I'm confused, is Neo just a PS4 Upgrade or a New System?

When I talk about Neo graphics, people tell me it is like a brand new system, and runs games much much better. Very different hardware.

When I talk about Neo games, people tell me its just like a PS4, and games between the two remain exclusives since it's just a minor upgraded model and not another system.

So which is it? I'm confused!

Neo is just a graphical gimmick. PS4 is the real deal. Wait for PS5 if you want a next gen experience.

So it's just like a PS4 Slim? Games will still look and run like shit?

Why is it a different name?

There isn't going to be a PS5.

Google is wonderful

@zaryia: PS4 Slim is just a cheaper PS4.

@Pedro: Then i guess we screwed.

Why don't we just wait a few days and see?

Google comes up with these same debates, with cows saying both things depending on the discussion :(

They want to keep exclusivity between two systems while also saying it's a brand new system with super gfx...

So in a few days we can start calling games on PS4 and Neo multiplats?

@zaryia: If you want everyone to laugh at you behind your back, go right ahead.

@Pedro:

There will be a ps5. These upgraded consoles are just complimentary to the originals. They're not meant to outlive anything.

lol

The Neo is no different from the Scorpio - except that it's a less powerful leap. Whether one is willing to call it an upgrade / iteration / new system appears to vary from user to user on here, and pretty much based on the story they want to tell in order to talk one up or the other down. The reality is it is more powerful hardware, but it is the same x86 architecture. Both the Neo and Scorpio will be like buying a new video card for your PC... more powerful, but thanks to shared technology can play the games from the "last gen" card you had. Whatever you want to call it - it's an optional purchase that will probably replace the original PS4 entirely eventually, despite Sony's claims to the contrary, just as the Scorpio will surely replace the X1 eventually as well.

When will that happen? When the newest gaming tech becomes too much of a pain for devs to bother trying to make it run semi-acceptably on the ancient hardware of the PS4 and X1.

The PS5; if it happens, would be just like the Neo and upgrade to the Neo. Generations are dead.

Or, as I see it, the generations are now just shorter and overlapping. Like, a GTX1070 "overlaps" with a GTX970. Despite the leap in power, you can hang onto the 970 as long as it does what you want to do, or you can upgrade now. It's your call.

Hopefully it's a system that will play games at either a locked 30 or 60 fps with no frame pacing issues.

@xantufrog: I agree, will be like phones, Iphone 4, 4c, and 4s. Instead will be, PS4, PS4S, and PS4K.

We will probably see a PS4 Super Slim before they prepare for the PS5. Ot will be a while, though. HD gaming really makes publishers want to get what they can out of fixed hardware before moving on to something else.

Console generation will die the moment they became customizable like PCs. Until then they'll have it.

It's an upgraded / high end PS4. If the leaked specs are in fact real, we're looking at a ~2x performance boost.

"Well, to be very clear, the high end PS4, codenamed NEO, that we are working on, is an addition to the existing lineup, not a replacement." - Andrew House, the CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment

The Neo is an upgraded PS4. Sony has said so themselves. Most of the people on here denying this fact are fanboys that call it a new console to try and take away the status of PS4 exclusives.

As for me, eh, who cares. I call the Neo a Neo. I call the PS4 a PS4. I have a PS4, and I'm not getting a Neo because I think it's a waste of money. I think the Scorpio is a waste of money too. When the true next gen consoles get here, I'll get one of those.

And yes, there will be next gen consoles. You guys saying there won't have been drinking the kool-aid.

@Pedro:

Generations being dead is speaking waaay too far ahead of time. The developers themselves said that these upgrades are only complimentary to the originals. No one else's word should speak above them.

For Sony who knows what they're going to do, but Microsoft has essentially come out to say that generations for them have ceased to exist, everything for them from here on out is going to be backward and forward compatible, upgraded devices to replace the last upgraded device and so on and so forth.

If Microsoft does this Sony will be incapable of maintaining standard generations with generationally blocked games, it would drive them into the ground, they are either on board for this or they're going to sink, the value will be too high on Microsoft's end for Sony to compete.

according to early reports. any game that plays on neo will also have to play on ps4. its an upgrade but still part of the ps4 line. how that makes any sense who knows. just google some more or wait till wednesday

It's a premium version of the PS4.

@stereointegrity: Thatll be easy. All they gotta do is hit that handy downgrade button.

A PlayStation console that is not more powerful than the Scorpio.

@dynamitecop: Microsoft does not dictate the rules in this market. If they get too complacent with their hardeare strategy, that will offer opportunities for Nintendo and Sony to push them further as an outlier.

built into every dev kit

I want a new system and completely bury and forget the 8th gen. But that's not what we're getting. I just hope that most games will be running in 60fps (its fine if it drops from mid to low 50's, i just want the damn thing at over 30fps) on the Neo. If the graphical settings stay the same, i'll be very disappointed. I want more than resolution increase and fps bump/stable fps.

Sorry but no, not in the instance of something like this.

If your direct competitor is selling a product that everything works for forever, you have to conform or suffer staggering losses and eventually die out, the value is too high.

"Hey all your existing games will work here, your peripherals, your controllers, everything you buy now will work on any console we release in the future, you lose nothing, nothing and no one is left behind."

With something like that taking place there's no possible way to remain competitive with a traditional console or game method, it's impossible.

Its upgrade have better resolution and better frame rate for curent ps4

@silversix_: Thats what im hoping Nintendo does, make a system that just buries the current 3DS/Wii U gen. Just make a little powerful so can do HD on TV and boom.

@dynamitecop: Didn't work for the successor to the most successful console of all time with the largest library of all time. It's not like developers will perpetually return back to their old titles to enhance them for new hardware, either.

I don't think you have the right of it, but we shall see.

Generations aren't dead. A "next generation" produces hype, more so than a simple iteration of the existing console. What will happen after the Neo (i'd say in 2 years after the neo launch, depending on the success of a more powerful console which will be the Scorpio) is the PS5. There will be an upgrade to the PS5 as well, just like the Neo/Scorpio is to the Bone/PS4. Our generations aren't going anywhere, but we will have more than a SLIM version of the console available to the public.

Neo is a upgrade PS4, Scorpio is an entirely new console.

The PlayStation 3 was backward compatible with PS1 games, and only on a small number of launch systems were compatible with PS2 games, not forward compatible, and the controllers and peripherals didn't work, and PlayStation 3 games don't work on the PlayStation 4 and so on and so forth.

You're going to have to back out of this comment, it doesn't work.

Please explain these mental gymnastics.

@dynamitecop: There were only a small number of BC PS3s made because they weren't selling.

There were only a small number made because it dramatically raised the cost of the system, and it wasn't selling because of the cost, not because people didn't want that feature, also these features pale in comparison to what Microsoft is doing.

You're trying to drag this off point, actually address what I said, don't cherry pick it to steer this conversation in a direction you like.

Yes there is. Anyone who believes that is brain dead.

The Neo will release and the next console will be the PS5. Regardless of what it is called. They wont make another console that still has to be downgrade games to play on the PS4. The Neo might still be supported with the next step, but if the power can not reduce to the PS4 level and that is no longer relevant or having new games released on it... then it's the PS5. I still say the PS5 will be called the PS5, and we can expect to hear from it by 2018. You don't have to argue with me now.. just wait, and see.

So then you are basically saying you already know the answer to your simple question, and you are a fan of one of the other two consoles or PC? It is a new console, it's a half step to the PS5. Since the games will be on both consoles it is just a beefed up PS4 and not technically a new gen. so that VR can be used on it (which is a complete waste of time and resources). The next half step (likely the PS5) will make the PS4 last generations console. Whether or not they continue to release games for the Neo for the entirety of the next gen console after that is yet to be seen.

If it makes you sleep better at night call it whatever the hell you'd like, because you're going to anyways. The same can be said for the Scorpio when it launches as well. I am actually excited for both of them. If they kick up the amount of details, draw distance, FPS, etc. then who really gives a flying rats left nut?

That is what you call a win win situation.

The NEO is a brand new console. They have implemented a requirement that games work on both the PS4 and the NEO.

Some might argue that Sony is going all in with PSVR and needed suitable hardware. With the cost and energy savings of making the jump to FinFET it was a no-brainer to create a new console.

I would be more than happy if the new iterations just made all games at the minimum a 60fps standard. Anything on top of that is gravy. Extra draw distance, less pop in and out, and better shadows, and particle effects are 2nd tier but would be nice as well. I just hope they don't simply push the "graphics" as far as they can while AGAIN completely ignoring stability and actual gameplay. I mean.. everyone loves counting the thread count on intricate weaves and all......

It's a PS4VR system.

and the reason they weren't selling is because SONY screwed the pooch early in the gen and shot themselves in the foot like MS did this gen. BC is nowhere NEAR as expensive or as hard as they tried to make it sound. They did away with it because they were bleeding money and found a "better way" to charge consumers for games they wanted to play that they already owned. The original PS3's were awesome... RIP my PS3 Fat.. you wont be forgotten... :( It was a sad day when mine sold the farm and moved to the electronic junkyard in the sky.

Mine still works luckily.

Sony says PS4 and Neo software will share the same catalog, MS says the same thing about Scorpio. I think this is still an extension of the current generation.

PS4 Neo is a PS4 with upgraded specs. Previously released games will run at their original targets unless they are patched to use the extra hardware for additional performance. It's not a new platform, so games remain exclusive. The confusion here is that game exclusivity definitions are shifting from hardware platforms to software platforms. So although the insides of PS4 Neo might be a little different that the original PS4 or Slim, it's still running a PS4 OS and running PS4 games. Did that clear it up for you?