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

Yep, though I think you could technically get a dynamic-ish day/night cycle with current-gen tech. A day/night cycle would benefit from ray tracing, but I believe that many games these days just pre-compute enough fake lighting for the entire day (well parts of it anyway, which is close enough), and they just load those lighting values based on the time of day. TLOU2 doesn't really do this, but I think other games do (maybe GoT does?).

Of course, that type of lighting, while allowing for different lighting conditions, isn't truly dynamic. If you want to see the lighting adjust in a room after the ceiling collapses, that isn't really possible, especially if you want to do it arbitrarily (i.e., any room with any size hole at any time of day with any type of weather). Honestly, devs have been pretty damn smart in how they fake lighting. Well smart and gluttons for punishment given how much work this is. Ray tracing should make this SO much easier and frankly just allow for lighting conditions that just aren't feasible with current-gen tech.

One thing we should keep in mind is that ray tracing doesn't necessarily mean "prettier" lighting. Accurate != pretty. So even if things are more technically impressive with this new tech, it might not *look* as pretty as the handcrafted lighting of past games. I'm guessing devs will try to work things out so they can get the best of both worlds though. You might still get some "fake" lighting in cutscenes, but it will be due to artistic reasons as opposed to purely technical reasons.

 

Oh and regarding PCs vs consoles, most of the same rules from previous generations apply IMO. PCs still have way more hardware power, while consoles might be a decent bargain for their price, especially since devs are typically able to get more power out of them (some high-end PCs can generally only take advantage of super high resolutions and/or high framerates...which isn't a bad thing ).

I will say that Nvidia's tech, especially its DLSS tech, is making me wonder if the difference might be more profound than usual though. I think I've said this repeatedly in this thread, but it is really a big deal, especially since it can help out with ray tracing and other high-end effects (which are also a big deal). I'm still holding out hope that Sony/MS are able to compete with something similar (maybe not quite as good, but much better than current tech). If they aren't, then PCs will possibly be blowing away these consoles even more so than normal. A new Switch could possibly match the graphics while being quite a bit cheaper. Etc. I'm really curious how that will play out.

PCs are also quickly catching up with I/O speeds, which is the one big hardware advantage PS5/XSX had over PCs.

 

https://www.windowscentral.com/xbox...ies-s-release-date-and-price-finally-revealed

Leaked details for xss and xsx, including pricing. Seems legit. $299/$499. Haha I did say "I don't know why they'd go as low as $300," but glad I wasn't that far off. Never really understood the $700 estimates.

This seems pretty good to me. Now it's Sony's turn.

 

I estimate Sony PS5 Digital / PS5 $400/$600.

 

I’ve always been an Xbox guy even if I end up getting both. I always have an Xbox and sometimes have a ps. If the price is the same I’m thinking about hanging on to my x1x and getting the ps5 then getting the mid generation Xbox whenever that comes out. Haven’t decided yet but there are some exclusives I’ve been wanting to play on ps, namely spider man.

 

Um I guess that's possible, but do keep in mind that the 2 PS5s are nearly identical, outside of the disc drive. I'm not sure why there would be a $200 difference between them. Unless they added things to the non-digital sku (12 months PS+/PS Now, maybe a free game, etc.). The 2 Xbox SKUs have quite a bit different between them, hence the $200 price difference.

It is honestly more like a $50 difference, though I think they might try to push the gap to $100 between the 2 PS5 models.

 

I didn't realize it was just a disc drive difference. Guess $400/$500 seems more likely then.

 

It comes with a built in sub woofer.

 

It also doubles as a waffle griddle if you play on it for more than an hour. Pretty near and considerate of the MS guys, they know gamers get hungry after awhile.

 

After seeing Nvidia 30xx reveal.... I think I'll just go 3080, I don't play much anymore anyway... But seems I can usually swap hardware and not be out much. I think this might be the first time I don't buy a playstation and xbox in same gen since the original Xbox. I grew up with Dos/original Nintendo, just didn't start buying my own until about Xbox release.

Also, don't get me wrong I like consoles but between pc and switch I don't have time as it is - I hope these new consoles will push design as expected, I'm not so much crazy on graphics but like seeing the higher fps and higher res for all - also the load time alone is going to be nice on these systems - and then hopefully more cross play with pc.

I'm definitely not elite pc guy or against consoles but I like to remain pretty current on my computers. Like I've had consistent luck selling old gpu to get the newer release for not much more. Anyway, like you mention - DLSS is exciting too.

I'm just glad the prices aren't crazy high for these.

 

i'm wondering if most of the tech giants have just kinda realized the majority of new gear is hitting a threshold people are willing to pay. i think thats why they're starting to roll out different level phones/tablets/etc.

sure theres still people who will shell out for the latest and greatest, but theres def a market for people who are ok with moderate upgrades at a mid tier price.

 

At $299, that thing is going to fly off the shelf.

 

Xbox Series S and Xbox Series X Launch November 10, Starting at $24.99 a Month with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate and EA Play

https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2020/09...?ocid=Platform_soc_omc_xbo_tw_Photo_lrn_9.9.1

Game Pass is already great, getting EA Play with it is nice.

 

Yep, that's great! Also, just wanted to point out the link mentions that pre-orders start 9/22 for those of you interested in that detail.

I like this in-depth video about the XSS:

There's a bit of typical marketing buzzwords, but it shows some good examples of games actually running on XSS. Also shows off the Quick Resume feature, which is pretty great. Honestly, if MS and Sony just showed off more of that stuff, I'd be way more excited for next-gen.

I think targeting 1080p/1440p with a good scaling option is a fantastic idea. Honestly, I'd rather have a $400-$500 machine that targets those resolutions, but more ray tracing units or something like that. I do like 4K, but it is just not worth the huge hardware costs.

 

you can get a cheap gaming setup if you get the series s with a tv/monitor that supports 120 fps at 1080p with hdr

 

With those specs, it should only do some arcade games at 120fps.

Still not sure what the Series S is aiming at, 200 bucks less but vastly weaker performance than the Series X and ppl will regret it once they have a 4k TV/Monitor or want to play graphically demanding AAA titles at full quality.

 

People who want to get good frame rates at low res or budget setups. It’ll run fortnite well

 

The video I shared shows Gears 5 Multiplayer running at 120 FPS on XSS. Don't know what resolution that's at (probably dynamic), and it isn't a next-gen game, but it does seem a bit high profile.

I do think a lot of XSX and PS5 games will target 30 FPS though, and I can't imagine many devs will put in the effort to go beyond 60FPS (especially for XSS). I guess they could go really crazy with resolutions and other things, but not sure they'll put in the effort.

If the only discernible difference between XSS and XSX is 1440p vs 4K, then I think plenty of people would be happy to save the $200 (especially if the scaler does a good job). Don't know if that will actually be what happens, but if it does, it is a smart move. If MS continues with the Xbox All-Access push, then that's also a way to get around this. People can just go with the XSS for now, then in 2-3 years (I haven't actually looked at how long the terms are), they can decide to upgrade to XSX with their upgrade program. It definitely seems like some good ideas. They just need to execute them.