At this point we know that the Xbox One Scorpio is complete overhaul of the original Xbox one hardware, a beast that has seen a refresh from the ground up. This is in stark contrast with Sony’s more conservative upgrade for the PS4 with the PS4 Pro- Sony opted for a more iterative upgrade, which also means that unlike the Scorpio, the Pro has to resort to trickery and shortcuts like checkerboard rendering to achieve the illusion of 4K.
Was it, then, a mistake on Sony’s part to have released the Pro so early? Should they, perhaps, have waited, and released hardware that was ultimately as accomplished as the Scorpio apparently is? Should they have opted for a full overhaul like Microsoft did? This is the question that GamingBolt decided to ask Danny Garfield, the head of Puuba, currently working on The Metronomicon.
“Personally, I don’t think it’ll make an extreme concrete difference,” Garfield said. “Most users care, in practice, generally. “Does it work? Does it look good? Can I play it?” The nuance of framerates and resolution, while discussed a ton among enthusiasts, I don’t think fazes a casual gamer, even a core gamer, who isn’t also a tech guy.”
We also asked him about his take on the mid-gen refresh and whether this will continue in the future. “I think this might be the state of things, going forward. We’re just having so many sea change generational improvements in computer technology. Even more than historically. 4K, VR, GPU leaps forward, new display and storage technologies,” he stated,
“I think, if console wants to stay relevant (and, it definitely has its place, what with ease of use, compatibility streamlining, and the like), it can never afford to fall too far behind PCs. And that might mean shorter generational cycles,” he further added.
What is your take on this matter? Let us know in the comments below. Nonetheless, the fact of the matter is that Microsoft will now have the more powerful console on the market with the Scorpio- whether this turns the tides of the console war back in their favor is something that remains to be seen.