"1. It is completely not true. You can watch DigitalFoundry video about how Xbox One does B/C. Microsoft implemented some media formats from 360 on hardware level so they worked on this feature way before release."
I doubt that. When Xbox One launched, when asked about Xbox One not being backwards compatible with the Xbox 360, Don Mattrick and other Microsoft executives stated backwards compatibility was not something people use (only 5% use it) and if you have backwards compatibility, you're just backwards. They downplayed it.
Two years later, they announce Xbox 360 BC and begin to take shots at Sony and PS Now even though Sony stated PS Now was never supposed to be a replacement for bc. If Xbox One wasn't losing or if PS Now didn't exist they would've have worked on Xbox 360 bc. I think they started working on Xbox 360 bc as a PR move and because they needed a way to add more games to Games With Gold and pave the way for Game Pass to compete with PS Now.
"2. I agree that last year was anti-Sony campaign. But other than that it is hard to remember when journalists ever favored Xbox over PS4. IT ws always the other way around. Probably they defended Xbox on various matter but the most important thing about consoles is what> Of course - games. You can see the reviews of PS4 games and Xbox One games and then see which platform journalists usually favor. Crossplay also wasn't an issue until Nintendo Switch released which is a way more popular than Xbox, almost on PS4 level."
There are many more examples besides the asinine cross play anti-Sony campaign. This very topic is an example. There are definitely fraudulent journalists out there with a clear agenda to promote Microsoft products but it's not really about what media outlets "favor". I'm not necessarily saying they favor one or the other.
The only thing I can go by is the way they behave or the things they write. Many times you can spot the double standards, lies, or hypocrisy in the narratives and articles from media outlets like IGN, Gamespot, Forbes, Business Insider, Games industry Biz, Polygon, and countless others. And what I've seen the past 6+ years is that this has been going on in Microsoft's favor and often goes against facts and logic. I don't really see this trend when it comes to the PS4.
I don't know the reason. It could definitely be that some of them are just Microsoft shills, but sometimes it comes from outlets who I don't think are Xbox loyalists. In these cases it could be they're trying to generate views from console wars or they're just trying to manipulate people into buying an Xbox because they don't like how the PS4 is winning. Regardless of the reason lies are lies and bad journalism is bad journalism and doesn't benefit the industry.
When Xbox One and the PS4 launched in 2013 and 2014 I read Game Informer magazines. The writers were constantly pushing people towards buying an Xbox One. They would complain about the PS4 and complain about the sales gap between the systems but they would never actually address any problems the Xbox One had. The official Xbox magazine constantly mentions and tries to downplay the PS4. Of course that is to be expected from an Xbox propaganda magazine that supported and defended everything Microsoft did in 2013 and 2014 then turned around to obsess over resolution when the Xbox One X launched.
It really doesn't seem like the media outlets "favor" the PS4 with the way these media outlets behave. The gaming media has been extremely kind to Microsoft all things considered. It's the sales that haven't been kind.
"3. While I agree that journalists are not the reason why PS4 is winning, still it is hard to downplay that their articles affect consumers when they make their choice. Otherwise, journalism probably would have died as a speciality a long time ago because it would have been unneeded."
Just because many gaming centric news outlets make money doesn't make them actual journalists. The reason why they make money is because of viewers and ads. Just because people click on the articles doesn't mean they're influencing purchasing decisions.
I'm sure they influence or fool some people but many articles are click-bait that draws in fanboys who already made their decision. Other readers can probably see through news outlet bullshit. That still doesn't make these news outlets any less terrible though.
"4. And so what? For the first of all, it is not true. Yes, for the most part Xbox One games are 900p, but 720p is even more rare than 1080p. PS4 limits Remote Play to 720p while Xbox doesn't do that."
The PS4 base model limits Remote Play to 720p probably because of a limitation put in place b y Sony for technical reasons such as RAM and unrelated to the quality of the actual service that you claimed was inferior. The PS4 Pro is capped at 1080p for Remote Play. Both models scale dynamically based on connection quality.
The Xbox One offers 1080p 60fps but we know it struggles to hit that standard in games much less streaming them. The 1080p 60 fps option on Xbox One seems more like just a marketing point or check box.
Regardless, this has very little to do with my original point. The point is that it was asinine that journalists were hyping up streaming from Xbox to PC and claimed it was superior. This was before the feature even launched. Forbes was one outlet I remember who did this.
1. Who streams from a console to a PC at home? Probably a very small portion that doesn't include the journalists who hyped the idea.
2. Streaming anywhere to a Vita, PSTV, PC, or Android phone trumps streaming to a Windows PC only in your local home connection.
