I think we're in basic agreement, definitely, and I'd never be the one to tell someone not to be excited about something.
I think our difference in perspective comes from our interests maybe? You're obviously way more techy than I am. My career is very close to marketing, which means I'm far more cynical about things than others - sometimes more than I should be. For instance, getting rid of bottlenecks, in my mind, is what you do when you build a new console. But, even if we take the worst of the worst - Xbox's two and a half odd GB/s SSD without compression or any other enhancements - then that is still so much faster than anything else we've had to use before. And then you have PS5's extra speed or Xbox's Velocity solution ON TOP OF THAT. That is INSANE.
And if you don't get rid of bottlenecks, it's useless. You end up with the same thing you get when you put an SSD in a PS4. Faster, but not so much that it's lifechanging.
And I don't mean to talk down the process, because just getting to the point when you can shift that amount of data is mindblowing. But that's why these are the best console engineers in the world. The least I expect of them is that when they put an SSD in their new machine, that they make sure it can work at its top efficiency.
But the thing is, Cerny changed the conversation. Getting rid of bottlenecks stopped being part of the process and started to become something exclusive to Sony.
The fact Microsoft has the more powerful console is... not coincidence, but luck of the draw. I think Sony were probably surprised by the difference (although I don't buy the last minute changes theory). I think Microsoft probably thought they were in for a closer show of it. That was why there was so much "OUR most powerful console" hedging a few months ago. That's not a criticism. I just mean that Microsoft didn't set out to make a really powerful console and then looked at what else they were doing. Both consoles need balance, and I think both will be balanced.
But Cerny changed the conversation. He's a genius and he doesn't have an obvious sales pitch, so people don't think he's selling something. That's ridiculous - he made PS4 and he made PS5. Of course he's selling something. But that trust meant he changed the conversation. To the point where Xbox being the more powerful console on paper became a negative in some people's eyes. To the point where people still don't realise Microsoft has its own dedicated audio hardware and even its own SSD and I/O solution.
Hence the brute force vs engineering thing. I still don't feel it's a fair comparison, but we won't know for certain for a few months yet, and personally I can't stand the wait.
