Replying to an earlier post, last gen I was an Xbox 360 fanboy. This gen, I'm an Xbox One fanboy--but I did wind up buying both (three 360s for myself and three as gifts, two PS3s/FIVE Xbox Ones for myself, two as gifts, two PS4s for myself). Those are my "credentials".

Even I bought a PS4 first.

I bought my PS4 the day Tomb Raider Definitive Edition came out. I don'td by an Xbox One until the day Titanfall came out. People are saying the gaming media downplayed the power difference between the consoles. Every single comparison I saw showed the PS4 was "twice as powerful", running games at twice the framerate and twice the resolution. Every now and then, there was parity but with a couple of exceptions (being generous. I only remember Strider) the PS4 won every time and the gaminggaming made it clear.

As for Control features:
PS4 added a headphone jack (Xbox One didn't have this at launch), a light bar, a touch pad, a speaker, and some design changes.

Xbox One added an infrared light, whatever the rumble triggers were called, and some design changes.

The narrative at the time was pretty unanimous that the PS4 controller was better and that the Xbox One controller was actually WORSE than the 360 controller (not true in my opinion). Everything I've said so far, I'm willing to prove with videos and articles from that period of time. One site even bashed the way you entered text on the YouTube app for Xbox One, when it was the exact same way on PS4! Even my 2013 Vgchartz alt "attaboy" said the battle was over before it began because PS4 appeared to be doing everything right based on the information we had at the time. I said it was going to be a boring gen.

TLDR: When you combined the fact that the PS4 had more power (Xbox One's "secret sauce" became a joke), cost $100 cheaper, reportedly had the better controller, had the best version of every game, had better PR from the moment that it was revealed, had exclusive dlc and dlc first for games like CoD and  and even had an optional camera that was reported by some to be almost as capable as Kinect 2.0, it was obvious to anyone but the biggest fanboy in denial who was going to win.

...Unless you were the creators of South Park.

This below pretty much echoes what I was conveying in the long run. It seems as though you keep trying to downplay the PS4 and what it had. I'm not trying to start a flame war or anything of the sort. Just want you to be more aware of what PS4 offered. It isn't just a suped up PS3. That's ignorant to believe that.

Right on. I wished Sony would have looked at how the Kinect was and adopt a similar tech. Kinect 2.0 is spectacular.

I am not downplaying the PS4, I am just not praising it, and here's why.

The PS4 was given this generation by default, and that's due to the lack of competition. Consumer minds were already made at the very beginning of this gen and I don't simply praise that and never will. Its not Sony's fault why there opposition fell over, but when both your competitors failed to compete basically means the PS4 would have won regardless of its games. Even Sony themselves were using the other's negativity to sell there own console with there shared gaming video etc. I praised the Wii last gen because it top the charts with an enormous amount of competition and possibly one of the hardest generations to own. I also don't praise Steam anymore because they have own the market with basically no competition for so long. They basically owned the PC space by default like PS4 did with the console market.

Now its pretty clear that Sony did play it safer this gen because they were even changing there console plans when the XB1 received bad reactions and they started removing there DRM and other bits to avoid the same criticism etc. XB1 just went full throttle on it and the WiiU doesn't need much to say about that machine.

Don't take this to heart, this is simply my view on things and its how ill continue to judge something in the future. But keep in mind, just because one doesn't praise a machine doesn't mean they are downplaying it. There is nothing wrong with playing it safe.

@bolded That was done on the same day. Just like the cologne ad Xbox did in regards to Destiny. It's just jabbing. Also there's no proof of Sony removing DRM after seeing what happened to Xbox. Folks only speculated, but Sony themselves never admitted to that.

The reason why I said you were downplaying is because you're nitpicking things about the PS4, but not doing the same to Xbox. PS4 isn't just an upgraded PS3. That's where I disagreed at. I'm not taking it to heart. I just found that statement to be ignorant and baseless. The PS4 isn't perfect by any means. Neither is the Xbox One. They should get praise where praise is due. I would never downplay the Xbox One by saying it's an upgraded 360. That's all. I mean no disrespect to you. It's not my intention.

No that is incorrect. It mostly won because it was cheaper, yet the most powerful console at the time. The exclusives helped it stay on top. The competition messing up did play a role, but it wasn't the biggest factor.

It's weird but the safer Sony is, the more successful they are. The riskier Nintendo is, they either fail miserably or hit success as well.

Gameboy made portable gaming a thing.
Gameboy color had color.
Virtual boy...
64 changed movement abilities.
GameCube had 3d technology designed for it that was never used.
DS had Touchscreen.
Wii had motion controls.
3ds had 3d without glasses.
Wii U had gaming around your house.
Switch has gaming completely on the go while still connecting to the TV.

Nintendo hasn't made a normal, PlayStation like device since the SNES. I don't even know what they'd sell like if they did, it's been so long.

There is no truth behind the DRM claim. End of 2012 a patent entry surfaced that was the base for speculations. But...

A) Sony gave a clear answer to wether they will integrate the system or not in Feb. 2013

b) market for used games in Japan

Article: sort of right, but maybe not for all the right reasons. Microsoft took risks, but forgot about gaming, just see the supercut video of the XBox unveiling where the presenters say “TV” 500 times followed by a trailer of COD with dogs. Kinect always on was a disaster, and nobody wanted to pay $100 extra for all that. Also, don’t forget that Sony tried to be the be-all end-all set top box with PS3, they learned from that mistake.

PSVR: a good peripheral, but I am not convinced it is selling a ton of consoles on its own, and Sony had already beaten MS down by the time it came out. If someone has data to prove otherwise, I would like to see it.

Exclusives: My recollection is that both Xbox One and PS4 has some good exclusives in the first few months, but maybe I am wrong. I will definitely agree this is a big Microsoft failing point for the past 2 years or so.

Nintendo: Just didn’t show up with Wii U. The system concept was not clear, abandoned Wii style gaming (check out the rush job on Wii Sports Club) and had terrible first party support with a huge GameCube 2.0 vibe. The decision to let third parties fill out the launch window was mega-idiotic, especially after a weak 3DS launch that used almost the exact same strategy.

I would say the N64 and GC were "normal" consoles. 

I wouldn't consider that a major key point of the PS4's success. They just prevented Microsoft from advertising for the game, which if you recall the MS Destiny cologne ads, had loopholes.