Sony is not as good as you think. Launching PS4 Neo is actually a helpless move

PS4 Neo, which is nicknamed "PS4 Complete Edition" by players, is about to be officially released. Sony has recently sent out an official invitation letter. This fully evolved version of PS4 will be officially released in New York, USA at midnight on September 8th, Beijing time. Sony fans who have been waiting for a long time are singing "good news" while waiting to take their baby PS4 Neo home. Are you a little excited just thinking about it? Don't be too excited yet, let me pour a basin of liquid nitrogen on you to calm you down.

The configuration exposure looks beautiful

According to the information leaked by Sony, the processing power of PS4 Neo will be greatly improved, from the original 1.6GHz main frequency to 2.1GHz, and the GPU will also be improved. Compared with the PS4 with only 18 processing units and a frequency of 800MHz, PS4 Neo will use AMD GCN with 36 processing units and a frequency of 911MHz, and the graphics processing power will be increased to twice the original. At the same time, PS4 Neo will also use faster GDDR5 memory. Although it is still 8GB, the running speed will be increased from the original 176GB/s to 218GB/s.

Although this news has not been officially confirmed, considering AMD's previous announcement that it will release a new semi-custom processor in the second half of 2016, its credibility is still very high.

The PS4 is already powerful enough, and the launch of the PS4 Neo will allow the PS to enter the 4K era. The price of around RMB 2,700 (rumored) is not expensive even for a 4K Blu-ray player, and it is a free gift for a device that is also a next-generation console! No wonder the Sony fans "cult" (mistakenly) cried and shouted the slogan "Sony is great".

However, in fact, Sony has been smooth sailing since entering the next generation, and has taken the initiative. The sales of PS4 are higher than the sales of its competitors combined. Why does it have to make such a big move? For example, PS4 facing Xbox One and WiiU is like Dwayne Johnson wrestling with TFBOYS, but now Dwayne Johnson says he wants to take stimulants first... Eat your sister! Give them a way out!

Although this example is a bit exaggerated, the high configuration of PS4 Neo is indeed a bit useless. So far, few games can make full use of the functions of PS4, and even the game graphics of Japanese developers are still lingering in the PS2 era. Moreover, after the product line is expanded, it will also put more pressure on developers to optimize games. In this case, why is it forced to provide such a high configuration?

Launching a new model for PS VR?

The general opinion now is that Sony made this arrangement to provide hardware support for PS VR. When running VR games, although the two screens still have a resolution of 1080p, the need for the game console to render two screens at the same time undoubtedly greatly increases its burden. Moreover, VR games have higher requirements for the frame rate and lens switching speed. Low-frame images or perspective switching that does not match the head movement will make the food that players have worked hard to eat see the light of day again, and the picture is too beautiful that no one wants to watch.

I still remember the PS3 era, when Sony was catching up with the 3D era (it sounds no different from now), many games added 3D mode, including "Stormbike", "Uncharted 3", "Killzone 3" and other masterpieces. But I think everyone who has played it still remembers that the beautiful pictures in 2D mode turned into a pile of mosaics under the brutal resolution and jagged edges after turning on the 3D mode. If you don't know, you might think you have walked into a Catholic cathedral. In addition, it was the wrong investment in 3D technology that led to the backwardness of Sony's TV industry, so that Sony was discouraged by 3D. In the first year of the release of PS4, it did not support 3D Blu-ray movie playback (those who bought 3D TVs cried in the toilet).

In order to avoid the tragedy of the 3D era from repeating itself on PS4, it makes sense for Sony to launch an enhanced model to match PS VR to ensure the gaming effect. Of course, in fact, to prevent PS VR from becoming the second 3D, Sony still has a lot of other work to do (really a lot).

Strike first before the enemy upgrades their weapons

Sony is now living a comfortable life. Its rival Xbox One has been squeezed into a stepping stone for the promotion of Windows 10, and WiiU was declared dead two years ago. Thinking about the days when PS3 was beaten by Wii and Xbox360, Sony must be shedding a few bitter tears and shouting, "You have come to this day!"

However, it is important to be prepared for danger in times of peace. The game console industry is unpredictable. A wrong decision can keep you from recovering for several years. Sony understands this principle better than anyone else (Sony is a company with a long history, as you know). Although both Microsoft and Nintendo are now in a state of defeat, they are not pushovers.

Nintendo is about to announce the next generation console NX this month. NX will have performance close to that of PS4 and can switch between home console and handheld console at will. Microsoft also announced the Scorpio plan at E3, which will be released next year and may be more powerful than PS Neo (Microsoft really doesn't care if Scorpio will affect the sales of Xbox One). Before Microsoft and Nintendo, Sony, which basically relied on performance to win, could lose everything if it was careless.

In short, facing an unknown enemy and the "crying" PS VR, Sony's decision to launch the PS Neo at this time is a helpless move, and it is still unknown whether this move can achieve the desired effect. Although Sony fans say that the PS4 Neo is a fatal blow to Microsoft and Nintendo from the leading Sony, in fact, it is also a life-saving blow for Sony.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.