NO MORE CONSOLE GENERATIONS!! BUT ITS NOT WHAT YOU THINK!!

Recently at Gamescom Aaron Greenberg made this statement about not having anymore console generations.

Now I actually think this could be a good thing, now before anyone goes off on 1 at me just listen to what i think microsoft are attempting,

2013 XBOX ONE released

2017 PROJECT SCORPIO releases

2020 PROJECT LIGHTHOUSE releases( Assumption )

2023 PROJECT HURRICANE releases ( Assumption )

2026 PROJECT SKYLIGHT releases ( Assumption )

and a new project every 3 years there after, now you must be thinking WTF!!

basically each 1 is part of the xbox one family just with a better GPU, CPU and RAM compared to the previous iteration but they are all essentially an xbox one, they all have the same x86 architecture, the same UI, the same Friends List, the same XBOX LIVE
network, what ever PROJECT SCORPIO looks like, all future iterations will be identical on the outside but the internal hardware will be upgraded from the previous version, this means all your peripherals like controllers and external harddrives will work on
each iteration that comes out, it also means all your digital and/or disc library will follow you to the new iteration as well.

This is how i see it happening, now you maybe thinking well i dont want to buy a new console every 3 years, heres the kicker, you dont have to, the average console generation is 5-6 years and this is where i believe microsofts inspiration has come from with
regards to the mobile phone market, you see there is a new iteration of phones every year, now if your like me i dont upgrade on a yearly basis, i always skip a year because my contract is 24 months( 2 years ) so while i had the galaxy s4 i skipped the s5
but got the s6, i'm skipping the s7 but will get the s8, the same can be applied to the console market in that sense.

So you purchase SCORPIO when it releases but skip PROJECT LIGHTHOUSE 3 years later because you think its to soon and too exspensive to upgrade again but by the time PROJECT HURRICANE releases it will have been 6 years, so about the length of an average console
generation, but then your asking but i dont want to miss out on games for PROJECT LIGHTHOUSE, well you wont because all of those games will run on PROJECT SCORPIO just at a lower setting and it will be the same with PROJECT HURRICANE games been playable on
PROJECT LIGHTHOUSE and SCORPIO just at different settings.

This is how i think microsoft are attempting to do things when they say there will be no more console generations as we know them because no matter what console you get from them in the futer, they are all essentially XBOX ONES.

what do you guys think?

Axioms.

:)

 

Overlapping Technologies

no. i dont think its a good idea. upgrading existing used consoles will cost more than produce the new generation units in china.

I strongly believe trading older models of consoles with the new generation of consoles would be better for consumers.

 

Console Warriors, Console Wars, Fanboys, etc..

it will be a bad day if only one console emerges from this generation, even if it is the one you choose.

-

the negativity is annoying, but to me its also exciting. i think things are really changing in gaming consoles and thats great. but i think its got some people really worried.

-

but ofcourse a lot of it just seems like misinformation.

 

Microsoft and Sony realize that 8th gen consoles are underpowered compared to PC gaming. That's why they're going to release their next console soon, instead of waiting like 10 years like between Xbox 360 and Xbox 1. Games these days require better hardware
to run, and that's not going to stop. Customer expectations are going to continue to expand and grow. Not sure what console they may come up with after Project/Xbox Scorpio. But I'd say Xbox Scorpio is completely different to Xbox 1 and a MAJOR HARDWARE REVISION
to Xbox 1:

- GDDR5 RAM @ 320GB/s compared to current gen Xbox 1 DDR3 RAM @ 68GB/s

- From their official announcement Project Scorpion video, it looks like the system has 12x1GB RAM modules.

- May have a faster clocked AMD APU too. 1.75Ghz is too slow for gaming. It's not just the GPU that is important for gaming. But also the CPU too. The CPU can handle simulation and AI as with the case with Planet Coaster a game in progress by Frontier.

I have noticed that my Xbox 360 slim console starts up much faster than my Xbox 1 console. This is embarrassing since Xbox 1 has a newer processor and much more RAM (512mb vs 8GB). Xbox 1 also uses ancient 5400rpm HDD's which are intolerably slower at loading
stuff compared to SSD's. Even Xbox 360 has replaceable internal HDD's where as with Xbox 1, the internal HDD is non-removable without voiding the console's warranty. With Scorpio, they need to provide the option to have an SSD so that the console can boot
up in 5 seconds instead of 2 minutes like what the situation is like with Xbox 1.

The Sims 4 while played on Ultra maxed out settings at 1080 resolution uses about 4.7GB system RAM. And if you want 4k gaming stuff, that is going to use up more system RAM likely. It's why AMD recommends at least 16GB system RAM for 4K gaming. But Scorpio
may get 12GB RAM. Xbox 1 only allows 5GB RAM for games. However, Scorpio will still be less powerful than my first custom desktop I got early this year. The AMD Radeon R9 390 has a higher bandwidth of 384GB/s which is a higher bandwidth than the GTX 970 and
GTX 980 and AMD RX 480. Planet Coaster is in Alpha stage and I have the game. It's made by Frontier, they also make games for Xbox. On their forum site, many mention a higher clocked quad core CPU like my i7-6700k (4-4.2Ghz+) even the game developers have
admitted for this game that the AI work and some other work loads are given more to the CPU than the GPU. So I think a higher clocked AMD APU for Xbox Scorpio would help, because the clock speed is simply too low for 8th gen consoles. A really good CPU like
mine can in fact help the GPU with gaming.

But consoles have advantages. They're simple, they don't get viruses (yet, you don't need to do naughty stuff to get a virus due to the state of the Internet Infrastructure), social features of Xbox Live make Xbox Live the best online service for consoles
which include party chat, avatars, voice messaging, friends, and video chat on your console via Kinect. Who knows what they'll do after Xbox Scorpio. Only time will tell. What may have been considered a high end GPU 2 years ago may be only like medium level
GPU today. And games may require better hardware to run at their best due to customers expectations. That's why manufacturers like Intel and AMD and Nvidia are continually working on newer hardware products which can better computing and gaming.

If you look up Generation in the dictionary, it's easy to conclude that Xbox Scorpio can be called a next gen console. Xbox 360 is a major hardware revision of the first Xbox, so it's a different gen. Xbox 1 is a major hardware revision of Xbox 360, so it's
a different gen. I guess there wasn't a severe need for better hardware between 2005 and 2015. That's why Xbox 360 was been manufactured throughout those years with no major hardware revisions necessary. But these days, games and hardware continue to grow.
That's why they may need to introduce a new version console every 2 or 3 years. But it's not always about raw hardware power. It's about the service. Take a look at Xbox 360. Microsoft did a great job with it, which is why millions more are active on it than
there are on Xbox 1. Only 30 of my friends have an Xbox 1. The other 70 of my friends play on Xbox 360. Xbox 360 had party chat and it was like the only 7th gen console that had this and avatars and voice messaging and stuff. Xbox Live is the best online service
ever developed for consoles and that was well reflected off with Xbox 360.

 

[quote user="AXIOMS OF FATE"]So you purchase SCORPIO when it releases but skip PROJECT LIGHTHOUSE 3 years later because you think its to soon and too exspensive to upgrade again but by the time PROJECT HURRICANE releases it will have been 6 years, so about
the length of an average console generation...[/quote]

This sounds like MS "plan" and sounds at face value like its reasonable. However when viewed from the Context of History and the History of Video Game Consoles and Development it becomes quite a different argument.

Take the past 3 Generations of Xbox (Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One) regardless of what MS might be claiming with Windows Universal Application and how it scales or allows different Hardware to process the same Software. It becomes vary apparent that the original
Xbox regardless of Software simply does not have the Hardware required to play either Xbox 360 or Xbox One Games from a technical stand-point alone.

The same issue in reality will dictate that there will be Games (Software) in the near future that will be using say Project Scorpio as a baseline. These Games will either be severely undercut or impossible to play all together on the current Xbox One. Now
lets go even just one step further to what's after Project Scorpio. How much of a struggle will Xbox One have trying to run a Game that is designed for the Console a leap after even Project Scorpio.

Sorry but this "concept" does not work in reality and MS can claim all they want. Its safe to say the Burden of Proof is on them to support their claim.

 

thats the point im trying to make elohmn, because each iteration will use the same x86 architecture, UI, XBOX LIVE NETWORK, it makes it far easier to develop games for each version, whereas the original xbox had a different architecture to the 360 and it
changed again with the xbox one so games did not have the ability to play on the successor until they used some trickery to make them work, but going forward thats not going to happen, now there will come a point where the xbox one will no longer have the
required power to run games in the future but i dont see that happening until at least the console upgrade after the SCORPIO, at which point the xbox one will be 7 to 8 years old by my calculations and time for people to upgrade to the SCORPIO or the iteration
after that depending on which one they want/price, SCORPIO will become the baseline at this point but because of its power i think It could last 10 years as the base line then the base line will move to another iteration and the same will happen again.

 

Yes, I understand that just fine but I don't believe MS claim in regards. There is no magic bullet for Hardware/ Software that unifies 5 plus year old Hardware. Its not simply a matter of scale (ie resolution/ fps) but core features
and many more issues.

Here's just an example. A Dev makes a 128 Player Game on Scorpio in the future, there is no way for them to release a 128 Player Game on Xbox One. Their options become Update and unify (Xbox One being 64 Players only) or make
two different versions of the Game or simply save money and not do either of the prior choice or an Xbox One "version".

Now mutiply the above problem across 3 different Generations. Sorry but this claim by MS in regards to "ending" Generations is pr speak. MS does not hold rights on the concept of all Video Game Consoles. Its not their position
to dictate how the Industry is or is not as a whole.

 

^ As a few have said lately, despite MS claim that Scorpios games will appear on XB1 etc I now firmly believe Scorpio will have its own games, VR/normal that we won't see on XB1

I don't understand how it works but people say Scorpio is 3/4x the power of today's machines. Why would you release a machine of that power but just have same games, just looking prettier?

Nahhhh, way to go yet but I'm interested to see how MS spin it over next year or so