Microsoft exec clarifies Xbox One/PS4 ‘meaningless’ specs comment

Microsoft's Albert Penello, the Xbox product planning boss, has clarified comments he made last week in which he called the hardware comparison between the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 "meaningless" in some ways. In response to criticism he faced as a result of his words, in which he also claimed the Xbox One exclusives would be "every bit as good, if not better, technically" than PS4 games, Penello took to NeoGAF to explain his initial comments.

"I appreciate those who understand the point I was trying to get across. It’s always hard, after sitting doing interviews all day, and you’re trying to have an engaging conversation with someone, and words get pulled out our the tone what you’re trying to say didn’t come out how you meant it," Penello explained.

"You should also understand this interview was done after our launch event, and prior to E3. So please take that into consideration.

"I’m not diminishing Sony’s performance claims and I wasn’t trying to be arrogant or dismissive. What I was trying to say is – I’m not Sony’s engineering team. So I can’t comment on what they have published as specs. I know what our teams are doing, and I know how they thought about architecting the system. The guys who are building these machines (on both sides) are unbelievably talented and experts in their field. Nobody knows the specifics of how the machines are architected or if there may be bottlenecks in one system or accelerators in another that change the impact of the published specs," he wrote.

Penello went on to say that Xbox One games are going to be "great" and reiterated that "great games are what matters."

"Games on both systems looked awesome. I was there, and while I know RISE took a hit on the gameplay that was shown, I thought it was the most next-gen looking game I saw on either platform," he said. "Of course, I get I’m biased and I didn’t have time to see everything."

Pretty honest assessment of the whole situation, if you ask me. Do you believe Penello's clarification or is he only trying to save face? More importantly, which system have you been impressed with most thus far? Xbox One or PS4?