2020's Console Lineup is a Joke

As we are all well aware of, 2020 has been kind of a crap year. With everything going on it didn’t seem like anything could go well and that even includes this year’s release of the next generation consoles. Everything from the announcements, to the launches to the launch titles has been a joke. With everyone staying indoors and ordering online, a large portion of the consoles have been bought up by scammers, buying these consoles just to flip them on the internet for over twice their retail value. All the stores have had so many orders that the production lines can’t keep up with the demands and stores have had to make announcements like this “ If you haven’t pre-ordered a new console yet, you still might be able to get your hands on one — but only on BestBuy.com. While our stores won’t have devices for purchase on launch day or throughout the holiday season, keep an eye on BestBuy.com”  The fact that a major retail corporation won’t have any BRAND NEW game consoles in the stores during the Black Friday season should give you all the information you need to know about how laughably unprepared these video game companies were for their releases under these conditions. Understandably, no one could have prepared fully for how badly this pandemic would effect the US, but these companies probably had plans for these releases for years in the making and to fumble so hard when the actual time comes is just shows their lack of caring.

The preorder dates were a shitshow as well. Sony didn’t announce more than a few hours beforehand that preorders would be available soon, all for them to be sold out within a few hours at every major retailer. Some opened the preorders before others did and it caused mass confusion among the gaming community. (I’m looking at you WALMART) Xbox at least had a set release date for their preorders but it still didn’t seem to remedy the problem of the lack of supply for the MASSIVE demand these consoles had and they ran out just as quickly. Large amounts of preorders going to bots where people acquired multiple of these consoles only to flip them on eBay and other selling websites. Don’t get me wrong if you bought one and then realized you needed the money more and sold yours to make a profit that’s fine, no worries, but when you buy like 20-100 of these consoles and then post them online for upwards of 900$. You’re a garbage person. Why we currently don’t have a system in place from either the retailers from blocking people from buying large quantities (I’m looking at you AGAIN WALMART!) or selling websites blocking people that are obviously price gouging and selling multiples of the same thing. Come on eBay, do something. Those Captchas with the fucking road signs ain’t working.

Also, the line up on these consoles is absurdly scarce. There are literally no new games that are only on Xbox Series X. None, not a single one. All of their release titles are either also on their previous console and they support a free upgrade to the next gen console whenever you get lucky enough to actually get a hold of one, or they are on their Gamepass service which you could play on your PHONE! (Which is kind of the point, they want you to get gamepass more than they want you to get their system) Sony has at least some games for the PS5 but they are nothing compared to last generations line up. Last generation we had Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty Ghosts, Contrast, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Watch Dogs and don’t forget about Mother Fucking KNACK. This year’s line up consists of, a remake for 70$ Demon Souls, a glorified DLC Spiderman Miles Morales, a generic hack and slash looter game Godfall, and a Sackboy game that appeals to the 6 people that played Little Big Planet (To be fair, I was on of those 6 people and I loved those games.) and I can’t forget their biggest title of the year, the big family smash hit that really shows off the graphics these consoles can really put out, BUGSNAX. All joking aside, there is no doubt that there are no big games for either console that justifies all the hassle and struggle it will be to get a hold of one for this holiday season.

I’ve been seeing a lot of stories of people having issues with their consoles and I just want to clarify a few. The smoke coming out of the Xbox is a fake video. Xbox even commented on it, telling people not to vape into their new system. Also, the Xbox cannot hold up a ping pong ball with the fan at the top, even with how funny that would be, it doesn’t actually work like that sadly. There have been issues on both sides with hard drive issues, some deleting saves and some breaking all together, and a few Xboxes have been having disc tray issues as well. This is why you should definitely wait on the first edition consoles, because there are always issues right off the bat. Granted I understand why people wanted these things so badly. In the midst of a global pandemic and one of the worst years of most of our lives, anything to distract them from what’s going on right now would be a warm welcome. Sadly, I think the biggest lesson that this year has been trying to teach us is patience, and most of us, myself included are fucking bad at that.

One last thing before I stop complaining, I just want to quickly comment on the design of these two consoles. The Xbox looks so boring and boxy looking, that I don’t see why they didn’t just call it the Boxbox, at least then the naming system for their consoles wouldn’t be so fucking confusing, with the Xbox and the Xbox one and now the Xbox series X. And holy shit the PS5, I don’t care how cool it looks or how detailed the little white panels on the side are (They even have little textures made out of tiny X’s O’s Triangles and Squares) IT”S SO FUCKING BIG! It’s too big. This thing is 15 inches tall and 10 pounds. That’s fucking crazy. It is bigger than the original Fat PS3 and people complained about that thing when it first came out. Then the PS5 comes along and says hold my beer. If this thing falls off a shelf it can straight up kill something. It is the biggest console ever. These consoles are fucking huge and awkward, it’s like the designers don’t even care that the design is a hassle because people can’t find a place to put these huge ass systems. Which is the point I’m trying to make. These companies don’t seem to care. From the companies designing these massive heavy bricks to play our games, to the retail companies that seems to perpetuate resellers and shitty business practices, they all just don’t care about you as long as they are getting money. Yay capitalism! Thanks for watching I hope you enjoyed. If you didn’t or want to discuss this further, please leave a comment. Also please hit that like or subscribe button and share if you enjoyed the content. See you guys later! Peace!