A number of weeks ago, rumors of an upgraded PS4 began cropping up all over the place offering significant performance boosts to the initial PS4 design along with 4K compatibility. Now, anonymous insiders are reporting that Microsoft is working on their own big console upgrade, dubbed "Scorpio" and "Xbox One-Two".

This supposed upgrade's target performance is nearly 4x that of the current Xbox One, with sources saying 6 TFLOPS compared to the current console's ~1.5 TFLOPS. The inside source also claims the upgraded Xbox, like the rumored PS4 Neo, will be backwards compatibility with current Xbox One games. The reports claim this upgrade isn't likely to show up until 2017, with a Slim model of the current console possibly being announced this E3.

Source

How will these mid-generation console upgrades effect console gaming in general? Will these mid-generation upgrades prove a poor idea, effectively dividing owners of current consoles? Will developers bother supporting the older consoles when a newer, more powerful option is out there? Who's to say. Personally, I'm not necessarily against these upgrades as long as the respective companies offer big trade in bonuses for the old hardware, and as long as game developers continue supporting the old consoles as well.

 

[Pecrow]

I have started a mindset of getting rid of my ps4 because of this shit.

 

[rileysrjay]

I just hope they don't stick with the name "Xbox one-two". It was already weird enough naming the third Xbox the "Xbox one" as if it was the first ever Xbox.

 

[3DSPoet]

I tend to wait until the mid-generation refresh to get the console. Usually the "slim" console is faster, more efficient, and more aesthetically pleasing. The refresh has been around since at least the NES, and only the gamecube, n64, wii u, and xbox didn't have slim/alt versions (including handhelds...though maybe gameboy colour didn't? I can't recall).

I'll be picking up the ps4.5 and xbox 1.5 when they hit. There will probably be a third version from microsoft and xbox before the next generation happens in 4 or 6 years.

I'm pretty sure everything labeled "gameboy" before the Advance was considered an upgrade. You had the original, the slim, and the color. They were all basically the same quality/depth of games. Aside from the color, there wasn't much of a move forward with the GBC.

 

[osaka35]

Not quite, the Slim versions of consoles are more efficient, yes (as in, heat, etc), but faster? No. Slim models use the same hardware as the original version.

What Sony and Microsoft are doing here is completely different.

Not all, but generally they make them more efficient. Slim PS2, for instance, is far faster than original PS2 (faster read). I suppose it'd be closer to say there's usually always some sort of upgrade. The gameboys tended to be smaller and lighter, maybe a brighter screen or something, that sort of thing. bluray tech has improved in the years since the ps4 and one was released, so faster reads are possible, as well as support for quad layer blurays could be added. Who knows if they'll have those though.

I'm pretty sure everything labeled "gameboy" before the Advance was considered an upgrade. You had the original, the slim, and the color. They were all basically the same quality/depth of games. Aside from the color, there wasn't much of a move forward with the GBC.

oh yeaaaah that's true. In my head, the colour was another generation, to the same degree the ps2 was to the ps1 was, but that may have just been how it felt at the time.

 

[RustInPeace]

God, the negative part for this is that I have to wait until these consoles come out, and there is no point to buy an Xbox One or PS4 because of these upcoming upgrades. Ah well, I can find something to buy in the waiting period. Or just more saving.

 

[rileysrjay]

The console upgrades will probably determine whether or not I sell my 360(because of backwards compatibility on Xbox one, I literally haven't used it in six months) for a ps4. If it's just an upgrade for vr and 4k, I'll probably get the old ps4, but if it's anything like what Nintendo did with the n3ds, making titles exclusive to it, I'll probably get the new one.

 

[Steena]

Man, this new trend is gonna backfire spectacularly if it keeps going.

 

[Mystic Shadow]

Didn't Sony say the games have to support 4k and 1080p?

 

[tbb043]

Nintendo started it!

They completely shifted the generations. Now every generation will have a .5

WiiU's been on the market as long as the Xbox was before MS dumped it for 360. Just sayin.

 

[migles]

Not quite, the Slim versions of consoles are more efficient, yes (as in, heat, etc), but faster? No. Slim models use the same hardware as the original version.

What Sony and Microsoft are doing here is completely different.

it's like they are afraid of reaching the limits of the silica... or what they can do next..
so they have to slowdown and use a solution that keeps working for the future.. instead of the usual 2x more power, they are now putting x1.25 more power

 

[Imparasite]

consoles going like smartphones nowadays so if this happens ill prefer to save enough money to buy high end PC than upgrading my xbone or ps4 every year or every 2yrs

 

[digipimp75]

If MS lays out some rules for devs like Sony did with the Neo, then I'm all for it.

 

[HaloEffect17]

"It's Xbox's One-Two punch." No, I already don't like the foreseeable marketing strategy...

 

[KSP]

Mid-Console upgrades is BAD.

Its alreay been proven with Nintendo's 3DS to N3DS upgrade. What ends up happening is you start to get nerfed games due to the older consoles having a bigger userbase than the newer upgraded versions. Also Sega proved in the past with Sega 32X, Sega CD and Sega 32X CD, that mid generation upgrades degrades user loyalty as gamers start lose trust in the console manufacturers ability to support the original hardware, and begin to either not buy the next gen consoles due to believing that a new upgrade will come out soon, or jump ship to another company.

You split your userbase and get little to no developer support for the better hardware.

With N3DS you have games like 7th Dragon Code VFD that can run in full 3D using the N3DS hardware, but are purposely developed from the grounds up to run on both O3DS and N3DS thus, the 3D element is completely removed so that the game can hit both versions of the console. Sega did not bother to create a special 3D enabled version for the N3DS because they had zero incentive to do so. In the end there will be little to no incentive to make games better using the second generation console due to its low userbase, but there will be an incentive to nerf games so that they can run on older hardware. What you end up getting is lower quality cross-console games that will neither take advantage of the newer console nor run well on the older console.

This is a bad move.

You look at N3DS. and you see how many N3DS exclusives there are (1 retail card) and you see literally zero usage of the second analog stick and the extra LR buttons. Simply due to the fact that the second version of the console has little to no established userbase to justify heavy development resources. And you look at Sega and realize that mid-console upgrades essentially eroded Sega's entire userbase loyalty and killed Sega's future systems.

This is a very bad move, and may be a good chance for Nintendo NX to step in and win back all the users they lost from Wii and Wii U.

You wanna know the future, look to the past. Many have tried to pull off mid-console upgrades, all have failed. End of story.

 

[3DSPoet]

I booted up Resident Evil: Revelations on my n3DS the other night and was surprised to find that it DOES work with the c-stick and extra z buttons.

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

It seems everyone is doing this nowadays:

• 3DS --> "New" 3DS
• Wii U --> NX
• PS4 --> PS4 Neo
• Xbox One --> "Xbox One-Two"

Gone are the days of static consoles with static hardware. Time for the industry to adapt, I suppose. Because every other system -- PCs, mobile devices, etc. -- have widely varied hardware configs.

Looking on the bright side, this would force devs to develop better hardware scalability tech. This may benefit PC users, in that games would be more optimized and scale better with the wide array of PC hardware.

So yeah, time to modernize, I guess.

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

I booted up Resident Evil: Revelations on my n3DS the other night and was surprised to find that it DOES work with the c-stick and extra z buttons.

Oh yeah, the C-Stick is configured to emulate a Circle Pad Pro accessory, and works with any game that had Circle Pad Pro support.

 

[Deleted User]

Remember when we rumored the Xbox 720? yeah. I'm still waiting for that announcement. Xbox one was a stupid name to choose...

 

[Xuman]

4K TVs are dirt cheap now, about as much as a 1080p of the same size just a few years ago. I can get a 50 inch 4K at my Walmart for $488, and take 10% off of that with my employee discount, and its pretty cheap.

Unfortunately for me thats a rent payment lol

 

[KSP]

Unfortunately for me thats a rent payment lol

No need to sweat, none of these new upgraded systems can actually play any games outside of Pong in 4K.

All they do is upscale 1080p to 4K, and have built in HEVC decoder to play 4K Blurays.

For a system to actually be powerfull enough to do commercial 4K AAA gaming, the console would need to cost close to 1000 dollars, and thats with MS and Sony taking a loss leader.

All these upgraded systems are just cheap 4K upscalers. Thats it.

 

[Yil]

Xbox 1.2?
Seriously though 6 teraflop is not much for polaris/ vega. (r9 480x)
And since the instruction sets are identical there is no reason it will not be backward compatible, and even then it goes under the same system and api.

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

No need to sweat, none of these new upgraded systems can actually play any games outside of Pong in 4K.

All they do is upscale 1080p to 4K, and have built in HEVC decoder to play 4K Blurays.

For a system to actually be powerfull enough to do commercial 4K AAA gaming, the console would need to cost close to 1000 dollars, and thats with MS and Sony taking a loss leader.

All these upgraded systems are just cheap 4K upscalers. Thats it.

gtx 1070, 6.5 teraflop and more/ better ram than gtx 980ti.
And it cost 370 bucks, and that's nvidia.