xbox Upgraded PS4, Xbox One consoles ‘a pain,’ says BioWare co-founder

[Reefa]

 

While the rumors about an updated PlayStation 4 console — tentatively referred to as PlayStation 4.5 or PlayStation 4K — have been quiet for the last week, or completely dispelled when it comes to a new Xbox One model, retired BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk has spoken out against the idea, stating that it would make life very hard for game developers.

 

Putting it bluntly, Zeschuk says that trying to develop for two versions of a console would "be a gigantic pain in the ass that flies in the face of the purpose of consoles." Just to be clear, an upgraded/new version of the PS4 has not been made official in any way at this point, but because the latest rumor states that such a console could see release by this October, many in the gaming industry are discussing the topic.

 

Speaking to GameSpot, Zeschuk explained, "The whole purpose of consoles is the set of requirements that you work against from a hardware perspective. To change that is complete lunacy." One of the theories behind the "PS4.5" is that it would be able to run games in ultra-HD, and possibly feature better integration with the upcoming PlayStation VR headset.

 

But as Zeschuk is trying to point out, variances in hardware, even a few, make things very difficult on the development side:

 

Quote

"I just think it's bad. I think, 'lock it' and let developers do their thing. But at the end of the day, if you can focus your development effort on one set of hardware requirements and target, you are going to get a better result. It's easier than having to split it, adding more people, having to port things across."

"It's like dipping your toe back into the PC pool where you have to consider all these things. It was nice on console not having to consider like performance sliders. But it's just crazy. I guess maybe [Microsoft and Sony] feel the need to."

 

It seems Microsoft won't be going down this path, however, as last week Microsoft's Xbox chief Phil Spencer stated that he wasn't "a big fan of Xbox One and a half," and if they were to move forward it would be with a brand-new console.

 

SourcE

 

 

[DKT27]

I kinda agree.

 

While better consoles are required to keep the technology going, doing such things like dual console versions will mean not only games will harder to make, but thinking as a PC gamer, them games will be harder to port too.

[CODYQX4]

Although running consoles for 10 years without a refresh leads to stagnation (see how shitty GTAO ran on PS3), turning them into PCs out of nowhere while calling them the same console gen causes fragmentation, which hasn't done well for the Android market.

 

If they churn a PS4.5 out next year, game devs will probably focus mostly on PS4.0 because that's where the numbers are leaving a shortage of games using the boost the 4.5 would get. You see next to no games using things like Kinect but then you have a half-step console upgrade? History says upgrades for consoles tend to fail, and if the game runs on the PS4 just minus VR if that game even has VR, then people have little incentive to upgrade.

 

This is probably why every game on N64 that needed that expansion pack sold with one in the box. Easier to get it in systems that way.

 

If this is happening, or perceived to happen, PS4 sales nosedive. I wouldn't want to buy a PS4/X1 if a major upgrade might just pop up. At best I'd buy the cheapest used one I could find then jump on the new one.