The time frame before the release of a new game console is an interesting one. Thanks to the nature of things, companies tend to hold off on announcing many details of their products too early. There are various reasons for this — building up fan base hype (something I rather dislike,) to avoid letting competition know too much about the product and thus try to surpass it, and any number of other reasons you can think of.
This, as you might expect, leaves quite a bit of room for discussion among people in the gaming community as to the capabilities of this upcoming hardware.
Unlike standard computer tech, which is a constant state of improvement with new devices of all classes coming out seemingly daily, game consoles tend to be “snapshots” of hardware at that time — something powerful but cost effective, streamlined and custom engineered to run games, as opposed to being a typical “general purpose” computer. Good stuff that will last 5 years or so before showing its age — at least, that’s the idea.
That’s a principle which has been true for virtually the entire life of gaming — it’s basically how it works as a standardized platform, you pick a set of specifications and make that your basis going forward, in effect making the console a development standard, akin to DVD and the like. Strange, I know, but that’s really all there is to it.
Still, that doesn’t stop most people from concocting wild stories about what the upcoming hardware will be like. In the early days this wasn’t so much the case, bu in the past 20 years or so, with the rise of the internet to a point of ubiquity things have gotten pretty crazy.
Just this time period alone, with the Xbox “Scarlett” and the PlayStation 5 on the horizon, I’ve seen some incredibly fanciful rumors circulating — ones that even at a cursory glance I would think many would see as complete horse shit people are buying hook, line, and sinker.
I would expect the gaming populace to be smarter than this, but then again I’m reminded of the fact that gaming is no loner the domain of technically inclined people — thanks to the “gamerbro” era, it’s pretty well enjoyed by everyone including, in classic Dunning-Kruger fashion, people who don’t know what they don’t know.
I really wish I knew who exactly comes up with these things, especially given the accessibility of actually reliable information on upcoming hardware. If it isn’t confirmed by the creators of the product it’s best to ignore it, not speculate on it or tout whatever you’ve seen on some forum or read in a random tweet as valid and true.
It’s not, and even if it later turns out to be valid down the line (which does happen from time to time, certainly) that doesn’t mean you should have believed it and thus believe every thing you hear with no evidence. Additionally, as is good to do in all aspect of life, the more outlandish a claim is, the less likely it is to be true.
It really isn’t a complicated thing, though — temper your expectations, presume the machines will be about on par with a decent to high quality gaming PC of the current year, presume the cost will only be what the market can handle which, currently is about $400 US, and leave it at that. Other “features” will be announced as their time comes — no need to speculate on some crazy idea like a console “playing every game ever” or having “so good graphics it will cost $1000” (yes, both of those are things I’ve actually seen.) At the end of the day, the upcoming pair of consoles from Sony and Microsoft will be, when you get down to the core of it, perfectly normal. Impressive, yes, but otherwise typical.
No, simply wait patiently, discuss what is known, get some perspective on the actual technology currently available, and use some common sense to determine what it will probably be like.
It’s really simple. Don’t speculate, and don’t spread others speculations. Easy. If you don’t know, then you don’t know. Period. No reason to make shit up, you aren’t doing anyone any favors — just generating pointless engagement with your vapid social media account, at best.