Sony Playstation Meeting September 7 2016 [PS4 Slim, PS4 Pro, Rumors, Speculations, and News]

[Sigfried1977]

At least Scorpio is considerably more beefy than the Xbone in just about every way. Still, I think it's gonna be dead in the water without some proper exclusives to call its own. The mindset of a console gamer is completely different from that of a PC gamer. The prospect of playing prettier versions of the exact same games is simply not good enough. There needs to be something new to sweeten the deal. Sure, I did appreciate the fact I got to play a prettier version of Assassin's Creed Black Flag on my PS4, but it was the Infamous, Drive Club and Killzone showings that got me pumped.

 

[function]

Still wondering how much of a damn the average consumer is gonna give about any of these halfmeasure machines. When digital foundry highlights frame pacing issues or spots differences between platforms using a magnifying lense, they tend to use such colorful terms as "revelatory". I'm afraid the only thing revelatory to the average consumer will be the fact that he's being asked to spend 400 dollars on differences he can barely perceive. (If you actually believe most people give a damn about stuff like anisotrophic filtering, or a bunch of dropped frames, or about the sub par shadow draw distance in Fallout 4, you really need to get out more). It's an incredibly poor ROI compared to the tried and true generational leap, and judging by the PS meeting, it's appropriately tough to market as well.

Unless Sony and MS decide to lose $300 on launch machines again, you aren't going to see the kind of "true generational leap" that you'd like to in 2019 or 2020 either. The "free" advances in lithography simply aren't looking to be there any more.

For a $400, none loss-making machine in 2016 Neo is fairly "full measure". Scorpio is perhaps pushing a little harder - because MS really have to this time - but it's still going to be tied to the same economic and engineering realities as Sony.

Scorpio really needs a faster CPU than Jaguar though, as it's not just going to be playing up-resed X1 games across its lifetime. I'm getting a little pessimistic about that though. Fallout VR with a never-below-90-fps target? Ehhhh ....

 

[Sigfried1977]

I think Sony simply couldn't have picked a poorer time to "disrupt" the market. The 4K tv owner base is barely existent. The HDR standard is still in flux. There's a VR Kit coming out from the same company within a month. And the regular PS4 is still selling like crazy. It's all a giant mess. Diametrically opposed to the razor sharp focus which made the PS4 such a runaway success.

 

[Wynix]

I think Sony simply couldn't have picked a poorer time to "disrupt" the market. The 4K tv owner base is barely existent. The HDR standard is still in flux. There's a VR Kit coming out from the same company within a month. And the regular PS4 is still selling like crazy. It's all a giant mess. Diametrically opposed to the razor sharp focus which made the PS4 such a runaway success.

The combination of the XB1 S, PS4(HDR patched) and PS4 Pro could bring some stability to the industry and give everyone some idea of what consumers will expect.
4K TV's need something to help sell them, something that will show consumers the benefits of 4K, the PS4 Pro and next years Scorpio will be that something to give it a serious push.
Why wait for sales to decline before you improve the product? the Pro is a complimentary product, whereas the Slim will be replacing the OG PS4 at a lower price and power consumption.

 

[Sigfried1977]

4K tvs are going to sell one way or another anyway. Just as with 3d tvs, It's not like you're going to have much of a choice whether you want one or not eventually.

 

[goonergaz]

I think Sony simply couldn't have picked a poorer time to "disrupt" the market. The 4K tv owner base is barely existent. The HDR standard is still in flux. There's a VR Kit coming out from the same company within a month. And the regular PS4 is still selling like crazy. It's all a giant mess. Diametrically opposed to the razor sharp focus which made the PS4 such a runaway success.

Nothings going to settle before Scorpio is released and then after that you may as well go 'full next gen' so IMHO it was now or never

 

[Rikimaru]

It's a perfect time and price for a PS4 Pro. It won't be much cheaper next year (still 14nm) and right at the middle of generation.
PSVR launch took too long.

 

[wco81]

PS4 Pro would be much more compelling if a year from now, it was reduced to $349 with a UHD Blu Ray playback, just as Scorpio is launching.

Well that and some big games which will take advantage of the Pro.

 

[Metal_Spirit]

Its hard to say if the UHD player would be, or not, a good move.
Lets compare this with some other stuff: the iPhone.
Every two years we get a new iPhone, and after that we get a revamped version, the S!
The S is a better and faster machine, but keeps its roots on its original.
For instance the iPhone 6 and 6 S major hardware diferences are a faster APU and a better câmera.
You could give him bigger hardware changes, but if the similarities to the model that gives him the name, the 6, are too big, it would be better to call it the iPhone 7.
Although I think the Xbox One S did the right moves when including the UHD drive, I also think Microsoft did something that not all Xbox Fans liked. It gave then capabilities the original console does not posess. Not just improvements, but brand new capabilities. But this was a must to improve sales, specially against a rummoured more powerfull PS4.
And this is where I think Sony stopped. Because the PS4 was already a best seller. The PS4 was designed to do what the PS4 does, but only better. But not to do things the PS4 cannot do. It does improved gfx and improved resolution, but on the exact same games that run on PS4. All software, peripherals, and all kinds of media supported by the Pro are exactly the same as on the PS4

Under this perspective, adding the UHD player was a bit too much.

 

[mpg1]

PS4 Pro at $349 next fall would be compelling in itself.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Although I think the Xbox One S did the right moves when including the UHD drive, I also think Microsoft did something that not all Xbox Fans liked. It gave then capabilities the original console does not posess. Not just improvements, but brand new capabilities.

Other console revisions have added functionality though, like included Network Adaptor in PS2 Slim, or reading RW DVDs in the PS2+.

 

[Metal_Spirit]

The network adapter was also made available for the original PS2 (bought separately). So not really exclusive!
The RW DVDs support I do not really consider significant. First gen PS2 suported DVD-R and DVD+R (in this last case it was recomended to change the book type to DVD-ROM)

 

[djskribbles]

PS4 Pro at $349 next fall would be compelling in itself.

Yup, and I fully expect it to drop to 349, possibly even bundled with a game.

 

[bgroovy]

It's a perfect time and price for a PS4 Pro. It won't be much cheaper next year (still 14nm) and right at the middle of generation.
PSVR launch took too long.

I think that's true. The great thing about the ecosystem right now is whether you choose to upgrade your TV or your PS4 first, you will see immediate benefit. Same with buying PS VR. A new 4K TV with HDR will immediately benefit from the OG PS4's HDR functions. If you keep your TV, but buy a Pro you'll get better graphics and performance. If/when you decide to add the 2nd piece you'll get another bump in quality. PS VR is similar in that you can get into VR now with an eye to upgrading that experience later, or get the Pro now and see how the VR games situation shakes out. For all the talk of needing to buy a new TV and a new PS4 at once, there's actually a very smooth transition possible here.

 

[goonergaz]

PS4 Pro would be much more compelling if a year from now, it was reduced to $349 with a UHD Blu Ray playback, just as Scorpio is launching.

Well that and some big games which will take advantage of the Pro.

I don't know if UHD BR is a bit like backwards compatability in that people 'want' it but they won't actually use it (much). I know from my bluray collection - now I love films, I have loads of blurays but most of them I have never watched. The percentage of people that want (and will utilise) UHD BR is probably next to insignificant vs the people who would rather save $50 on RRP.

 

[liolio]

Finally watch the event, I've to say that you had to be properly caffeinated as the rythm was on the slow side, at some point my wife asked me of I was watching a plane boarding video-welcome on board Ladies and gentlemen, lol.
Others than that the content was fine, eventhough it may have needed more accents so the main points stand better. They did a hell lot better job at demonstrating the benefit of HDR than Msft, really Msft should have dedicated more time to their slim at E3...

Sony had been planning the PRO all along, it would not surprise me if Msft got caught its pant down (they might have learned before us though). From a customer POV I think they are doing a good job at providing a tiered product line. The pro pricing of great, a lot more attractive than the slim, I guess Sony wants to keep its revenues high.
From geekier point of view, if they had this planned all along they made a bad job at making a closed box PC. A tiered approach implies difference in how the various SKUs, hence it allowed for different hardware parts abd further costs optimisation. I believe Sony should have sacrificed some performances (either way pump CPU clock a tad higher adapt the form factor accordingly) and force the developers to work at a higher abstraction level.

The statement I will remember for the sake of speculation out of this event is Cerny's comment about power, form factor and costs preventing them to delivery real 4K.

 

[goonergaz]

info on patched (and non patched) games;

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/every-ps4-pro-game-that-is-and-isnt-getting-an-upg/1100-6443385/

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I don't know if UHD BR is a bit like backwards compatability in that people 'want' it but they won't actually use it (much). I know from my bluray collection - now I love films, I have loads of blurays but most of them I have never watched. The percentage of people that want (and will utilise) UHD BR is probably next to insignificant vs the people who would rather save $50 on RRP.

I don't buy movies, but I've been renting a ton of Blu-rays. For 95% of movies, it's enough to see them once, so I've never really seen the point of buying them. Over here it's actually cheaper to rent discs than use the streaming services thanks to all sort of member benefits etc. I live 200 meters from a rental store, so it's not inconvenient for me to rent them, also you get a new movie at half the price if you rent it whilst returning the previous one, sometimes I go on a rental spree and then take month(s) off after I've seen all the interesting ones. I certainly would still like to use discs as for me it's cheaper and better quality.

 

[goonergaz]

Yes, I'm sure there are many examples like yours - unfortunately I'm also fairly sure there are far more examples of people who would rather just save $50 given the option.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

I just paid $655 tax in for my 1070 gigabyte G1.

Whaaaaat? Wasn't the MSRP of that thing lower than $400?
The GPU market has gone completely nuts.