• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

NeoGAF Post by Ori Dev: Scorpio is a "full blown next generation Console

So Microsoft are trying to say there will be no more generations, the leaked document hinting that it could be a PS4 Pro like upgrade and then the Ori dev saying it's a real next gen system........... So which is it ?

Microsoft really need to start making their message clear soon.

I'm not sure they do. Trump kept saying different contradictory things all the time. This meant that someone wanting to live in a bubble could choose to believe the parts they wanted to believe and eventually this strategy allowed him to win the election.

Maybe this obfuscation is a deliberate strategy by Microsoft to prosper in the current post-truth world

The point of a "NEW" generation is getting games not possible on older hardware.

The Scorpio may be 20 times stronger than what is already announced, but if the manufacturer declares that all software made for it has to be playable on massively inferior hardware, then what's the point? We will never get next gen games, only improved last gen versions.

I don't understand how anyone would have dificulty understanding this.

Upton Sinclair said:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
 

Smax

Member
The point of a "NEW" generation is getting games not possible on older hardware.

The Scorpio may be 20 times stronger than what is already announced, but if the manufacturer declares that all software made for it has to be playable on massively inferior hardware, then what's the point? We will never get next gen games, only improved last gen versions.

I don't understand how anyone would have dificulty understanding this.
 
Lol what is going on with these industry types who can't help but run their mouth? Mahler you better be right otherwise you'll be the next Panello and it will be even more savage.

The fact that he felt the need to throw some shade on the pro is suspicious to say the least given that Moon Studios signed on as a second party studio for MS.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Am I the only who feels like the distinction is pretty much arbitrary at this point?

NeoGAF is arguing about it, so probably. The raw percentage increases are akin to previous generation upgrades, if you dispute that you're deluded. Whether or not it's the jump people here want or are willing to pay for, since it's not going to be the true 4K@60 console some people are holding out for barring some dramatic change in leaks and official specs, is another question.

Saying it's not a generational jump means that you're holding on to outdated console lifecycle definitions which Sony or Microsoft don't care about anymore. We got PC in our consoles, now.

The point of a "NEW" generation is getting games not possible on older hardware.

The Scorpio may be 20 times stronger than what is already announced, but if the manufacturer declares that all software made for it has to be playable on massively inferior hardware, then what's the point? We will never get next gen games, only improved last gen versions.

I don't understand how anyone would have dificulty understanding this.

This definition makes no sense either. We've often gotten cross-gen games, that didn't mean the "next generation" hadn't started. Console generations are dying, that's the whole point of Sony and Microsoft's moves. I don't understand how anyone has difficulty understanding that.
 

Fdkn

Member

Golden Axe was not the same game in both consoles. You couldn't play the Megadrive version on a Master System
Titanfall wasn't Xbox Exclusive, it was on PC day one. Neither of those versions worked on the 360.
Journey is a port. The ps4 version doesn't work in a ps3
Zelda is a cross-gen game. The WiiU version doesn't work in a Switch, and the Switch version doesn't work on a WiiU.

Unless something changes, the official info available from the platform holders right now is very simple:

PS4 pro is a PS4, it plays the same games. There is no such thing as a PS4Pro game that wouldn't work on a PS4.
Scorpio is a Xbox One, it plays the same games. There are no planned Scorpio games that wouldn't work on a Xbox One*

*VR maybe, but that's a very special case

You are the one trying to change the definitions of stuff that has been very easy to understand for over 30 years.
 
I'm not sure they do. Trump kept saying different contradictory things all the time. This meant that someone wanting to live in a bubble could choose to believe the parts they wanted to believe and eventually this strategy allowed him to win the election.

Maybe this obfuscation is a deliberate strategy by Microsoft to prosper in the current post-truth world

The comparisons to Trump / Spicer have to stop now. For fuck's sake, get a grip.
 

Tecnniqe

Banned
Half assed upgrade 😂

I do see the reasoning behind that comment but full blown next gen machine? Hmm 🤔

S C O R P I O
 
Golden Axe was not the same game in both consoles. You couldn't play the Megadrive version on a Master System
Titanfall wasn't Xbox Exclusive, it was on PC day one. Neither of those versions worked on the 360.
Journey is a port. The ps4 version doesn't work in a ps3
Zelda is a cross-gen game. The WiiU version doesn't work in a Switch, and the Switch version doesn't work on a WiiU.

Unless something change, the official info available from the platform holders right now is very simple:

PS4 pro is a PS4, it plays the same games. There is no such thing as a PS4Pro game that wouldn't work on a PS4.
Scorpio is a Xbox One, it plays the same games. There is no planned Scorpio games that wouldn't work on a Xbox One.

You are the one trying to change the definitions of stuff that has been very easy to understand for over 30 years.

You're literally railing against Microsoft for being consumer friendly, here. They're not making you pay again for the games you already bought - this is clearly an evil move by Microsoft, right?

We also have no idea on VR. If VR is a thing for Scorpio, there will be exclusive games, because we know that the Xbox One cannot handle VR, at all. Information is light because the thing hasn't even been properly announced. That is not a good justification for speculating either way, if I'm honest.

We know so little.
 

watdaeff4

Member
Wow. This thread has blown up.

Didn't Phil Spencer say last year that Scorpio was ushering in the era of "gaming without generations?" or some other PR hot hashtag line or such?

I'm sticking with that over what Thomas states at this point. (no offense to a great development studio, but on this one would go with the head of the platform in this somewhat contradictory statements).
 
The comparisons to Trump / Spicer have to stop now. For fuck's sake, get a grip.

do i really need to dig up the penello "we INVENTED DirectX" misdirection post again

Wow. This thread has blown up.

Didn't Phil Spencer say last year that Scorpio was ushering in the era of "gaming without generations?" or some other PR hot hashtag line or such?

I'm sticking with that over what Thomas states at this point. (no offense to a great development studio, but on this one would go with the head of the platform in this somewhat contradictory statements).

tbf "gaming without generations" is fairly consistent with what it seems thomas actually meant
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
I've seen this repeated a lot. "It's not a next generation unless there are exclusive games for it." I don't get it. In my mind a new generation starts when games are designed using the new hardware as a baseline. Whether they get ported down to other systems or not is irrelevant. The PS4 Pro is an upgrade because its games are being designed using the PS4 as a baseline and then get ported up. If Microsoft can get developers to design Xbox games using the Scorpio as a baseline and then port down to XB1, PS4 or Pro then the Scorpio is a next generation machine.

I don't think they will convince developers to do so outside of first party studios because it's easier to port up than to port down but maybe they're prepared to throw a few money hats around to make it happen.

Hmm.

I could get behind this. You have the benefits of new technology for early adopters, with the business benefits of being able to address a larger market with older devices. As a publisher you can choose how far back you support - as the userbase builds up of newer machines and the stats show the older machines being a smaller and smaller piece of the pie, you drop support

The risk is that - even baselining on a Scorpio - you inevitably have to bear in mind the limitations of the older hardware. But that may simply be the business reality
 
do i really need to dig up the penello "we INVENTED DirectX" misdirection post again

Why don't you dig up what this dev - the dev whose comment this thread is about - said instead?

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.

Literally Trump, amirite?
 

RobRSG

Member
What I find must amazing is how Microsoft is dealing this mid-gen upgrade fuckery. Sony stood quiet up until next to PS4 Pro's release, and is treating it accordingly to it's marginal benefits imo.

MS is trying to showcase Scorpio as a mid-gen upgrade, but sometimes is pushing it as a next gen console. Not sure what they want, but surely will not be the "Monster" they've advertised initially (DF has a record of spreading true rumors).

I'm interested to see how that develops, and it's not looking good.
 

Fdkn

Member
You're literally railing against Microsoft for being consumer friendly, here. They're not making you pay again for the games you already bought - this is clearly an evil move by Microsoft, right?

We also have no idea on VR. If VR is a thing for Scorpio, there will be exclusive games, because we know that the Xbox One cannot handle VR, at all. Information is light because the thing hasn't even been properly announced. That is not a good justification for speculating either way, if I'm honest.

We know so little.

I'm not railing against Microsoft. In fact, I'm saying the same exact line that Microsoft is telling about Scorpio.
 
I'm not railing against Microsoft. In fact, I'm saying the same exact line that Microsoft is telling about Scorpio.

My (first) point there was a cross-gen game that you pay for twice is essentially identical to a cross-gen game that you pay for once. But the fact that you pay for it twice was the basis of your justification that they are separate generations.

I'm saying it can be a new-generation even with cross-gen games.
 
What I find must amazing is how Microsoft is dealing this mid-gen upgrade fuckery. Sony stood quiet up until next to PS4 Pro's release, and is treating it accordingly to it's marginal benefits imo.

MS is trying to showcase Scorpio as a mid-gen upgrade, but sometimes is pushing it as a next gen console. Not sure what they want, but surely will not be the "Monster" they've advertised initially (DF has a record of spreading true rumors).

I'm interested to see how that develops, and it's not looking good.

Except Microsoft are barely saying anything about it. It's people on forums making loads of pointless threads about it which is creating all the noise. And often the MS related threads are seemingly made by people who appear to have no interest in buying the platform lol.

They announced at E3 last year and since mentioned it in passing a few times on twitter. That's it. And they were clear from the start exactly what the machine is all about.
 
Thanks for that clarification - then why all the hub-bub? Is it the "half-assed" comment that threw people in a tizzy?

a half-assed upgrade (which the PS4 Pro kinda is...)

'kinda'

Nearly 800 posts.

This is also me exiting this thread. Apologies to those who reply to any of my previous comments, it's all gone too toxic (what with equating videogame devs to totalitarian fascists). Unsubscribing.
 
I'm not sure they do. Trump kept saying different contradictory things all the time. This meant that someone wanting to live in a bubble could choose to believe the parts they wanted to believe and eventually this strategy allowed him to win the election.

Maybe this obfuscation is a deliberate strategy by Microsoft to prosper in the current post-truth world

Well the election didn't cost people money to vote, MS want to sell us a new box but if it's unclear what they are selling, expecting people to send $300-400 or more, is a big ask and that strategy certainly won't win them 1st place, over Sony and the PS4 / PS4 Pro.
 

Tunin

Member
Am I the only one really happy about backwards compatibility from now on?
PC dream is finally coming for consoles as well.
 

watdaeff4

Member
'kinda'

Nearly 800 posts.

Yeah, reading more that seems to be the case. Like I said, not the most professional of comments coming from someone of that position.

In all honesty, I have been holding off on the Pro as (it appears to me at least) if you don't have a 4K TV it's not worth it if you already own a PS4. If you don't, then I would recommend a Pro over a slim. I have a feeling this sentiment will be the same for me when the Scorpio comes out.

Now when I do get a 4k TV? buying both.

Am I the only one really happy about backwards compatibility from now on?
PC dream is finally coming for consoles as well.
I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath. MS only wound up doing it with XB1/360 this time because they were getting slaughtered.
And with Sony's current approach, I wouldn't be surprised if the PS5 isn't BC .
 

Fdkn

Member
My (first) point there was a cross-gen game that you pay for twice is essentially identical to a cross-gen game that you pay for once. But the fact that you pay for it twice was the basis of your justification that they are separate generations.

I'm saying it can be a new-generation even with cross-gen games.

If a company doesn't want you to pay twice, they have been able to make their games crossbuy for years. I've benefited from that many times.

What you are talking about here is not that. They are literally the same games, the same disc works on both boxes and the same digital data downloads in both boxes.
 
Sure, and by equating him to Trump you're effectively slandering the guy.

I didn't equate him with Trump. I just said that MS (as a whole, not specifically this developer) hypothetically following the Trump strategy wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing in a post-truth world (in response to a poster who said Microsoft NEEDED to be more clear). I didn't say they were actually doing that. The future will tell if they choose to be clear and transparent or if they choose to follow the Trump path (which they have dabbled with in the past).

Thanks for that clarification - then why all the hub-bub? Is it the "half-assed" comment that threw people in a tizzy?

The hub-bub was justified until last page where Thomas clarified that he doesn't use the standard definition of generation. In my response to this clarification I stated that it would be a good idea for mods to change the title of this thread to reflect this fact to avoid future misunderstandings, but it seems they haven't done so yet

Well the election didn't cost people money to vote, MS want to sell us a new box but if it's unclear what they are selling, expecting people to send $300-400 or more, is a big ask and that strategy certainly won't win them 1st place, over Sony and the PS4 / PS4 Pro.

I agree it would be a shitty thing to do. I'm just saying it could be effective

Also the election may have cost a lot of people their health-care which is a lot more important than the money you pay for a console
 
A lot of folks in this thread here might be fairly young, but games have existed cross-generations for a looong time. That in itself is absolutely not an indicator of whether a box is 'next-gen' or not, whatever that even means.

This whole generation bullshit in general has to stop - A lot of folks play on PCs nowadays simply because STEAM has a library featuring hundreds of great games without any stupid 'this is gen X' assignment. With next-gen hardware, be it Scorpio or PS5, you'll be able to get games on the older gen hardware and see it run a little worse (probably lower res, lower framerate), while it'll perform the best on the latest gen hardware - exactly like what you see on the PC or Phone market. If you wanna play a brand new game at 60fps, get the new box. Don't wanna get the new box? You can still play the game on your old box at 30. That's probably how that's gonna work out.

The forward-compatibility is just an added benefit that Microsoft agreed upon and I think that's very pro-consumer: Once the new box comes out, your old box won't magically be worthless. You'll still be able to get the games that exist on that platform. Yes, they'll run a little worse, but devs will have to make sure the experience is still good. If it's not, it's the devs fault.
PCs and consoles are different. You are incorrectly trying apply the PC environment to consoles. PCs have to exist to support multiple different combinations of hardware. As a result they have abstraction layers built in to hide the underlying hardware differences. However this flexibility comes with the cost of overhead. PC games can support a wide variety of hardware because they sacrifice performance to do so.

Consoles on the other hand are a standardized platform specifically targeted to run games. Because of this, that abstraction layer doesn't need to exist or is kept very thin. Developers can target the direct configuration of the hardware without having to add the overhead that generalization brings. This allows console games to punch above their weight on a specific hardware spec. However it comes at the cost of not being very portable.

In addition, in order to keep costs down, consoles only have the hardware necessary to run games. Anything else can be discarded. This is why the CPU in consoles are typically weaker than ones in PCs. Most games are GPU bound not CPU bound so it makes sense to put more resources for a gaming console into the GPU instead of the CPU. What this means is that PC games have extra CPU power that can be thrown at the task of making the code more generic that is not available to console games.

All of this is why the concept of generations make more sense on consoles than on PCs. Console games simply can't sacrifice the resources to support a wide variety of hardware configurations, so it makes sense to have clear delineations between those configurations. The standardization on x86 hardware will make this less necessary, but it doesn't remove the requirement altogether. If Microsoft wants to move to a more PC generationless type approach, they will have to accept the PC overhead with it. This doesn't means the concept of console generations was meaningless. It just means that Microsoft is now accepting different tradeoffs than now blurs the lines of generations.
 
I hope so, but I'm not holding my breath. MS only wound up doing it with XB1/360 this time because they were getting slaughtered.
And with Sony's current approach, I wouldn't be surprised if the PS5 isn't BC .

Yeah, sadly I'm thinking the same, as Sony have pretty much shown that BC means very little, when they can sell remasters and continue to dominate in console sales, against Xbox One which does have the feature.
 

Jiffster

Neo Member
Here's hoping they have some delicious exclusives to go along with it. Forza/Gears/Halo don't do it for me at all.

Even though I'm lukewarm on Microsoft at the moment a new console launch always manages to get me excited. E3 should be interesting.

You probably dont mean scorpio exclusives, but worth noting anyway that devs wont be allowed to develop scorpio only titles.
 
It's funny the way so many work so hard to handicap the narrative here, to create doubt around some pretty clear and basic things. Phil Spencer, since before the e3 unveil had said that a new console was coming and that he didn't want a 1.5 revision in the style of PS4 Pro. They've had an extra year, and they promoted it as the most capable console ever made. Now this developer of Ori, admittedly someone who might be pro MS from the outset, says it's a true next gen console, clearly referring to the power capabilities. Take his comment with a grain of salt if you will, but everything lines up with the original intent of a powerful Scorpio. Everything from the beginning has pointed to this being very powerful.

The DF white sheet is the one that is somewhat suspect, because it's over a year old. Things could have changed. BUT IT WAS ALSO JUST AN INITIAL INTRODUCTION FOR DEVELOPERS. As ever with MS here, people rushed to judge them for material on the white sheet, they crucified MS for offering developers options, because yea, we're going to find that Scorpio is indeed capable of 4k 60fps on AAA games, and we will also find that some engines are fixed in such a way that they're unable to do 4k 60fps on Scorpio, or some developers will choose to go for something less than 4k 60fps, instead opting for better effects for example.

All MS does is open up ways for developers to understand development on a new platform and it gives thirsty/transparent teenagers here all the reason to construct hugely misguided bad buzz
 

wbEMX

Member
The fact that he felt the need to throw some shade on the pro is suspicious to say the least given that Moon Studios signed on as a second party studio for MS.

To be fair, the Pro is half-assed in its design, considering what they could've done with it and ultimately what they didn't do. Not saying that Scorpio will be any better, but that shade has at least some legitimacy.
 
equating trump/spicer to ms? that is a new level of hate - blocked. thank goodness for threads like these sometimes. horrible and disgusting to draw those two together. pity.

edit:

thomas is forever going to be known as the 'he said the ps4pro is half-assed (omitting kinda)' guy. isn't even that big of a deal yet the dogpile is evident even with his responses. :(
 
A "full blown next generation” Console that only plays last gen games.

You're kidding, right? The PlayStation 2 played PlayStation 1 games and that was very much appreciated. I'd hate to buy a Scorpio or a PS5 only to lose access to all my games once again. That's just a stupid thing for consumers and it's a stupid thing for developers, since now the games are just taken off the market and some of you are then happy to buy a 'remaster' (which more often than not is the same exact game only with the native resolution cranked up) again - How is this better than new consoles not making this crappy cut, especially since they're all - similar to the PC - using the same architecture now anyway?

I understand your folks point about new gen begins with a new baseline, but why do we have to think that way at this point in the game? Nobody on the PC side would be okay with Nvidia shipping out a new GPU that'll ensure that your entire STEAM library is unplayable now - And if they would, people would riot and not buy the thing.

Are there any next-gen games out there that purely in terms of gameplay couldn't have been done on a last-gen console? I have a hard time coming up with any. Devs will just have to treat consoles like PCs, having multiple hardware configurations that they'll adjust their games to. Having to make this distinction between 'cross-gen games' or 'well, those were DIFFERENT games cause they were shipped for different boxes is just really bogus. Wouldn't you have preferred to buy Titanfall ONCE and then being able to play it on your 360, PC, Xbox One - Instead of having to buy a separate version? That's EXACTLY what Microsoft is doing here. You buy a game for the Xbox Platform, which means you'll be able to play it on any of the Microsoft platforms.

And I'm sure at some point - simply due to the nature of technology - older hardware won't be able to run the newest games. But that doesn't have to happen now. Current gen boxes still have plenty of power and if for the next few years I'm able to play games in HD/30 on current gen and 4k/60 on next-gen, I'm fine with that.
 

QaaQer

Member
equating trump/spicer to ms? that is a new level of hate - blocked. thank goodness for threads like these sometimes. horrible and disgusting to draw those two together. pity.

He didn't say that tho. The idea of post truth marketing via social media is interesting.
 
Isn't the dev a Microsoft only developer? That would explain the cringe worthy dig at Sony and their PS4 Pro. Not sure I believe this dude. everything I've seen so far leads me to believe Scorpio is a slightly more powerful half-step rather than a full blown next generation machine.
 
Wow. This thread has blown up.

Didn't Phil Spencer say last year that Scorpio was ushering in the era of "gaming without generations?" or some other PR hot hashtag line or such?

I'm sticking with that over what Thomas states at this point. (no offense to a great development studio, but on this one would go with the head of the platform in this somewhat contradictory statements).

I think people are just getting too hung up on their own definition of a "console generation" here. Like you stated above, "gaming without generations" is definitely PR talk, but it's definitely their response to the mentality of traditional "generations" for consoles.

I personally believe that Scorpio is 100% Microsoft's next platform, but it won't become the "baseline" until it has a successor on the market. At which point it will be safe for Microsoft to start pulling back support for the Xbox One. As such, the "next generation" for Xbox by traditional definitions wouldn't start for another 3 to 4 years depending on their release schedule. Even then, the "baseline" would be 3 year old hardware.

That just doesn't make sense and as a result, I don't think we can hold Project Scorpio to the standards of what we normally say defines a "console generation". Logically, our definition just wouldn't apply there.
 

shandy706

Member
Sorry to distrust the dev, but this looks like post eurogamer damage control.

But the Eurogamer article wasn't damaging. The stuff they found leads to a 6TF system and exactly what we expected/Microsoft said it would aim for. Hyperbole here attempted to make it "damaging".

Also, his comments came before the Eurogamer thing was posted. Heh
 

Fdkn

Member
You're kidding, right? The PlayStation 2 played PlayStation 1 games and that was very much appreciated.

You missed the word only

And I'm sure at some point - simply due to the nature of technology - older hardware won't be able to run the newest games. But that doesn't have to happen now.

Oh so you finally reached the logic conclussion: it doesn't have to happen now, because there is no next generation console releasing now on the MS ecosystem.

When it happens, that will be the next gen.
 

Hanmik

Member
You're kidding, right? The PlayStation 2 played PlayStation 1 games and that was very much appreciated. I'd hate to buy a Scorpio or a PS5 only to lose access to all my games once again. That's just a stupid thing for consumers and it's a stupid thing for developers, since now the games are just taken off the market and some of you are then happy to buy a 'remaster' (which more often than not is the same exact game only with the native resolution cranked up) again - How is this better than new consoles not making this crappy cut, especially since they're all - similar to the PC - using the same architecture now anyway?

I understand your folks point about new gen begins with a new baseline, but why do we have to think that way at this point in the game? Nobody on the PC side would be okay with Nvidia shipping out a new GPU that'll ensure that your entire STEAM library is unplayable now - And if they would, people would riot and not buy the thing.

Are there any next-gen games out there that purely in terms of gameplay couldn't have been done on a last-gen console? I have a hard time coming up with any. Devs will just have to treat consoles like PCs, having multiple hardware configurations that they'll adjust their games to. Having to make this distinction between 'cross-gen games' or 'well, those were DIFFERENT games cause they were shipped for different boxes is just really bogus. Wouldn't you have preferred to buy Titanfall ONCE and then being able to play it on your 360, PC, Xbox One - Instead of having to buy a separate version? That's EXACTLY what Microsoft is doing here. You buy a game for the Xbox Platform, which means you'll be able to play it on any of the Microsoft platforms.

And I'm sure at some point - simply due to the nature of technology - older hardware won't be able to run the newest games. But that doesn't have to happen now. Current gen boxes still have plenty of power and if for the next few years I'm able to play games in HD/30 on current gen and 4k/60 on next-gen, I'm fine with that.

I understand this,...

but if you go by this.. then I don´t understand why the PS4 Pro isn´t considered a new generation by you?
 

Ushay

Member
1331561571065_4086828.png


The messaging from Playstation and MS honestly seems pretty similar to me so that honestly seems more like your perception is being colored by fanboyism.
LMAO, that hate gif is brilliant. Saved.
 
I understand this,...

but if you go by this.. then I don´t understand why the PS4 Pro isn´t considered a new generation by you?
Because it's simply not enough of a quantum leap in actual graphical and processing capability, from the standpoint of this developer who has access to the Scorpio hardware and has seen the PS4 Pro hardware. More than any of us can say.
 
Top Bottom