Rumors on Next-gen PlayStation/Xbox

Durango (Xbox) specs from VGLeaks (can't remember how reliable they are, think they're OK):
http://www.vgleaks.com/world-exclusive-durango-unveiled/

Go to link for picture(s)/etc.

edit: BTW, I think I read that the "leak" from Reddit was fake (though didn't seem like there was much new info anyway).

 

There are the following indicators that this generation is winding down:
-Poor/slowing console sales
-Poor/slowing game sales ("Hi Mr. Publisher, how are things?")
-Big leaps in tech
-Game/engine developers begging for more power (and developing "next-gen" games/demos).
-Etc.

It is time for a new generation of consoles (excluding Wii U). Keep in mind that while it should start this year, it will take some time for adoption to pick up. 360/PS3 still will be hitting hard this year and likely next (like when God of War, Persona, etc., were releasing on PS2 after PS3 was released).

Also, wouldn't really describe this as "severely ramping up the processing power and graphics power." As somewhat indicated by Air Langhi, these specs are an improvement over 360/PS3 tech, but not really THAT great (for comparison, PS3's CPU would likely outperform most/all consumer CPUs when it was released, and the 360 GPU was close to, if not completely, top-of-the-line, even for a while after it was released). The specs are still pretty good, but nothing crazy (given power limitations and other factors, there's always going to be a big gap between consoles and PCs these days).

I'd say there is enough reason to upgrade the tech (graphics/games can get a lot better, as some simple demos have shown). Though I do think both MS and Sony should (and seemingly, will) do something different with their new consoles so that it seems like more than just "games with prettier graphics." MS will be pushing more Kinect, and possibly some Windows stuff (and whatever functionality could require 3GB of RAM at all times). Sony might not have as much "new" stuff to do, though I'd expect some decent things (or maybe they'll just copy the others again, see the controller rumor mentioned earlier). I'd like to see them push Gaikai stuff. That could be really neat if done properly...but this is Sony we're talking about. Regardless, definitely wait and see what they have planned before thinking these machines are just more powerful versions of existing consoles. Tech specs are nice, but they don't really tell you what each company has planned for their console (well...the RAM number for Durango hints at some things, but still a bit of a mystery).

You might have meant this, but don't think either will have GPUs on par with the 7970. Digital Foundry was implying that the PS3's GPU might be similar to a 7970m (maybe something on par with a 7870 on the desktop IIRC). Durango has a slightly worse GPU. Though to be fair, hard to do direct comparisons with PC GPUs given how much customization there will be for the consoles (e.g., ESRAM for Durango, modules for helping with physics, etc.).

Think they both wanted x86 CPUs, and I think Intel is usually too pricey, so AMD was only option I guess. Doesn't hurt that they can provide decent performance with strict power/heat limitations (big concern for consoles). I'm pretty disappointed in them too, though I admit that you probably don't need great CPUs in consoles these days (a lot of work can be done on the GPU, or some custom, specialized processor).

Hirai says this:

But I really doubt either one would be able to make significant changes to their designs at this point. This close to launch (even assuming an early 2014 launch), you need to have everything pretty much locked down.

 

No, they don't have to use similar tech. You are right that the more different they are, the more work developers will have to put in to get something working well on both. But the console makers never really seemed super concerned about this, until maybe recently. The PS2 had REALLY different architecture compared to say the Xbox (custom MIPs CPU vs x86 Intel CPU, GPU with exotic hardware and no shader support vs "traditional" Nvidia GPU with shader support). Things got a little closer with the 360 and PS3 (both had similarities in their CPUs, and each used AMD/Nvidia GPUs, etc), but they were still pretty different. Sometimes meant that some games just couldn't be ported (or ported well), but console makers decided to go that route (in Sony's case, they probably felt they could get more theoretical processing power by going the "exotic" route).

It seems really crazy to me how similar Durango and Orbis appear to be. Won't be as "fun" in some ways, but should make developing games a lot easier (among other things). Might help decreases costs more over time too.

 

I think there should be some clarification about the improvements in graphical power.

These specs are way better than the PS3/360. But they're not as good as what some were expecting (Cell v2.0, 8GB GDDR3, Radeon 8970 GPU, etc.), especially with the time frames we're talking about. Release this stuff in 2012 (or so), and we might be more impressed. Or release the PS3/360 18 months later, and we wouldn't have been as impressed back then. Keep in mind this generation has lasted a little longer than usual.

That said, yes, there should probably be other things if Sony/MS want to really sell these systems. With more RAM and better connectivity, OS functionality should be pretty nice.

 

You must not play PC games or check out demos from some next-gen engines.

Check out UE4, Unreal Samaritan demo, Star Wars 1313, Agni's Philosophy, Watch Dogs, etc. Or Battlefield 3 on max graphics settings on PC. All quite a bit better than Uncharted/Killzone/etc.