Because they want to make money. Because they are in business. This the reason. It’s not about ‘being the most powerful’, it’s about being in business. If you’re not making and selling consoles, you’re not in business.It will be the weakest, but not by much. Think high or very high pc settings versus ultra. Of course none will really be ultra, as the PC will be on another level by then.The thing is PS4/720 won’t be creating new tech. They’ll be using tech created by ATI (unless they go Nvidia route) for years earlier PC parts. These won’t be top end parts, because top end parts would consume far too much to put into a tiny box.Remember all the xbox360 heating problems? Well a good reason for that was the chip ran hot, and it ran hot because it took a lot of power to run. The first 360’s used over 300 watts. Which is chump change for PC’s that use 700-1500 watts usually.So no, the PS4/720 can’t put 700-1500 watts into a small box. If they could, which they can’t, have you noticed that even midrange cards about $400. So most powerful goes for about $1000 or more which is a dual gpu. A single gpu top end goes for $500-600. The 2nd best single gpu (3rd best card) goes for $350-450. Even the 3rd best GPU will suck up about as much power as the original 360 launch console did.Even then, you have a situation where there aren’t multiple graphics leaps available. The Wii U will soak up most of the difference between 360 and top end PC rig. What’s left is the last 20-30 percent of visual gains, that cost all that power and money to attain, but don’t add too much. The processing power needed starts going exponential, while the gains in fidelity is merely linear. So you have to pay alot more for not much.Look I have a GTX 670, can play and do play on ultra settings. They look great. But even if I went down a notch or two on the settings, the games still look GOOD.If they DON’T make a system, they’ll be ceding to Nintendo, yet when they DO make a system, it cannot possibly be far ahead of it, because the tech, the power/heat, and the cost limitations are extreme.Add in that they DON’T want them to be unreliable with RROD, and that they DON’T want to lose $270 per console, and probably wouldn’t even tolerate more than $100 per console, means this time around things will be different.Add to that they want to throw add-ins that increase cost into the system, and you have the same factors the Wii U has. Because some people seem to think that because the Wii U made the gamepad suddenly everyone else will have a cost advantage. Well, they’re wrong. Because the 720 will have the Kinect 2 + hand manipulator. There’s your ‘gamepad’ cost right there. Now if MS wants to add in a gamepad to compete with Nintendo, then you’ll have even HIGHER costs with add-ins.Think of it this way. You know in sports when a defender edges up to the guy with the basketball along the sidelines and allows no room that’s basically what the Wii U has done. Found a spot which nudges up against what the PS4/720 could possibly do forcing Sony and MS to either do a small upgrade versus the Wii U and make money, or lose more money than the PS3 lost, and only have a medium upgrade.That’s what they face. The Wii U soaks up the majority of the leap. The tech limits mean you need exponential power growth for linear fidelity gains. The add-ins. The amount of power used limit. The reliability issues. The desire not to lose money per console (or not much).These are all realities, and ones that are easily knowable.
See original here: Developers Have it Wrong: The Wii U is Powerful, Its Just Next Generation Powerful
