New PS4.5 in the works?

[gorcorps]

Well, I think you have to count Mass Effect. Regardless of personal views, it was unquestionably a big seller, Game of the Year candidate/winner, and launched arguably the single biggest RPG franchise of the generation.
Now, that's not to say there are not some great games this generation, but in comparison, yes, there is a dearth.

As for great new IPs in the first 3 years?

--Arkham Asylum
--Bioshock
--Mass Effect
--Assassin's Creed
--Lost Odyssey
--Gears of War
--Dead Space
--Ghost Recon AW
--Dragon Age Origins
--Rainbow Six Vegas
--Splinter Cell Double Agent

..off the top of my head. Most of those games also spawned excellent, often superior, sequels within a year or two of their initial release.

Not new IP. All those Clancy games have been around for quite some time before that generation. You can argue they play differently from the old games, but I would not call them new IP by any stretch.

 

[Anon_lawyer]

How could AMD have forced any hand if Sony is still going to offer the original PS4 alongside Neo? Why pay for both? Makes no sense.

Forced their hand isn't really the right way to put it. Rather, I assume, AMD offered Sony some options. Sony's the one with the money, so they get to pick. Presumably they offered Microsoft the same options. A die shrink costs some money, and given the thin margins in the console chip business, AMD was probably going to insist that Sony/Microsoft pay the development costs for the die shrink. Reading between the lines, it sounds like the development costs for the die shrink didn't make business sense compared to moving to a new Zen/Polaris/14nm chip. AMD might eat the design cost if they know they'll make it up in volume - but they probably want some sort of commitment.

 

[norseamd]

I don't think "forced their hands" is the right wording, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's some credibility to this rumor. The thing is... if AMD is already working on 14nm Polaris GPUs and Zen CPUs (or a combined APU), and Sony says, "Hey, we'd like a 14nm chip too!" AMD most likely gave them the cheaper option (build a 14nm Zen + Polaris custom APU) or the expensive option (completely redesign the Bulldozer + Fiji APU for 14nm). The important thing to keep in mind is that a die shrink of an existing chip isn't usually as simple as hitting resize in MS Paint. There's actually a lot more work involved!

PS4 doesnt use Bulldozer, and the PS4 Neo might not use Zen. Although I suppose Jaguar might be based off the general Bulldozer architecture, and whatever CPU the PS4 Neo uses might be a part of the Zen family.

 

[norseamd]

How could AMD have forced any hand if Sony is still going to offer the original PS4 alongside Neo? Why pay for both? Makes no sense.

The tooling for the 28nm PS4 hardware already exists, and can continue to be used. The tooling required for a 14nm die shrink of the current PS4 hardware does not exist, and would be very expensive to develop.

 

[Sulaco]

Not new IP. All those Clancy games have been around for quite some time before that generation. You can argue they play differently from the old games, but I would not call them new IP by any stretch.

I'll give you Splinter Cell (that shouldn't have been there), but R6 Vegas is simply nothing like the R6 games before it. At all. Anyone whose played a R6 game can tell you that.
Yes, they kept the name for marketing reasons, but for all intents and purposes, and where the actual rubber meets the gameplay road, it's a new IP. Not unlike Castlevania Lords of Shadow. Yes, it bears the Castlevania name, but it's essentially a "sub-IP" and entirely new direction for a franchise.

Same, though not quite as dramatic a departure, with GRAW. Same name, totally different direction for the series that spawns a sequel that follows in its footsteps.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Having a processor in consoles is GUARANTEED money for years for no matter who's making it. If Sony just wanted a smaller processor for lower cooling/power, AMD would have easily done it because they are guaranteed to get the money back later down the line, especially if it the same processor just a die shrink. This was 100% Sony/Microsoft's move. It's definitely more costly for them to make a slightly more powerful version of the same processor for current consoles than to keep going with the current one with a die shrink. Sony/Microsoft each have more money than AMD. AMD cannot strong arm either of them.

It isn't much more costly for AMD as they already spent the resources doing Polaris and Zen on 14nm Finfet, and are also going to be doing APUs anyway.

Absolutely AMD has some leverage for one simple reason. No one else would make a console that meets their requirements. Intel would be too expensive and not be able to match AMD graphics power, Nvidia doesn't have x86 (and would be expensive, and combining Intel and Nvidia would be way too expensive and have some compatibility issues), going ARM or back to Power based CPU would break compatibility.

They didn't strong arm them so much as made them an offer they would be stupid to refuse. In the end it benefits both Sony and AMD.

Has there been any confirmation that the One S is 14nm? It wouldn't have to be since Sony was putting their 28nm version in a roughly similar size without much issue. My assumption is that it is still 28nm as I just don't see AMD putting the resources (not even the cost necessarily, as they could put that all on Microsoft, but rather the engineering resources) to move them to 14nm finfet (which requires a lot more work than die shrinks in the past). From what I've gathered AMD isn't even going to keep developing the cat cores further either (they're developing an ARM core that should go where the cat cores would) so they really have nothing to gain from doing those APUs on 14nm, whereas there are benefits for all of them pushing Zen/Polaris based APUs. And for AMD, keeping the 28nm production going also has benefits.

 

[sze5003]

Since the Xbox one S is $299 I would think the neo would be the same price when it comes out. Seeing as they are pretty much similar in capabilities.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Not sure about that. I expect it to remain at the $400 level.

 

[RockinZ28]

Since the Xbox one S is $299 I would think the neo would be the same price when it comes out. Seeing as they are pretty much similar in capabilities.

The S is just a slim XB1 with 4k video. Maybe slightly more performance last I read, bringing it about even with current PS4?

The Neo is supposed to be a major upgrade, and will compete with Scorpio, the major XB1 upgrade. Basically new consoles. Wouldn't expect either to be under $400.

 

[sze5003]

The S is just a slim XB1 with 4k video. Maybe slightly more performance last I read, bringing it about even with current PS4?

The Neo is supposed to be a major upgrade, and will compete with Scorpio, the major XB1 upgrade. Basically new consoles. Wouldn't expect either to be under $400.

Yea I haven't been following much I know Scorpio is a new console but I just expected neo to be a bit better than the current ps4 plus 4k streaming.

 

[RockinZ28]

Yea I haven't been following much I know Scorpio is a new console but I just expected neo to be a bit better than the current ps4 plus 4k streaming.

From the rumors it seems the Neo will be roughly twice as powerful as the PS4. It's definitely not going to be a sidegrade like XB1 -> XB1 S.

It's going to be like PC gaming. Want to run games with higher res/fps/more gfx options, you need to upgrade.

 

[sze5003]

From the rumors it seems the Neo will be roughly twice as powerful as the PS4. It's definitely not going to be a sidegrade like XB1 -> XB1 S.

It's going to be like PC gaming. Want to run games with higher res/fps/more gfx options, you need to upgrade.

Which is why I've just upgraded my pc. If they really have some good exclusives later sure I'll trade in my ps4 and get the new console. But as of now, I don't even own a 4k TV.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I sold my xb1 to my cousin who will probably use it more than I ever will now. Sony has more exclusives to keep me locked into their ecosystem right now so I am keeping that and may consider the "upgrade" to the neo when the time comes. Microsoft's e3 conference lost me as a customer.

 

[sze5003]

Looks like my ps4 is screwed up. Constantly beeps when it's off, turns itself on in the middle of the night.

Also, the DVD drive keeps constantly clattering and spinning as if it's trying to read a disc but I don't have a disc in there at all.

 

[cmdrdredd]

That sucks. Did you have an extended warranty?

 

[sze5003]

That sucks. Did you have an extended warranty?

Yea I got it from Sony a few weeks after I bought it. Don't know if it's still valid. I unplugged it and let it sit for a bit and then turned it back on. It works now but its been doing this for a while. I'll have to call them sometime this week.

 

[desura]

Man, Xbox One is really cheap now. On ebay console plus power brick is $170.

I'll probably get a One (can also dispose of my 360) and then a Neo down the line, skipping Scorpio.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Man, Xbox One is really cheap now. On ebay console plus power brick is $170.

I'll probably get a One (can also dispose of my 360) and then a Neo down the line, skipping Scorpio.

Yeah once they announced the S will start at $299 for the basic one this holiday, the interest in the current model dropped like a rock. I had no qualms about selling mine to my cousin who is getting lots of use out of it which is good. In a way I was sorry to see it go, but I also realized I hadn't turned it on in a long time and my Gold account expired months ago so I didn't even download the free titles each month. Trading it in would have been a waste to me. It wasn't worth enough even for the Elite.

 

[Tweak155]

Man, I use my Xbox every day. Most of the time for streaming, but been playing a lot of Rocket League lately and a little bit of Halo 5.

I have no interest in the Slim unless my current model starts acting up. I will probably get Scorpio though... Sounds like a good excuse to buy another console.

I've held off on the PS4 so long that I will check out the Neo... there are several PS4 exclusives I wouldn't mind trying, but one thing I've learned is I don't have tons of time for gaming... all I do is build backlogs at this point for the most part.

 

[Sonikku]

Man, Xbox One is really cheap now. On ebay console plus power brick is $170.

It's cheaper than the Wii U at this point.

 

[CZroe]

Looks like my ps4 is screwed up. Constantly beeps when it's off, turns itself on in the middle of the night.

Also, the DVD drive keeps constantly clattering and spinning as if it's trying to read a disc but I don't have a disc in there at all.

Got bugs crawling across the sensors?

 

[sze5003]

Got bugs crawling across the sensors?

Nah it's been doing this for some time. My place is pretty clean. I unplugged it and plugged it back in and it seems normal now. But some day before my warranty runs out I need to call Sony and have them replace it or something.

 

[purbeast0]

i pretty much only use my xbox 1 for HBO Go at this point, and now that GoT and SV are over i don't even use it for that. my XBL expired like 5 months ago (maybe more) and i haven't gotten it since. this is the first time i haven't even had xbox live since halo 2 came out on xbox.

 

[Fulle]

It's cheaper than the Wii U at this point.

It seems some retailers want to dump their current Xbox One stock, to make way for the Xbox One S. Sub $300 XBO bundles are including things like 2 games and an extra controller... heck, even some of the 1TB bundles are going for under $300 right now with extras.

Meanwhile, the Wii U 32GB bundles with 1 Nintendo first party game, are still going for $300 new.

It's not just the Wii U though. The "New 3DS XL" is still pushing a ridiculous $200 MSRP. The hardware in that thing doesn't justify a price like that.... its obnoxious. They managed to drop the 2DS price from like 130 dollars or whatever nonsense they initially released it at, to a reasonable $80, but just left the stupidly named "New 3DS XL" at $200 despite sales dropping off significantly over the last year.

Nintendo's a pretty irritating company to me, actually. I could probably go on a long rant about that, but just on the subject of console pricing, they seem obnoxiously incompetent.... as if they're not aware they have competition. The XBO and PS4 are direct competition for them. When I log into my Wii U, it shows the little Mii people gathered around different games people are playing, and 2 of the most popular ones are Terraria and Minecraft. The PS4 and XBO had those games far before the Wii U did.... Microsoft went as far to buy Minecraft and dump a bunch of money into Halolense stuff with the game as a potential thing later on. Then there's that crowd around Tokyo Mirage Sessions, an Atlus RPG, and guess who has the biggest upcoming Atlus RPG as an exclusive? Playstation.

OK, I'll stop for now... but man! Nintendo really gets on my nerves.

 

[sze5003]

Nintendo has always been like that, minus some black Friday deals. But I think Nintendo does it because of their games. There are only some unique games you can get on Nintendo. Their main thing going for them is just the interactive play style.