Do you even WANT a PlayStation 4.5?

I don't currently own a PS4, and have no means of even viewing 4K content, so that aspect has no importance whatsoever for me, but I am considering getting a PS4 for the VR stuff, and a more powerful PS4 that could handle that better, yeah, that sounds alright.

When it comes to 4K I don't believe we're anywhere close to utilizing that properly even if the PS4.5 would technically be able to output at that resolution. Fuck, we're still getting games that while rendering in 1080P don't have assets that are remotely close to the right amount of detail for even that resolution, and as high end PC's can just barely handle 4K, I don't believe even an upgraded PS4 would handle that at a reasonable detail level.

I don't want any consoles even if they get redesigned and are more powerful than they are now.

I don't currently see myself buying anything except maybe the NX past this current console generation. Would rather just upgrade my PC.

As someone who has the launch PS4 (and an a fairly early adopter to the XboxOne) nothing quite says "Fuck You" like making my machines outdated this soon in the cycle.

I even have a 4K TV but I'm not going to drop $400+ just for 4k video playback.

@mike: What about exclusives? Not that there have been very many lately but you are happy for great games to pass you by? PC has become my platform of choice lately but I would still feel bad about getting rid of my consoles.

4K is a strange concept for consoles where I'm assuming most players sit a reasonable distance away from their TV. The only reason I would upgrade is if games started being released that were only compatible with the upgraded console.

The Beast Crew raised a good point this week: who is even asking for this?

I rather buy an upgraded Xbox One sense I don't have a XBO yet so maybe Phil Spencer is a genius. Perhaps the NX depending on how that thing pans out.

I bought my PS4 in September. There is no way in hell I'm buying another PS4.

Remember this whole PS4.5 thing isn't something to help consumers, it's to help developers who are struggling to make games look modern on the PS4 and XBone's aging hardware. Practically no consumer was asking for this, it was the developers and publishers.

As for me if this happens I pretty much will just go and keep on upgrading my PC, possibly buy an NX depending on how that turns out, probably go and get a handheld at some point. Maybe buy a PSTV if that gets super cheap again to play P4G. But mostly I don't see a reason to buy consoles anymore, true exclusives are too rare to make it worth it for me (Bloodborne was the last one but even as a big Dark Souls fan I didn't enjoy that game too much).

Would this mean you need to buy a tv screen capable of 4k? Then definitely not.

If there were games exclusive to the PS4.5 and not available on regular PS4's, that would feel tremendously shitty and anti-consumer. No thank you.

But, hypothetically, if they made a new PS4 that some-how was able to play normal PS4 games, with better frame-rates, with little-to-no developer effort, bug-free? It would be kinda tempting. Maybe not 400-dollars tempting, but tempting none-the-less.

No current interest in 4K resolutions though.

I may play some of them in 4-5 years when I can get a used PS4 and a bunch of games for cheap on Craigslist. I'm fine to let whatever exclusives there are wait until then, I don't think I'm really missing anything that can't wait.

The only reason I would even consider this is if it was geared towards enabling better games/performance for PlayStation VR. Even then, I'm only really interested if there is some sort of discounted upgrade path, seeing as I'll already be dropping $500 for a VR setup.

I was planning on buying a second PS4 for my kids anyway, so upgrading and giving them the hand me down old system is appealing to me.

Not a typical situation, but it's where I'm at.

Not interested in 4K, not for this year at least. Maybe if 4K becomes the norm in 5 years.

I'm surprised how underpowered the current consoles seem to be. VR and 4k are both very resource intensive trends that the console makers did not prepare for. If every game was as optimized as Uncharted 4, it might be a different story.

I have a PC, PS4 and Xbone. I have too much that I don't need. But I wouldn't want an upgraded PS4 so soon either... I'd rather get a PS5 in 6-7 years or whenever the cycles tend to be.

Slightly off topic but... I think more games on the console should give the ability to turn down graphics in order to increase framerate. One game talked about doing this recently and all I saw was negative comments. If I could play a game at 60fps on console with slightly lower settings rather than a barely stable 30fps... I'd take that. Maybe that could come into play with a PS4.5.

Yeah, I think it's great when games do that. Dust 514 on PS3 had some graphics options, which when tuned down to low would let you play the game in 60 fps.

In the PS1 era, a number of games had graphics options like that too, like G-Police which had a detail distance slider.

I'm definitely against a PS4.5

I would even bet that if they released it, the games wouldn't see that much of a bump in performance. Most developers seem to scope their games with PCs in mind and then just port it to consoles, with the bare minimum of an acceptable performance quality. With a slightly more powerful console they would just bump whatever effects they would turn off for the regular PS4 and call it a day when they get a (wobbly) 30 fps because the more technically oriented customers are on PC (see the endless whining over the bad Batman PC version and the absolute silence on the atrocious Galak-Z and Broforce ports for PS4).

Games that are scoped for a single platform tend to perform better overall. Nintendo is a good example of this even with the least powerful console they are delivering solid experiences that rival some of the best games on PC/PS4/XbOne.

There are so many variables here, like the cost and if there is a reasonable upgrade path, whether thats through a retailer or sony itself, those things are actually far more important than if its just a resolution scaler or actually better hardware.

That said i understand the need for this, Just Cause 3 was basically unplayable at launch on PS4. i could not believe how much better seige looked on PC, The Division as well, and hitting 60 fps, and i just have a 970, so its not even that ridiculous of a rig. If Bloodborne 2 hits and it runs at 60 on the upgraded console ill upgrade though, because im a sucker.

tl;dr Until we get an offical announcement, its impossible to know for sure what this will even be. Hard to judge until then.

Ok, did I miss the official announcement? Like, before I'd even consider something..I'd want to know what it is and what they are expecting to sell it too me for.

For example. Back in the PS3 days, eventually they released a ps3 that was not backwards compatible with ps2 games. They removed a feature but otherwise just sold it as "The newly redesigned PS3, just like the old one only smaller/cooler looking! or whatever.

Is this going to be a slightly reversed case? Where they are just adding a feature..but the feature is completely optional? Like say at E3 Sony unveils a new PS4 design. "It plays the same games as always, but now the PS4 has 4k output!" Meaning all they have done is add a 4k output to the system and perhaps re-worked some of the innards. You might (might) end up with "well the old PS4 run this came at 28 not 30 fp.." but that might be it.

Oh and if that's the case..guess what happens to the older models, (for those people without 4k tvs?) price discount! Sony unveils that they will be discontinuing the old models so, say, slashes 100$ off the price until supplies are gone. Betcha that'll sell.

Or, or. Are we essentially talking the PS5? A completely new console which is going to have its own list of exclusive games? Backwards compatible with the ps4, but more graphically powerful and so on. As if so..well then its not so much a question of "do you want a ps 4/5" but "are you ready to buy a new generation of consoles?" Which, I think, is a big fat 'hell no" for people who already own one (most of them you'd think) and a "well I don't already own a 4..and 5 costs the same and plays all the games the 4 can so...uh if I ever buy one, sure?

As someone who doesn't own a PS4, I'd buy a PS4K.

But then again, I don't care about 4K or VR and I'm mainly on PC these days at 1080/60, so I don't really know what I'd do with it other than to play that one game and have it as another a blu-ray player...

Nah. If I didn't own a PC, I still wouldn't buy it immediately because I'd want to see how the support for it works out. Since I've built a PC, I hardly utilize my consoles so I couldn't justify an upgrade. Even if there were exclusives, they would be far and few between compared to all the games in my backlog that I already own.

if it were something simple like "oh buy this device and it will supercharge your ps4" and it cost like 100 bucks it would be ok, but a whole new, 300 dollar system? i can see the justification for that but its just dumb.

I already have a PC that runs things better than an upgraded PS4 or XB1 could ever hope to. I have a PS4 and XB1. If there were an addon for like $100 that would make games run like they should, sure. My only concern with this is that games start to run worse on the original hardware. Nobody would be crazy enough to make a game that requires the add-on, but they can sure as hell build around it. They've already proved they're willing to put out games that run like shit. Nothing would stop them from completely ignoring original hardware and letting people have a worse experience.

That being said, I bet this is just a scaler. I doubt this will make anything run better.

@skullpanda1: agreed on every point

Not planning on getting a 4K tv anytime soon and framerate on consoles doesn't bother me as much as PC does. If they eventually switched all new game titles to being 4.5 games, I would be pretty upset. I feel like I bought a console so I wouldn't have to deal with upgrades every 3 or 2 years.

I think for me that I would buy a "PS4.5" or whatever they will end up calling it. I would pick one up quicker if they do a trade-in type program, like for example if you send in your old PS4 then you can get the "PS4.5" for $100 or something like that. If they don't then I would have to wait on one but would most likely pick one up, if it upgrades the visuals and performance enough.

Console still feels new to me so i'm not interested. I'm not sure how they expect to sell all this exactly, do they think people are going to shell out 800-900 dollars for a new ps4 and all this vr shit? Or will they do the payment plan thing like microsoft tried with the 360 at the end of it's life cycle? There are barely enough games on ps4 as it is now, so ps4.5 will be a ghost town. Also would they just let the ps4 die? Or force developers to make games for both platforms simultaneously?

If they are done with ps4 and move to ps4.5 then i'm probably done with consoles for a while(maybe forever who knows). At that point it's just an overpriced/under performing pc that you'll be forced to upgrade every year.

so far this generation, the only game i regret not having a console for is Bloodborne. Apart from that game, i don't see any reason to buy either an xbox or a ps4.

I like and enjoy my PS4. If it were to break and there were two SKUs one at like $300 for a PS4 and $400 for a PS4.5, I would appreciate and take the option to by the PS4.5.

If we are talking a 3 year cycle with full game compatibility (similar to a phone's 1 year cycle but longer) I'm ok with it. Some people will be able to pick up the older model for cheap, some will sell their current models to help them buy the next one, and some will buy a second one. The PS4.5 still wont be capable of supporting a Rift or Vive, they can't do it and hit a reasonable price.

I'm going back to sinking hours into Stardew Valley on my PC, regardless.....

All depends on the price really and just how much of a performance boost it offers. If I could trade in my current PS4 for a newer one at a discounted price (say £150 or so) that could, say, run Horizon: Zero Dawn at 60fps? Sure.

The PS4 I have gathers dust and I do wish I did not buy it, so I think I will learn from that and not buy another.

My job revolves around heavy use of Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop which means I have a powerful PC at home, so I also play games on that better than my PS4 can.

I just picked up a PS4 after Christmas, so I'm in no rush to buy another one. No interest in 4K video, I have a 9 year old TV that only does 720. Frame rates and minor performance issues aren't worth buying a new machine over, but if there are games that I really want to play that require a new console of course I would buy it. Hopefully I could maybe skip the PS4.5 and maybe get a later iteration, say a PS4.7 or PS4.8, before it is required for new software.

As someone who bought a PS4 last November, I'd feel pretty ripped off if they made a 4.5 anytime soon.

I personally don't think the problem is with the ps4's (ailing hardware) but devs chasing the newest / best graphics/ video effects. I get that companies/studios want to remain relevant but isn't aiming for a moving target a lot harder than a stationary one?

I'm kind of afraid that in a few years we'll be in the same situation as we were after the switch to HD when most of the mid tier developers had to close shop because the cost of development was getting out of controle in relation to the pricing of games and their profit margins, and the size of the teams had to grow enourmously to be able to create all the extra art assets that HD would allow.

As an example I'll use Ubisoft where the 1st 2 AssCreeds were pretty pollished well flowing games the later ones have become these giant cobbeled together multi studio messes where they might look great but the games feel disjointed and badly scripted/programmed as a result of 14 different teams working on them.

Going to 4K is probably going to have about the same effect on studio's (in my mind). Ubisoft will end up with studio's employing the equivelent of half of the population of China to be able to make sweet looking games in 4K (that will probably still feel like they're held together with bailing whire and pieces of used chewing gum), anyone who can't afford to have a 500 or even more strong team won't be able to keep up. (I get that most of these people will be freelance or short term contract workers that get shed as soon as the title goes gold, but is this really the way we want this industry to head? no job security and people getting burned out and leaving after a few years of trying to work in game development, just to be replaced by the next wave of eager and naive college graduates who'll get chewed up and spit out the same way)

Going after increasingly better looking games is all well and good but I would rather they use some of that horsepower to actually improve other stuff in games like NPC AI and things of that nature instead of going for the easy answer of another bump in grapics quallity. I'd rather have my games look a bit more muddy than be walking around this pristene beautifull 4K landscape and still having to interact with the equivelent of damn cardboard cutouts. I get that it's an easy thing to show off to consumers with a little before and after 4K, but I would rather they didn't focus so much on pixel count and number of frames and instead work on improving the systems within the games.

Anyway I'll stop ranting now (I guess I'm going to have to build another gaming PC in a few years huh?)

Nope. It pains me to say it because I've been a console gamer since the Atari 2600, but consoles just can't compete with PC anymore. My PC is older and more powerful than a PS4 now, and it's only that way because I just bought parts now and then when I could afford them and ended up with a decently powerful machine. I can't imagine Sony managing to make a 4.5 that costs less than it would for me to just upgrade my PC again.

I have no interest in 4k. Judging from the sales of 4k TVs, not many people do. High resolutions look nice and all, but not as nice as say real-time ray-tracing: something that might just be affordable in the not-too-distant future and looks way better than just slapping high resolution textures on more and more polygons.

I don't want to buy another one, but they should release an improved version because the current one is slow and the eject button goes haywire in some units.

I bought mine second hand in the first place.

There are 3 games I'm interested in on PS4 two of them were already released - Bloodborne and Disgaea 5. I'm just waiting to get Persona 5 and then I can throw PS4 in the closet. I'm 101% sure I won't buy another version of PS4 since I'm disappointed by this system and how Sony treats consumers. Plus I got pretty powerful PC that lets me play all the stuff on ultra so why would I spend more money on 4.5 that will only allow upscaling and not the real 4K?

I haven't bought a PS4 yet (patient gamer with huge backlog) so I wouldn't mind a new PS4 coming out, but I do think it's going to make a lot of current PS4 owners unhappy, and for good reason.

At this time 4k entertainment let alone 4k gaming is available to like a small percentage of the overall gaming community. so introducing a 4k console would mean nothing to me. If they could genuinely build an improved console that then in turn translates to an improved gaming experience then yes, I would put money down on an upgrade. Either that or use that cash to build my own PC..

i currently don't own a ps4 / xbone so I am looking forward to a more capable PS4. I figure, it hurts nobody, so why not let the console manufacturers update their system specs. Everyone wins in this scenario.

No, not really. I own a PS4, and while early on it was *the* place I played new games, mid-last year I built a PC, and well, my PS4 has been gathering dust since. The only thing I've played on it I couldn't play elsewhere, was Bloodborne, and it was my least favorite Souls game, so I don't think I'm missing much.

I'll certainly play any big exclusives there if the interest sparks, but I don't see myself ever buying a 'new' 'upgraded' PS4. Slightly off-topic, but I'm sort of in the same boat with VR. I don't see it taking off at least with games, but even if it becomes a massive success, I highly doubt I ever delve into it.

Not yet, I only bought my PS4 two years ago. I have nothing against the idea of a PS4 that plays "better" games or runs games smoother (don't care about 4k), but I'm not gonna buy a new PS4 for at least two or three years.

Since, I assume that PS4K will just be a machine the decodes/encodes signals for displaying on 4K HD, I don't mind it existing. I think it is important to differentiate that what I think PS4K is and isn't, I'm saying, "Yeah, why not." because I don't think it will be actually split the market. In my own theory, I see no split in the market because there will be no real change to process power.

If you want a 4K TV or monitor I can see what having a console that works more smoothly for that would be desirable. I'm not worrying about 4K for at least another three years, so my guess is I will never need a PS that does 4K.

Yes i want something to play 4k bluerays/movies with and if it can cram some indiegames/remasters in 4k that would be welcome.

Other than that i dont care the sligtest for console hardware since whatever they put in those boxes im sure the 4k and 60fps gaming i want will still have to be done on my PC. Those things never was hardwarelimited and never will be.

I don't have one yet, but i'm hoping this means i can find the regular pS4 for cheaper on sale or refurbished/used.

I'll be down to upgrade. The route i can see things going both for Sony & Microsoft are upgrades every 4 years. All games will be forward compatible & perform better on the newer consoles.

• PS4 - 900/1080P 30FPS and 60 in the few games that can.
• PS4.5 - 1080/60FPS locked for all games and already released games. (Releases this year or 2017)
• PS5 - 4K/30FPS (2021)
• PS5.5 - 4K/60FPS (2025)

These answers kind of assume everyone owns a PS4. I'll pick up whatever version is cheapest when an exclusive I want comes out, same with XBONE. I don't really care if that's a PS4, 4.5, 4.6, or whatever.

Maybe, but probably not. I don't care about 4k and if that's its main/only selling point than it isn't for me. Itd have to be noticeably better than the current ps4 for me to consider it, and even then I wouldn't be willing to spend a lot on it.