@Elranzer: The regular PS4 consoles can run some VR games, like Eagle Flight, or Jobs Simulator. Games most people would consider to be tech-demos. But I think the full-fledged AAA titles like Fallout 4 won't be possible on the older hardware.
I'm hoping Sony will make a PS4 Slim model with a 500GB SSD option. The load/install times are noticeably faster than hybrid or HDD drives. And 500GB SSDs with 500MB sequential read/write speeds are regularly retailing for $130, so they're not quite as cost-prohibitive anymore.
I can only hope that they won't ruin this game like they did Star Fox by making a stupid use of the Gamepad. Then again, Star Fox was arguably already ruined with Nintendo's horrific muppet art style.
@alaannn: I saw that last night. I figured we would be seeing a PS4 Slim along with the Neo pretty soon. AMD somewhat forced the hands of Sony and MS for hardware revisions when they went exclusively to FinFET.
@e3man01: Well the Neo and Scorpio will definitely be the only consoles as viable VR platforms. I think MS and Sony will be true to their word about non-VR games being playable across all consoles in their respective ecosystems though. But the big caveat that was mentioned in this article is when production teams are forced to decide on what to leave in and what to remove. I can see the games on Scorpio and Neo being filled with much more content than the original consoles; still the same game, just more missing pieces than what you'd get with the more powerful system.
@tlpina: Both Sony and Microsoft had no choice but to create the PS4 Slim, and X1 S when AMD migrated their entire CPU/GPU manufacturing processes to FinFET. Both companies would have been forced to pay for a complete 28nm assembly for the old Jaguar cores if they didn't. But at least this way the new machines are more power efficient and have the ability to act as 4K video players.
Developers will certainly be happier for Scorpio since it's hardware aims to be much more powerful and user-friendly than the original X1. And holiday 2017 is a good launch window for a console designed to take advantage of 4K gaming and VR, since 4K TVs are expected to have a 23% market share by the end of 2016, and AAA VR titles (e.g. Fallout 4) will be hitting the shelves in Q2 2017.
These were the exact words of the MS marketing executive: "Well, we think about it as a premium product, from that standpoint, it is going to be a very high-end product."
Please don't get your hopes up fantasizing about a $599 advanced game console. This machine is not only supposed to smoothly upscale to 4K at 60 fps, but also smoothly handle the Rift was well (native 2K at 90+ fps). The Surface Pro 4, which MS considers to be a premium tablet, that packs nowhere near the hardware firepower that Scorpio will ship with starts at $799 for the base model. Wake up guys; Scorpio will not be targeting traditional console gamers. They're going after people who preferably own both an Oculus Rift, and a 4K TV. So if you can afford to shell out $600 on a VR HMD, and another $700 for a big screen 4K TV, then you're probably not going to balk at a console selling for around a grand.
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