Should A Counsel Be Upgrade-able
I'm sure your gut response to this question is a very loud and confident, YES! So why can't counsels do what PCs have done for decades? Why can't counsel manufacturers learn from the self proclaimed 'master race' in order to take that very title away from them, despite the fact that they gave it to themselves? The answer is short but true. And that answer is, it would divide the market more then it already is.
Lets rewind only about 4 years ago, when Microsoft and Sony were releasing their new counsels as they usually do once the price of the hardware is cheap enough to provide the consumer with a lower cost, but updated option. The market was segmented primarily 4 ways through brand and IP. Those 4 options were PC, Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft, not including the mobile gaming market place. Now, although those 4 pillars still exist, we are starting to see them branch and segregate themselves more then ever before. We now have systems that do and don't provide 4k media, do and don't provide 4k gaming, and at a variety of internal memory options. This internal division amongst manufacturers are forcing game developers to accommodate all of these options. I point this out to ask again, why can't we upgrade our counsels on our own rather then waiting for new iterations of the same machine?
Rather then buying an entirely new machine that may offer only minor upgrades such as memory or power, why not upgrade our machines where and when we want. This is the ability PC gamers have, and an ability they have grown to love and treasure over the option of a counsel. They get to keep up with technology as it grows more powerful and shrinks smaller in size, all while we sit in wait for E3 announcements and holiday deals. This makes many of us envious, especially when a game like Destiny shows us the distinct differences between counsel and PC gaming.
I'm sure many who are reading this have either played the previous Destiny 2 beta, or watched it stream online. Everyone who has already seen the game in action, can easily watch this and instantly notice the smoother frame rate before the ships even break orbit. We want this, but we can't afford to make the dive into owning a PC, especially after already purchasing a counsel, so what can we do? Giving the consumer the option to upgrade their counsel may be the gut response but will it truly benefit us in the long run?
No, surprisingly I don't believe the ability to upgrade our machine would help us or the provider. In the long run, the ability to change the hardware within our system can only hurt us, as well as the manufacturer. Think about it, think about how fast technology is improving and how we are already witnessing its effects on the market place. Now picture just how much more hectic it would be if software developers had to accommodate all the iterations of a counsel a consumer could have. Not only that, but hardware sales would plummet for manufacturers as most consumers wouldn't see the need to purchase what would essentially be a new chassis.
Or the alternative option would be for software developers to make a list of spec qualifications that demand the consumers' machines run at the speed the game needs. So now, what once felt like freedom, slowly led to our hands being tied as we're forced to upgrade or loose access to certain games. So what could possibly be the answer to this issue?
Well, the answer may be found in the digital age. When we move past the need for a counsel and simply stream the games from a service rather then a disc or download. The only specs we would need to keep up with would be the definition of our TV, which would essentially be as optional as the option to stream 4k quality movies from Netflix.
What do you think? Has Destiny 2 made you hungry for change?
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