some time. The gamepad does not hold a charge for too long, 3–3.5 hours when using all the features such as triggers, speakers and vibration.

The main question: how and where do I buy games now? There are three options:

🛒 Buy wheels. There is enough locally – from official retail to marketplaces. The price range is very serious, but, as a rule, it is cheaper on Avito and marketplaces.

🛒 Use the side terrace for purchases on a Turkish/Indian/any other account. There are many sites, everyone values ​​their reputation and the range of prices (consider markups) is different for everyone. The process is as simple and safe as possible. Choose a game, pay and follow people.

🛒 Buy positions on your account with the game. It sounds complicated, but in fact it couldn’t be simpler. There is a service where people drive into the so-called. “squads” – three people on one account with the game. The game’s price tags also include a triple depending on the “position”.

It’s simple: two buyers can play the game on their personal account and receive achievements, only one person with the same account on which the game was purchased. The latter pays only 20% of the full cost of the game. Those who play with their personal accounts pay 40%.

And after completing the “position” you can sell it to the second player. It turns out to be a kind of digital “Avito” for PS 5 users. In my personal opinion, the method is the most convenient, but there are nuances. Payment is only in cryptocurrency, you won’t be able to get to the resource just like that, registration is closed there, and new users use through already registered ones.

And finally, which console should I choose? Everything is easy here.

It is possible to choose PS 5 Pro. You can play all the hits without compromise. If the budget decreases, it is better to look for the PS 5 in the 2023 version (unofficially called the Slim version). It is quiet and relatively compact. And if the PS5 still doesn’t interest you, we’ll send you to the green camp.

No, we’re not talking about torrents, get out of here.

Pros and cons of Xbox, which one to choose

If for some reason you are not interested in the PS5, but want a console at home, then the second and no less interesting candidate would be the Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S.

Strictly speaking, I have already described in detail why a console from Microsoft is needed in a separate large article, so I will briefly repeat the points from it.

Who is the Xbox right for?:

✅ You are not interested in exclusives from Sony, but you want to work on current projects.. The industry, fortunately, is not limited to just PlayStation games. Other developers are also developing a lot of quality projects that sometimes work better on Xbox (from a PS 5 perspective).

Still, games are sometimes cheaper than competitors because Microsoft doesn’t periodically raise prices in regional regions.

✅ Do you miss the gaming classics of the Xbox 360 and PS3 era?. Reverse competition on Xbox is truly a miracle. There are many games on the return line, they are inexpensive, and many have graphical improvements.

✅ Need a lot of games for little money. Yes, Sony also has its own subscription, but its main difference is that there are no so-called “Day one” releases. All games from foreign Microsoft companies are automatically included in Game Pass on the first day, and some third-party publishers like to collaborate with Xbox and release their projects directly to the subscription.

For example, the upcoming dark fantasy role-playing video game for you, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, will be on the console without the need to purchase it.

✅ Do you want to save money on buying a console?. Don’t want to pay 40-50 thousand? Well, you can buy the younger version of the Xbox Series S – it costs about 30 thousand, is small in size, and it is still comfortable to play games on, especially on a 1080p monitor.

✅ Do you need a custom gamepad?. There are many controllers available from OEM manufacturers for Xbox. And if you don’t want to use a standard gamepad or its elite version, then you can pay attention, for example, to options from 8bitDo or Gamessir.

These controllers are equipped with additional buttons and software for fine-tuning various parameters – from the “dead zone” button to the sensitivity of the touch trigger and the logic of the vibration motor behavior.

True, there are also disadvantagesand they should be taken into account:

❌ Problems with “serious” consoles and connection errors. Some consolidations need money, which prevents them from launching games. Mainly there are difficulties with owning parallel import consoles. However, the error is corrected by spoofing the DNS address in the console console.

❌ The gamepad is obsolete in contrast. No, don’t think so, the standard gamepad (and its equivalent) on Xbox is excellent. But compared to the DualSense and JoyCon, it looks downright dull. There is a lack of cool vibration, adaptive triggers and other features that improve the experience of interacting with the console.

❌ Extremely unstable situation with the regions. I wrote above that Microsoft does not periodically increase prices in different regions. However, from time to time the company complicates the purchasing process in the regions, and sometimes closes the principles.

For example, everyone used to buy games in Argentina at the lowest prices, but this opportunity has been closed for a year now. And when buying an Xbox, you need to be prepared to periodically monitor news on the topic, because you can expect anything from the company. In Turkey, for example, buying games is much more difficult now than it was a few months ago.

By the way, how can you even buy games on Xbox in 2024? Everything here is somewhat simpler than with economists. There is only one ability:

🛒 There are a lot of sites online that provide assistance. with game purchases and subscriptions in other regions. All you need to do is pay and provide access to your account so that the seller can buy the game.

In rare cases, a game activation code may be sent, in which case you just need to activate the key on the Xbox website. There is no need to create multiple accounts for different regions.

And, in principle, we could have finished with this material and moved on to conclusions, but… We have one more option left.

Nintendo Switch has something to surprise you in 2024

The reader will ask me: “Well, what other Switch in 2024?“, and I will answer: “OLED. Stitched, preferably” Although the console has been operating for 7 years this year, it is still capable of surprising the player with its libraries of exclusive projects and its hybrid format of use.

And yes, I’ve already written a long text about the Nintendo Switch, so again we’ll go through all the intricacies briefly and concisely.

Let’s start with the positives:

✅ Do you want to play anywhere. The main feature of the Switch is its hybridity. At home in front of the monitor or on the road – The Legend of Zelda or Fire Emblem are equally a lot of fun.

✅ Have you ever tried Nintendo games and are not afraid to start playing them?. The company took its unique approach to game design, where addictive and unique gameplay is at the forefront. Brothers Switch in 2024 is worth it solely for the sake of a large and well-formed library of exclusive projects that are not found anywhere else.

But, of course, you can’t do without minuses either.:

❌ The console looks pretty polite. First of all, this concerns the filling. Most multiplatform projects on Switch look frankly the same, even if you make allowances for the portable format. If you value the most beautiful pictures in games, the Switch is not suitable.

❌ Questionable reliability of controls. The nuances are strictly individual, but Switch Joy-Cons die quite often. The main problem is stick drift and loss of signal from the console. You can escape from it if you replace the sticks with custom ones with the Hall effect, or buy an option from the component manufacturer.

At the beginning of the section, I mentioned that the purchase costs a closed console, but I clarify that this is not advice and does not call for action, the author accuses of piracy and all the information that his document is provided for informational purposes.

Buying games on Switch is relatively easy:

🛒 Keys and card top-ups. As is the case with competitors, there are a lot of reliable services on the Internet that provide accounts, top-up cards and keys for different regions.

I’ll take care of my taste and wallet. And they also import quite official cartridges from other countries to retail and marketplaces at quite affordable prices.

So what should we take in the end?

I will answer as honestly as possible: the console is above the heart. Look, what my heart is most inclined to, that’s what I buy.

📌 For the most interesting gaming experience, choose PS5 Pro.

📌 If you’re not a fanatical gamer, but want to play a new game for half an hour at any time, choose Xbox with the Ultimate Pass subscription.

📌 If you spend a lot of time on the road and not driving, your choice is Nintendo Switch. Lightweight, portable, with a large library of great games to take on the road.

Or you can simply buy all 3 consoles and take advantage of the benefits of each. Locking yourself within one platform means seriously narrowing your horizons and missing out on a lot of cool games. Therefore, if possible and willing, try to capture as many things as possible from the console game.

It’s worth it.

I am voicing this thought to you. Have a good day!