PS 4.5 / Xbox 1.5 rumors

By now, I’m sure most, if not all of you have read about a new Xbox Slim or a new Xbox that’s 4 times more powerful than XB1 (apparently code named Scorpio) as well as PS4.5 or NEO.

My question is… what do you all think of this?

Too soon? Should consoles keep up more with new tech? Are you interested in these possible new consoles? Annoyed? Disgusted? Intrigued? Psyched?

I didn’t see another thread posted on this, so I thought I’d throw it out there and see what people thought.

I really want a more powerful Xbox. The new Tomb Raider really suffers from the system’s limitations. A shame as it is one of my favorite games. It made me contemplate a PS4, but surely a new Xbox will do for me. :smile:

I’m actually excited to see what the upgraded Xbox will be like. Ever since Phil Spencer took over, MS has done an amazing job bringing the Xbone up to snuff, but I really want to see what they do with the chance to basically re-do the whole console. The only thing that would slightly irk me is if the upgrade options for current Xbone owners suck.

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I remember thinking of the Steam Machines, that Valve and PC enthusiasts at large had fundamentally misunderstood the business problem involved in getting the masses to put a gaming/media PC in their living rooms: they don’t want to put money and/or work into upgrading or maintaining the box at all for a good 5 years or so, so those machines had better be plug-and-play with just about zero troubleshooting, and had better run everything in the Steam library for the next five years. So, it didn’t surprise me when Steam Machines launched to nearly zero fanfare and basically tanked.

What did surprise me, is that I didn’t really see the gaming press raising these concerns in the lead-up to the launch of the Steam Machines – and in turn, it now perplexes me that these concerns are front and centre in press criticism of the new XO/PS4 SKUs. So I kinda feel at a loss for words right now, like maybe I have nothing meaningful to contribute to the topic at hand.

Oh, but there’s this: I do think these new SKUs are driven by questionable motivations. People seem to’ve forgotten that it’s the gameplay that counts – or at least, to the extent that games are creative works with a visual dimension to them, cranking up the fidelity and rendering more irrelevant visual assets is in no significant way profound or deep. It seems like gaming opinion is now dominated by those who obsess sexually over ever-increasing visual fidelity in their games, and Microsoft and Sony feel pressured to cater to that obsession. I mean, if your idea of “underpowered” is guided by some PC-relative benchmark and you can’t stand to have underpowered consoles, then I guess this move makes sense – but based on the way in which the current generation has played out, the only possible innovation I can see coming from increased computational grunt is prettier images, and that makes me sad.

EDIT: I guess Microsoft is warranted a little leeway, in that they’re kinda in the process of redefining what the Xbox platform is. That might involve some meaningful hardware revisions, I guess. On the other hand, I’m not sure what Sony gets out of a new SKU other than prettier pictures and 4K video support, which is…well, prettier pictures.

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More powerful systems to play on is just about always a good thing.
Though I’m taking this as a tacit admission by the games industry that the new consoles are an underpowered load of balls :joy:

Les we have $1,000 consoles and $90 games…

What’s next? 2.76? The Xspoon? Playcrib? We’re running out of names…

This stuff drives me up the wall.

Not only do these people make devs feel like crap for focusing on great gameplay at the expense of some immersion, but they are extremely selective on just what titles for which they are willing to suspend their disbelief.

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The problem with graphics isnt in if it is or isnt more important than gameplay. The problem is that the less powerfull console, always, gets crap about it, making it almost the most important thing to have a powerful console to market your console properly, because its what the fanboys focus one…my … Is bigger than yours, etc…

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Despite this, the least powerful console took the last three generations in raw numbers: the PS1, the PS2, the 360.

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That is where I am at. I don’t know how to do any of that, and id probably ■■■■■ it up if I even tried. I just hope regular XB1/PS4s can still play new games made for the XB1/PS4 1.5’s. I don’t care about the graphics all that much and I feel like I just bought these consoles and I am not trying to spend another couple hundred on both of them.

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I think they need to pace themselves more (Microsoft, Sony, etc…) new consoles are great but I’ve only had my Xbox one for like a year. Everyone loves new tech, but like new cars, they get rushed out and hyped up. Oh get the new 2017 whatever, throw away your Xbox one its a piece of crap. Go out get the new thing, which becomes primitive before you unbox it.

this makes me love my PC even more. they might as well should start making consoles modular after this bullsh!!t. LOL, cmon how many big as$ consoles am i gonna have lying around in my place? just let us open up and upgrade the damn things ourselves already. all you need is a couple tools, a 12 pack and bam lets go

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Still waiting on that virtual reality.

I’m not all that happy about a three year console cycle, spending all that money on a console doesn’t seem as good an investment as it used to be.
We’re supposedly moving into a more mobile-like industry with support across multiple devices with scalable game performance. I guess it has it’s pros + cons.
I prefer the focus on gameplay and features rather than ‘number of pixels’. For me it’s too soon for new consoles.

PS4Neo is for 4k video and PSVR support , the NX is meant to be an addition to the Nintendo family and not a replacement for the Wii U.
Xbox has some kind of streaming stick, a slim console and now an ‘all powerful’ edition, but I’m not entirely sure why?
Ok, there’s the power issue (- but that’s been blown out of proportion by fanboys.)
MS have been talking up DX12 and the Cloud, they said there was more to be announced with the Oculus partnership, and remember when the X1 came out - Major Nelson pointed out that the HDMI cable is 4K compatible. Even the X1 Youtube app lists 4K videos. Why do all that if you’re going to replace the console before any of it has been implemented???

I have mixed feelings about this. For your phone, you simply accept this model of business. For your PC as well. I’m actually going to upgrade to my 3rd 3DS over the summer when the new monster hunter comes out.

But for consoles? I agree it seems dodgey. There are two very good things though - compatibility of equipment (like Kinect and controllers) should be guaranteed. And compatibility of games. Microsoft has already made good strides and certainly we will see not just compatability of our games in any Xbox 1.5 but on the next one and the next one as well. Sony should follow suit. That’s a good thing and means that you won’t have to make the jump immediately or jump to a new system with no good games.

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I think it is harder for Sony to do the same as MS with backwards and forward compatibilty as the head of PS said to Phil that he didn’t know how they made it work regarding BC.

Phil stated since MS windows is gearing away from releasing new OS like windows 11, 13, 1,927 etc they want an OS that can just be updated and all features and apps will always be compatible with the base software it makes it a lot easier.

Since all future MS products will run on this universe OS it is easy to keep the software running in future updates thus BC and FC is possible.

Sony on the other hand isn’t as known for making OS’s like MS is which is why I say it is a lot harder for them to do this as it involves a very technical OS to be running.

Atleast by what I have read and heard from Phil Spencer and other guys at MS/XB

The interesting concept of MS adopting the Cell Phone strategy in terms of equipment is intriguing, and could possibly open a few doors.

Most cell phone providers now have payment plans for things like iPhones,such as ATT Next (of which I use). Have the phone for a year, trade it in, and get a new one. Its a great strat for those who wish to always be on top. Or you can simply pay off the phone and wait until you want to get a new one.

What if MS did this strat? You’ll no longer have to invest in $400 to $500 dollars up front, but simply make small monthly payments and once the new version comes in, you can trade it in, or pay it off and keep it, and start all over.

The benefits for consumers is that they no longer have to fork over a ton of money at once to get the machine of their dreams. The benefits for the company is a steady stream of money and maintain a loyal player base.