Topic: Golden Joystick Awards 2021 - Foul play?

So, as always, I popped over to register my votes in the Golden Joystick Awards for 2021. All well and dandy, skipped by those awards where I have no insight (best Nintendo game for example, because I don't own the platform), until I got to Best Hardware. Then I noticed that among the various nominations, there was one for Xbox Series S, one for Xbox Series X, and one for PlayStation 5. So, frankly, that somewhat perplexed and annoyed me; there is, after all, two variations of PlayStation 5, with disc-drive, and all digital. Surely that merits two entries too? After all, if you are going to split the vote for the Xbox consoles, surely you should do so for the PlayStation too?

Undoubtedly, with only one platform to vote for for the PlayStation, and two for the Xbox, that will skew the results in favour of the PlayStation. Therefore it's hardly a level playing field. I have no problem with the PS5 winning if that is what people believe to be the better console, but at least make the vote fair. What if the combined votes for the S and the X are more than the overall vote for the PS5, yet the PS5 wins because it receives more votes than either the S or the X? Does that mean the PS5 (of which there are two variations) is better or more popular than the Xbox brand (of which there are also two variations)? No, but the way the voting is going to be counted lessens the chances of Xbox winning, and as such is unfair.

Rant over...

@Fiendish-Beaver The Xbox series X and series S are very different consoles. Where you think the most powerful console that makes a visual statement. Or small, discreet and power efficient console that can still play all the new generation games. Is better is a matter of personal preference.

If you strip a disk drive out of a console you make it inferior. There’s no point putting the PS5 digital up because it’s not different it’s just less.

I absolutely get that there is a difference between the build of the S and the X, @Ryall, and that the difference they have between them is far greater than with the two versions of the PS5, however, as the two variants of the PS5 are not homogenous they too should have been afforded two categories on which to vote. It is a pretty sure fire bet that the PS5 will win the category as the best medium, but it is not competing on level terms with the Xbox Series. It may well win regardless, and I would absolutely respect the result if that was the opinion of the public. Personally, I have both consoles, though the Series X is my main console, so I'm by no means an Xbox fanboy. I just would rather see a fair poll of peoples views, and splitting the Xbox vote diminishes the chances of the Xbox triumphing, which seems wrong to me.

I just want through and voted. The only take away from one outlet that. There haasnt been very many must play heavy hitters this year

Agreed, @RedKnight34. I think it's fair to say that neither the PlayStation or the Xbox has had a particularly stellar year this year, however, I think next year will be a completely different story. It's going to be very difficult to find the time for all the huge releases coming over the horizon in 2022...