Next-gen consoles' graphics - What are your expectations?

[JEMC]

disolitude said:

HappySqurriel said:

JEMC said:

disolitude said:

JEMC said:

disolitude said:

 

It doesn't work like that in the eyes of the public.

I wish sony or MS have the balls to lose billions more, and make a 1000 dollar worth console, sell it for 599.

I want to see dual GTX580s. Someone call Asus and order them to mass manufacture MARS II cards pronto!!! :)

Don't forget to include a power generator with the console!

Small price to pay for so much power. Don't foget the lower heating bills in the winter...

How about this...Make the video card for the next gen consoles "upgradable"? Give everyone a console able to play all games butter smooth at 720p for $199. And then give the enthusiasts an option to upgrade the video card.

1080p gaming/3D - $150 more

3 monitor gaming - $300 more

Done!

While the idea of having upgradable consoles would be cool (it reminds me the 16 bits era with its expansion slots) that wouldn't work. Third parties would program their console games with 2 or 3 hardware configurations, just see what happens with PC games, only a few use the power of the new graphics cards.

It would take a lot of engineering to be successful with this, but it would still be possible to have upgradeable consoles where developers wouldn't have to make any specific configuration considerations (to some extent). If you based your GPU off of a processors in the Radeon 58xx line of graphics cards, told developers that the native resolution of games would be handled by the system (not their software), you could have 1 GPU render at 720p with 4xAA, 2 GPUs render at 1280x1080 with 8xAA, and 3 GPUs render at 1080p with 16xAA (or whatever).

In ways it is an appropriate approach because it allows users who don't (really) care about 1080p to get their system in an affordable package, while those who do care and are willing to pay for it can also get 1080p.

Sounds like music to my ears.

They really would only need single or double GPU configurations. And it could just be an add on. Video card in a box which you slide in, much like a hard drive, enabling crossfire/SLI. And it gives the console more juice to push pixels on the hardware level.

They can addres the power issues with separate adapter (double 6 pin lol) and could squeeze more money out of willing consumers for hardware and wouldn't need to lose money at launch.

I like the idea, but they could use it expand the life of the console. Say, just as an example, that you launch your console 1 or 2 years earlier than your competitors that has X graphics power but with an overpowered CPU. You get an install base, developers work using your hardware and after those 2 years the others launch their consoles that are twice as powerful as yours. What to do? Just announce the add-on that doubles your console's graphics power and puts it at the same level as the others, but with a lower price and an already established user base.

If only...