This is a forum where people happily justified upgrading from a base PS4 to a PS4 Pro for crisper visuals.
now theres handwringing that people will stick to the ancient Xbox One over upgrading to a massively more powerful Series X because 'it plays the same games'.
Yes, because the expectations in upgrading to a same-gen console refresh and a new-gen console are totally the same... /s
Exactly. So many in here are only thinking in graphics terms and how XSX will be able to scale the graphics on the Xbox One compatible games in a way that looks as good as PS5. That's because resolution and texture detail is easily scalable.If I had to make a guess, then I think Sony's 1st parties are going to come up with a couple of games designed around utilizing the Ray Tracing and SSD features, and the later will probably be a "scale" thing which only comes apparent if you actually play the game. It's probably nothing you'll realize / appreciate when seeing a screenshot for example.
MS on the other hand is going to enhance their games by maxing out graphics with ultra-high res textures, super detailled player models and Ray Tracing features, resulting in amazing looking bullshots and sequences of their games. So if you compare screenshots of let's say the newest Forza or Gran Turismo entry I have no doubt that the Series X can easily hold a candle to the PS5 day 1 from a sheer graphics perspective.
The big question for me is if Sony, and later MS' studios, too, are able to come up with games that fully utilize the CPU+SSD solution early in the generation. And like you I'm super curious about the gaming experiences they'll eventually come up with.
The only games I've seen so far which at least give us a glimpse about what's possible are Star Citizen and, to a lesser degree, Hellblade 2, since we didn't see actual gameplay so far.
What it will not be able to do is scale things that are not immediately noticeable in screenshots, but will be felt playing the game, if you then go and play a PS5 exclusive. The game complexity will suffer, AI, physics, environment interaction, game world design etc. These things if they are made to push the Zen 2 CPU and the SSD to the limits are not downscalable to Jaguar CPU and 5400 rpm HDD. The game will be a different, less ambitious game if you need to dial down these things to make it run on current gen specs.