It’s finally here! The Xbox Series X and the Series console finally launches this week in a worldwide blitz, heralding a start to a new generation of gaming. Microsoft’s not pulling any punches this time, having clearly learnt a few lessons from the disastrous launch of the Xbox One which made that console a bit of a joke for several …

A saga for the ages, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a breathtaking journey of discovery that has a cold charm to it. It is both serious and ludicrous in equal measure, an RPG that has added more than it has removed from its core experience while delivering a game that feels familiar and completely new at the same time. Skal.

Here’s the fun fact: Marvel’s Avengers was actually the highest-selling game on PlayStation in September, unseating the latest iteration of NBA 2K from a position that it had claimed numerous other times over the years. While the game was a top-seller in an industry that has seen numbers go through the roof now that everyone’s staying at home, Avengers still didn’t bring in as much as publisher Square Enix was hoping for. At least Final Fantasy 7 Remake saved Square’s butt this year.

Sony, clearly very aware that it has the games that so many people are lusting after, just can’t stop showing off Demon’s Souls.

It’s official! Revealed on N7 day and reported two days later because I was firmly in weekend mode, Mass Effect’s original trilogy is finally getting the remaster treatment. As you probably guessed, Mass Effect Legendary Edition will combine the first three games into one solid package that also adds all the single-player DLC that each game came with, and it’ll be out next year on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. And by virtue of backwards compatibility, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

Reviews have begun trickling in for the PlayStation 5, Sony’s first generational leap since the launch of the PS4 in 2013. The general consensus is that there’s some mighty fine hardware under the hood, albeit with some baffling concessions along the way. The overall theme is that the games look great, the machines don’t sound like they’re cosplaying as jet engines, and yes the console is an absolute unit.

Here’s where an old adage comes into play though: Looks can be deceiving. Microsoft’s new controller ties into an idea of refinement for its latest generation and thus results in a controller that works in an ecosystem of consoles. While it looks exactly the same, the actual physical sensation is something completely different and far more subtle.

There’s a next-gen pissing war to be had, but it’s not going to be about which console has the better graphics this time. We;; not today at least. Instead I’ve got a feeling that we’re headed into F1 territory: Measuring just how much faster the Xbox Series X/S is at loading a game when compared to the PlayStation 5 and vice versa.