After hyping up their announcement via Eurogamer, Microsoft has finally shed light on just what their upcoming console will have under the hood. The picture above details what these specs are, as well as compares them with the PS4 Pro and Xbox One. It'll also be utilizing Microsoft's Direct 3D 12, and if you have a gaming PC, you'll know that DirectX12 usually allows for impressive performance boosts. Featuring 12 GBs of RAM, a 1TB HDD, and a 4K UHD Bluray player (which the PS4 Pro lacks), it seems that this console has blown expectations away. During the event, Forza was shown off, running at a stunning native 4K/60fps. Not only that, but since the Scorpio is backwards compatible, that means that currently existing Xbox One titles, as well as backwards compatible 360 titles will be getting in on the huge performance and visual boost. Eurogamer has a more specific article, linked below, if you want to really dig into what the console does.

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[almmiron]

We lived to see people (kind of) buying dlcs for consoles (all started with the new 3ds)

 

[FAST6191]

Assuming you mean upgraded versions of existing consoles with extra functionality/gating off things that older consoles could subsequently not do then that is probably a matter of perspective.

Was the GBC an upgraded version of the GB/GBP or its own thing? The gamegear could play master system games but not the other way around, some might say that it was a handheld and the master system went into a TV but I am still going to throw it in there. The Amiga had a whole bunch of revisions with extra functionality. Various Atari products were this. The TG16 family has all sorts of oddities within it. It mainly got reflected in homebrew but what about the PSP 2000 and beyond vs the PSP 1000?
I can't count the likes of the extra chips in the NES and SNES but I might consider the expansion packs of the Sega Saturn and N64. What about controllers? The megadrive grew an extra three buttons and the PS1 some analogue sticks after all.

If you assume games started with the NES and stick solely to Nintendo, Sega, Microsoft and Sony systems, treat the GBC as a new console and ignore the DSi (most did) then yes I can see the n3ds being the first. I can't though, though at the same time other than the PSP my clear cut examples of the practice dried up before the 16 bit era ended and as my creaking body reminds me that was now decades ago.

 

[almmiron]

Well made points. I think it begins in new3ds, well, for a matter of perspective like you said. I just didn't pointed mine out.

Gbc is another console that backwards compatible, it have its own exclusive games bacause it have greater horsepower and another kind of technology, is not a revision or updated version of original gb.
-Psp, gba and many other consoles revisions has minor changes for the extra stuff (internet, buttons, quality/brand of internal components, video format outputs), and there is no game for psp 2xxx or 3xxx exclusives or with greater performance/resolution, or games exclusive for snes jr.
-There some strange and unique cases like the gamegear, but its not a upgrade from master system, because it has its own purpose to be a handheld system and have been merchandised this way.
-About the extra chips in games, like snes, that was a great idea that would be welcome nowadays. Consoles with ways to expand its performance with chips on the motherboard. But thing are following some patterns on industry we all now thats not viable, problably.

For me, what made new 3ds the first that did that thing of launching a new console like a revision, were because it has almost 3 times cpu power, exclusive games (a few I admit). It was not merchandised like a new console. We all remember that from night to day that new thing was there and everyone went WTF? Common people still dont know how powerful the new 3ds is compared to old3ds.

The same way, Wii is not a revision of the Gamecube, but, in terms of hardware, could be considered with that line of thinking: has the same architecture, almost exactly same components inside, apart from a faster cpu.

Nintendo with the 3ds is different because it did not compete with PC, and I dont understand the reason of its existence. But ps4 and xbox one sure compete in some way with pc, and they will lose forever in terms of hardware. They will keep pushing, and as we all know ps4 hardware is already old, and by the time scorpio comes out, it will be so. So I see this play, from sony and microsoft, like a test for they next platform (or if is viable doing another one). "consumers will buy powerful, expensive high end pc like consoles, even if they cant upgrade gpu or ram or anything like pc let they do?"

The future of consoles, and the concept that differentiates consoles from pc is obscure to me.

 

[FAST6191]

On the GBC then I am not sure I can call it a different machine that easily. For marketing purposes and in the eyes of many they would see it as such, however if it was mainly marketing than informed that...
http://bgb.bircd.org/pandocs.htm for the specs. Other than the homebrew one on the GBA then basically every emulator, programmer, hacker and such treats them as spins on the other.
It might have had exclusive games but there were still loads developed with backwards/cross compatibility in mind during the time. Old versions of GB games were enhanced and rereleased for it, several of those you could still have played on the original form though.

GG vs master system was more of a blurring on the lines thing for the purposes of this discussion. Going by intent there was not a lot pushing the Master system on GG thing, compared to the GBC stuff above where devs clearly intended many different people to play in all sorts of ways. That said what about the Sega Nomad?


There are no commercial PSP games but there are homebrew titles that are exclusive to various models, though I won't count the PSP1000 IR port stuff. Also the browser and AV cables (fairly radical for a handheld at the time).

Extra chips do still exist. The likes of the supercard DStwo/ismm/iplayer for one, theoretically the DSX could have had something, lots of flash carts kicked DLDI calculations to the carts, DSserial, the pokewalker on the DS stuck an extra communications bus on the save bus ( http://problemkaputt.de/gbatek.htm#dscartunknownextras ).

I can count the wii as a different console far more easily than the GB to GBC. It came with a whole raft of improvements, a retooled control system, something resembling a modern approach to security/OS design, a coprocessor and more. There are many things that lead me to label it an overclocked gamecube but that is more for when I am/was trying to get people to look at it for ROM hacking and homebrew purposes should they already be versed in the gamecube. No games were done for dual purposes that I saw, give or take Zelda TP but that saw dual releases anyway.

Interesting times are definitely ahead. The thing I will look to so as to differentiate them though is can I run my own software, almost* unfettered at that. Likewise constant upgrading became a bit passe some time during the PS360 era. As games hung back for consoles the specs wars kind of dried up and I could play games quite happily on years old machines, to this day a lot of things still do that or maybe that and a graphics card that goes for less than a game in many instances.

*unfettered in as much as while the new uefi stuff troubles things I can still run an OS, while the microcode is interesting it does not bother me and while the BIOS may be closed source for almost everything peh really.

 

[grossaffe]

No, but I would expect them to work on the same TV.

And your PS4s and Xbones work on the same TV

 

[Depravo]

And your PS4s and Xbones work on the same TV

I think you're confusing the issue. Netflix does not require a special Netflix TV. Hulu does not require a special Hulu 'box'. The media they provide works on any appropriate hardware regardless of manufacturer. PlayStation/Xbox games do not.

Anyway, the thread has moved on...

 

[codezer0]

So, based on what I'm seeing... it's not a true 4K console, either. But still a shit-ton more powerful than the PS4 Pro. And, unlike the PS4 Pro, no such thing as a mandate that games aware of both consoles "can't run faster" on the higher spec hardware like it is with Sony. Already seeing where games on variable frame-rates and resolutions are basically pegged at their max on the upgraded hardware, which is good.

There aren't a ton of games for the Xbone that I'd get the system for, but still more than I'd get a PS4 for. And this would make waiting for the Scorpio worthwhile. So long as said games are still available.

Spoiler

and that the system can then be hacked, amirite?

At least unlike the PS4 Pro, we won't need to buy a stupid VR headset doo-dad to actually get 60fps out of this thing.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I think you're confusing the issue. Netflix does not require a special Netflix TV. Hulu does not require a special Hulu 'box'. The media they provide works on any appropriate hardware regardless of manufacturer. PlayStation/Xbox games do not.

Anyway, the thread has moved on...

Uh, that's where you're wrong. Netflix arbitrarily won't even let phones get above 480p, despite most of them having much higher resolution screens, even if your connection (or WiFi) can support a better stream. And you want to talk proprietary hardware? To even get 4K Netflix or BluRay from a PC, you have to have a mainstream Kaby Lake CPU (intel i# 7### series) and integrated graphics. That means...

• No Prior-generation CPU's, even though the DRM involved wouldn't even tax a Pentium 4, much less an i7
• No support if you have ANY kind of discrete graphics, even though plenty of older GPU's from AMD and NVIDIA can easily support decoding and the DRM
• Can't do it on Ryzen, Broadwell-e, or the upcoming Skylake/Kaby Lake-e desktop or notebook systems

The DRM schema to get 4K Netflix or BluRay to work presently is absolutely draconian, and ridiculous. And since the powers that be are showing absolutely no budge on enabling other platforms to work with it, it'll probably do more to kill the format than any threat of "piracy" would.

 

[Armadillo]

Apparently supports adaptive sync/freesync.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2017-project-scorpio-supports-freesync-and-hdmi-vrr

There aren't any hdmi 2.1 tvs that support it yet, but at least it's there.