PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X get trolled in regard to God of War: Ragnarok release date and Gears 5 RTX 3090 comparison

Next-gen console wars, at least among die-hard PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S fans, seem to be raging on thanks to the appearances of a couple of interesting but ultimately fake game-related news tidbits. Whether by accident or design, there is no doubt that there are plenty out there who just want to “prove” that their next-gen console of choice is better than the other.

PlayStation fans were treated to a screenshot of a supposed release date for God of War: Ragnarok, the hotly anticipated PS5 exclusive. The forger in this instance even made the effort of making the details look legitimate by putting together a screenshot of an IMDb page, thus adding weight to this apparent leak. It wasn’t just the “2021” vague date everyone expects for the God of War sequel either (that may not even be called God of War: Ragnarok; more on that below). “5 February 2021” was the purported magic date given here…

Of course, this was rapidly debunked. Not only did the poster use a piece of fan art created by @BT_BlackThunder that combines elements of God of War and Hellboy rather than official studio art, but also the game’s reported director and writer, Cory Barlog, even quickly replied to news of this date revelation with “Ragnawhat? Never heard of it”. While God of War 2 and God of War: Ragnarok have frequently been used as titles for the time being, the PS5 game is actually still not officially titled, so it could even end up being Kratos and the Vikings at this rate.

As for the Xbox Series X…there were many excited comments made by fans and future owners when a screenshot comparison from Gears 5 popped up online, with a shot taken from each of the “Xbox X”, PC Insane Settings (RTX 3090), and Xbox Series X. Depending on your personal liking for reflections, shadows, and very shiny floors, then it would seem fair enough to say that the last shot looks the best, which is the one connected to the Xbox Series X. That’s a US$499 next-gen console out-displaying a US$1,499 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 cutting-edge PC Master Race graphics card.

While many cooed over the impressive differences and extolled the graphical virtues of the Xbox Series X, eventually the truth was out in regard to this Gears 5 comparison. Firstly, the best-looking screenshot actually comes from a video posted by Hathur on YouTube, which utilizes the ReShade post-processing tool and Ultra settings on a PC to look as stunning as possible - no Xbox Series X was involved. Secondly, the video was posted in September 2019 and the RTX 3090 was only launched in September 2020. Expect a few more instances of next-gen console trolling and hoaxes over the next few weeks as the console wars continue unabated before their respective launches.

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