5 Xbox One and PS4 features nobody is talking about...

Since rumours first started spreading like wildfire around the net about the specs of the big next gen consoles, many people have latched onto the issues of tablet integration and cloud gaming as two of the main selling points of the PS4 and Xbox One.

These both have huge potential to expand the medium of console gaming from its current form.

However according to extremetech.com people are overlooking specs that deserve far more recognition than they are currently receiving.

Video Sharing

For what seems like an eternity now we’ve been hearing that both consoles will feature in-game video sharing, but only recently has more light been shed on this topic.

Both consoles will automatically record gameplay in the background, this video sharing function is going to make a big difference to gamers.

Thankfully both Microsoft and Sony are listening to consumer demands that console users need an easy way to share gameplay videos. With dedicated compression chips and sharing buttons, the new consoles have been designed with social gaming high up on the list of priorities and surpassing the traditional multiplayer paradigm.

Instant-on

Speed appears to be at the forefront of design on the new consoles. By utilizing a low-power sleep mode, next-gen consoles will be instant-on machines. A voice command or the push of a power button will be all that’s needed to use your console instantly.

The inclusion of “game suspension” means you can stop a game in place, chat to friends, browse the web, do some quick tasks around the house (maybe) then immediately get back into the action without having to wait or load up a save/restore point.

You will not even have to wait for a game to finish downloading before you start playing and the current glitch and laggy user interfaces on the current dashboards will be a thing of the past.

Audio Chat

The Xbox 360 shipped standard with a headset, and so audio chat quickly became a staple of Xbox Live. Unfortunately, the PS3 didn’t come with a headset, so it’s something of a rarity to hear from other players on the PS3.

Strangely, the situation is flip-flopped this generation. The PS4 will ship with a wired earpiece, but the Xbox One will rely on the microphone built into the Kinect for voice chat. It remains to be seen if Microsoft will actually be able to deliver in terms of voice quality in the new hardware.

Sony, taking a cue from Microsoft, is also charging for online multiplayer this time around. With any luck, this will also bring important premium features like cross-game chat to the PlayStation Network.

Frankly, the PS4 desperately needs a private cross-game group chat feature to stay competitive with Xbox Live. Now that we’re expected to pay to play, Sony can’t simply rest on its laurels.

Remote Play

Sony is no stranger to remote play, already there is limited connectivity for the PSP and Vita to connect to the PS3.

For the next generation Sony is making PS4-to-Vita a fundamental part of its setup and apart from a few exceptions, all PS4 games will be required to work out of the box with Vita.

Mandatory hard drives

With current consoles offering large and small hard drives (some not even with the storage of a single DVD), people will be happy to know the PS4 and Xbox One will ship with 500GB internal hard drives as well as super-fast USB 3.0.

This means gamers will be able to vastly expand their libraries of digital content, while also allowing developers to take advantage of faster load times that these hard drives will offer – and with the possibility of games coming on 50GB+ Blu-ray discs; it would make load times a lot more bearable.

Do these specs excite you? Are these also major console selling points? Tell us your thoughts below