I love my PS5. Like a lot of nerds colleagues at CNET I also own an Xbox Series X, but when I have a choice I prefer to play on the PlayStation. Yes, I also love Xbox Game Pass and some awesome games like Starfield will probably never come to PlayStation, but this year I’ve played hundreds of hours of God of War: Ragnarök, Burning Shores and now Baldur’s Gate 3, all on PS5.
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Next on my list is Spider-Man 2, an absolute must-have game exclusive to PlayStation. My OG discless PS5 is still going strong, but if I needed a new one I’d get the new PS5 Slim bundled with that game. At $499, it’s the best PS5 deal I’ve seen this year. The slim costs $499 normally, so I’d basically be getting Spider-Man 2, normally $70, for free.
The main reason I prefer gaming on a PS5 is the controller. The DualSense controller is simply the nicest I’ve ever used, and compared to the controllers that came with my Xbox Series X, it’s no contest. The PS5 controllers are smoother, feel more solid on my hands and the haptic feedback, especially the triggers, are lightyears better. And yes, I am tempted to get another one in red, because they’re also on sale for Black Friday.
I appreciate that the new PS5 Slim is a bit more compact than the original, which if nothing else would make it easier to tote around the house to connect to different TVs (something I do regularly). The original PS5 was also on sale with the same bundle at the same price, but it appears to have sold out. However even if it came back, I’d go with the newer, more compact Slim myself.
