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I’ve been playing the Xbox One and the PS4 a lot lately. I pre-ordered then both so I would have them at launch. The PS4 actually came a few days late because of a screw up by Amazon, but I have had a good amount of time with both of them.

In spite of a few bugs, I am pleased with both consoles. I don’t buy the mentality that you should never buy anything when it’s first released because it’ll have issues. I’m hearing a lot of people say, “I’m glad I waited.” Well, unless it’s hardware failure, I can deal with the issues. Most issues I have can be fixed by a simple reboot. Hopefully, Sony and Microsoft will have patches out soon. I think I read somewhere that less than 1% of people are getting the light of death, whatever color it is now. Every launch is going to have some problems. It just seems like a lot of people are being affected because so many people are buying them right now. The only real issue I had was with audio and that was because my sound system’s receiver is old. I found a new receiver for a good price and that fixed that.

The graphics on both consoles are gorgeous. For some reason, I wasn’t expecting a big improvement in graphics. Now I realize that it shouldn’t have been a surprise. My favorite one is the Xbox One. The PS4 probably has the better graphics, but the Xbox One experience is better. I have enough games on each system to last a while. I hope this generation of consoles lasts at least as long as the last one.

This past weekend I went to PAX Prime in Seattle for the second time. I probably said this last year, but I want to make this an annual trip. If you’re a gamer of any kind, you should try to attend PAX at least once.

The trip to Seattle on Thursday took 5 hours (it should be around 3) due to an accident and rain. After I dropped my stuff off at the hotel, I went straight to an Xbox Meetup that was held at a Microsoft Store a few miles away. They were showing off the Xbox One. The line to get in was long. Major Nelson hosted the event. I got a chance to play Ryse: Son of Rome, which is a launch game that I had already pre-ordered. The little bit I played was co-op, and it was okay. They’re still working on it, so I’ll wait until closer to launch to decide whether or not to cancel my pre-order. Later that night, I went to a pre-PAX party. I didn’t stay long because I felt out of place there.

Friday was the first official day of the con. First I went to the Queue Room to get in line to go to the exhibition floor. If there’s something that you really want to get hands on time with on the floor, you get to the Queue Room early to get in line. Once I got onto the floor, I was mostly snapping pictures because I didn’t want to wait in another line to play games. After exploring the floor, I went to watch the League of Legends competition to get some skins that a friend wanted. The only panel I went to was the Rooster Teeth panel, which was good. The best part for me was when they played the latest episode of an animated series they do called Rwby. I’m going to check it out when I get a chance. I went to the Final Fantasy XIV launch party that afternoon. I didn’t know about this party until that day. I got to shake hands with the producer of the game and get the autograph of the composer. The last thing I did was go to the PAX Pink Party where played a game of Cards Against Humanity with a bunch of strangers. By the end of the day, I was tired and couldn’t believe I had 3 more days.

On Saturday I didn’t wait in line for the queue room. I just went in after the floor had already opened. I got a chance to see more cool costumes and some booths I didn’t see the day before. I went to the WildStar panel and the Major Nelson Radio panel. After those I went to the Guild Wars 2 Anniversary celebration, which had different events throughout the day. It was a lot of fun.

On Sunday, I don’t think I spent much time on the exhibition floor. There’s not as many cool costumes, but this was the most panel heavy day for me. I went to the Queers in Gaming, Destructiod, Voice Acting 101, and Cards Against Humanity panels. This was the only night I didn’t go to an afterparty, but the CAH panel lasted pretty late.

Monday was the last day. There wasn’t a lot going on this day. The only panel I went to was Inside Gearbox. This was the only time I had to wait in line outside in the sun. The panel itself was pretty funny and they gave out some codes for some cool stuff to everyone in the audience. After that I went to the console free play area. I really regretted not knowing about this until the end of the con last year, so I made a point to stop by this year. I ended the con there. The Post-PAX afterparty was that night. I won a PAX scarf in a raffle.

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