That's a pretty provocative title isn't it? It's not meant to rile up current gen owners (like myself), The X1, PS4 and Wii U have some amazing games both from internal studios and external ones but if you're not here with us yet (or are looking to jump ship), please just wait a few months.
So lets get round to that title and to why, Right now there is plenty of great deals on next gen systems but there is also non-stop swirl of rumours making those deals... not that much of a deal. We're at a cross roads right now. With things like new systems, VR, hardware updates and who knows what else at E3 all geared to throw the status quo straight out of a window.`
Wii U
Lets start with the most likely of the three. We know Nintendo has a new system on its way, currently codenamed: NX. What do we know about it? Not a whole lot if we're talking facts, we know Nintendo will give the world an real look at it during June's E3 event. This obviously makes the Wii U a slightly shaky purchase right now. We're only 90% certain that the NX is a home system to replace the Wii U. The only "certainty" according to rumour and analysts is that it'll launch in November.
Risk: High, its unknown if the NX will play Wii U games.
PS4
Now moving on to the middle likely one. This October Sony is launching it's VR headset for the PS4 but it wont plug directly into the console. instead the headset connects to a box (that actually looks like an baby PS4) that boosts the consoles specs to handle the demands of VR.
Why you should hold of? There is repeated reports of an updated PS4 being launched this year, unlike previous revisions like the PS2 slim this one is said to be an upgrade. Either names the PS4.5 or PS4K. The rumour says this version of PS4 will have the VR's extra grunt built into the console making the PSVR set up a little bit more entertainment center but these reports claim that this version of ps4 will (somehow) output games at 4K instead of 1080p.
Risk: Moderate to High, I personally don't think Sony would go the annual update route as this would start annoying customers as exclusive content starts appearing. I do however believe that they would release a PlayStation-VR, an PS4 geared towards VR having the extra grunt built in but coming with the PS-Move controllers instead of a DS4.
Xbox OneHere we are at the last one and the most confusing. Rumours began to swirl around when head of Xbox Phil Spencer said he didn't want to wait for a generational leap to improve Xbox one. This instantly lead people to believe Microsoft would release modular hardware updates so users could upgrade their machine for more performance. Spencer shot that idea down saying "I don't want fans opening up the Xbox with a screw driver". This led fans to believe that MS planned to release a similar to the rumoured PS4.5, A Xbox 1.5 if you will. Again Spencer shot this idea down.
So right now we have an concept "more xbox one power" but no idea how, the only remaining concept would be MS using cloud streaming to augment the Xbox one's processes.
Risk: Low to moderate. MS plans are unimportant right now as they have stated they want their games to be both backward compatible and forward compatible, we shouldn't see .5 exclusive releases. Hell from the sounds of it we could even be seeing some PC games come to X1.
Abe's Take
This article is hard to write as I don't like telling people to not get involved in gaming, right now there is some mind blowing, fantastic titles but I've also bought devices only for a better version to be announced a few months later. It's best to hunker down and wait till E3.
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