Hi Playstation 4 Pro! Welcome to console fragmentation

[d-dave]

And so it begins:

http://www.cnet.com/products/sony-playstation-4-pro/preview/

So it offers more horsepower for 4k games and VR support, HDR Support, but no 4k Blu Ray.

As far as the extra GPU, it will be used to craft 4k games with the HDR effects.  But those same games will still work on a regular, 3 year old PS4.  

Also, it will auto-detect your TV to see if you have a 4k TV WITH HDR support.  So now user quality is going to be set dependent.  Goodbye to one of the cornerstone arguments for console gaming:  consistent user experience.  One of the developers said that a positive of the PS4Pro is that it can create a 4k game image, and super-sample it down to your regular 1080p TV.  All PS4s are going to get HDR with a forth coming patch.

So this is the more powerful PS4, $400.  With Microsoft's project Scorpio slated for sometime in 2017 with 6 Rhino-flops (not what it's really called, but may as be that to the lay person), what do you think the future of console gaming is?  Will the idea of consoles fade away, everything running in the cloud on nation wide google fiber?  Will both MS and Sony switch to a more modular PC design, selling "up-gradable" components like it's a new thing?  Or will the PC Gamer Master Race smite them down using their mouse and keyboard controls?  Leaving us with CS:GO as the only online shooter??? (j/k...)

[Toolbox]

it's a no buy for me..

[d-dave]

I remember when Microsoft was talking about the end of the console generation...so I think we know what that is:  PC based parts and PC-lite software.  This will allow them to add features and content to the higher end consoles (PS4 Pro and Project Scorpio) while maintaining a baseline that will work with "base" console.  If all you're adding is more textures and better lighting, you can still maintain a base PS4/XB1 game version and have the added bells and whistles to the Pro/Scorpio system.

I guess it's kind of a win for the budget console gamers (buy the base console for like $300), but those with the higher end TVs (4k, HDR, VR/Holo Lens) can benefit from the beefier specs.

Basically, it's going to be non-up-gradable PC gaming with console specific games.  We'll see how the industry responds to this.  if the PS4 Pro fails, that will be very telling.

[Lumps]

PC I feelwill always prevail.

 

PC is not just a keyboard and mouse anymore, anyone can hook a PC up to their TV and buy a nice controller. Viola simple as that. There are two drawbacks to PC. One is the cost. If you're needing to upgrade constantly to play newer games at their potential you'll need to upgrade and have the know how and time to do so.

The other drawback is regarding competitive playing, like FPS type games. The superior PC and internet connection will always win. I didn't like this. With a console everyone essentially starts with the same hardware. 

 

I am a huge open world, rpg fantasy guy and the PC is just better for this period. As far as competitive playing I use my PS4.

 

As far as what the future holds I just think consoles will still be coming out but will eventually merge into more of a 'PC for the TV' type system. While you maybe be able to hook a PC up to your TV now, a lot of features other than are meant for a keyboard and mouse. So what I think we will see is a closing of that gap in the future and what will be out of the picture will be monitors. Your TV will be your PC, your console, printer, emailer all in one; while possible now everything will be cleaned up, more user friendly, and blend more easily together.

 

[d-dave]

On 10/8/2016 at 2:51 PM, Lumps said:

As far as what the future holds I just think consoles will still be coming out but will eventually merge into more of a 'PC for the TV' type system. 

 

While I have no intentions to jump into a PC Master Race Debate, I think your sentence here really hits the point.  I have been reading both Sony and Microsoft's announcements about their high power systems.  They are basically becoming a PC-lite set up.

So you have a base console (XB1, PS4) which would account for the minimum specs for a game.  As we've seen, we can get some good looking and fun games this console cycle.  Then, Sony and MS will continue to offer upgraded consoles for things like VR, more/better graphics, HDR, etc every few years.  I think everyone realized that the PC market was a really good one for certain players (upgrade manufacturers) in the game.

So we'll continue to have a base system which can play anygame, but in order to get the full effect, you're going to have to fork over $$$ for a new console with the beefier guts.

As far as my experience with PC gaming, back in the early 00's, when I was hard and heavy in Everquest and Diablo II, I had to upgrade my video cards a few times before I ran into the CPU problem.  I did my first upgrade to a modestly better card ($100), then a few years later, I did a pretty big upgrade for me, a $200 card (Man, I miss the days of having $200 to blow on pointless crap! #dadproblems).  Now the good baseline 4k / VR gaming cards start at $200 (AMD Radeon 480?) and the "good" ones start about $300?    How often will those need to be replaced?  I really don't know anymore.  Consoles made it easy for me.

In finality, I think it's all going to be PC-style anyway for a while.  If you upgrade your console every 3 years for $500, how different is that from a PC gamer who can spend that on a couple of basic upgrades?  I'm curious to see how it goes...

[Raskle]

4 hours ago, d-dave said:

Man, I miss the days of having $200 to blow on pointless crap! #dadproblems

Pied just for this one... I'll admit it - I literally laughed out loud. Nice one!

[d-dave]

29 minutes ago, Raskle said:

Pied just for this one... I'll admit it - I literally laughed out loud. Nice one!

Thank you! =)  I do what I can to bring some levity. =)