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[Malcolm9]

So what you're saying is that the people that bought the Xbox One at launch were the ones that convinced themselves that it was more powerful than the PS4. For everyone else, it was pretty apparent that the PS4 was more powerful and it vastly outsold the Xbox One despite the Xbox One having a ton of great exclusive games during its first year

Likewise, the hype for the One X is vastly higher than it was for the Pro because it is percieved as significantly more powerful and the One X is selling gangbusters.

The Switch is by far the most powerful gaming handheld ever made, and I think it's sales reflect this fact.

In the past, power was obscured by vastly different architectures, lack of sites like digital foundry and the sales were all over the place.

This is the first generation where the architectures are so similar that it's obvious which is more powerful and the sales align with the power level.

The Xbox One X is selling gangbusters? Show me the receipts....

 

[ReBurn]

This is the first generation where the architectures are so similar that it's obvious which is more powerful and the sales align with the power level.

I don't know that there's any evidence that the specs alone are driving PS4 sales. I think even if the specs were reversed that Sony would still be ahead in sales. Sony has a lot more worldwide brand loyalty than Microsoft.

 

[Sosokrates]

But wouldn't that require the 360 having better looking games to begin with?

Once developers did master the cell in PS3, multiplats started to favor it over 360 versions.

No, im saying that if naughty dog made the last of us one on the 360 I doubht it would look worse.
Saying that PS3 Exclusives prove superiority over the 360 is bad logic becuase we dont know what those games would of looked like on the 360.

 

[Havoc2049]

and HERO

2600

Coleco/C64

The Atari 2600 was released in 1977, while the Colecovision was released in 1982. A better comparison would be the Colecovision (1982) vs the Atari 5200 (1982).

Atari 5200

 

[SaberEdge]

Yeah, there was absolutely zero question over the Xbox being the strongest that generation. Nobody seriously considered the Gamecube being more powerful, and while the PS2 had a couple cool tricks (alpha transparencies = no problemo!) there was no way either competitor was going to touch games like DOA2U, Rallisport Challenge 2, or Chronicles of Riddick.

Yeah, the Xbox was much more powerful, had more memory, and just outperformed the PS2 and GameCube in nearly every way. And the games, both exclusives and multiplats, made that power advantage very obvious.

 

[SaberEdge]

I don't know that there's any evidence that the specs alone are driving PS4 sales. I think even if the specs were reversed that Sony would still be ahead in sales. Sony has a lot more worldwide brand loyalty than Microsoft.

Brand loyalty, power, exclusives, ecosystem, friends...all of these things play a role. It isn't just one thing, and the relative importance of those factors varies from person to person.

 

[SaberEdge]

No, im saying that if naughty dog made the last of us one on the 360 I doubht it would look worse.
Saying that PS3 Exclusives prove superiority over the 360 is bad logic becuase we dont know what those games would of looked like on the 360.

I agree with you. It's funny people would try to use exclusives as proof of a power advantage when certain exclusives on PS4 Pro are simultaneously claimed to look better than any exclusives on Xbox One X, despite the latter console's power advantage. Those two ideas are at odds with one another.

 

[Randall365]

Gamecube v xbox?

Dont you mean ps2 v xbox?!?

The gamecube was junk next to the xbox - no way could that run gta iii, halo etc

I must admit I went with the ps4 over xbox one because of the power and how silly the kinect seemed. It’s just the exclusives preventing me from jumping ship to the x.

 

[Donnie]

Lets not forget also that XBox started outselling PS2 once people realised it was more powerful.. oh wait it never outsold PS2, ever, probably not even for a single week.

Consoles don't sell on which one is more powerful.

 

[Donnie]

Gamecube v xbox?

Dont you mean ps2 v xbox?!?

The gamecube was junk next to the xbox - no way could that run gta iii, halo etc

PS2 was junk next to XBox, less powerful and with a feature set that was basically in the dark ages by comparison. GC was weaker than XBox but had most of XBox's modern features. As far as performance it went XBox - GC - PS2. Pretty much ever multi platform game comparison backed that up.

Silly to claim GC definitely couldn't run GTAIII by the way, only game like it we have for comparison is True Crime LA. Which was very similar on both PS2 and GC but overall better looking on GC IMO (especially draw distance and textures). Either way no multi platform game that generation was going to be impossible to run on any of the three systems.

 

[SaberEdge]

Lets not forget also that XBox started outselling PS2 once people realised it was more powerful.. oh wait it never outsold PS2, ever, probably not even for a single week.

Consoles don't sell on which one is more powerful.

You're engaged in a form of logical fallacy.

Just because power isn't the only buying consideration people might have doesn't mean that it doesn't matter. The fact that the Xbox's power advantage wasn't enough to overcome the Playstation 2's established brand recognition, nearly two year head start and larger more diverse library of games does NOT mean that power doesn't factor in to many people's buying decision.

 

[Yoshi]

The first year it wasn't immediately clear which was more powerful. Nintendo didn't release specs

This is wrong, the specs of GCN were readily available, officially through Nintendo, including even late spec changes, before release. Everyone who cared knew in advance the GCN was weaker than the Xbox. Wii is where Nintendo started hiding specs.

 

[Donnie]

You're engaged in a form of logical fallacy.

Just because power isn't the only buying consideration people might have doesn't mean that it doesn't matter. The fact that the Xbox's power advantage wasn't enough to overcome the Playstation 2's established brand recognition, nearly two year head start and larger more diverse library of games does NOT mean that power doesn't factor in to many people's buying decision.

I would be if I was saying power doesn't factor in at all, but that isn't what I meant. To be clear I'm saying that its only one factor and not a large factor either. The OP seemed to be basing a lot of his argument on power equaling sales, while ignoring much more important aspects.

XBox for instance, it didn't start to outsell GC because people suddenly realised it was more powerful (like claimed in the OP). Both GC and XBox started off similarly, but once Nintendo's hardcore fans had made their purchases the following years sales came down to the general public. GC's looks put a lot of people off, as did its lack of third party games after the first few years (and lack of DVD playing), which only got worse. XBox had its "hardcore" design and games and Microsoft kept the third party titles coming by subsidising third party devs, which kept sales going. Power will have been only a part factor in all that.

 

[Paulxo87]

The first time it became immediately apparent was the PS2 over the DC when the MGS2 demo dropped a few months after the US PS2 release

I'll go even further than that. We will NEVER have a MGS2 demo moment ever again graphics wise. People were ready to jump out of windows. It was so far beyond anything that ever thought could be possible for the time. Even the rain on the tanker still outclasses most games today

 

[Nintendo Switch]

You're engaged in a form of logical fallacy.

Just because power isn't the only buying consideration people might have doesn't mean that it doesn't matter. The fact that the Xbox's power advantage wasn't enough to overcome the Playstation 2's established brand recognition, nearly two year head start and larger more diverse library of games does NOT mean that power doesn't factor in to many people's buying decision.

Exactly. Microsoft was a complete newcomer that jumped the fray after three established console makers released their console. Of course it wasn’t going to outsell the PS2.

I think we have reached diminishing returns now except in regards to VR. VR needs a lot more power to be fully immersive and life like. I hope we start to see that with 4k per eye vr headsets for next gen.