Predict: The Next Generation Console Tech

[pjbliverpool]

There's been a lot of talk online about next gen consoles being underpowered. Why would anyone pay $400 plus for a console that's only a little improvement over this gen?

A little improvement? Even the lower end rumours have been around 10x the real world power of the current generation. That's as big a jump as was seen this generation over the previous.

If you're wanting a theoretical HD 8870 in there then your really asking for more like 20x the real world performance and that would equate to one of the biggest generational performance leaps ever (possibly the biggest).

 

[playaplayer]

A little improvement? Even the lower end rumours have been around 10x the real world power of the current generation. That's as big a jump as was seen this generation over the previous.

If you're wanting a theoretical HD 8870 in there then your really asking for more like 20x the real world performance and that would equate to one of the biggest generational performance leaps ever (possibly the biggest).

My bad. I thought the amd hd 6670 was going to be a intergrated graphics card by holiday 2013.

 

[playaplayer]

Do any actually believe there's going to be a kinect 2 next gen. Consider it's a complete flop now. Not talking about sales. Most people I know who has a kinect don't even use the thing. So why would MS include technology that most people don't use, and that most games that was created for it scores bad on metacritic. Like that new star wars game.

 

[Rangers]

Sounds like Wii Syndrome...but sales are sales...

I do hope MS starts emphasizing Kinect less. More likely they'll keep improving it though, touting greater accuracy etc.

 

[steviep]

Do any actually believe there's going to be a kinect 2 next gen. Consider it's a complete flop now. Not talking about sales. Most people I know who has a kinect don't even use the thing. So why would MS include technology that most people don't use, and that most games that was created for it scores bad on metacritic. Like that new star wars game.

It has completely re-invigorated the Xbox platform and has driven it to actually *sell* now. A billion dollars in advertising funds will do that.

It (or an updated version of it, aka "Kinect 2") will be in the box day 1 in Microsoft's Durango.

 

[Rangers]

My bad. I thought the amd hd 6670 was going to be a intergrated graphics card by holiday 2013.

Basically. It's 480 SP's and there are Fusion parts with 400.

 

[Rangers]

It has completely re-invigorated the Xbox platform and has driven it to actually *sell* now. A billion dollars in advertising funds will do that.

It (or an updated version of it, aka "Kinect 2") will be in the box day 1 in Microsoft's Durango.

Pretty sure the billion (wasn't it 500 million?) in Kinect advertising rumor was proved completely false.

Though I have no idea what the running tally is now after 2 years or whatever.

Kinect shipments did seem to be slowing down though, maybe MS will get it...but I doubt it...sigh, giant corporations....

 

[pjbliverpool]

My bad. I thought the amd hd 6670 was going to be a intergrated graphics card by holiday 2013.

I was thinking more of the apu+low end discrete rumors that were circulating a while back. Theres no way either next gen console will have only a 6670.

 

[mrcorbo]

Do any actually believe there's going to be a kinect 2 next gen. Consider it's a complete flop now. Not talking about sales. Most people I know who has a kinect don't even use the thing. So why would MS include technology that most people don't use, and that most games that was created for it scores bad on metacritic. Like that new star wars game.

They would improve the technology so that more people could/would use it and more developers could/would develop better games for it, of course. A new hardware iteration coupled with a host platform that is designed from the ground up with that hardware in mind would do wonders for Kinect, especially if it is a pack-in from day 1.

 

[Acert93]

I know it has been discussed before, but it seems MS just did it: a subscription based console model.

How this relates to hardware is it allows a different way to subsidize the console. If MS wanted to build a beefier unit (big if) and wanted to ensure a high degree of Live tie in they could e.g. release at $249 with a 2 year $20 "Xbox Live Platinum" membership. Most of the early adopters would say, "Well, I would get Live anyways."

This could be a way to create more robust consoles (relatively advanced consoles, loaded with features, fancy controllers, etc) OR could be the future of fleecing consumers with locked in contracts, DRM, nickle and dime schemes, and advertising everywhere.

Oh wait, those last 4 are next gen technology predictions--platforms designed around monetization!

 

[Rangers]

More likely it's much ado about nothing. Wont be popular.

 

[TheWretched]

Why would that not be popular? I Germany, it's been "standard practice" to leverage mobile phone contracts to get "cheap" TVs and consoles for a while.

With Playstation Plus, I can also see this happening, especially since you get free games each month.

 

[Brad Grenz]

Games are a funny market. It can be very resistant to anything outside the status quo, or approaches outside the accepted models.

 

[Rangers]

Why would that not be popular? I Germany, it's been "standard practice" to leverage mobile phone contracts to get "cheap" TVs and consoles for a while.

With Playstation Plus, I can also see this happening, especially since you get free games each month.

You used to be able to get a free pc with internet service too, long ago. that model went the way of the dodo...

In fact I dont know of anywhere besides phones that's a successful model in the USA, and even then it's much different. Phone service is practically necessary, something you have to pay for anyway so why not get a cheap phone? Gaming is not.

I just cant see many people thinking it's a great deal, when you can get an Xbox for 199 as it is.

For that matter, anybody can get any console free and pay it off in monthly installments right now if that's your goal. It's called a credit card And the interest rate might not be much worse.

 

[playaplayer]

Would it be better if next gen consoles came with a low end gpu with 4gb of ram, or a high end gpu with 2gb of ram? Pros and cons each, and which one would you prefer if it had to last till 2020?

 

[TheWretched]

You used to be able to get a free pc with internet service too, long ago. that model went the way of the dodo...

In fact I dont know of anywhere besides phones that's a successful model in the USA, and even then it's much different. Phone service is practically necessary, something you have to pay for anyway so why not get a cheap phone? Gaming is not.

I just cant see many people thinking it's a great deal, when you can get an Xbox for 199 as it is.

For that matter, anybody can get any console free and pay it off in monthly installments right now if that's your goal. It's called a credit card And the interest rate might not be much worse.

That might be the case in the US...

In Germany, Credit Cards aren't as ubiquitous for example, and overdraft interest on checking accounts are massive (mine is about 14%, my CC interest is a fraction of that). Also, compared to the US, we get much higher subsidies on phone contracts than the US (but our tariffs are more expensive, also).

But yeah... 200<currency> isn't much for a console anymore. Yet there ARE people who cannot just fork over that much cash, yet want a console, but they could save 10-15<currency> a month to pay for it. It's not about sales, it's about expanding your market. And given that the next consoles won't be as cheap day one, there's even more incentive to make it cheaper this way. I mean, just look at how much money Sony lost on the first PS3... and that at 600€ per unit. With a contract like that, they could sell it for 400€ and make additional 240€ or whatever over two years. Nothing major (i.e. additional 40€), but I don't doubt that at 400€ it's easier to sell, even with such a contract...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

High end GPU, 2 GBs of RAM would be preferable. 2GBs is good enough for megatexturing engines, and the evolution of graphics is towards more processing per pixel. Plus the GPU is likely to be shouldering other game code via GPGPU as well. 4GBs lets you fit more in RAM, but without the grunt to tesselate or dynamically light, you'll have just dull, flat, cleanly textured worlds. (I assume perpetual storage with HDD or flash for persistent worlds and stuff).

 

[MrFox]

Is the huge amount of memory in the latest devkits a good indication that the final consoles will have that much?
How close was it in the past generation?

 

[steviep]

Is the huge amount of memory in the latest devkits a good indication that the final consoles will have that much?
How close was it in the past generation?

Dev kits usually have double the retail units for debugging.

The only exception in my recent memory was when Microsoft increased the 360 to 512mb the devkits still only had 512mb for a while after. (Until they were later updated to 1gb - I think that took until after the retail units shipped too). Edit: this was because, as is well known, it was a very late addition to the platform and updating dev kits and shipping said kits to all the studios in order of importance is no trivial matter

 

[Proelite]

Is the huge amount of memory in the latest devkits a good indication that the final consoles will have that much?
How close was it in the past generation?

Was there something recent to suggest that this is the case? The only rumor that mentioned of memory was the 2GB DDR3 system ram in the Xboxyde rumor last year, and that hardly qualify as huge.