Oh boy, the PS5 Pro. It's €800 + €140 for the Disc Drive where I am. Oh, and €30 for the vertical stand, which isn't bundled with the console for some reason. Yeah, I'll stick with the PS5, especially since both the Switch successor and RTX 50 series are coming next year.
The note on the N64 Expansion Pack was interesting. It's worth mentioning that Nintendo also released mid-cycle upgrades for its portable systems (DS -> DSi, 3DS -> New 3DS) that also had exclusive games.
I certainly prefer that not to be the case, though. If you already have the old system, you're essentially paying a few hundred dollars just to access the few games that require that hardware.
The DSi-only games were small download-only games that were offered to promote the DSi's online capabilities (not sure if getting online capabilities qualifies as a performance upgrade... maybe?)
The New 3DS did indeed have one first-party game that only ran on that model and not the original 3DS: a port of the Wii RPG Xenoblade Chronicles.
The Expansion Pak [sic] for the N64 is more like a peripheral than a mid-gen refresh. It even came packed with the game that required it. That's a huge difference since I don't need to sell my existing console.
The 32X and SegaCD are the biggest mid-cycle updates with exclusive games that I can think of though.
I hear you. Even while trying the PS5 Pro "fidelity pro" mode for Spider-Man 2, which drops the game back down to 30 so they can turn on fancier lighting tech, I couldn't tolerate the lower frame rate.
It appears to have doubled the frame rate in Resolution mode for the Zero Dawn remaster. Gotta hand it to developer Nixxes, though. The new textures and lighting look similar on both consoles. Some wonderful new sound design, too.
Oh boy, the PS5 Pro. It's €800 + €140 for the Disc Drive where I am. Oh, and €30 for the vertical stand, which isn't bundled with the console for some reason. Yeah, I'll stick with the PS5, especially since both the Switch successor and RTX 50 series are coming next year.
The note on the N64 Expansion Pack was interesting. It's worth mentioning that Nintendo also released mid-cycle upgrades for its portable systems (DS -> DSi, 3DS -> New 3DS) that also had exclusive games.
I certainly prefer that not to be the case, though. If you already have the old system, you're essentially paying a few hundred dollars just to access the few games that require that hardware.
The DSi-only games were small download-only games that were offered to promote the DSi's online capabilities (not sure if getting online capabilities qualifies as a performance upgrade... maybe?)
The New 3DS did indeed have one first-party game that only ran on that model and not the original 3DS: a port of the Wii RPG Xenoblade Chronicles.
So I'll give you the New 3DS
The Expansion Pak [sic] for the N64 is more like a peripheral than a mid-gen refresh. It even came packed with the game that required it. That's a huge difference since I don't need to sell my existing console.
The 32X and SegaCD are the biggest mid-cycle updates with exclusive games that I can think of though.
Sold like a peripheral but functionally a mid-gen performance boost for a console.
If I can get games to run smoother, and I've seen some instances where that seems to be the case, I'll be happy.
I'm ultra sensitive to bad frame rates, like can't look at moving images for a day if I'm triggered.
So I'm hoping the Pro helps with that. Just sucks that it costs extra to get the promise of high frame rates back when the base PS5 was launched.
I hear you. Even while trying the PS5 Pro "fidelity pro" mode for Spider-Man 2, which drops the game back down to 30 so they can turn on fancier lighting tech, I couldn't tolerate the lower frame rate.
It appears to have doubled the frame rate in Resolution mode for the Zero Dawn remaster. Gotta hand it to developer Nixxes, though. The new textures and lighting look similar on both consoles. Some wonderful new sound design, too.
That last line in the article… a long wait for something different. Sigh.