If he already has a recent console from microsoft, then he doesn't need another honestly. I have an occulus and I don't play with it often. it's interesting but makes you very dizzy.

Xbox and playstation share 99% of their game catalog. So one or the other is good enough. Instead, spend money on quality time with him... get closer, and why not, buy a controller for yourself and play with him :)

Yeah I always assumed Playstation and Xbox were similar, but I've heard Playstation has games not available on Xbox. We do occasionally play together but I like to give him alone time so I'm not constantly bugging him lol. Thanks for the advice! This stuff is pricey so I really appreciate it c:

What kind of games does he like to play? If he plays mainly single player games, and likes good stories that keep you hooked and games with plenty of action I recommend a PlayStation 5 as he'll love God of war, horizon zero dawn and forbidden west, spider man etc etc.

If he's an Xbox fan, I'm assuming he already has an Xbox. So get him a PS5.

The "new" consoles are 2 years old but the last generation Xbox (which your husband probably has) still plays all but 3 of the same games. They are finally releasing some big, next gen only titles later this year but I think those can still played on last gen hardware via the cloud anyway.

While a new Xbox Series X will make every one of his existing games look and play better, it won't add to his available library. A PS5 (especially with a PS Plus Extra subscription) will give him immediate access to a ton of new Playstation exclusive titles (many Game of the Year Award winners) that he's been missing out on.

VR is a different animal. I'm looking at getting into it myself now as the tech seems to be getting good. But I'm still not sure if it's something I'll spend $600 on and only play for a month. The new PSVR2 cones out soon and it supposedly has superior hardware but requires a ps5 to play.

Yeah he has a series x, he just mentioned wanting to try spider man and other Playstation exclusive games. I know that the frame rate (or something) is important to him, and I'm only trying to buy him a new console because he's been tempted to get it himself but feels too guilty to do it. VR is such a complicated concept to me, I'll have to do more research. Thanks for the input c:

Personally, I would go for the VR as he already has a console. I got one last year and it was definitely worth it.

Yeah he likes single player games, honestly he plays Destiny exclusively lmao. He's talked about trying spider man and God of War, which I'm assuming are Playstation exclusive.? I just always thought Xbox and Playstation were the same thing

Oh he already has a Series X. Then it's easy. Get him the PS5. Make sure you get the disc version. The ability to find super cheap games, and to borrow/ trade will more than make up for the $100 "savings" of the digital version.

The PS Extra Subscription will get him about 450+ games for $100. This is about the same number of games that he probably gets on his Xbox Game Pass but it will hook him up with a ton of PS exclusives.

Thanks for mentioning the disc vs digital thing, I was super indecisive about that. I always thought digital was more worth it because it's cheaper and I assumed nobody cared about physical stuff anymore. Good to know Playstation has a game pass equivalent! He really takes advantage of game pass.

Do you use it much? We borrowed our nephew's oculus once and had a great time with it I just don't know how it works. Do you buy games for it, digitally?

I use it all the time. My kids probably use it more but I would say 3-4 times a week.

That's good to hear, VR does sound more like a family thing. Thanks!

God of war, spider man, horizon zero dawn and horizon forbidden west are all exclusive to PlayStation console wise. The first 3 games mentioned are also available on pc if that helps though.

It's huge. PS5 plays ps4 games too. Aside from trading with friends/coworkers instead of dropping $60, you can often get them for under $10 at thrift stores or FB Marketplace. Even new copies of games can get low on price when they get older. Digital games that are 6 years old are often still $60. The digital play is to wait until a game goes on sale. But sometimes you just feel like playing a game and you never know when/if it will go on sale. And, when it does, it's still not as cheap as a used physical copy is year round.

And you can sell physical games. I started buying/trading/selling games and consoles as a hobby but it's actually paying for my subscriptions and games.

I use both Game Pass and PS Plus Premium. They're both great. Game Pass is $180 a year at $15 per month. For PS Plus, you want to buy the year in advance. Otherwise you pay more. I recommend PS Plus Extra at $100 for the year. It's cheaper during the holidays. The Premium package adds another 300ish games for another $20 for the year. However, most of these games are from older PS generations. It's a great deal for me but it might not be for everyone and you can always upgrade. That's why I recommend the PS Plus Extra package.

Anyway, I'm sure he'll be happy no matter what you get for him so don't stress. If you need any more advice though, just let me know.

Buy the Soulja Gameboy console, it can run all the games he wants to, and it's more powerful than a PC,PS5 and an Xbox combined.

Xbox + Gamepass . Admin thread can now be closed . Thanks everyone for their input 😂

Didn't he get sued for that? Love two of his songs but I'm sure I could get cheaper knockoffs if I kept looking

But Xbox doesn't have VR right??

But it's beast of a console.

No it doesn’t , I think probably not a major issue I think VR gaming although is a good concept I think most probably play it much less than normal games and a bit of a fad. (My opinion) only. If VR gaming is an absolute must then you really only have 2 options PlayStation or a dedicated system like Meta Quest (this used to be called Oculus) I get guess it depends how much realistically he will play VR games once the novelty wears of as it did for me.Xboxand game pass is exceptional value for money. Game pass has 100's of games for about £7 a month. You can even subscribe and buy an xbox console and gamepss together for a monthly fee to keep initial outlay down.

He has a PC but plugs his Xbox into his monitor because he prefers the quality of it as opposed to our TV lmao, that clears up a lot for me so thank you.

Yeah he doesn't need to be sold on Game Pass because he loves Xbox already cx Idk if I'd say VR is a fad because everyone seems to be trying to escape reality, and that's probably where we're headed, but I'm just not sure the technology is there yet. The oculus/meta quest thing is news to me, thanks for letting me know!

That's so funny to me xD Do you use it?

That's a good point! Physical things get more valuable as the years go on. We've actually got a gamecube, and the games for that cost an insane amount lol. Thank you for your responses, they've been very reassuring 😊

No worries!

deep down, everyone wants an N64.

Nintendo Switch or a PS4

We grew up with it so the nostalgia will definitely hit, but I know he would use it a couple of of times and then get bored. I could pay $200 for an N64 but it wouldn't have the same effect as when we were kids, sadly.

He has a switch that was very loved for a long time, but it's not his current interest. He mentioned a PS5, as opposed to a ps4. Idk much about the ps4, but I guess in my mind I think if you can buy the newest version, why not? Thanks for the input!

So PlayStation requires subscription to play online games now much like Xbox(unsure if every game requires this as I’ve always had a subscription since they brought it out). So there would be the add on cost there if he wants online games. You mentioned he plays destiny exclusively - Should he wish to play destiny on PlayStation he would have to repurchase expansions on the PlayStation or else he would be stuck to only free to play sections of that game while on his PlayStation. There are some PlayStation exclusive games but from what I gather those are becoming far and in between (some devout gamers may be able to clarify or correct me on that)

Oculus is neat. My experience is very limited, but could see it making people sick or dizzy. If he has any history of things like that bothering him may be best to avoid or see if he has a buddy he could borrow or try it from?

So everyone here is saying get him a PS5, I disagree.

You mention that they're expensive so I assume money might be a factor. In that case I'd definitely advise the PS4. PSVR (PlayStation VR 1 only, the second iteration is PS5 exclusive) is compatible with the 4, plus God of War (both the first "new" one and the sequel Ragnarok) and Spiderman (the first "new" one and the miles Morales stand alone expansion, not the upcoming Spiderman 2) are both on the PS4, as well as a bunch of other PlayStation exclusive singleplayer story based games (like the Last of Us 1&2, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Uncharted series, etc).

So since you also seem very unfamiliar with gaming consoles in general here's a basic breakdown;

-Microsoft makes the Xbox and Sony makes the PlayStation,

-The Xbox Series X (XSX) is a current generation Xbox console and therefore has all of their newest releases available,

-The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is the current generation PlayStation equivalent,

-The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is the last generation PS, up until late 2020 every single thing released for PS was on the PS4, and even for the past 2 years I'd say most things still came out on it,

-Probably upwards of 90% of all games released are on both consoles,

-Each company does have some exclusives (Xbox has Halo, Gears of War, Forza. PS has God of War, Spider-man, the Last of Us) which are only on their own console,

-PS has VR capability through the PSVR while Xbox does not

So basically, if you have one console than the other is limited in what it actually provides. If you don't have a lot of money to spend on bonus shit I say the last gen PS4 gives a lot of the benefits and a LOT of PS exclusives that have previously come out while saving likely a bunch of cash.

Personally (as an Xbox guy) I generally wait till the PS has gotten way cheaper years after it releases (and has updated smaller versions come out) before grabbing one for the exclusives.

If price can be stretched a bit, you could get both!

Later this month the "PSVR 2" launches. It's a VR headset that Sony's made for the PS5, and it will legitimately be some of the best VR out there for a long time.

If both is out of the price range, getting the PS5 now just let's you get the PSVR2 as an upgrade when the price is within range.

VR is incredible, but just know that the Quest series from Meta is lower tier hardware to keep it small and portable. Linking up that headset to a gaming PC is when you get the best VR experiences, but it doesn't mean there aren't amazing ones on the Quest by itself.

Honestly, if there's interest in both a PS5 and VR, my first suggestion there is your best bet for a double win. Otherwise, VR is gonna be a wildly different experience that is super fun and different than a console.

How often have you tried your Quest? There's a thing we call "getting your VR legs" since your brain isn't really programmed at first to see a different world than your own at first.

Very much varies from person to person, but almost always goes away if people take breaks and ease into it. I just recommend playing sitting down at first if you get dizzy.

We had some friends over recently and put on person in and he was fine, having only tried VR once like a year prior. Put it on someone else and she was instantly dizzy, so I sat her down and then she actually enjoyed it.

I've had it for 2 years and played daily for a while, but anything where I would be moving makes me dizzy. I can play beat saber for hours but 10 min of walkabout minigolf and I'm puking. I've tried all the movement modes, even teleport makes me dizzy.
I'm 41 yo as well if that make a difference... My kids seems to handle it better than me.

Hmm... Maybe try going into the settings and turn up the refresh rate on the device?

Our eyes can see almost infinite frames per second, so sometimes motion sickness can come about by seeing something that our brain considers choppy and slow.

The Quest 2 I think is set to 72hz by default, but can go as high as 120hz, with most games hitting the 90fps at most. Might be worth seeing if that helps!

Otherwise, some people are just prone to motion sickness a bit more than others sadly, and often times it just means limiting yourself to the games that do work for you.

If you do some googling for "SideQuest", there's a site that lets indie developers post their in-development games, usually for free. Follow their instructions for how to put their sidequest app onto your device, and then you can download a ton of cool things.

I mainly mention this because I just recently tried duck hunt in VR and had a blast. It's stationary other than just turning your head and body, and was actually super fun.

PlayStation has a vr headset, and the new ps vr 2 is coming out soon for the ps5. Basically the Oculus quest 2 is cheaper compared to a ps5 plus a ps vr 2 but it has far better quality plus ps5 has a lot of excucive games that you can't get on xbox.

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Yeah VR is definitely something that's still developing. Every time we've tried it he loves it though, so it might be something fun to bring out occasionally on the weekends. Oculus seems to be the most accessible from the feedback I've gotten. Thanks c:

Yeah waiting on the Playstation makes sense to me because I feel they're so similar! My husband just got a fixation on the PS5 recently but he's iffy about spending the money on it lol. He has a Switch, Xbox One and Series X, PC, so I'm thinking he should just get VR. You were so helpful in breaking it down tho so thanks c:

He would lose his mind if I got both lol, but I'm sure he'd appreciate it. I'm leaning toward VR the more I see all your replies, and I don't think he'd use it often or seriously enough to invest too much into it. But Oculus sounds worth it. Thanks:D

No problem! I try to give people info on VR whenever I can to help out.

If you're thinking about buying used, or just want some info on device care, I made a video a while ago to send to people for instances like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T97X1ypEUTk (10 minutes)

Happy to be of help 😊.

If he's got a good PC than PS5 becomes even more unnecessary as they started releasing their exclusives on PC after a (long) wait so at least several are on there, and PC VR (while way more expensive on average) is a lot better.