How powerful should Nex-Box and PS4 be?

[Joelcool7]

zarx said:

Joelcool7 said:

naimisharanya said:
I'm sorry, but I think you fail for putting the highest option as 100% more powerful than PS3. Especially that you say ''heavy price tag'' next to it.

It wouldn't be very expensive to produce a machine several times more powerful than the PS3 and 360 combined. If Wii U is as 'powerful' as you suggest in the OP then I would even say that it wouldn't be very expensive to produce a machine several times more powerful than the PS3, 360 and Wii U combined.

I however think that the Wii U will be quite a bit more powerful than you are suggesting there. Maybe 3-5x as powerful as PS3.

'Powerful' not being a very definable word of course.

Umm considering many still consider the PS3 to be capable of competing with current PC technology. Then I can't see WiiU or any console being more then 100% more powerful then PS3 especially if they are to be released by 2013 as many are suggesting. Though I admit I should have gone higher in the poll.

Current gaming PC's aren't even 100% more powerful then PS3 to my knowledge. Look at the best and most power driven game for PC released to date BattleField3, that is not 100% more powerful then PS3 infact I doubt its even 50% more powerful then PS3. I doubt you could release a 100% more powerful system even in 2014.

Now I'm not a PC expert, but I know that developers are saying WiiU is 50% more powerful then PS3. EA said that WiiU could handle BattleField3 which is state of the art releasing this winter. I can't see how a console could be 50% more powerful then that by 2013? And 100% released anytime soon would be radiculously more expensive then WiiU!

High end PCs are already up to 8 times or more than the PS3, the reason that games don't look it is for many reasons. 

First many of the ways that high end PCs power is used is not readaly aparent in screen shots or low res videos at 24fps. Where as games like Uncharted 3, Battlefield 3 and Gears of war 3 are running at 720p 30fps many PC gamers will be running Battlefeild 3 at resolutions in exess of 1080p at ~60fps with higher resolution textures, better lighting, more complex geometry, more particles, better effects like depth of feild and motion blur, more anti-aliasing and longer draw distances than consoles. Some PC gamers have also taken to using multiple monitors of up to 1080p or even higher, look at this for example http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?&m=833917&mpage=1 and notice the resolution of 7920x1600 that is almost 14 times as may pixels as the console versions are rendering. 

Seccond consoles fixed hardware allows developers to specifically optimize games to utalise the hardware's strengths while avoiding their weaknesses, this means games can look and run much better on weaker hardware, compaired to the PC where there is a vast veriaty of different hardware so optomisations have to be more general. 

Third because of the wide veriaty of hardware that can be in PCs to maintain compatability with lots of different software APIs like direct x have to be used as a sort of interpreter between the software and the hardware this creates a certain amount of a "delay" in communication which means that you need roughly 50-100% (number pulled out of my arse) more powerful hardware to get the same reaults.

 

Also compair thse 2 Just Cause 2 screens one is console the other is high end PC see if you can tell the difference 

http://image.jeuxvideo.com/images/x3/j/u/just-cause-2-xbox-360-011.jpg

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/5273/justcause22010062918462.jpg

You mention many times higher resolutions then 1080p but most people don't have higher resolution TV's. Also those images to be honest the PC pic is pretty small and comparing the two is difficult. I'd actually say the 360 version looked better. But as I said the image was to small to make a direct comparison. I'm sure the PC is better looking.

You make many good points as to why the consoles shouldn't be 8x the power of PS3. Why if you can make a game on a console say 100% more powerful then PS3 look as good as a state of the art PC game, would you care to invest heavy amounts of cash in producing hardware that developers won't use?

This isn't like the jump from X-Box to PS3, you can't push the limits as far. Even if the technology existed to make a console 8x the power of PS3. Developers and consumers wouldn't buy it. Infact since WiiU is the only console using multiple screens and the average high end TV is 1080p why would any of the manufacturers need a console more powerful then 100%.

You gave several reasons why console manufacturer's shouldn't go all out rather then reasons they should.