Xbox Scorpio and PS4 Pro are these future failures?

[Enternal]

Looking back at hardware ideas like

The PSP Go



The Virtual Boy



And the 32x




We ask ourselves, didn't they see this wasn't going to work out? And I'm not saying these decisions were planned with failure in mind, just that maybe they were overlooking the reality of things.

Planning a future on these systems is like planning a future with a trashy girl.
You ignore a lot of the crap hoping things turn out right, but then she becomes a wreck and years later, you're like... the signs were there why did I ignore them?

The main question, will the mainstream embrace the 4k standard in the next few years. Or will it be something like DVD to Blu-Ray, a very slow transition.

In the states we skipped the VCD, and the laserdisc didn't take off. DVD's took off for many reasons. The PS2 helped that. But even Bubba Bo Johnson, could see the difference from VHS to DVD, and he didn't have to remember to worry about rewinding the videos before returning them. Likewise from a SDTV to an HDTV big upgrade in visual quality and less bulky. But Blu-ray never really exploded. Like a stray cat, it wondered in and we gave it some attention and after some time we realized we have been with this cat for like 10 years.


Now, I'm not condemning the upgraded PS4 and Xbox One. It might be what is needed. It may be like the more successful Ps3 Slim and Xbox S that found wide success during the 7th generation. I'm just looking at what it has to offer. I'm thinking not enough people will adopt a 4k system this generation to make exclusive 4k popular. Eventually they may just standardized them and drop the 1080 systems, but it will be too late because a lot of people will stick with their older models to cut out development.  So why not just wait till 9th gen? Could this also be the case of, well if we don't do it our rivals will?

I just want to know what you guys think about these upcoming systems.

[TR0N]

Still not sold on a PS4 Pro.All i see are these upgrades fragmenting the market.Right now i don't have a 4K TV so i'm fine with a regular PS4.

[Enternal]

I agree, I'll use the game Destiny for example.

Destiny was made for PS3/Xbox 360/PS4 and Xbox One. And outside of how well the game was received. It was hindered because the content/gameplay had to work on all the systems, outside of just downgrading the resolution for the older systems. You had to make sure the enemy encounters and maps would provide the same experience on old systems so you couldn't use the 8th gen systems to their full potential.

[Punch]

The videogame companies will Destroy their own market.

Looking forward to play uncharted on steam and Mario Bros on my phone.

[Johnpv]

MS with it's Scorpio announcement at E3, and now Sony with the PS4 Pro are basically telling me don't buy our hardware at launch.  Wait for the updated version 3 years in.  I though both of these announcements were big f*ck yous to the 36 million PS4 owners, and 18 million Xbox One owners out there.  Though at least the Xbox One Slim and Scorpio support UHD disks.  Good job Sony on not supporting the updated format you're helping push. 

[crazydean]

I like the stray cat analogy. Although, it's difficult to say whether they will be future failures. The three systems that you mentioned, all failed for different reasons. IMO, 4k is way over-hyped. It's just not better by enough compared to 1080. I haven't met anyone who was super-stoked about buying a 4k TV. So, it will likely be the same for the new systems. I haven't seen pricing on them, but if they offer the new models along with the old models on the shelf, the PS4 pro and Xbox One Slim will not do well.

[xelement5x]

PSP Go is actually pretty nice, once it is hacked.  Under the original guise of a download only unit it's a failure, but as a hackable unit with bluetooth sync for DS3 controllers and component out it's pretty nice.

To be honest, the success of the Scorpio and PS4 Pro mainly depends on how well the manufacturers are able to keep devs making games that work on both units.  I feel like the big push for the PS4 Pro though, is the PSVR units.

[technozombie]

Modern consoles are just PC gaming for the masses. With off the shelf hardware backwards compatibility will always exist. If you bought a graphics card 3 or 4 years ago you would not complain about a new one coming out. This is literally the same thing.

[Necromancer]

If you want to use history as proof that hardware upgrades are doomed to fail, don't look at just a handful of unpopular systems and ignore the ones that succeeded (PCE CD, Sega CD, New 3DS, etc.).  Comparing the PS4 Pro and Scorpio to the PSP Go, Virtual Boy, and 32x is illogical anyway.  The PSP Go wasn't an upgrade, just a different form factor (like a GBA Micro) that was never intended to replace the umd systems; the Virtual Boy was a completely different system, having nothing to do with the GB, SNES, or N64 and not intended as their replacement; the 32x was a hardware upgrade, so this comparison makes a least a little sense, with the main difference being that the 32x had to compete against the concurrently released Saturn while the PS4 Pro / Scorpio have no similar competition within their own brands.

I don't see these 'premium' versions as being big sellers, nor do I expect any real market fragmentation.  PC games work just fine on widely different hardware specs, running with different resolutions, aa, lighting effects, etc., so why can't it work on consoles that're are essentially just PCs running specialized OSes?

MS with it's Scorpio announcement at E3, and now Sony with the PS4 Pro are basically telling me don't buy our hardware at launch.  Wait for the updated version 3 years in.  I though both of these announcements were big f*ck yous to the 36 million PS4 owners, and 18 million Xbox One owners out there.

The only reason to be mad about a better version being released is if the old one quits working and no new games are made for it, which ain't likely.  Launch systems still have the same capabilities that they did on day one, and if that's not good enough, you never should have bought one in the first place.

[Gentlegamer]

Unless 60fps become standard for the upgraded console specs, I'll pass.

[Gredler]

There is currently jack shit for 4k TV owners to buy and experience on their TV. It's basically just streaming video now. This move is simply filling a hole in the market, people want to play 4k/HDR games and this will give them that option. It's certainly not for everyone, but I know quite a few people who are frustrated that they can't play anything in 4k and are excited for these upgraded models.

[sirhcman]

I don't know.. I quite like the 32x and Virtual Boy!

[ginoscope]

So I finally replaced my 2008 LCD with a 55" Sony 4k TV earlier this year and guess what it does not have HDR.  So having HDR is a niche within the 4k niche.  Just not sure who these consoles are really catering towards.

It's even less appealing knowing the PS4 pro will not output 4k nativity and will just upscale.  I have honestly not played my ps4 enough these past 3 years to justify upgrading. 

Back to playing my retro games....

[sirhcman]

So I finally replaced my 2008 LCD with a 55" Sony 4k TV earlier this year and guess what it does not have HDR.  So having HDR is a niche within the 4k niche.  Just not sure who these consoles are really catering towards.

It's even less appealing knowing the PS4 pro will not output 4k nativity and will just upscale.  I have honestly not played my ps4 enough these past 3 years to justify upgrading. 

Back to playing my retro games....

From what I've read it sounds like HDR is a bigger upgrade than 4K resolution

[Gredler]

HDR and 4k are unrelated.

The easiest way to explain it is HDR = more colors (higher range of colors), and 4k = higher resolution images.

There will be 1k/HD tvs that are HDR, and 4k TVs that are not HDR.

HDR is not platform specific, and all current platforms will soon support it.