My thoughts, after seeing the PS4 Pro, and the probable reality of the Scorpio, are that these mid-gen consoles are counterproductive. There will be more time trying to balance games between the basic and enhanced game modes, problems have already emerged in weird and bizarre ways, marketing is strange, there are arbitrary elements kept in place design-wise that artificially limit what a real generation change could be, etc.

Both Sony and Microsoft more than showed that GOOD developers could get adequate to outstanding results at 900p to 1080p on the 2013 models.

IMHO, they should have ridden out the 8th gen until ~2018-2019, and then launch a full generation leap.

By waiting, the power leap DEFINITELY could have allowed for reasonable 4K performance AND still be fully BC.

In other words : PS5 and Xbox 9th gen games are for those systems only, and don't have to be hobbled to old/weak 8th gen base hardware in scale and settings.

Hell, limiting MP to 30fps will be a hideous mark of this error moving forward, particularly with the Scorpio, just to maintain parity with hardware that will be 4 years old at that time.

The slims, fine, yeah die-shrink, price cut, increase profits, and extend the gen. All fine. With extremely mature dev tools, they could have definitely squeezed out a couple-three more years out of base gen8 before leapfrogging in a big way.

These half-gen consoles also potentially cripple a gen9 release as well, because people investing in gen8/gen8+ consoles in the latter years of this gen will be hesitant to turn right around and buy yet another console so soon.

It's greedy, it's stupid, and it defies the simplicity and economic model of console generations. What say you?

Keep seeing comments about how mid-gen upgrades are the future of consoles. I find it comical.

It's like people have forgot about the Sega Mega CD, 32X, Saturn, Dreamcast disaster.

The 4K fetish seems like FMV all over again.

I don't care. Sony Will probably release a PS5 in like 3-4 years so this is for those that have a 4K TV and want more power. MS are unifying PC with Xbox and are done with generations so the Scorpio seems like a console that can run PC versions of XBox games with 4K and VR while the XB1 will still be getting support along side it. I could see them launching another upgrade 5 years after and then cut support for OG Xbox and XB1S and support Scorpio/Scorpio 2. I don't really mind because they share the same games overall but give that extra juice so they look and run better.

Agreed LOL :)

SEWER SHARKS!

I dont care for 4k support, but having those refreshed consoles is going to prolong this gen's life. And im perfectly fine with that.

I don't think Xbox will have another Generation.
What benefits do you get from starting a new Generation? Except the fact you lose your entire library and start rebuying the same games all over again for the new gen.
You know what makes PC gaming so good? Because it doesn't suffer from New Gen syndrome every 5+ years.

Did you read the OP? A full new generation could easily still be full BC by staying with X86 and a superior performance leap.

The benefits would be not having to having to dev the games based on the lowest common denominator of 2013 consoles with horrendous CPU performance.

Better AI, more ambitious world design, etc. And perhaps most importantly, not having to hobble MP to the old standards. New consoles capable of running highly detailed 60fps multiplayer will be artificially capped to 30fps in many cases due to MP parity.

There are already problems displayed with Battlefield 1 as an equal playing ground because the PS4 Pro gives players higher average frame rate and far better distance viewing than those playing on OG PS4.

Keeping the lowest common demoninator to 2013 OG consoles is going to limit the potential of games as long as no true PS4P/X1Scorpio titles are created. All you'll get will be better graphics, AI and game scale will be crippled.

As a PS4 Pro owner (with a 4K HDR TV), I really think Sony dropped the ball with this iteration of the console.

The 'Pro' enabled games that I've played for the most part have been underwhelming.

I think instead of targeting 1800/2160p resolutions with 30 FPS (sometimes lower) frame rates, they should have focused it as a machine to run games at a rock solid 1080p/60FPS with higher resolutions on less demanding titles when appropriate.

The Last of Us, for example, gives me 2 options: 4K 25-30FPS or 1080p/50-60FPS. On my vanilla PS4 I could play that game at 1080p/60FPS flawlessly!?

To me it seems like desperate attempt by Sony to grab as many more customers as the can before the Scorpio is released next Fall.

I mean seriously, when you're already outselling the competition 2:1, why would you release something like this just 3 years into your console cycle? It doesn't make sense.

The system still uses the same (awful) 8 core processor as before but with a 2.1Ghz clock speed, a tiny bump to the memory bandwidth and an extra gig of ram to handle other system tasks.

The Scorpio on the other hand, looks like it could be a monster if it's handled correctly.

A machine that has 5 times the graphics processing power of it's little brother, almost 4 times the memory bandwidth, 50% more RAM and Xbox 360 ( and possibly OG Xbox) backwards compatible? If Microsoft can get this out next fall at $399 it is going to be a show stopper.

Look at a game like Forza Horizon 3. Imagine it optimized for a system almost 5 times more powerful?

I skipped the Xbox One this gen in favor of a PS4 (and now a Pro) because they games I enjoy the most look and run better on Sony's platform. If Microsoft takes that advantage away from Sony, I will have no hesitation going back to the green team.

^^ Agreed on XB1S. I just hope they don't cripple it too much with forced baselining to 2013 XB1.

Same here.  

It will be interesting to see how they balance it and how long they will continue to support the vanilla model.