NEXT GEN Gaming Console, PS5 and Xbox Series X news/upates

They'll load significantly faster on PS5/XSX. Both systems redid their whole I/O architecture to account for SSDs. If you replace the PS4/XBO HDD with an SSD, that will improve things, but it will still be bottle-necked by the rest of the I/O. Mark Cerny discusses this in-depth in the Road to PS5 video from a while back.

Any game that takes full advantage of this new SSD architecture will be pretty difficult to get running on a base PS4/XBO. It might be possible for some games, and so they can remain cross-gen. But some other games just wouldn't work, even if you reduced resolution, polygons, texture quality, etc.

We probably will see a few more years of support for these consoles, though I think it will dry up pretty quickly (MS and Sony will probably focus entirely on the new systems by next year, if they haven't already). I saw something about MS possibly discontinuing the Xbox One X (or something like that). It sounds like they have a cheaper "Xbox Series S" (or whatever you want to call it) that still needs to be revealed. In that case, they probably don't need to support the XBO as much.

I don't want to read too much into things, but it sounds like Halo Infinite is having some major development issues. :/

Hopefully they're able to pull it all together by release.

 

We just got a tease for the upcoming game-of-the-generation for PS5/XSX/Switch(2?)/PC:

https://www.gematsu.com/2020/07/sui...ed-heroes-for-ps5-xbox-series-x-switch-and-pc
It is a new game from some of the Suikoden developers. OK, I was probably over-hyping it. And since it needs to be crowd-funded on Kickstarter, it might be a bit rough. But I'd love a new Suikoden-style game, and the screenshots and tease look good to me!

(not really super related to next-gen consoles, but I wanted to share this somewhere)

 

I have a 10 year old.

He has an XBOX and mainly plays Fortnite... meh.

When the new ones come out, XBOX or PS5? He's leaning PS5...

Of course I'm leaning he get a job and pay for it himself!!! hey oh!

 

Speaking as someone that has only bought Xboxes for some time (other than a PS4 that I had temporarily), I'm over Microsoft's bullshit and will be buying a PS5. I'll play Halo and Fable (when it comes out in 2030) on my PC or Xbox One X. I'm not upgrading, they didn't give me a single reason to.

**** that CGI trailer bullshit they're pushing. Show me Gameplay and games actually coming out within the next year.

 

Don't know if you saw this, but looks like they did the "target render" thing with the trailer, and they also backed off a 2021 release they previously gave out:
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-07-23-heres-the-very-first-trailer-for-stalker-2
That kinda makes me think the game is further off than we might think. I saw something about them seeking a publisher not too long ago as well. Maybe they are working out all those issues (MS decided to include this in the showcase after all), but it does sound a bit troubling at a glance.

At this point, they both seem pretty good or at least very similar. I'd probably lean XSX since it has generally better hardware (barring any last minute spec changes/"secret sauce"), and Game Pass seems like a great value. We still don't know a lot about either console though, including pricing, so that general recommendation could change.

Of course, if he likes the games exclusive to PlayStation, then go for PS5. That goes without saying I guess. Don't know why he is leaning PS5, though if he just plays Fortnite for the most part, I'm not sure either new console is worth purchasing at this point. Fortnite on PS4 (Pro)/XBO (X) would be fine I think, or maybe he can transition to PC gaming.

 

I really like my xbox one x and I don't see any reason to upgrade yet.
I'll buy cyberpunk for sure.

sucks no new video for hell blade 2.

some of those games are not games , like that interactive movie one, crap

 

It's ridiculous that Konami not wanting to make anything besides pachinko machines is one of the biggest reasons we need these spiritual successor in all but name type games. I still have my complete copies of Suikoden 1-5, and the series definitely peaked with 2.

 

Seeing how they continuously stated how all these games would be available for Game Pass, it really seems like Microsoft is trying to be the Netflix of gaming instead of going the Sony route with massive exclusives that push the console to its limit.

I can't believe they spent like a third of that show on Halo, which looked much worse than games that came out several years ago, and that is their flagship franchise.

I may still buy Xbox x as a pc replacement (can't beat the hardware/price ratio of the next-gen consoles), but PS5 looks like the much better choice if you want to play blockbusters.

 

Digital Foundry has a good analysis of the Halo Infinite demo (analyzing visuals, not gameplay):


I forgot about their E3 2018 "game engine" trailer:


The technical analysis can get pretty complicated, but it basically sounds like the developers are possibly having trouble supporting the latest trends in graphics (we've had some big shifts in recent years), supporting 2 generations of systems, and trying to target 4K 60 FPS on XSX. It seems likely that if they could add some ray-traced lighting to the world, the visuals would look much better. They did say they'll patch in ray-tracing post-launch, though not sure if it would be enough (I think it might be for reflections only?).

While this is super specific to Halo Infinite, I think the technical issues the developers are experiencing are applicable to the industry as a whole. This kinda alludes to what I was saying earlier about developers taking some existing engines/tech/pipelines, and then quickly trying to build PS5/XSX games. Sure, you can get some 4K 60FPS results that might look pretty, but they need to put in a lot more work in order to properly take advantage of all these new features and graphical techniques. Dropping support for PS4/XBO would help a lot too. Gives them some time, and I'm sure we'll be impressed by the results.

I really, really hope developers just go with 1440p or something similar, instead of trying so hard to hit 4K.

 

When it comes to the new Halo, honestly, it looked like the exact same game mechanically, and nothing wowed me visually. I don't have any reason to play it. Even the enemies looked the same. Unless the reviews are rave, I don't think I have any desire to play it. I lost part of my life to it when they first launched the series, and it was FUN, but now, it seems repetitive. Admittedly, I'm basically campaign only.

 

Is there going to be real reason for people who have a PS Pro or Xbox X to upgrade?

I like the idea of Microsoft saying my old games will look better, but I want MY NEW GAMES TO LOOK WAYYYYY BETTER

 

If some of the better next-gen reveals haven't impressed you (UE5 demo, Horizon 2, RE8, The Medium, maybe Forza, etc.), then I don't know if many of the launch-window games will be enough for you. Give it enough time, and we'll probably see some crazy amazing things, but I don't know if the leap will be enough for people at launch.

This is mostly due to how great some PS4 Pro/Xbox One X games look:

We're getting open-world games at (checkerboard) 4K/30fps that looks like this without PS5/XSX. This took a lot of work and probably has a lot of "static" features, which can be improved on PS5/XSX, but that doesn't necessarily mean better visuals (see Halo Infinite vs Halo Reach I guess).

I'd say that you can look forward to games without loading screens, but we actually haven't seen too many "real" examples of this in action. I'm actually a bit worried that devs aren't really taking advantage of the SSD architecture, and we'll probably still see 10-20 second load times in some launch games. Sony (and MS to a lesser degree) are also pushing better audio (much more immersive), but again, it remains to be seen if this is just marketing hype or something we can truly expect to see in every/most next-gen game.

 

The Unreal 5 engine is scalable, they are going to refresh Fortnite with it.

lets not forget the big one

Cyberpunk

 

this article pretty much says that Microsoft only cares about Game Pass.
which makes sense , since they are releasing everything on PC as well.

https://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-really-doesnt-care-if-you-buy-an-xbox-series-x-heres-why

 

UE5 is supposed to be very scalable (UE4 runs on the Switch and mobile games I think, so UE5 probably similiar?), though some of the features shown in the tech demo probably aren't. Or at least they won't be as impressive. Epic seems to be doing a good job of developing an engine that takes full advantage of whatever hardware it is running on. Halo Infinite's engine doesn't seem to be as good at that. To be fair, maybe that's less the engine's fault, and more the fault of other issues.

Since CyberPunk was built primarily for current-gen consoles and PCs, I'm not sure it is a good indication of what PS5/XSX can really do. Though having said that, I'm not sure they've shown a console version of the game yet, and if they did, it probably wasn't from the base models. Maybe they run at 900p at 20 FPS. I'd expect the PS5/XSX versions of the game to look great, but it is more of a cross-gen game than a true next-gen title.

That does seem to be their general strategy. Not a bad idea (I love me some Game Pass), but we'll see how it goes. I think they probably could have done a bit better pushing some games that are best on XSX (and maybe only possible on XSX).

 

I only like halo, but MS disappointed with halo 5 bullshit on the one. I haven’t touched it in yrs

 

Halo 1 and 2 are the kind of games that bring back great memories. Twisted metal 1 and 2. Street Fighter. Etc.

 

WUT? Halo 5 was the best one yet.

 

Speaking as someone that won 2 world championships in Halo, and competed in a lot of them; you're on ****ing crack.

Halo 5's campaign was arguably the worst. The multiplayer was very, very good though.

 

I havent followed the campaign nor care to. Im in it for the multiplayer.