I read that the gpu was comparable to a 970 and for some reason mixed that up with the recent 1070. This seems more realistic now, though isn't that on the low end for 4k resolution? That's barebones minimum recommended specs for the Oculus.

Yes  but consoles also are know to fight above their weight class.

If they were to put  a 36CU Polaris GPU in the Neo/Scorpio and downclock them to say 1GHz, you will be able to eek out more performance form that than you would get with the same GPU in a PC clocked at 1.2Ghz. This is just an example though, but mostly holds true. 

Another thing is that engines are usually better optimized on consoles than their PC counterparts, kimda a must if you want your game to run on consoles while on PC they can just exoect the end user to throw more powah at the task. 

Sorry, but this whole thread reminds me of the episode of The Fresh Prince when Will and Carton tried to con Wayne Newton after Carton lost all their money and cashed in the plane tickets. A $600 dollar console is a $600 console. Are enough people willing to upgrade to be worth it when the next gen will be out within a few years? The only way this will work is if a generous upgrade discount is given. There's a huge difference between swapping out parts of a computer and buying a whole new console. Personally, I won't be upgrading my PS4 any time soon.

In my eyes, it sounds like MS is starting up another gen. It was inevitable. There's already talk from MS that devs could be free to make Scorpio only games if they wish. That's an indicator that X1 may not be the same priority anymore. The Neo sounds like the stop gap console. All PS4 games can work on it. sounds like it's made for the people that will stay in the PS4 ecosystem having invested in it. I could see the Scorpio tempting everyone else. Mainly those that don't own a PC.

It's not like any company is owed loyalty, so I can see some migration if Xbox does come out with the more powerful machine... at a decent price for the mass market of course.

I dont know about starting gens, with how things are in the industry there is only so much anyone can do. Neo/Scorpio will be based of AMDs polaris/vega architecture. Most likely polaris, on a 14nm process thats really the best we will see till 7/10nm comes along. Naturally AMD will find ways to cram in more and more shader cores into their GPUs while using the 14nm process but thats not really in the realm of consoles. So if aony and MS makes boxes next yesr using 14nm, they cant do anything even if they wanted to till 10nm comes along.

Typically, consoles get that 8 times boost cause between when they are released till when they are replaced there usually is at least 2 to 3 shrinks in fab processes. Each shrink usually symbolizing a 2-4 times boost in power. Now they seem to be making a new box for each available shrink.... hence why we have 4yr cycles instead of 8yr cycles.

The only downside I see for the Scorpio and Neo is that their games are hindered by the original hardware. The workaround for that would be what MS is doing by utilizing a dynamic optimization graphics setting. While this setting is used in Forza 6 to maintain a steady FPS. This will allow a game to adjust on the fly for best optimization regardless of the hardware. Hopefully Sony has the same plan in place.

When talking about games being hindered by original hardware, graphic settings is the least of anyones worries. All that dynamic optimization crap MS is saying is just them trying too bamboozle people. Dynamic optimation has been in use for a good while now. By pretty much eveeyone. Hell even wipeout HD on the PS3 used it. 

games being limited by hardware is really all dowm to memory and the power of a cpu. Yes the GPU is importsnt but poses less of a limiting factor as effects and assets can always be moderated or just turned off. But when you have cpu and/or memory bottlenecks then you are now talking about totally removing features. Fewer enemies, less AI, less objects....etc. Those kimda things can vomoletely alter what kinda game is made. 

But this is a moot point, i dare say that even though the game may run like shit, im yet to see a game thay would have been impossible to make on the PS3/360 that are on thr PS4/XB1. And those machines had 512MB of ram. We are veey very very very far from the day when the CPU and memory combo in the PS4/XB1 will mean there are games that simply can't  be made. 

These new consoles are more about 4k or ectra polished 1080p than anything else. There simply is nothing that their extra poeer would allow devs do that can't also run on the PS4/XB1 originals in some way. 

most likely a unified platform that merges their handheld and console.

Neo and Scorpio are definitly going to be high end items, and you are absolutly right. Thanks to the base PS4 and XBO, they can sell these high end consoles, and even sell them at a profit.

Sony and MS are building ecosystems around x86 to rival Apple and Googles ARM based ecosystems. I highly doubt that they are going to stop at the consoles either. Over the next few years, I expect we will see Xbox and PlayStation tablets and phones that run the entire library of apps and games on these systems as well. Again, thanks to the userbases obtained by PS4/Neo and XBO/Scorpio, these devices will also be able to be sold at profit, and not have to start off lighting the world on fire.

It seems Sony and MS are both doing a good job of creating a low sales, but profitable platforms, that will get cheap, and begin to grow rapidly over time. I ecpect that this business model is going to do great things for both companies, and would highly recommend investing in both companies ASAP.

Hence the Xperia X by Sony and Microsoft and the "Surface Phone" rumors ( I would have to ask Kowen-Sense on that one) that are rolling out or may roll out. 

KBG-San... I believe that we had discussed Sony expanding their PSNow ecosystem into more platforms a while back minutely. I now understand that iterative hardware for both Sony and Microsoft seems to be the future.