As some may already know, I\’m not Nintendo-only, as I also avidly game on the PC. So if my tastes are so diverse, why didn\’t I preorder a PS4 and Xbox One?

Aside from the fact that I\’ve never preordered a console before — and likely never will — both these consoles fundamentally, yet subjectively flawed in some key areas.

Initially, pertaining to the PS4, on the surface, it looks like an affordable console launching with quite a bit of support to say the least. Looking deeper into the console, however, reveals some repulsive features for me that center back to PSN. For many consumers, PSN can be a handy subscription service, giving you an abundance of titles to keep as long as you stay subscribed. For many others, like myself, this is a huge huge HUGE turn off. Effectively, the availability of PSN is DRM you have the option to agree to or decline. Since I\’m able to reject the service, the problem isn\’t that it exists, the problem is that, with the PS4, if you choose not to agree to the service, your PS4 becomes an offline experience (Think Wii U without the Nintendo Network). There’s also the fact that if I were to ever unsubscribe from the service, all the games I\’ve accumulated over the years would be stripped away from me, and if it’s been long enough, I may not be able to find the games online for a reasonable price. Considering Sony can\’t make online interaction services free, I don\’t think I can purchase a PS4 with my own money.

As for Xbox One, like the PS4, it gets almost everything right, but is brought down by key deterrents. I have not seen a single game on the Xbox One that has benefited from Kinect and I already have a modern cable box. One major thing I don\’t like doing is paying full price for features I know I won\’t use. So to Microsoft’s luck, perhaps it was a good idea to announce it at $500, because if they announced it a $400 and I used this same line of thinking, I would probably asking them to lower to price of the console to a range where they would be selling at a huge loss.