While Microsoft stole the show at E3 yesterday, when they took the wraps off the long rumored, but not until then confirmed Xbox One Scorpio, Sony declined to bring their iterative console to the show at all- they did confirm its existence ahead of E3, but they also emphasized that it would not debut at E3 this year, something that they lived up to their word on.
Of course, that might have been for the best- the rumored PS4 NEO specs make it sound like a highly iterative upgrade, and while that’s great, there’s no denying that it would look positively archaic next to the Xbox One Scorpio.
However, even as the NEO’s weaker specs become the subject of much ridicule, Sony’s Andrew House wants to remind us that games will look substantially better on the new system. Speaking to BBC, House said, “Well, to be very clear, the high end PS4, codenamed NEO, that we are working on, is an addition to the existing lineup, not a replacement. Perhaps we have an opportunity to move slightly away from just a static console that remains absolutely the same for a period of six, seven, eight years. And perhaps offer, in addition to the current PS4, something a little extra. Particularly, and I should stress this, in the area of graphic fidelity, and games that will essentially play an awful lot prettier than games have previously.”
I am sure they will look great- but at this point, the difference between the NEO and the Scorpio is vast, and even though Microsoft have tipped their hand a little early, I’m not sure that Sony have enough time to respond to Microsoft by redesigning their console- especially since devkits for it are already out, the silicon is already being fabricated, and since redesigning a console takes a lot of time and money.
It seems like Sony might have done to them what they did to Microsoft only three years ago. How fascinating.
[via NeoGAF]