PS4 PRO and The Complicated Console Market

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Following up on yesterday’s announcement of the Playstation 4 Pro edition, I wanted to write about and discuss some of the after-effects that this release is going to have on the console market in general.

After watching the conference yesterday, it left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Not in the fact that the games look decidedly different, I have no complaints on visual aesthetic. Rather, I was particularly amused by the extent of over-explanation and bogged down information that had to be forced into our faces to differentiate and almost pitch WHY this system’s existence had to be justified.

I was also rather irked by the lovely little message I saw at the bottom of every PS4 demo. You may have caught a glimpse of it, and it is certainly something you will want to keep an eye out for:

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We’re entering this weird middle ground now with consoles thanks to PS4 Pro, and the recently released Xbox One S. This weird, confusing space where games aren’t running on new gen hardware, but are still running on hardware that outperforms the original launch hardware only a couple years after release. This strange ecosystem that now has to separate itself from current hardware by showing every game we see from now on as running on the, “superior hardware,” as opposed to the old models.

Every game we see at any gaming conference now will most likely be showing the Pro version, leaving every early adopter to wonder, “What will it run like, look like, or even play like when I play it on my launch hardware?”

Now we live in a world where developers have to build their game even more times to get it working on old hardware, than make the shinier/faster versions for the newer hardware. As if the patching and DLC ecosystem wasn’t bloated in the first place we now face a future of even more patches, more bug-fixes, and more unneeded work down the line.

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This push for middle ground hardware is not only confusing to the consumer, but fear inducing for the future of how we play games.

Upgraded hardware is nothing new. Phones, tablets, and PC’s in particular have been doing it for years. The issue I take with this mindset entering the console space however, is that consoles are not as vastly multimedia as the above hardware is.

Your phone has a multitude of applications, and I don’t mean that in terms of its app store. Phones communicate, play games, perform work activities, and serve hundreds upon hundreds of other options, as do PC’s and Tablets.

But a gaming device, plays games. It may have the bells and whistles to stream some media or play some movies, but its overall function is to play gaming media. Upgrading the hardware to this small degree and forcing this ecosystem onto the audience to not only confuse them, but divide them into two communities is asinine.

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I have to give Sony credit that all the hardware will play the same games. That fact alone is nice and helpful but the double edged sword is the fact that a majority of the games you will play will be inferior to the upgraded version that completely burns you if you’re one of the near 60-million people that bought a PS4 in the not even 3-years since it released.

We have all experienced this generation of games. Time and time again there have been a multitude of games that from launch have been near broken in terms of gameplay, from WatchDogs, Assassin’s Creed Unity, Battlefield 4, Halo MCC, and more. We’ve been burned by patches time and time again that have to fix the games that should have been ready to go on launch, and now we have to expect games to be DOUBLE-PATCHED to run the separate versions of the games on PS4? We have to trust that the developers aren’t going to focus resources on the nicer version of the game, or prioritize that build more over the now, “inferior version?”

This isn’t even in terms of visual aesthetic. It has been stated that PS4 games on Pro will run at higher framerates and VR on Pro will be substantially different from running on launch hardware. Where does this leave the countless individuals that own a current PS4? How will games continue to flesh out in the long run? What happens in another year or two when the Scorpio launches and Playstation launches something to combat it where it falls into another weird category of not a new generation but a better version of an already existing system?

Was this really necessary or worth it in the long run? Could they not have rested on their laurels another year or two and just released an even more powerful Playstation 5 that maybe had backwards compatibility with PS4 games? Could they not have released a peripheral or an expansion that allowed these changes to happen?

It was mentioned yesterday that HDR gaming will be patched into all existing PS4’s and into the Pro, which only makes me further question the purpose of this new console. Could this not have been released as an expansion for everyone to have access to over a brand new console? The N64 had an expansion pak way back in the day which was proprietary to play DK64, Majora’s Mask, Banjo Tooie and other more intensive games, but you didn’t see Nintendo releasing a brand new console just to fix that issue either.

The entire concept of the Pro has taken the gaming community by storm and upset not only the consumers, but developers and industry critics alike.
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The future of the console industry is foggy and unpredictable as of late. I’d like to hope that the PS4PRO won’t divide the community in the ways I have outlined but I can’t really see that happening. Only time will tell as the console rolls out this November and respective games get released. It could go one way or the other, where standard versions are inferior and broken, or the newer versions are buggy and unplayable, or even that everything works out fine and this is the hopeless griping of someone that can’t see a nice future in constant console upgrades.

But hey. This is why I went PC anyway.
 
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Saiyan Lusitano

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The ps1 and ps2 and 3DS were the weakest hardware of their generation though but ppl still all bought them for games. I think the attention to hardware performance is not as important and that games should still rule ppls buying decision. If hardware matters so much now then only companies who are rich will benefit and other companies who make great games like nintendo and sony will fall to pc and scorpio. that sucks dude

to me hardware only matters for 2 reaons

1. not be too underpowered
2. not be an obstacle to development, eg: ps3, wiiu to some extent

Have you by any chance seen the PC trailer of Sonic Lost World? They actually used these two lines "FULL HD RESOLUTIONS" and "LOCKED 60FPS GAMEPLAY". That is desperate but they ended up including these cheesy lines because of the obsession gamers have for it now.

 
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Xzi

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The ps1 and ps2 and 3DS were the weakest hardware of their generation though but ppl still all bought them for games. I think the attention to hardware performance is not as important and that games should still rule ppls buying decision. If hardware matters so much now then only companies who are rich will benefit and other companies who make great games like nintendo and sony will fall to pc and scorpio. that sucks dude

to me hardware only matters for 2 reaons

1. not be too underpowered
2. not be an obstacle to development, eg: ps3, wiiu to some extent
Well that's the problem, consoles have been violating number 1 for generations now. PCs have been playing games in 1080p/60 since roughly the PS2, maybe even a little before that. Also, 1080p/60 games cost no more to develop than 1080p/30 games. As a matter of fact, they're the same exact games, the hardware just hasn't been strong enough to push them to 60FPS. It'll be a night and day difference to anyone who has a display that can support it.

Having those two as selling points just proves how obsessed gamers have become with everything being 1080p/60.
That's not an obsession, it's simply been a must-have feature for PC games for at least a decade now. Some people swear by 144Hz monitors, so 60 is more of a minimum acceptable frame rate to them than it is a golden idol. 30 looks like a slideshow to anyone who's spent a decent amount of time gaming on a PC.

http://30vs60.com/
 
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Saiyan Lusitano

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^ If it's a must have feature then it should have always been there but remember the PS2 days? People just played and didn't complain about framerate, resolution or whatever. Simpler times when console gamers just enjoyed games.
 

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I really felt ripped off by sony with the Ps4 Pro. The ps4 can barely play Fallout 4 without crapping his pants and framedropping, the Wii U died not because it was a bad concept but because no one wanted to support a piece of hardware so dated, well that's how it feels, that's why X One was always second place too, we all knew it could barely play games at 900p. I would have no problem with this if they continued to make effort on their already established systems but no, they wanted to milk money from us because they already knew that they released already dated hardware machines to the point that PC releases where getting graphic nerfs so our console games doesn't look too shitty, this is why i think they are releasing new machines because they can still keep going without entering in a new generation and they can close a little bit the already abysmal gap between PC gamers and Console gamers. This sucks anus because the PS4 PRO is doing what the PS4 should be doing in the first place : Playing games in 60 fps in 1080p.

I know some folks like to talk about Nintendo on the DSI & New3DS move, but the DSI was not that of a big deal, i would buy a DSLITE anytime it didn't mattered, the New3DS was a noticeable upgrade but only one game was made for it and the old games just had a better 3D in place, i have both and the 3DS is still a solid investment its not looking like it became a paperweight with the new3DS release which is not the case of the Ps4, because its literally an improvement on EVERY aspect, so if you upgrade yer ps4 you have nothing else to do with yer old p4.
 

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Well that's the problem, consoles have been violating number 1 for generations now. PCs have been playing games in 1080p/60 since roughly the PS2, maybe even a little before that. Also, 1080p/60 games cost no more to develop than 1080p/30 games. As a matter of fact, they're the same exact games, the hardware just hasn't been strong enough to push them to 60FPS. It'll be a night and day difference to anyone who has a display that can support it.


That's not an obsession, it's simply been a must-have feature for PC games for at least a decade now. Some people swear by 144Hz monitors, so 60 is more of a minimum acceptable frame rate to them than it is a golden idol. 30 looks like a slideshow to anyone who's spent a decent amount of time gaming on a PC.

http://30vs60.com/

the hardware isnt underpowered tho, xb1 and ps4 are capable of pushing 1080p and 60fps easily, star ocean 5 and metal gear solid v are both 1080 and 60fps on ps4. The difference is developers allocate power to push graphics to much higher settings instead because console users prefer it over 60fps. Gaming up close on a monitor with a good refresh rate and gaming from a couch and tv do change the way frame rate is visible tho, i do both and I prefer 60 when I am up close but at the same time 30 on console upclose or even on a couch is still perfectly playable for me, stable 30 is preffered if its 30 though, when it goes lower than that, thats when i frame rate starts looking choppy to me.

how did u play bayonetta 2 and xenoblade on wiiu tho? xeno is 30 and bayo drops a lot, unless u dont play consoles anymore then nvm.

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

^ If it's a must have feature then it should have always been there but remember the PS2 days? People just played and didn't complain about framerate, resolution or whatever. Simpler times when console gamers just enjoyed games.
ya we are loosing this level of simplicity and understanding, I will never forget this way to enjoy games tho because i grew up like that. to me it's a blessing in disguise. I feel its like as if people would ask ''how can u enjoy driving unless you're in a ferrari doing 200 miles per hours''? and i would say i enjoy driving with my friends, car doesnt matter the locations we visit and the experiences i have are more important u feel me
 
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flame1234

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Someone hit the "ENHANCE" button!
Games that display this logo will support PS4 Pro.
PS4 Pro also supports PS4 games that don't display the logo, but they will run the same on both machines.
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Xzi

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^ If it's a must have feature then it should have always been there but remember the PS2 days? People just played and didn't complain about framerate, resolution or whatever. Simpler times when console gamers just enjoyed games.
Well the reason for that is the hardware at the time could only be so powerful given its price. It's (current year), custom gaming PCs are very doable for the average console price ($400 - $500). So there's really no reason consoles shouldn't take that upgrade.

The PS2 also looked pretty good for its time, the only real downsides being 30 FPS and some missing AA/post-processing. If you play PS2 games on an emulator with a powerful gaming PC, they look mind-blowing.

the hardware isnt underpowered tho, xb1 and ps4 are capable of pushing 1080p and 60fps easily, star ocean 5 and metal gear solid v are both 1080 and 60fps on ps4. The difference is developers allocate power to push graphics to much higher settings instead because console users prefer it over 60fps.
Very rarely are you seeing high settings on console games, usually low-medium. It takes extremely good optimization to get 60 FPS even at those settings.

ya we are loosing this level of simplicity and understanding, I will never forget this way to enjoy games tho because i grew up like that. to me it's a blessing in disguise. I feel its like as if people would ask ''how can u enjoy driving unless you're in a ferrari doing 200 miles per hours''? and i would say i enjoy driving with my friends, car doesnt matter the locations we visit and the experiences i have are more important u feel me
Here's the disconnect I think: 1080p/60 isn't inhibiting developers from doing any kind of game they want. Steam is one of the best platforms for indie gaming, and for every AAA game pushing your GPU to its limit on rendered polys, there are at least ten indie games whose biggest focus is polished gameplay.

Hell, I'm not even suggesting devs shouldn't lock to 30 FPS if they feel it works better for their game (see: Nuclear Throne), but the hardware needs to be capable of 60 FPS regardless. Assuming you want at least the bare minimum of future-proofing, anyway.
 
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