CharlesGrey: ... wut? Yes, in the past there have often been revisions of console releases, but their primary purpose was to reduce production costs per unit. The hardware companies took advantage of improvements in technology, so they could produce the same device at a lower cost ( and often at a smaller size and/or different shape ). Any differences in performance ( in particular main processor, GPU and RAM ) were completely negligible. Otherwise they would have needed to put system requirements on console games ( You need version "..." of the PS3/Xbox/Wii etc. to play this game." ). Don't know about you, but I've never seen such a thing, at least not for these past few console generations. The most you need for more recent releases is usually a console software update ( generally included on game discs, if the game requires it ).
As for your experience in Battlefield or other online games, more likely than anything else, the other players just had a better internet connection.
Yes and no. Production cost reduction has been big. But sometimes, other changes affects performance that totally changes the game.
For my previous example, I had a 20GB HDD in my xbox running BF off a DVD (the original slower one). The hard-drive owners with the bigger beefier HDDs could load the level faster b/c the whole game was on a HDD with a far faster data rate. And even without a HDD, the newer console's DVD reader was a bit faster than mine.
I listed some hardware changes above. In the past, main processor speeds, GPU and RAM were the same (N64 changed Video RAM with an add-on), but some changes changed a lot of things.
For instance, XBOX360 allowed external FLASH memory (and some had internal FLASH memory), but some games refused to use it (BF3 was one - I had to buy a bigger HDD for this game to play it even though it wasn't on the box). PS3 also used FLASH for some of their devices. The PS3 Slim lost backwards compatibility, greatly affecting the # number of games in its catalog. Nintendo had a bunch of revisions to its controller hardware. These changes yielded incompatibility with certain consoles without buying certain add-ons. (I have some Wii games where you need a nunchuck, BF3 needs a HDD in the 30 or 40GB or larger category, some N64 games needed the Video RAM module)
Revisions happen that affected the system. And even though main processor speeds and GPU and RAM stay the game, the changes changed the game.
But what I believe MS is saying is that the XBONE can go a step further and make more changes to improve games.
Instead of following history and offering less backward compatibility and cheaper consoles, they can make better consoles with more backward compatibility and more frames and better textures and resolutions. So we might get a XBOX One 4K or XBOX One Ye Olde Catalog Edition or something. And since the layers of hardware and software talk things out smoothly, everything should work with everything, but maybe work better on some than others (Ye Olde might have connectors for old xbox controllers, 4k can play games in 4k).
The article's writer seems to think they're going to pop add-ons like the N64 RAM and the 32X. But I don't get that from MS's actual statements. That's just not what they're saying.
snowkatt: that not how it works
the only one that even comes remotely close to what you are suggesting there is the n64 jumper pak and that was completley optional
no ps2 version is different from the other except size
unless you mean the japan only PSX which is a dvr and which tanked
all the other ps2 units are exactly the same
revisions do nothing except reduce size and cost and usually heat dissipitation
they do not run differently
thats what a console is all about the base hardware is the same and all the games run the same
the only thing that changes is the size of the hd and shape and size of the box
a 2006 xbox 360 is functionally the same as a 2012 one
That's just not true.
PS2 later versions lost backwards compatibility.
Off the top of my head, the 2006 Xbox and 2012 Xbox were different in DVD read speeds, Kinect processor speeds (one used a processor in the Kinect, the other borrows processing from the console -- slowing it down a bit). I also wouldn't doubt there was thermal throttling happening with the 2006 version. My 2012 version works much smoother than my 2006 did before it finally RRDed.
I think we're saying about the same thing, though. There have been changes, but not what MS is saying. MS is looking at making improvements that all games will be able to cope with due to their software middleware that negotiates the changes -- just like Direct X and Windows does for our PCs. So in the future you may get better performance out of a newer console. But the system will still play all of the same games.
EDIT:
Here's the direct quote:
"Consoles lock the hardware and the software platforms together at the beginning of the generation. Then you ride the generation out for seven or so years, while other ecosystems are getting better, faster, stronger," Spencer said. "When you look at the console space, I believe we will see more hardware innovation in the console space than we've ever seen. You'll actually see us come out with new hardware capability during a generation allowing the same games to run backward and forward compatible because we have a Universal Windows Application running on top of the Universal Windows Platform."
And I agree with him. XBox can do more with their hardware and change things more b/c they have their middleware negotiating things out. So when a hardware changes like the PS2 slim comes around, they don't have to lose backward compatibility. They can keep it because the middleware talks to the hardware and that talks to your software so that it all works.
EDIT2:
I thought of a good analogy since the author was clearly confused about what MS is saying and what the 32X did. So, imagine buying your 32X and you could play Sonic the Hedgehog 1 with it and play it with more colors, smoother action, and less on the power bill. Sonic Boom, the newest iteration, is amazing.
And now imagine that you can't afford the 32X but you still want the new Sonic Boom game. You buy Sonic Boom, put it into your Genesis clsasic, and play it. It's awesome. It just doesn't have as many colors and isn't quite as smooth as Sonic Boom on 32X, but you're still getting 30fps and you can still see everything clearly.
That is closer to MS' dream here. Forward and backward compatibility in a system that is undergoing hardware changes.
