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Comment by rbanffy | Hacker News Reader

> Microsoft who drew a box in AutoCad and called it a day

I actually like the simplicity of their design. The white one has a bit of Dieter Rams in it. The black tower is just that.

Form must follow function and the console itself has few simple functions: to house and properly cool the computer inside, and to make it easily accessible for repair and upgrades. It's hardly surprising it has few simple lines.

OTOH, the PS5 has a lot of lines to disguise a huge heat exchanger. It's not obvious how to even power it on.

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The Xbox design looks classy but uninspiring. I like that. You can sit it under your tv and it will blend in with the style of most rooms.

The ps5 is designed to be eye catching which I think is a mistake because most people probably don't want a game console to be the centre of attention in the room.

Also, you'll hate the PS5 in two years, when the curvy design is outmoded.

It'll be hard to hate a box you'll never even notice.

> never even notice.

I can imagine this being snuck into workplaces and when the PHB asks what it is the reply is it’s a router or NAS box.

I'm sorry, what planet are you guys on where gamers don't want attention-grabbing hardware? Not on the one with the rest of us where all "gaming" branded stuff has garish lighting I guess.

In a world where console owners do not call themselves gamers but are regular people who like to play a game from time to time

I very much doubt that those are the people who are going to be buying PS5s this holiday season.

They are, if they have a job. Not being sarcastic, it's just that 500 euros/ dollars is an ok amount for a piece of entertainment that will last a few years, so they will buy it now even if they are not playing all day long.

I think not because they're going to be hard to find and casual players aren't going to F5 the page all day trying to get one.

I think those people will end up buying the cheaper, but much higher margin PlayStation 5 Slim a year later.

I’ve also heard some speculation that the curvy shape is specifically designed to keep people from impeding cooling by stacking things on top of it.

The time difference between regular and slim consoles being released has been pretty much spot on 3 years for all consoles, on all generations going back 20 years. If Sony releases a slim PS5 "a year later" that would be unprecedented.

It only got really bad once computer building went to YouTube

Your average "gamer" according to the industry's own statistics is a 25-29 male, owns one of the consoles, and buys exactly 3 games a year - Fifa, CoD, and one other action game. Maybe 4 if it's a good year. It's definitely not your stereotypical "gamer" type buying RGB everything - so yeah, I would guarantee that this kind of average gamer does not care about their "gear" being attention grabbing.

Again, I don't think this is the person going out of their way to get scarce launch units.

I’m not sure how scarcity during launch is relevant to this particular discussion. The design of the console, which was the original issue discussed here, will be the same whenever the console becomes widely available.

On the other hand I agree that looks won’t be the deciding factor for any potential buyer - casual or not.

>what planet are you guys on

Not really a planet, but a stage in life called marriage.

There are certain part of the world where Playstation has to be disguised as a new super fast WiFi Router called Plash Speed ( PS ).

I feel like with how easy it is to remove the side panels there will be aftermarket toned-down black ones made.

I agree that this feels like a critical misstep. Casual gamers will not want an over the top design in their living room. Maybe they are intentionally ignoring that market with this generation, but I was thinking of upgrading my PS3 and am having second thoughts because this thing is, well, a bit silly looking. It looks like a movie prop for a sci-fi film.

Did any of the PS3 models look any better?

I recall a very funny PS3 barbeque meme floating around, back in the day. To say nothing of them using the Spider-Man font

PS4 was perfect in that regard IMHO. It was an interesting enough shape to by cool when you actually looked at it, but anonymous enough that you didn't even notice it when not looking at it.

>The white one has a bit of Dieter Rams in it.

Thought the exact same thing. I am a huge fan of the Xbox designs. The white one specifically reminds me of an upright Dieter Rams designed Braun turntable [1].

...and as I finish typing the section above I find this [2]. Looks like someone else already had the idea.

[1] https://musicologistblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/braun-p... [2] https://au.phaidon.com/agenda/design/articles/2020/september...

To this day I am not fond of the "touch" power control on the PS3! I hope the power control is more intuitive, fast and simple now!

... yeah I don't even have last generation consoles but I'm considering this new generation.

> It's not obvious how to even power it on.

I think the power and eject buttons are the two lines on the bottom when its standing up

https://www.playstation.com/en-us/ps5/

This generations designs are really weird to me, the PS5 does not feel like part of the same design lineage as PS2 and 4 (I always considered 3 the weird outlier and the ugly one). Honestly looks more like a descendant of the XB360 language. Feels such a strange departure when the PS4 had such a beautiful and striking design from aesthetics, brand and functionality.

From purely aesthetics I do think the new Xbox is the better looking and more modern looking machine, although the gigantic PS5 heatsink is going to help a lot with noise.

Indeed, I want a game console that nicely sits on a shelf with lots of other A/V components without standing out

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