Playstation 5: Thread 01

[Digfox]

I hope for £400/450. No way I'm going to get a digital-only console, and if it's really £550...no matter how tempting Demon's Souls is, it can wait till the console drops below 500.

Yea, I mean I am obviously just hypothesising in that example. But I thought this was an interesting observation and not a point I've seen anyone else make since the presentation yesterday. However I would assume that a digital only consumer is more profitable and therefore would give Sony (or any platform holder) greater choice, particularly if there is more pressure on price.

Digital console aside, the £GBP is nearly 25% weaker against the $USD than November 2013 so I assume that £450 is much more likely anyway.

[dvdx2]

Do we know the launch line up yet?

[nonny]

I'm not in camp Playstation, currently have an Xbox One X - there seems to be plenty of buzz around this and complete confusion over series x. I mean whats coming out for that (genuinley no idea), and seems like its just an Xbox X pro?

In fairness MS haven't shown their first party lineup as yet. They're supposed to be showing some this month and then Halo is definitely getting shown in July.

Honestly I think they need to follow Sony and go with one show with all the titles coming that haven't been shown in the previous partners event.

[Neon Ignition]

That design reveal trailer is about to hit 13m views now after 24hrs.

After all the existing info for the both the crux of it seems to be that Series X is very marginally more powerful but also potentially slower at loading of the two. PS5 will get utilised the faster of the two whereas the Series X pretty much is an Xbox One X Pro. If the two were pushed on the same game that was maxing both out the outline feels like PS5 would load the next level up faster than XSX but the framerate drops would be better on XSX than on PS5. But as MS is ensuring all their games are XBO designed then Series X will remain unmaxed likely till its replacement model is with us.

I think, looking at the price of PS4 Pro it's tempting to aim high with projections of the PS5 price tag but casting an eye over at the Xbox One X it's clear that there's significant overhead given that system has dropped to £259.99. Pro is only sitting on its overpriced number due to the popularity of the brand so if MS is pitching XSX at £259.99 the Series X at £449.99 sounds right - with them willing to take a further £50 hit should Sony try to come in lower. If we assume that then presumably Sony would plan £449.99 for the disc unit and £399.99 for the digital model but if Series X then comes in at £399.99 as well it doesn't look too hot for the disc model - therefore the chicken game they're both playing.

Personally I wouldn't yet - though unlikely - rule out:

Sony going for £369.99 for the digital model PS5 and £399.99 for the disc based PS5
then Microsoft coming in under it's like for like rival with something like £379.99

or the same thing within the £399.99 to £449.99 bracket of pricing.

But the optics being most shrug off the scuffle and buy the £399.99 PS5 and both companies take a financial hit on units for now with price drops off the cards for the long term.

[Baseley09]

From what I've seen -- the Series X will be faster than the PS5. The design of the console is really clever, so you have a big heatsink, a 2 layer motherboard that helps with cooling, and the huge fan delivers great airflow. Microsoft have done a lot to make sure the CPU & GPU can run at maximum performance.

Go on the MS website to see how impressive the design of the tech is. I didn't like the actual case design much, but it's grown on me. I much prefer it over the style of the PS5.

I'll end up buying a PS5 because there will be exclusive games that I want. It will also be interesting to see how they improve VR. Astro Bot 2 will be a must have.

Yeah I get all that I'm sure its impressive tech, but it plays xbox one games right, i.e. its not a new format, the games will be xbox series x enhanced?

[Leon Retro]

Yeah I get all that I'm sure its impressive tech, but it plays xbox one games right, i.e. its not a new format, the games will be xbox series x enhanced?

The PS5 will play PS4 games, so both the PS5 & Series X will be the same with regard to backwards compatibility because of the x86 architecture.

MS have said that Series X games will work on the XB1, but we will have to wait to see if all games allow that. I guess that attitude will have to change once devs start taking full advantage of the Series X.

I think MS talking about how Series X games will run on the XB1 has given the impression that the SX is just an extension of the One X, but it's essentially the same tech as the PS5 but running a bit faster. So it is a proper next gen console that will do amazing things. Deciding which one to buy will come down to which first party games someone fancies.

MS need to really show off their games lineup over the next few months. I'm sure that 4K 60fps will at least be the norm in the first 18 months, then we'll see devs really going to town with all the cool features the GPU allows.

[Asura]

I'll end up buying a PS5 because there will be exclusive games that I want.

Yeaaah... This is the thing; Microsoft are really doubling down on Game Pass. They see that, along with ubiquity and availibility of titles, as the longer-term future of gaming; so they're putting together a Netflix-esque platform of their own content, and then selling an optional device which plays that content really well.

Whereas the PS5, which it has PSPlus, it's not quite structured in the same way and is a bit more like how videogames have conventionally always worked.

Personally I prefer Sony's approach this time around but MS clearly are after a slightly different market.

[Team Andromeda]

From what I've seen -- the Series X will be faster than the PS5. The design of the console is really clever, so you have a big heatsink, a 2 layer motherboard that helps with cooling, and the huge fan delivers great airflow. Microsoft have done a lot to make sure the CPU & GPU can run at maximum performance.

Yeah MS did some nice clever stuff like the double-sided motherboard to help with the size factor and cooling while making a more powerful system. Impressive stuff, they just need to show it off now.

If MS can't beat that showing, they need shagging

[nonny]

That approach by MS is short term though. It's not always a fact they're going to release games on the XSX that have to work on the older consoles.

So calling it the Pro is complete crap. It's a full next gen iteration that just happens to have all of its game line up in the first year playable on current consoles as well. A short term overlap.

There is benefit to this as well. Games like Halo will have higher player counts as it's not tied to the one console platform.

The XSX will have exclusives, just not yet.

Then saying they can't max out the console because they're supporting the Xbox One. This is unfounded. Yes they're building games that scale, but I sincerely doubt they're limiting scope of the XSX options just to make it run on older consoles. If anything they're targeting XSX and some functionality is reduced in older consoles. But hey actual fact is no-one knows as yet.

[Brad]

They are limiting scope because they have to. The last gen Xbox doesn’t have an ssd so you can’t design your game around the guarantee of having one.

They can’t expect to have 16GB of ram available either. It all limits the possibilities.

I agree with you on all the benefits of doing it this way though. Many plus sides to this approach.

[Team Andromeda]

They are limiting scope because they have to. The last gen Xbox doesn’t have an ssd so you can’t design your game around the guarantee of having one.

And for games like Halo or Forza that have been in for development for 5 to 4 years, that's not going to be much of an issue, is it? Given that in the design phase of those games were done years ago and at the start of their production SSD wasn't an option.
I can't see Hellblade II coming for the Base Xbox myself.

It's not like what SONY showed off wasn't possible on the current-gen and no doubt there were some cross-platform games shown. I know you go on about Racket transitions, we had that sort of stuff in Panzer Dragon Orta Ep7 LOL

[Cassius_Smoke]

As far as pricing goes you have to remember that MS still have Lockhart to show. I predict the following cheapest to most expensive:

Xbox Series S(lockhart)
PS5 digital
PS5
Xbox seriesX

MS might even put the lockhart at £2xx something. Sony will market the digital more but say that it's a full power console. SeriesX will be more then the PS5 and they'll market is as the premium console, although it won't be much more.

As far as content, I find myself particularly agreeing with TA. Nothing shown, except Ratchet and Clank, couldn't be done on the current generation.

[nonny]

They are limiting scope because they have to. The last gen Xbox doesn’t have an ssd so you can’t design your game around the guarantee of having one.

They can’t expect to have 16GB of ram available either. It all limits the possibilities.

I agree with you on all the benefits of doing it this way though. Many plus sides to this approach.

I think it really depends on what "scope" is here. I get that they're targeting two levels and need to cater for both but I'd argue they're not reducing the XSX scope in order to facilitate it working on the XBO.

I wouldn't be surprised if some features, functionality and game play options just don't exist in the XBO versions of some games.

As an example I think of something like that nemesis system in LOTR shadow of war (was that the first one?). On the base platform that system just simply didn't exist so they removed it entirely. Same game but missing some bells and whistles.

Here they might turn around and say Halo Infinite has more complex AI and 200 player big team battles in multiplayer on XSX both of which aren't available for XBO because of limitations.

I don't think they're going to limit in the reverse or walk back ideas in design simply because they want a version on the XBO as well.

So they don't expect an SSD or 16gb RAM as you say, but they do it exactly what to expect on each platform and target design ideas that fit each under the same game.

Of course, this is just my opinion and how I think they'll handle it. Until digital foundry or someone like that looks at the real performance of both we're all predicting how it'll pan out but I don't see from what we've seen so far that Microsoft is trying to sell you a Pro model hampered by current gen restrictions.

[CMcK]

How many next gen games have we seen so far that have gameplay features that could not be achieved on the present generation systems or lower end PCs? A good chunk of the games at the two reveals are going to also be available on current gen and PCs. First generation, first party series X games aren’t going to be hobbled by wider support.
I’m hopeful we will see games really take advantage of the new systems a bit quicker than normal at a generational transition as the development environment will be familiar from this generation. But for he first couple of years it’ll probably just be better graphics and loading times.
There are far too many people who will still be gaming on current generation systems for publishers and developers to ignore. And the effects of the pandemic in economies all over the world will make people think twice about expensive frivolous purchases like games consoles.

[hudson]

Not sute about that new cooling system...

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