Topic: Would/Should Microsoft/Sony Make a Performance Add-On for their Consoles to Keep Up With Today's Technology?

Console Wars!!!
They've resulted in trolling, flaming, unneeded name-calling and I'm sure a couple street fights on the playground. Alot of that comes from the technology of a game. Specifically 1080P and 60FPS. It's been a crazy subject for a while now. But do you think Sony/Microsoft would go 90s on us to create an add-on to their system that further improves their CPU and GPU so one can be definitively better than the other?
In regards to the situation, we've seen the Xbox One be shown as the weaker system. And it (albeit alongside many other things) resulted in the Xbox One be crushed in the market by the PS4. An expansion pack would fully settle that Xbox One is the definitive console...

Keyword: CONSOLE. The PC is still the most powerful system to play your games on. And the PC can only get better in technology. Could Sony/Microsoft create an add-on that can compete well with the PC though? One that can maintain 1080P and 60 FPS?

It's not like the gaming audience wouldn't buy it. Alot of them are indeed obsessed with their specs. Heck, look at the people who will buy the New 3DS. They will ditch their old system so games load better, alongside it's lineup of (currently) 1 game.

I think one of them will come up with the plan of making an expansion pack, so COD and other games can run well, but what do you think? Will either of the 2 try to outdo their competition to be 8th gen's definitive gaming platform?

No they shouldn't, for the same reason Nintendo shouldn't have released the New 3DS, people buy consoles under the expectation that they would be able to play all games released during the console life cycle without having to upgrade..... People who buy consoles are precisely running from the upgrading and keeping up issues PC gamers face..... if consoles start requiring half step upgrades between them and their true successors there would be no reason to choose consoles over PC

No.

It kind of removes the whole point of consoles.

Consoles are designed to appeal to an audience that doesn't want to have to buy add-ons and upgrades. It's a very streamlined process. You buy the machine and you know that it works with 100% of the software. No need to worry about video cards, RAM, any of that stuff, or checking system requirements on every game. It works out of the box and always will until the next generation.

This is why consoles still have an audience in an age where PC gaming is superior is pretty much every way (except exclusives).

I'll probably buy that one New 3DS game and save it to play when I get a 4DS.

@SpookyMeths
PC isn't superior. Xbox One is a way more simplified machine than PC is, which has strengths within itself. That's besides that Wii U is PowerPC, which means it's basically in another league than everything else right now. All the machines have a separate purpose, so saying one or the other is superior is facepalm worthy.

Please don't intentionally misinterpret me just so you can deliver another misinformed lecture about the differences between machines. You're not even disagreeing with me. You posted the exact same thing that I did, reworded, and had yourself a facepalm.

But at the same time, some of Sony and Microsoft's selling points ARE the add-on hardware. Sony has Project Morpheus and both companies have their camera.
I find it strange that amongst the 1st 6 months, you can say Sony and Microsoft's hardware we're already maxed out by Watch_Dogs, as the overall game ended up being less than what they shown back in E3 2012. Now comes this same controversy over Assassin's Creed Unity and we're only a year in these systems. There will be alot more games that have to be scaled down for PS4 and Xbox One. Gamers hate it and will cope with that issue by buying the add-on if that happens.

I don't think people mainly stick to consoles for mere simplicity. They stick for the exclusives more than anything.

Do add-ons defy some logic to consoles? Not really. The system is still typically simple. After all, it's not like the market will be flooded alot of different add-ons like the PC industry. Just this one, upgrade that will definitely reaffirm confirmation that their system is superior.

If we went by the logic that the game market is exactly like what it was 20 years ago (in the sense that add-ons won't sell) than the Virtual Boy would've told us that the 3DS would have been a complete flop it's entire life and Occulus wouldn't get a quarter of the popularity they actually have.

They failed due to lack of good content. The PC Engine CD did well in Japan (Where the content existed) but failed outside (Where it didn't).

Replacing the entire insides every two years (For say £100) could work as long as EA mandated it to continue playing the sports games.

As long as it was a just clip out clip in type thing.

Or if it was forced from the get go. (From year 3 onwards say that it is needed for all games).

Far Cry 4 console will be rubbish 30fps for ever. No matter how deliberately badly Ubisoft does the PC port (Hopefully they do a decent job like they did for 3 but I am not optimistic) eventually 60fps will be possible. (How much you spend and when determines how soon).

I think Nintendo needs it more. The Nintendo 64 included the option to use the expansion pack to play games, and the Wii U is under-powered as is.

Don't rattle Scar's cage. You are about to start a "power pc is better despite everyone is abandoning it for a reason" argument.

Nope.
Both Sony and Microsoft were arrogant enough to believe they could pick a fight with PC gaming, but that's a fight they simply cannot win. Instead, they'd be well-off distancing themselves from being too similar to PC's and remember why consoles were treated differently ten years ago. Bringing add-on hardware to the market would be the worst move they could ever do in their lives, and I can only hope, for the sake of a good gaming market, that they're aware of that, as well.

I didn't misinterpret you. Everything you said was true, except that last sentence, and my explanations are not misinformed. Wii U and PC are in entirely different worlds, from a technological point if view, and Wii U is part of the console group, which is what we were discussing.

I never have and never will say PowerPC is better than anything else. The point is that they are different, so there is no such thing as superiority.

That's besides that 2GB of RAM is alot for a PowerPC console to have. Xbox 360 had 512mb total, with 40mb or something for OS, and PS3 had 512mb; split in half for programs and the OS. If people understood that, they wouldn't be suggesting RAM expansions and s***.

I think there's reason. If people are always going to talk about performance while the new consoles are underperforming in their first year in the marjet. The examples of the 32x and the N64DD are too outdated to tell us if a PS4 add-on would succeed or not.

I disagree with this. Bayonetta 2 proves the U can not only hang with the big boys but in ways does it better. 1080p and 60fps is far better then graphics any day and the visuals in Games like Pikmin3, Kart 8, and especially Bayonetta 2 can hang with anyone.

Other than placebo effect, there will be barely any differences in load times (except maybe smash, because at least 3ds won't restart). There will be probably some exclusives just to push the system. It will be more like DSi - you can buy it, but you don't have too.

Also, console doesn't work that way that you can just bring some add-on and it will work crazy fast and load up FarCry 4 on Ultra 4K. The game is programmed in certain way and no matter what you will put in it, it won't look better without coding/changes in engine etc. So even from money standpoint it doesn't make sense. But I don't know, I'm not technical guy, so I could be wrong.

console add-ons are made by the devil