The Corner of Randomness: Come on Consoles

This week the rumor mill was working overtime. All the buzz was about a new Xbox One Slim, and then a new Xbox One coming out with better hardware next year. We will know more on these rumors come E3, but this is a bit bothersome for me. Not so much the Xbox One Slim, but a new Xbox One with upgraded hardware such as GPU/CPU/RAM.

We’ve chatted before about the new PS4.5, or PS4K, or whatever name they go with. While I have no intentions of upgrading either my Xbox One or PS4 until I absolutely need to, this new way of pumping out updated hardware is very troublesome to me.

First, I buy a console because it should last me a good amount of time. When companies start upgrading them after a few short years, why would I want to re-invest in the updated console? Sure, you can tell me the updates are minor and you want devs to make games for however many version of a console you have. Yet, let’s be honest here. Developers will eventually be allowed to stop supporting the PS4 and just move on to the PS4.5K.

Secondly, if I have to buy a new console every few years, why wouldn’t I just invest more time and effort into PC gaming? Having to buy a new $400 console every few years is no different than having to buy a $400 GPU for my computer. Also, that new GPU for my PC is already stronger than what is in that updated console.

Lastly, what about all my game installs? So now ever few years I will have to back everything up to transfer it to a new console. The last time I did this on my PS4, it took almost eight hours to complete. Now I have way more games installed on my PS4 and I dread how long it will take to transfer everything to a new system.

Look, I get it. These updates are supposedly to handle 4K video and usher in the era of virtual reality on consoles. I have also read that there might not be a new PlayStation, but rather just updates along the way. Still, this takes away the appeal of consoles to me. If I’m going to be forced to sink money into something every few years, it’ll be my PC as it does a lot more, both with video games and with productivity, than consoles do. So please, Sony and Microsoft, don’t start considering your consoles disposable tech. Don’t be like Apple. Just don’t do it!