There seems to be this thinking that if Microsoft or Sony were to add significant hardware or software upgrades to newer versions of their game consoles, they would somehow be shafting the ‘early adopters’ of their platforms. They look at it as abandoning the people that invested in them early on.
I believe this is misguided…
We live in a world of continual updates – especially regarding things digital. People are very comfortable with ‘refreshing’ their cell phones, iPods, etc to get the latest greatest features available. (Some of us more often the others.) Those folks that don’t step up to the latest version of a device understand that there will be some newer things that might not play on their older devices, or if they do play, they may have some limitations. The vendors have become much more mature in this regard.
But not so with game consoles…
It seems that any rumors that come out about these types of console upgrades are quickly quashed by the console makers themselves. It’s almost as if they are anticipating a backlash from those that already own their consoles, and want to get out in front of it.
Since it was released more then a year before the Playstation 3, the Xbox 360 seems to be the target of many of these upgrade rumors. I think upgrades to it would make perfect sense. Why should a 360 being produced three years from now be limited by the capabilities of the units being produced today? If HD-DVD becomes successful, why shouldn’t it become a standard part of the console, and be integrated in a way that makes it usable by game developers looking for more storage. If higher performance GPU’s or new physics rendering engines come out, why shouldn’t they be added to newer versions of these consoles to enhance gameplay and realism? Should I be content to wait 5 years until the ‘next generation’ is released?
We probably don’t expect every software application that is being produced today to run the same on a new PC as it does on a four year old one. Some of them might not run at all. I believe its a mistake to have that expectation of games and game consoles. It stems from a time when the console hardware as the big investment. These days, the hardware is the disposable piece.
It’s the software that’s the real investment…
What’s interesting is that backward compatibility with ‘prior generation’ games has been a big issue with the launch of every new gaming console. As long as the new consoles can still play all of the old game titles people own, they’ll preserve the core investment they have made. And the same would be true for significant updates to existing console lines. Refusing to make upgrades that could enable more powerful or engaging game titles to be developed benefits nobody.
Fundamental hardware advances are being made all the time. Periodic product refreshes that incorporated these advances would be great for both gaming consumers and console makes alike. There really isn’t a downside.
Just ask Apple about their iPod line…