Unlocked: Managing Scorpio Expectations

IGN: "Our Xbox crew reacts to new Scorpio tech info, celebrates Prey's (fairly close!) release date and what it means for the inevitable Wolfenstein sequel, and more!"

[GorillaTact]

I get his point about managing expectations, but at the same time the Scorpio will indeed be the most powerful console ever built at this point in time. So at the very least whatever console a person is playing on now shouldn't stand up to it. I could only see it being a disappointment if the difference between what is currently on the market and the performance of the Scorpio can only be "seen" using equipment like the Digital Foundry guys use. If I have to rely on a website like Digital Foundry to tell me why the Scorpio version of a game is better because the naked eye cant tell the difference then I will be disappointed.

[Fishy Fingers]

I guess that in part will depend on your knowledge of what you're looking at on a technical level and how keen eyed you are (or nitpicky in my case).

Example, if I showed the old man (dad) a multiplat running on a PS4/XB he would no doubt be mighty impressed, now if I had him close his eyes and I switched to a PC version I'd be surprised if he noticed the difference where as to me it would appear as night and day.

Of course these mid gen systems are squarely aimed at the enthusiast market so they should notice the nuances like higher res, improved shadows, draw distance etc

[Inzo]

At the end of the day it comes down to your development teams and what they are capable of. Lets just take the PS3 for instance, in the views of many the PS3 wasnt supposed to be able to do what it did but somehow devs like GG, ND and SS managed to pull off games that are still able to stand strong today, and I dont just mean graphically. Hideo Kojima produced one of the greatest games in the last decade with MGS4, a game that will be 10 years old next year. This year is no different with games like Horizon, Yakuza, GR2, Nioh, GOW (possibly). The Scorpios success wont be in how much power it has, its success will be in the hands of the developers.

[DarkZane]

Developers won't bother much with it because the PS4 being the best selling console by far, they will prioritize it by far. The PS4 will keep getting third party exclusives while the Scorpio won't change anything and the Xbox One still won't get more games.

[GorillaTact]

Inzo
I believe that is true to a point. Hardware plays a big part of it too. If it didn't we would all still be playing on an Atari 2600, or Commadore 64. The lack of hardware improvements was the catalyst that folded the console market in that era. The progression of hardware is just as important as quality software.

DarkZane

What you will see is the PS4 getting assuredness from Japanese publishers and small studio support. AAA publishers will put their games on any platform they can make money, that includes PC & Xbox. If Sony wants an exclusive from a 3rd party AAA studio outside of Japan they will have to pay for it. Sonys next move will be either paying for timed exclusiveness, and or investing in new 1st party studios.

The Scorpio is going to be a success, barring some kind of massive defect ratio like the 360 had in its first year. If the hardware is there from a technical standpoint there will be AAA studios falling over one another trying to be the creator of the first AAA title that showcases the capability of the hardware. Id imagine that is already happening right now. The studio(s) that do that will be printing their own money for a few years. The whole no exclusive hub bub is nonsense. Maybe not in the first year, but rest assured there will be Scorpio/Windows 10 exclusives. Its common sense if gaming has been your hobby as long as it has been mine.

[alb1899]

True, but here weren't disappointed of the difference between ps4 and xone.....Jajaja

[ger2396]

I think the disappointing will be with lack of exclusives not power. We all anticipate it'll be a powerful console.

[medman]

@gorillatact
Microsoft will need more than "graphical superiority" to have success with Scorpio....they will need compelling software. It's going to be a tough sell for them, considering every indication is that the power difference is not going to be substantial enough to achieve native 4k@60fps, and even if a game manages to get there, it may have to do so making significant compromises to overall effects. If this is the case, and based on costs I believe it will be, Microsoft isn't going to have a significant graphical advantage over ps4 pro. Especially not with multiplatforms, for which developers are not going to bend over backwards to optimize for one console over the other.

The 2nd problem for the Scorpio is that Microsoft exclusives are now available on pc. Microsoft is in a tough spot to sell hardware, because if the games only look marginally better and perform marginally better than ps4 pro, without being able to play Sony's exclusives, that's tough. Additionally, if you can build a pc for just a bit more money that is going to give you better performance, more options, all while getting every Microsoft game while not having to pay for xbox live access? Tough sell that way as well, unless someone just really does not want to play on pc.

Personally, I was really hoping Microsoft would get the power quotient right...I didn't really care where they priced the console, just don't make compromises with it. Unfortunately, it looks like compromises is what we are going to get, which was predictable, given if they want to sell as many consoles as possible, they can't build a monster and price it out of the ability of most gamers to buy.

[GorillaTact]

I mostly disagree with your perspective. Graphics have been and always will be in the top list of what gamers want. It should also be pointed out that a very large part of the success of the PS4 has been because it is more powerful than the XB1. Those same gamers that bought PS4s because of its power advantage will buy the Scorpio.

Exclusives are important, but it takes a AAA exclusive, or a high quality niche title, for them to be of any great significance. Obviously that is left to the creativity and talent of developers.

The information revealed in the videocast regarding the Scorpio specs doesn't add much to what we know. The ability to use "checker boarding" to upscale to 4k isn't a surprise. That just means that is an option, not that "checker boarding" is as good as it gets.

[medman]

@gorillatact
The average consumer doesn't buy any product, including a console, because it is "the most powerful". What matters most is the company selling you the product, what items/goods are available for the product, your trust and/or belief that the seller will continue to produce quality products for the device you bought well into the future, etc. etc. etc.

The history of gaming consoles tells us precisely that. The ps4 is the first console of any generation that is both the most powerful, and the best selling. And it is selling well for a variety of factors.

[GorillaTact]

medman
Nonsense.

[medman]

I don't blame you for not having a retort....you really don't have any facts to back your "nonsense" perspective.

[Gwynbleidd]

Scorpio will be a big leap compared to Xbox One and it will have lots of new tech. My guess is Vega GPU and Ryzen-like CPU. I don't know if this eurogamer/DF document is outdated or not, or accurate or not. All I need to know is:

Phil Spencer yesterday after the doc emerged on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/XboxP3/...
" @XboxP3 will Scorpio Still be able to do Native 4K on games?"
" @BillyS79614528 Yes."

https://twitter.com/XboxP3/...
"@XboxP3 @Xbox No more Native 4K is running around... Maybe some explanations please ! Thank you !"
"@Kinhdrakk Honestly my focus is just on getting games ready to show and play. That will be the explanation. I'm confident in the results."

Ori and the Blind Forest dev on NeoGAF:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum...
"All consoles now are x86 PCs and the architecture will remain the same, that's why Sony was able to quickly iterate on the PS4 and make a beefier version of it.
Scorpio is a next-gen machine with the added benefit that all your old games will still be compatible. From this point on, similar to PCs, you'll not lose your library when you buy a next-gen system. I guess since NeoGAF is confsued, Microsoft will need to do a little work to make it clear to everyone that Scorpio isn't just a half-assed upgrade (which the PS4 Pro kinda is...), but a full blown next-gen machine that's just backwards-compatible to your current library."

[Trez1234]

FYI, the ps4 pro is a big leap compared to xbox one. Just don't expect it to be big leap compared to ps4 pro. Control your expectations.

[medman]

Uhhh...first of all, Spencer said "some" games will be native 4k on Scorpio. Guess what? "Some" games run native 4k on the ps4 pro. Stop fooling yourself....the Scorpio will still have to upscale, just as the ps4 pro does, for most of it's games, especially as time goes on. I was hoping the Scorpio would be the "no compromises" console Microsoft hinted it would be, but that does not appear to be what we're going to get. With the prevailing rumor (based on Microsoft's own Scorpio reveal and internal documents) that the cpu will not be getting the same upgrade as the gpu, Microsoft is taking a similar approach as what Sony did. That is where my disappointment lies....because the simple fact is Sony has many more games, and many more incoming, so if the Scorpio is not significantly more impressive graphically, it's already dead in the water.

[GorillaTact]

Reading through your comments, just out of curiosity if you don't mind me asking of course, how old are you? I'm kind of researching something surrounding aggregate websites and different topics like politics, gaming, public perception etc, etc.

[medman]

@gorillatact
I'm seven years old. Eighty seven years old. Does that help?

[plexdk]

its all great hardware, but what does it help if the games aren't there? Its a pretty weak lineup for xbox one, compared to ps4 this year.. I think they should turn the focus to the games, instead of hardware thats not even visible in the horizon.