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Attention Sony: The PS4 is NOT a PC

Attention Sony: The PS4 is NOT a PC

It turns out that not only am I baffled by Microsoft’s decision to announce the Xbox One S, so is Sony . Andrew House states that though he understands why Microsoft did it, he doesn’t understand why they didn’t learn from previous mistakes. House cited Sony’s own announcement of the PS4 in 2013, which fans responded to with, “Where’s the box? I want it now.” The announcement had clearly been too early and Sony realized the reaction was due to “the dynamics of the tech industry are such that there’s a much heavier emphasis on immediate gratification than there was. A lot of that is to do with how Apple has very cleverly and elegantly managed the ‘available now’ approach.”

But why, in that case, did Sony let the PS4 Neo be announced? According to the same interview with The Guardian, the Neo isn’t a generational shift, it’s simply an additional option, a high-end version of a PS4. We already knew Sony was trying to enter the 4K race, but what really motivated them? I think House’s statement says it all: “We’ve traditionally seen that some of the core audience tends to gravitate back to high-end PCs at some point because these are the people who want the finest graphical performance. So here’s a great opportunity to have them stay within our ecosystem.”

Well, they’ve come right out and said it; Sony is under the impression that the PC has entered the console war. There are so many things wrong with this idea. PCs do not have the simplicity of consoles; you can’t just buy one for $400, go home, plug it in, and play. The gaming PC is more complicated, a sum of its parts if you will, making nearly every PC system out there completely unique.

Most console gamers don’t know who Nvidia is, and that speaks to the ease of a console. You can’t just plug in a gaming PC, you need to tailor one to your gaming needs. For example, some might prefer the brand new Radeon RX 480 from AMD, others the GeForce GTX 1080 from Nvidia. Not only is it a matter of opinion, it’s the specs themselves and what sort of gaming you plan on using your PC for. You cannot tailor a console like that. Even with the Radeon RX 480 being a lot more affordable than we usually see coming from the PC world, we’re not anywhere near a time where a gaming PC will cost the same or lower than a console of similar technological specifications.

Attention Sony: The PS4 is NOT a PC

In addition, the gaming PC can be updated at will with everything from a graphics card to a hard drive. Technology is developing fast and at a rate that allows apparently small innovations (like size or arrangement of parts) to be sold as the brand new and better product. A line of consoles specifically for the “high-end gamer” simply can’t keep up with these constant updates.

I understand the drive for high resolution, but Sony’s attempts to attract PC gamers back to consoles they probably already own is just plain silly. Console gamers want their machine to last 4-6 years, while a high-end PC gamer is probably going to be spending as much money on new technology as on games. There is no competition; we’re all gamers here. We just want to play the best games out there, and we don’t want to impoverish ourselves in the process by buying a new console every year. The PlayStation 4 can’t keep up with the pace of PC technology, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

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