PS4 now or wait for the PS4.5 Neo?

[vwalbridge]

I don't own any of the current gen consoles. But I played the first 3 Uncharted games on PS3 and absolutely loved them. So naturally with the recent release of Uncharted 4, I'm very tempted to pick up a PS4 to play it.

However, the rumored PS4.5 Neo is scheduled for release in October.

What do you guys think? Do you think anything about the Neo will be worth the wait?

[Howard_Casto]

In a word no. 

Apply the logic I preach about optional accessories to incremental console upgrades...... developers want to sell their games to as many people as possible, so they are NOT going to make a game that requires the 4.5 or waste money on developing 4.5 exclusive features when they don't have to.  Yes I'm aware of the mandate Sony has given in regards to future games having to have "enhanced modes" for the 4.5, but history has shown us that you can't really tell developers what to do.  They will either half-ass the 4.5 mode, or even worse intentionally cripple features on the 4.0.  Needless to say, this 4.5 nonsense is going to go over as well as the Sega 32x or the DSi. 

Now keeping all of that in mind.... I believe the 4.5 is going to be designed to handle 4k video well, so if 4k streaming services ever catch on big, it might be worth it for that.  Then again I'm sure Roku or Amazon will come out with a 40 dollar stick to take care of those needs. 

I will say this... the PS4/XB1 might very well be the last consoles for those respective companies.  Microsoft's goal was to get the windows marketplace in as many homes as humanly possible and with windows 10 they are slowly but surely making that a reality.  Sony is just hurting financially.  Perhaps Spiderman's inclusion in the MCU will get them some much needed cash-flow, but with box office stinkers like the Ghostbusters reboot on the horizion, they might bleed so much money that they have to cut other divisions.
Even the un-moveable Nintendo seems to be hitting hard times... they sold stock in the Mariners, they are cutting their losses early on the Wii U, something they haven't don't since the Virtual Boy.... things are just dark all over in videoland.

[Locke141]

If your on the fence any, way what not? 

[vwalbridge]

All very good points. You always have good thoughts about this stuff Howard.   

I agree...I can't imagine Sony making a mid-cycle console so drastically different from their current ps4. That's kinda like a huge no-no. It fragments your customers and confuses/angers them.

However, I do agree that 4K is inevitable, and that will be the big difference. I still hasn't figured out why I should own a 4K tv yet either. Games are not going to suddenly play in 4K. Just the streaming video I presume?

[pbj]

They're like $300 with an extra controller and some games. 

There's a ton of fun ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- on it that you can get for $10-20 all day long. 

Don't believe console rumors from cucked sites like Kotaku.

[vwalbridge]

They're like $300 with an extra controller and some games. 

There's a ton of fun ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- on it that you can get for $10-20 all day long. 

Don't believe console rumors from cucked sites like Kotaku.

Also good points. And how the hell did you know I frequent Kotaku?

[Howard_Casto]

All very good points. You always have good thoughts about this stuff Howard.   

I agree...I can't imagine Sony making a mid-cycle console so drastically different from their current ps4. That's kinda like a huge no-no. It fragments your customers and confuses/angers them.

However, I do agree that 4K is inevitable, and that will be the big difference. I still hasn't figured out why I should own a 4K tv yet either. Games are not going to suddenly play in 4K. Just the streaming video I presume?

I'm glad SOMEBODY appreciates me.  (stares at pbj)  I'm not even sure that 4k is inevitable at this point.  I mean yes, eventually we are going to get tvs at a higher resolution due to media coming out at a higher resolution, but will it actually be the 4k format or will it be the beta max of it's generation.  The tvs are really cheap atm mostly because no one is buying them.  Nobody is buying them because the amount of 4k content is so small it's laughable.  So yeah UHD is going to be a thing, but will it catch on in the ps4's lifetime?  Is the 4k format specifically another tv fad like 3d tvs and curved screens?  That's the question. 

Yeah I'm referring to streaming media only btw. 

Specific details of the ps 4.5 are not confirmed at this point but the release of a "4.5" model is confirmed.  So only believe some of the rumors on kotaku. 

[lilshawn]

word round the campfire is the new systems will be 6 to 12 times the power of their predecessors.

if it's anything like what they over inflated the original ps4 and XBO before their release, it will be somewhere around 25% better... or just enough to stem the issues with the lack of processing power they currently have with unrendered stuff popping into existence and framerates under 30 FPS.

[Howard_Casto]

Well a vr expert mentioned that the upgraded consoles might be due to that.  Apparently nobody did the math that to do two 1080p displays, one for each eye, your system has to be capable of rendering 4k.  The graphics won't look any better, it'll still be 1080p, but now two screens can be rendered. 

[opt2not]

I don't own any of the current gen consoles. But I played the first 3 Uncharted games on PS3 and absolutely loved them. So naturally with the recent release of Uncharted 4, I'm very tempted to pick up a PS4 to play it.

However, the rumored PS4.5 Neo is scheduled for release in October.

What do you guys think? Do you think anything about the Neo will be worth the wait?

Only if you have a 4K tv now, or plan on getting one soon.  Otherwise, there is no point to getting a PS4 Neo. Besides, all games will be compatible with the original PS4 so perhaps if you don't plan on getting a 4K display, maybe wait till the Neo comes out and the price of the original PS4 drops.

[Howard_Casto]

Well like I mentioned, it's doubtful that we are going to see any significant difference between the two versions because developers are cheap and lazy.  4k tvs are surprisingly cheap, mostly because there isn't anything to use them for and thus they aren't selling well. 

It's important to note that neither company is really saying that the games will look better, rather apps and video will support UHD.  So that's very telling.

I think now that E3 is here and these new consoles are announced, the old ones are going to go on sale pretty fast.  So watching the price would be a good idea.

[lilshawn]

suppried they are going with the 4.5 / neo route on this and not just calling it the PS5 and Xbox two (or whatever) and touting superior backwards compatibility with PS4 and XBO games .

[Howard_Casto]

I haven't been super impressed with either console thus far.  Shadow of Mordor was really good, it felt like Assassin's Creed without all the grinding.  AC Unity was good but honestly I got the newest one for Xmas and I've yet to really play it.  I think I'm finally burnt out on AC..... good thing watch dogs 2 is coming out. 

I still haven't picked up Mirror's Edge and Doom and those are supposed to be really good, but other than that I use my XB1 for a media center for the most part.

[opt2not]

suppried they are going with the 4.5 / neo route on this and not just calling it the PS5 and Xbox two (or whatever) and touting superior backwards compatibility with PS4 and XBO games .

Because it's not really true hardware progression, it's a slight upgrade to output 4K.

[Howard_Casto]

I think he just meant that with all the smoke they are blowing up our butts with b.s. claims, he's surprised they didn't go ahead and do it again.

[pbj]

Meh, I still like my PS4 and rarely revisit previous consoles.  Been chugging through Sniper Elite lately, that's fun as hell.  Totally a WW2 era Splinter Cell knockoff so it's great.  Pretty sure you can play that on Xbox Potato if you insist.

[Howard_Casto]

Why would I want to play a FPS and a military one at that?

FPS begin and end with Doom.  It was all downhill after id got out of the game. 

[opt2not]

I knew I was going to regret clicking the show me the post button.