The Tech Arms race is bollocks
Bad news everyone! the brand new shiney tech you have just bought? yeah, its shit mate, chuck it straight in the bin. But its ok, because....
Good news, everyone! there is a newer, shiney-er more expensive version that has just come out. you WANT the newest, best and most powerful, don't you?
Reality check - the happy medium was reached sometime ago. full HD (not that hd ready 720p nonsense) 60FPS minimum and a stable 60 at that. And a reasonable level of image quality to boot. Although to hear anything tech related, you would think we are playing currently on a potato
The console wars came and went with a damp fizzle rather than a definite winner. It was always a stupid playground argument. Spectrum vs C64. Nes vs Master system. Snes Vs Mega Drive. Amiga vs Atari ST. Playstation vs Saturn vs N64. Gamecube vs PS2 vs Xbox. 360 vs PS3. Ps4 vs Xbox one.
Now the ps5 and the xbox are basically PC's with less functionality, and stupider naming conventions. Playstation have attempted to continue the wars, even through xbox has retreated into a subscription service (xbox live is now gamepass) and Nintendo have continued to not play the same game as Sony since the gamecube.
Playstation have continued to make a massive push for platform exclusives, while at the same time releasing them all on PC years later. The most hilarious bungle that Sony managed was the OG PS5 had 8k slapped on the box, yet the newer slim version did not have this on the packaging. Reason? shouldn't have been there in the first place!
You see, gaming at 4k, let alone 8k is a nightmare of technicalities, no matter what PC master race sweaties will tell you. You have to pony up thousands of pounds on graphics cards, processors and monitors that can even reach 4k. Then you are in another arms race where your frame rate is never enough. 60FPS? pah, for children. 120? get the fuck out of here, 145? nice one, grandad.
The unfortunate truth that PC gamers don't want to admit, is that games are released for console specifications, not PCs. Every new Console generation, the needle moves, console images appear a bit shinier and PC's can shuffle their spec ceiling a bit futher up. But the sweet spot is always dictated by the Console peasants.
Which brings us to one of the worst 'choices' in modern gaming, quality vs. Performance. You see, besides being told that its the most powerful thing since <Insert your mum reference>, the ps5 cannot run games at 4k at a decent frame rate. So you will get the choice - 4k but running with the speed of a painting, or a higher frame rate where the image shifts between passable and potato. think of all the possibilities!
Not that I'm a frame rate elitest, certain games are fine at lower frame rates. Games like Civilisation, or X-com, turn based, frame rates are nice, but not essential, and if it gets busy and the frame rate tanks, its not the end of the world (and just as likely to be your CPU having to do the heavy lifting). FPS or online arena shooters on the other hand, FPS is everything, especially when online. Nintendo have managed (mostly) to get to the sweet spot through their own Nintendo way with the Switch 2. Stupid name, but a 1080p screen (the sweet spot) 120FPS (will see what games manage this) and if you dock it, can have 4k (apparently, but who even docks a switch anymore). Time will tell, but it would be nice if the games themselves were made the stars, rather than the consoles they are played on, as the console exclusive becomes more and more of a relic.
The last bastion of the Hardware war are the execs themselves. you can see how they have pivoted to release Pro versions of consoles with bigger and badder specs on the sides. But the eternal monkey paw trade off between Performance and Balance always remains - due to consoles never intending to be the cutting edge powerhouse of gaming. It was always mass enjoyment, stick a game in and away you go. IF you wanted hours of tweaking, installing, troubleshooting, you got a PC. So don't expect to purchase the forever Playstation, or an upgradable Xbox anytime soon. Change is slow, Apple have only just started allowing you to update their hardware, and in the most apple way possible, but that's another story....
