It’s been seven years since the last generation of game consoles came out, and we finally have two new contenders vying for the supremacy of the gaming world. This morning the new Xbox One went on sale in stores, which means it has joined PlayStation 4 that has been available since November 15th.

In each technology category there tend to be two or three major players (Mac vs. PC, iOS vs Android, etc.), and for some reason these professional rivalries tend to morph into veritable religious wars. So before I go on, let me just make one thing clear: I have no stake in this particular rivalry. I don’t own either one of these two platforms, I am not a gamer (the last time I dabbled in it was way back in college), and am probably not going to buy either one of these consoles any time soon. (On the other hand if you are a representative from Sony or Microsoft reading this, do drop me a line.)

From what I’ve read about both of these consoles, in terms of both looks and internals they seem remarkably similar. Furthermore, almost all major game developers support both of these platforms, so there is really no big advantage that either one of these boxes has over its rival. The main difference that I can see is that PlayStation aims to be primarily and exclusively a gaming console, while the Xbox is going for the whole convergence thingy. It wants to be a media center, a gaming platform, your access to the internet, a blu-ray player, and an app platform. PlayStation also supports some of these functions, but to a much lesser extent. From this standpoint I must say that I would be biased in PlayStation’s favor. Over the years I’ve cooled off to the whole idea of convergence. I’ve seen how good, meaningful convergence is really, really hard to pull off. It takes much more than slapping a few different features and component together and hoping for the best. It also forces you to be stuck with technologies which have very different refresh cycles. (This is one of the main reasons why I would never want to buy a car with an onboard computer.) It also leads, more often than not, to a very choppy and frustrating user experience. This can sometimes be tolerated from communication and/or productivity products, but there is virtually zero tolerance for it in the living room.

Which brings me to the next topic: smart TVs. TVs are indeed getting more and more functional, and it seems only a matter of time before they’ll be capable of playing as good, if not better, video games than the stand-alone consoles. Some have already speculated about this generation of game consoles perhaps being the last one we’ll see. I don’t know about that, but I do know that smart TVs have long way to go before they can really be contenders for the smooth convergence experience. I’ve been using a Google TV for about half a year, and even though it has some nifty features, I am still not impressed. The TV is pretty buggy, which often (too often IMHO) leads to a very frustrating experience. It is no wonder that Apple has been holding out releasing the fabled Apple TV (not the “hobby” product that they currently offer). They are probably very aware, more than anyone else, how tricky it is to pull off a very good user experience, especially if you want it from the very moment you launch a new product category. There are many who have expressed skepticism that we’ll ever see a real Apple TV. I for one think there is a very good chance that we will. The gaming has become the most lucrative segment of the entertainment industry, and Apple would be not be Apple if they were to let that market remain untapped.