New PS4.5 in the works?

[swilli89]

That's just not how Nintendo works.

Any maybe just maybe they are trying to change it? Nintendo 64 had the most powerful hardware and great 3rd party support.

 

[sze5003]

I just got a PS4 and don't feel slighted in the least. Technology marches on. I get it. If it made my current games obsolete, I'd be upset, but I lose noting in this scenario (as it's currently being understood at least).

If/when they come out with this new PS4.5 I assure you it will sell like crazy.

I'm sure it will sell I just hope they have some deals for an upgrade trade in or something. I may actually have a 4k by then.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I will upgrade if:
1) There is an easy upgrade path
2) I can sell my old PS4 and get the new one for about $150 out of pocket at most. $200 might be a stretch
3) THIS: Load times greatly improved. I don't care how they do it. Use system memory to cache, faster hard drive, better bus to MB bandwidth. Whatever. But this is the killer feature that I will pay for!
4) I can play new games with "old" image quality because quite frankly, I don't see improved graphics as a feature. Better AI, sure. More pixels? NO!

 

[sze5003]

I will upgrade if:
1) There is an easy upgrade path
2) I can sell my old PS4 and get the new one for about $150 out of pocket at most. $200 might be a stretch
3) THIS: Load times greatly improved. I don't care how they do it. Use system memory to cache, faster hard drive, better bus to MB bandwidth. Whatever. But this is the killer feature that I will pay for!
4) I can play new games with "old" image quality because quite frankly, I don't see improved graphics as a feature. Better AI, sure. More pixels? NO!

In addition to this, hopefully the ps4 hard drive works with the new system. So we could just swap it out and not have to reinstall everything.

 

[purbeast0]

you'd rather play a game in 720p than 1080p all other things equal?

okay....

 

[poofyhairguy]

People get updated $800 phones every 6 months and barely blink.
Updated 3 year old console and it's the end of the world?

I keep seeing this point and it doesn't apply.

Phone carriers were offering subsidies for phones. That is why people upgraded every two years, it wasn't a $800 phone it was a $200 phone that was maybe "free" if you traded in the old one.

Unless Sony is going to sell a console for "$199 plus two years PSN contract" the comparison is completely off.

 

[Anubis]

TBH you are missing all of the point

we the 1% or 0.1% who pay attention to this might care

the general idiot masses will not care and prob wont even fing notice and they will not feel slighted

I own 2 PS4s and 3 PS3s

I will get the new one and wont blink an eye thinking about it

also people who get phones more often then yearly are paying full price so the point definitely applies

 

[Homerboy]

TBH you are missing all of the point

we the 1% or 0.1% who pay attention to this might care

the general idiot masses will not care and prob wont even fing notice and they will not feel slighted

I own 2 PS4s and 3 PS3s

I will get the new one and wont blink an eye thinking about it

also people who get phones more often then yearly are paying full price so the point definitely applies

^^
This

AT can rarely think in the real-world.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

you'd rather play a game in 720p than 1080p all other things equal?

okay....

I'd do 1080 but not if they force me to use upgraded raster packs.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

TBH you are missing all of the point

we the 1% or 0.1% who pay attention to this might care

the general idiot masses will not care and prob wont even fing notice and they will not feel slighted

I own 2 PS4s and 3 PS3s

I will get the new one and wont blink an eye thinking about it

also people who get phones more often then yearly are paying full price so the point definitely applies

Meh, phone enthusiasts and console enthusiasts. That's yet another beat of it's own. People that don't think beyond the fact that they have $400 to their name when the new console or phone comes out need not apply. The average person though does think about what something costs and what their savings look like.

 

[poofyhairguy]

also people who get phones more often then yearly are paying full price so the point definitely applies

They are paying full price but it's financed over time (usually with no or little interest) through their cellphone bill. That is what all those "Next" plans are that are allow you to upgrade every six months. Very very very few people are paying the full cost for a phone the day they go buy it.

If Sony is also rolling out a financing plan (with pretty much no interest) to allow people to spread the new console cost over time then it's the same thing. I haven't seen anything about Sony financing though, which makes any comparison between consumer smartphone behavior and console purchasing much like Apples and Oranges.

 

[Fulle]

I said earlier in the thread that I think it's unlikely that a PS4 revision would have hardware upgrades that improve game performance, but I'll play the devil's advocate here and say that I would welcome that change.

With the PS4 and XBO's current design, there's no reason that we couldn't see this as the start of the end of console generations. Every 3 years a revised, slightly upgraded model can be released, keeping backwards compatibility with all your old games, and you're just bought into the ecosystem, similar to Andriod or IOS.

It opens up options for gamers, so that a person with 200 dollars to burn on a system, might be able to get a PS4, while someone with 350 dollars can buy a PS4 4k (or whatever they want to call it). The person who bought the more expensive hardware gets a few more features (4K Bluray?) and a little more gaming performance, but the person who had less money can still enjoy games from the same ecosystem, and game with his buddy who had more money for hardware.

3 years is a long time in computer hardware years.... but 7 years feels like an eternity. Its no fun for me personally, when I see a problem like, say, the XBO and PS4 being heavily bottlenecked by the Jaguar CPU core performance, and thinking in terms of a 6-8 year console gen. I think it will be better for everyone, if Microsoft and Sony both adopt a 3 year refresh cycle, where backwards compatibility is retained on their platforms from XBO/PS4 forward.

I suppose there's the argument of devs going for the lowest common denominator, but we've had diminishing returns on hardware for a while. I don't think that a 3 year refresh cycle will impact things like level design very much. Better hardware is mostly just going to impact things like FPS, Resolution, and load times....

So, for me.... fingers crossed they'll put some better CPU cores in there! Although, I'm not getting my hopes up quite yet.

 

[Anubis]

BTW the "next" plan costs users more vs just buying phones outright its a total ripoff masked as a savings

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

BTW the "next" plan costs users more vs just buying phones outright its a total ripoff masked as a savings

not to threadjack but can you go into detail on this? I have a hard time understanding the Next thing. I am currently financing one of our family's phones with it.

edit: also there's an option to buyout at any time so maybe i should just do that? I can easily afford it.

 

[Fulle]

not to threadjack but can you go into detail on this? I have a hard time understanding the Next thing. I am currently financing one of our family's phones with it.

edit: also there's an option to buyout at any time so maybe i should just do that? I can easily afford it.

It's like T Mobile Jump. When you finance a phone, you have the option to give the phone back halfway through the installment payments, to avoid having to pay the other half of the phone cost in future payments.

Its actually not a terrible idea for someone who upgrades phones yearly. If you were to sell a lot of 1 year old phones on Swappa, as an example, you often would get less than half of the phone's original MSRP on the sale. It takes a lot of the hassle out of the situation too, if you're the type that sells your old phone, when you buy a new one annually.

Some people like to keep their old phones, or keep their phones for more than 1 year.... but those are not the individuals who are targeted by these programs. These options are for people who upgrade yearly, and do not keep their old phones.

 

[Anubis]

just google it, its easier then having me explain it

but basically if you break down the math over the term period it comes out to more total just less upfront

there are a cpl very specific cases where it works out in your favor but in general they are all a bad idea and just punish people who cant do math

 

[iluvdeal]

I just got a PS4 and don't feel slighted in the least. Technology marches on. I get it. If it made my current games obsolete, I'd be upset, but I lose noting in this scenario (as it's currently being understood at least). I'm guessing there will be a "discount to upgrade" too - a trade in program, selling your PS4 yourself etc etc. Nobody said the PS4 needs to be thrown in the garbage.

If/when they come out with this new PS4.5 I assure you it will sell like crazy.

I expect they'll still continue to manufacture and sell the PS4 as the standard model for $100 less than the deluxe model PS4.5. Given the two options, I think PS4 sales will exceed PS4.5 as while many on AT are hardware geeks who obsess over specs, I think casual gamers and parents buying for their kids will just choose the less expensive option, heck most people still don't own 4k TVs.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

not to threadjack but can you go into detail on this? I have a hard time understanding the Next thing. I am currently financing one of our family's phones with it.

edit: also there's an option to buyout at any time so maybe i should just do that? I can easily afford it.

Any time you "buy" a phone with a plan attached you are overpaying.

I pay $90 for service on 3 phones. I paid $800 for the 3 phones. . Do the math vs your plan.

 

[Lil Frier]

People get updated $800 phones every 6 months and barely blink.
Updated 3 year old console and it's the end of the world?

Very different scenarios. For starters, only those in the media and the super enthusiasts get a phone every 6 months. Even 12 months is still atypical. Oh, and then there's the part where $800 is not the average cost of a smartphone, as many are getting them in the $300-600 range. So, the whole thing you said is loaded with hyperbole.

Beyond those extreme numbers, the prices end up much different. If I go get a PS4 today, it's $350. I pay that $350, and that's the end of it. I own it, I live with it. If a PS4.5 comes out later, and I want that, I can maybe get $150 out of that PS4 and eat $200. That's for what might be 6 months of use, though I'll concede that this would have had about a 12-month shelf life, since the PS4 initially went to $350 about 6 months back. I then have to pay probably $500 for the new console, but I'll be nice and call it $400. So, in that one-year gap from console to console, I'll have put up about $600 to get to the newer version of a specialized gaming device.

What I've ACTUALLY done is gotten a new phone recently. I got a Lumia 950 for $600 on AT&T Next. After 12 months, I can trade that phone in for another. At that trade-in time, I will give up the phone, and will have paid $360 for it. I can then get another phone at that time, and start paying it off. So, 12 months in, I'll have paid $360 and gotten a newer device that will be something I use for calls, texts, games, and all kinds of other stuff--and I'll have that functionality everywhere I go, as opposed to having the specialized device staying in my home.

Basically, you have the specialized device that will run you $400 annually to upgrade, where as the all-in-one device that is portable (and doesn't require $60 software and $50 subscriptions) costing $360 each year. There's also the matter of compounding annualized costs. I'm now spending $750+ per-year to get better hardware, rather than the $360 of before. Sure, I can opt to not upgrade my console, but the second we run into obsolete hardware after 2 years (developers like the easier side of consoles, so I highly doubt we see them wanting to support 3-5 different models) and losing out on games, it's a nightmare.

That would assume an annual cycle, which seems unlikely. If console shelf lives dropped from 6 years to 3, it's not the end of the world. Still, I'd rather pay $500 every 6 years than $350 every 3 years.

By the way, that's why I don't dabble in Netflix or Spotify or any of that crap. Paying $10/month per-service to not even own the content I'm paying for? I hate it. All of that stuff--and throw in LIVE, PSN+, Prime, and whatever else you use--it has gotten out of hand. It seems like over the years, we've gotten nothing extra out of the economic exchange, but we're paying more and more.

 

[Ackmed]

Ah no, not at all. If the PS4 Neo's additional power is used to render the same games at 4k, and the PS4 continues to run at 1080p at the exact same quality settings, then how is that "new games will run worse and look worse"? The users will continue to get the same quality that they already paid for. Zero problems here. It's not Sony's fault people are so materialistic that they get upset about not having the best three years after release.




You're making a whole lotta assumptions here. You outlined a situation where consumers are dumb and ill-informed; that's not Sony's fault at all. Also you have no idea what performance targets or quality targets they are shooting for in PS4 Neo. All signs point to the additional hardware being used for 4k rendering (which people with 1080P TV's wouldn't need anyways, and VR).



So you are the ultimate consumer advocate huh? You made like 8 assumptions in this one blurb alone. Do you have any research of facts to back any of that up?

And to highlight the bolded text, that's nowhere near reality and why people choose the platforms they choose. If someone wants to relax on the couch with a controller in hand and not worry about RAM, power supply, Windows installs and update and the million other things related to PC, then they choose a console. Three years is plenty of time for a console to sit at the same performance level before an update is released that does NOT break compatibility.


One final time, this is NOT aimed at people with 1080P televisions. Neo games will not look way better or run way better at that setting, this is targeted at gamers who haven't bought in yet due to lack of 4k, or gamers that are currently gaming on 4k but have the money to upgrade.

Well put. People making uninformed assumptions acting like they are facts.

I will buy a new PS4 no problems. They ddin't lie about the performance of the PS4, games will still play the same on it. Give people an option and other people bitch. Pretty sad.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Phones don't count. The majority would NEVER spend $400-600 every 6 months to a year for a phone. They only do because of subsidization and it hurts the wallet less. It still baffles me why people pay so much for a phone that they only check facebook on, take selfies on and play candycrush or angry birds then brag about having the newest one, but scoff at the price of a PC or laptop.

You are getting into PC excuse territory really. Given everything, you may as well buy one, because it's going to be cheaper in the long run and do more from the beginning than any 1-2 year console 'upgrade'. The games aren't really becoming more advanced, they are just getting prettier.

 

[sze5003]

Phones don't count. The majority would NEVER spend $400-600 every 6 months to a year for a phone. They only do because of subsidization and it hurts the wallet less. It still baffles me why people pay so much for a phone that they only check facebook on, take selfies on and play candycrush or angry birds then brag about having the newest one, but scoff at the price of a PC or laptop.

You are getting into PC excuse territory really. Given everything, you may as well buy one, because it's going to be cheaper in the long run and do more from the beginning than any 1-2 year console 'upgrade'. The games aren't really becoming more advanced, they are just getting prettier.

The more techy type people will go to upgrading their PC's over time if this is going to be a 2 year cycle thing.

I always buy my phones out right. If it's a phone I feel is worth the full $5-600, I'll buy it and use it for a year or a year and a half or sometimes more if nothing else interesting comes out.

I've never had a problem selling mine as I keep them in excellent condition.

There is always buying used too so you can get that same phone for $100 less or so than retail on swappa if it's still new.

I just want to hear they will offer some type of trade it for the new system. I like to have the new tech but in this case only if I can get something for the current system as it's not a big must have for me.

 

[cmdrdredd]

The PS4 was going to lose the "premium feel" anyway when the NX releases.
A new Nintendo console with their usual strong 1st party line-up, real 3rd party support and more powerful hardware could be a major issue for Sony/MS. This is a perfectly logical move.

The NX is barely as powerful as the XB1 according to rumors I read, so how does that work? Not to mention Nintendo's hostility toward 3rd party developers (which is the reason they all left in the first place) and their lack of a real online network will still hinder them.

Phones don't count. The majority would NEVER spend $400-600 every 6 months to a year for a phone. They only do because of subsidization and it hurts the wallet less. It still baffles me why people pay so much for a phone that they only check facebook on, take selfies on and play candycrush or angry birds then brag about having the newest one, but scoff at the price of a PC or laptop.

You are getting into PC excuse territory really. Given everything, you may as well buy one, because it's going to be cheaper in the long run and do more from the beginning than any 1-2 year console 'upgrade'. The games aren't really becoming more advanced, they are just getting prettier.

Yeah pretty much, I know a lot of people on other forums are beginning plans to build a PC or find someone to help them build one. If they are going to be upgrading constantly(every few years), they might as well go PC and be above the consoles from the start and remain above them for longer. Maybe miss out on a few exclusives but I personally feel the exclusives haven't been worthy of the ~$400 console. Some of you may disagree with that, but it's how I feel and I've seen similar sentiments from others elsewhere. Most of the best games that weren't remakes were not exclusive to one platform so they could play those titles on PC or Xbox if they wanted.

 

[Subyman]

I'm not sure why this "6-month" buy cycle keeps being thrown around. I don't know anyone that "upgrades" anything that quickly other than their hair cut.

This is a 3 year upgrade and it is needed IMO. I bought a launch PS4 and haven't gotten much use out of it other than Destiny. You can still play any game that comes out, so nothing is changing for those that don't want to upgrade. There will be a better option for those that want to upgrade or haven't jumped in yet.

It is about time for a redesign if you look at previous generations. The 360 added an HDMI port around the 3 year mark and the PS3 did the slim design. Sony has opted to upgrade the actual hardware too, which is a good idea so they can continue to command the full $399.

I'd consider upgrading if they offered a decent upgrade path. No way am I dropping $399 on one, but if I could trade in mine for a decent price then I may. FWIW, you can get a little over $200 right now for Amazon trade in so that is half your price. That will definitely go down in the future.

 

[sze5003]

I'm not sure why this "6-month" buy cycle keeps being thrown around. I don't know anyone that "upgrades" anything that quickly other than their hair cut.

This is a 3 year upgrade and it is needed IMO. I bought a launch PS4 and haven't gotten much use out of it other than Destiny. You can still play any game that comes out, so nothing is changing for those that don't want to upgrade. There will be a better option for those that want to upgrade or haven't jumped in yet.

It is about time for a redesign if you look at previous generations. The 360 added an HDMI port around the 3 year mark and the PS3 did the slim design. Sony has opted to upgrade the actual hardware too, which is a good idea so they can continue to command the full $399.

I'd consider upgrading if they offered a decent upgrade path. No way am I dropping $399 on one, but if I could trade in mine for a decent price then I may. FWIW, you can get a little over $200 right now for Amazon trade in so that is half your price. That will definitely go down in the future.

My plan to upgrade is the same as yours but by the time this system will be out the ps4 won't be worth much.