Sony To Debut Two New PlayStation 4 Consoles Next Month, Says WSJ (cnet.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Sony could be about to announce two new PlayStation 4 consoles, according to the Wall Street Journal. Both units are set to be introduced next month, people familiar with the matter told the newspaper. The upgraded console outlined by the company earlier this year, capable of outputting 4K-resolution graphics, could be joined by a slimmed-down, cheaper version of the console. That would give gamers options to suit their varying budgets and demands. Sony is set to hold a press conference at the PlayStation Theater in New York on September 7 where the company is expected to outline the consoles in further detail.

Comments

The console advantage.

[jellomizer]

I don't get this changes with Microsoft than Sony.
They key advantage of Consoles isn't their power and performance but the fact that they are a common setup for the entire platform. Having different models with different features, will degrade this advantage and will end up with the same problem that we get with PCs. Games not optimized for the platforms, where they will not support the features that want to use, or will perform at a level that will cause a disadvantage to the other lesser box.

Re:The console advantage.

[DarkOx]

On the developer side not its not probably that much harder to make the games able to support a range, all be it a limited one, of hardware.

On the consumer side though, I am not thrilled. I know many will disagree with me but I liked the least common denominator aspect of consoles. It meant that you could go to the store bring the game home and just play it. It worked and played the way it did in the store or on the TV commercial. Granny just had to understand little Timmy has a PlayStation and this is a PlayStation title to buy him a birthday gift.

Now its going to be back to the world of PC games. Where you have to buy the thing to find out it runs all choppy on your hardware or many of the cool visual effects are disabled etc. Now its back to having to go read a bunch of forums to see if Grand Theft Auto 19 is actually worth playing on my PlayStation 9 model 1B+ or if I really have to go invest in a PlayStation 9 model 2X or maybe a PlayStation 9 model 2X+ to enjoy it.

I don't see this as being terribly good for consumers.

Death Rattle of an Industry

[Anonymous Coward]

That would give gamers options to suit their varying budgets and demands.

I don't want console options or gimmicks. I want good games, at a reasonable price.
Log into the PS4 store sometime. Game bundles of €100+ are visible, or last gen cinematic crud like Uncharted, and "next-gen" FPS like Doom, which won praise for actually getting within shooting distance of gameplay from 15 years ago.

Consoles are a waste of money now. You can get 95%+ of all their shit on PC, cheaper, more conveniently, and more reliably. Aside from Nintendo, there aren't enough exclusive to justifying dropping even $300 on any current gen console when you could just buy an SSD/Card for your PC and live it larger for less.

t. console pleb

Re:Death Rattle of an Industry

[Opportunist]

*sputter* Games that actually boot at launch? When was the last time you had a console? That's so last-gen. Or before-last-gen, even.

Today it's more like buying a new game and slipping it in. Waiting for the console to boot up. Finally realizing that hey, there is actually a medium in the reader but no, you get a selection screen. Because when you slip a medium in, it doesn't mean that you want to play the game, you could still be absolutely interested in our latest crap that we wanna hype! So you navigate to the "play the fucking game" option. Lucky you, btw, if you have a controller that doesn't require you to enter the 8 ballet positions to do so.

Then the game finds out that, hey, your system is too old for this game, you have to install an update! And since you're online, let's get that update from the server instead of the game medium because, you know, it could be more up to date! Wait for the download while we entertain you with more ads for more crap you don't give a shit about! Oh, and then, please reboot the system.

Waiting for the console to boot up. Finally realizing that hey, there is actually a medium in the reader... ...enter the 8 ballet positions to do so.

Game starts. Awesome! Erh... no, doesn't, because it's found out that there is a patch actually for it, let's download it, shall we? That was not really a question, dummy, that's more like when your boss "suggests" you should do something, just sit there, look pretty and watch some recommendations from our store! Oh, and of course, then it's again reboot time!

Waiting for the console ...

And then it's finally ... time to get some sleep, it's past midnight. But you might be able to play tomorrow!