The PS4.5 or PS4k is real (and this pisses me off)

[SentaiBrad]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f1xmoz99tU I have a PS4 now and while I don't care for the 4k resolution (the video explains how this is technically impossible to render 4k natively on the PS4 even on the new version anyways) I was sort of upset having to buy a New 3DS for the same reason, except that the New 3DS is $200, not $400. If it means that all existing games will get increased texture sizes, increased draw distances, lower load times and especially a faster wireless and Ethernet connection (it is seriously abysmal to download something at a 4th or lower of your total download speed) then yea sadly I'll be on board. This will also probably help PlayStation VR in the long run. However I buy consoles for stability in hardware and cost associated with it (except for PSVR, obviously that's different). I was barely able to get a new GPU for my PC let alone build the new PC I need because my Motherboard is outdated so my 7 year old i7 930 is the max cpu I can get. I am angered but of course I am going to have to get this... it just severely sucks. My wife and I make ok money for where we live, we have low costs. However, we need to buy a new car, we need to pay off a card, we want to move... so maybe I'm just mad because my financial situation sucks rather than Sony trying to advance their tech... but it still angers me. X_X

[Lordmonkus]

Yeah the 4K talk is pure bullshit, upscaling is not 4K no matter how much they claim it is. It definitely is gonna need this power for the Sony VR because it's gonna need to be running at an absolute minimum 60 fps and even then its very iffy. The Oculus Rift wants games running at 90 fps. I would be very skeptical about current games getting a texture and draw distance upgrade without a major patch since the games were not designed for that scalability, but running games at 1080 res and 60 fps will be very good. Texture upgrades would be possible but I wouldn't count on it considering upgrading textures would in turn murder the frame rate needed for VR if the current games are planning on running in the VR. It is very shitty of Sony to be making a PS 4.5 when people just invested in the PS 4. I am not a true console person at all, hell I just bought a PS3 last year that's how far behind the console curve I am nowadays. There was a time when I bought them day one, Saturn, Daytona and 2nd controller for 700$ Canadian. I am glad I held off on a PS 4 though, I do want one for Final Fantasy XV.

[SentaiBrad]

I'm still probably going to update, and yea I assume some devs would publish patches to detect PS4.5 and in turn utilize the better GPU, why wouldn't you. But yea, now they need to factor in that scale-ability where they didn't need to before. Textures, draw distance, frame rate etc is what I think the native benefit can be (or patched benefit) could be for regular games. The PSVR already ships with a small box to help the PS4 off-load rendering to the VR unit which probably helps in frame rates. They tout it to be 90 and 120, so. The PS4.5 will probably just ensure more stability and and longevity when compared to the competition but I didn't look at PSVR in that same light. I know they can't compete on power because that is never the point anymore (or it shouldn't be) when comparing PC to Consoles. Also, don't let the story fool you, Microsoft wants to do the same exact thing, so it's not just Sony. I only thing this is a bad idea because of my wallet, but if we made more money or I was just rich you're damn right I would just buy the new 4.5 day one. I am also concerned about my HDD. I have an expanded 3.5" drive in my PS4, 4TB's... or 3TB's I can't remember. I hope (when or if we do get that 4.5) that I will be able to transplant that drive in.

[Lordmonkus]

Oh I know Microsoft wants to do the same thing, there are desperate to catch up power wise. Sony, MS and Nintendo better watch themselves though. Market over saturation and customer confusion is what caused the video game crash in the early 80s. This could be leading the way for a 2nd video game crash, people do not buy consoles to be upgrading them every 3 - 4 years.

[SentaiBrad]

I highly doubt it will cause a crash honestly. I am just wondering if Sony is shooting them selves in the Foot. The PS4 is outpacing PS2 sales, that's insane! It could be part of the issue that Nintendo had with the Wii U though, brand confusion. Most users didn't carry over because of their blue ocean strategy and people thought the Tablet was just an add-on to the Wii. So... it could have bad effects, but I the video game crash was way more severe. Video Games were in their infancy, looked at as for children and had swathes of horrible games. Games cost more back then because of inflation and were horrible! Gaming is more cemented now, it's not just looked at as a toy for kids anymore (which is ironically what saved gaming in the first place because Nintendo called the NES a toy and not a game console so retailers would carry it) and it is in the public consciousness. I highly doubt we could see a crash, but if this thing cost a ton in R&D and not a lot of people buy it, it could be bad for Sony's financials. They finally are turning a profit again in a long time mostly because of their PlayStation division.

[Lordmonkus]

It all depends, a crash is possible because of too many systems in too short of a time frame, too many buggy, dlc laden games with pay to win structures. If the new consoles go full digital like some people are predicting that could turn a lot of people off as well. If it gets bad enough it will turn people off for a few years and 1 or 2 manufacturers could drop out of the game business. That doesn't mean games would go away, it just means a major down turn for the industry just like back in the 80s. The crash hit in like 82 and was back up and running with the NES in 85 but there were still games coming between then. We just saw a weeding out of the shit game makers and the Coleco and Intellivision. It certainly wouldn't be as bad of a crash because the PC market and the god awful mobile market would easily survive but seeing one or two of the big 3 console companies getting out would be a possibility. Microsoft could easily abandon the games industry and focus on the PC side of things because MS is like an ADD monkey at times. If Nintendos new NX fails as bad as the WiiU you could see them drop out. They just need to watch themselves, the games industry is already trying to milk the same cow over and over with season passes, cut up dlc and unfinished buggy games. Too much more and people will get turned off for a little while at least.

[CadetStimpy]

I didn't buy the original PS3; I waited for the Slim (even though I didn't know there'd be one, at first ). That was my plan for the PS4 (I assumed there'd be one eventually), as well, and since I apparently have till the end of the year to save up for it, I thinkin' I can make it, as I only need to save $40/mo. Might have to cut my Mac&Cheese portions in half for a while, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. (If they never made a PS4.5, guess I'd be waitin' for the PS5). I wouldn't be surprised if this became a trend in Consoles. I wish they'd develop some sort of "future port", where you could unplug some older board and plug-in the new and improved hardware, instead of buying a whole new Console. But since that would likely reduce profits, I don't see it happening. P.S. Sounds as if they're goin' with AMD. I'm glad, 'cause now they'll have more money to work on their Zen CPU.

[SentaiBrad]

Cadet Stimpy said I didn't buy the original PS3; I waited for the Slim (even though I didn't know there'd be one, at first ). That was my plan for the PS4 (I assumed there'd be one eventually), as well, and since I apparently have till the end of the year to save up for it, I thinkin' I can make it, as I only need to save $40/mo. Might have to cut my Mac&Cheese portions in half for a while, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. (If they never made a PS4.5, guess I'd be waitin' for the PS5). I wouldn't be surprised if this became a trend in Consoles. I wish they'd develop some sort of "future port", where you could unplug some older board and plug-in the new and improved hardware, instead of buying a whole new Console. But since that would likely reduce profits, I don't see it happening. P.S. Sounds as if they're goin' with AMD. I'm glad, 'cause now they'll have more money to work on their Zen CPU.

Company allegiances aside, they went with AMD for it being cheaper per console and I can certainly respect them needing to make capital to invest in the OS Software and the games software (part of the reason why It's so damn awesome that at $400 Sony is making a profit on PSVR). The argument is you get what you pay for though. Either way, they make their cards their bitch so to speak. It's not like a PC, it's locked hardware and locked software so they can squeeze every bit out of the internals. If it was Nvidia it would be the same difference, so that's part of the reason I still love consoles even knowing they have AMD GPU's and CPU's... well APU's now apparently. We'll still probably get one, but the Nintendo NX is next on our list for console hardware we don't own, then it'll be a toss up between PS4k / 4.5 or Xbox One. It is ironic, Consoles used to have tons of ports and was criticized why they never used them. They were used more primarily in Japan but even in America we got like the Game Boy Advance Player for the GameCube, the PS2 LAN Adapter and the 4mb RAM Expansion on the N64. I wouldn't be surprised if Sony tries to do some upgrade cycle or if maybe Game Stop tries to do that. I doubt we would go for it, I mean as long as we can take the 3.5" hard drive out of our current PS4 and put back in it's 2.5" drive, then the 3.5" transfers over without a hitch it'd be less of a headache, but I don't know if it will. The Nyko HDD Bank that we're using could potentially not fit if they change the design specs.

[CadetStimpy]

SentaiBrad said I have a PS4 now... I'm still probably going to update

I had researched this months ago and couldn't find squat, so thanks for this news, Brad.

SentaiBrad said ...need to buy a new car

New Car??? Take the bus - you need that PS4.5!

[SentaiBrad]

Cadet Stimpy said

SentaiBrad said I have a PS4 now... I'm still probably going to update

I had researched this months ago and couldn't find squat, so thanks for this news, Brad.

SentaiBrad said ...need to buy a new car

New Car??? Take the bus - you need that PS4.5!

The bus actually isn't viable. If it even shows up, which it doesn't half the time for where we live, it would take an hour and a half for her to get to work with the Bus, and it doesn't run when she normally gets off work which is about 10PM to midnight. xD So yea... Also what's news? That we have a PS4 or that despite being mad at this I'll still upgrade after I am done being an adult for the year? :P Unless I can start making headway on my game and then am able to sell it and people buy it, we win the lottery or YouTube suddenly takes off, we'll need a money miracle.

[CadetStimpy]

SentaiBrad said Games cost more back then because of inflation and were horrible!

Yup, the first Console I owned was the Intellivision (I skipped the Atari 2600, as enough friends had 'em ), and I remember at their peak, some games costing $30! That's sort of insane, considering how puny the games were (well, relative to now), but back then, they could sell some of 'em that high. I remember the first game I saw at that price (and thinking, "Holy Crap!"). It was MicroSurgeon! (Loosely based on the movie Fantastic Voyage, with the then, 26-year-old Rachel Welch. I was 15, so that 'role-casting' was workin' for me. )

[SentaiBrad]

Sexy woman sells to young men! xD $30, must have been right before or during the crash because before the crash then after the resurgence games we're easily $50-$90 even up to the N64. I remember Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time costing us (and by us I mean my dad) something like $75-$80 brand new when it first came out, so that was 1998? It wasn't until discs that games became severely cheaper.

[CadetStimpy]

Wow! Personally, I don't recall seeing a game over $60, but even that is 'highway robbery'! Ya, when 3 games cost more than your Console, somethin' isn't right.

[SentaiBrad]

Renting was super popular for a reason, I know I rented a whole hell of a lot. Not all games were that expensive, it depends on the cart. Back then space was a premium, that's why It was discs that severely dropped the price.

[CadetStimpy]

These days the picture on the box looks like the game-play, but not so much in the 80's.

[DOS76]

Yeah having images that looked like the game play on the box back then would have been a terrible marketing decision. Some pretty artwork would definitely sell it better than 8bit graphics.

[Lordmonkus]

Most game boxes had screen shots on the back of box back in the 80s, even the Atari 2600 had them. Only the really low budget game companies didn't put screen shots on the back. Game prices are starting to creep back up there. I'm noticing some of the newer games are 80$ Canadian, not as bad as it was back in the SNES days when Final Fantasy 3 was 105$ Canadian. What makes todays 80$ price tag so awful is that it's same price for the digital download and for that price they can cram it up their ass, I will wait for a Steam sale or just go buy a physical (if it exists).

[SentaiBrad]

Well games are more expensive to make, so they just realistically take a bigger cut of the digital sale. Granted, I do think a digital sale should be slightly cheaper than a retail sale, less people to pay, but at the end of the day games are more expensive to make. Right now Candada has a huge problem with their dollar, hence the higher prices. They didn't raise here in the states. A game is still $60 besides optional DLC. Really, Optional DLC is the reason game prices haven't risen (save for Canada's inflation). A lot of conspiracy goes in to developers holding back parts of the game for DLC when in reality a small few do this. There will always be people trying to cut corners, but for the most part that is not a common practice at all. In some cases I am glad to pay for it, like Fallout 4. I got that for 25% off before launch and same with the Season Pass on PC like 2 months before release. xD

[CadetStimpy]

Sony executive confirms PlayStation 4.5 (code-named 'Neo' (Neo? One of my all-time favs: Subway Showdown scene in The Matrix!)) exists, but won't be at E3. (Click here for more)