"The Upgraded PlayStation 4 is Codenamed NEO, Contains Upgraded CPU, GPU, RAM" -Giant Bomb's Austin Walker

I buy consoles for the fact that they remain relevant for about 8 years, don't generally have port issues, and everyone I know is on the same platform. I buy them for the simplicity and the knowledge that as long as all my friends stick to Playstation, we're always connected on this platform and can play together, running all the same games. I don't buy them for the good performance.

If I cared that much about performance, I'd get a gaming PC. Several instances of some friend or other finding that he couldn't run the game that the rest of us wanted to play is why we all took our gaming to the console platform back when the PS3 came out.

If it now gets to the point where it's not only more expensive to remain up to date on consoles - thus entirely eliminating any tangible argument over the PC which, after all, does not remain optimal for eight years with an investment of £300 - but also face the possibility of not being able to play with some of my friends because they got the 4.5, we'll all just go back to the PC.

I don't believe for a moment that Classic and Neo owners will be able to play together online without any problems or performance inequalities; why even play a competitive game where you're on 30 FPS and they're on 60? Or whatever the difference will be -- can you even expect interconnectivity between two systems specifically defined by a performance disparity? Wouldn't any game in which higher frame rate or faster load times conveys a competitive advantage have to run separate PS4 and PS4.5 servers?

This would spell the end of me as a console user. I would never again trust that this is the platform that offers the more practical and affordable solution. Consoles can't beat PCs in terms of performance or general usefulness. They can thus far beat PCs on price and the practicality of everyone with a Playstation being on exactly equal footing, ensuring that you don't have to deal with any notions of PS4.5 players being more competitive due to superior hardware, or friends being cut off from eachother because the alternative to this is to run separate PS4 and PS4.5.

/r/Games Thread Link - giantbomb.com