Xbox "1.5" In Development

If you recall, there was discussion--unofficial discussion, but convincing nonetheless--that Sony was planning on making a "PlayStation 4.5," an upgraded version of their current gaming system that, while boosting frame rate, the engine, memory, and graphics, would still function as a PS4. So while not a next-gen system, it would give people who wanted a meatier gaming experience to upgrade their hardware without having to buy brand-new gaming libraries.

Since then, it's been more-or-less confirmed, which is pretty cool... but it does sort of leave Xbox One gamers out in the dust, right? I mean, here Sony was getting an update and here they were stuck with their old-fashioned top-of-the-line gaming systems.

But, it was foolish to think Sony would do anything without Microsoft aping them, and vice-versa. And now, we're getting reports from sources close to Polygon that the Xbox One will soon be getting an upgrade as well, code-named 'Scorpio,' which would operate just like an Xbox One, except be four times faster and come with Oculus Rift support.

How much faster is four times? In theory, the Xbox 1.5 would run at 6 Teraflops... which is not only over four times bigger than the 1.32 Teraflops the Xbox One currently runs, it's also larger than the 4.14 Teraflops the PS4.5 is reported to run.

However, despite this, the sources say that it will still function as an Xbox One, supporting Xbox One games and simply being an upgrade, much in the same way the PS4.5 would be.

So, this is certainly interesting. If the Xbox One and PS4 are getting hardware--but not software--updates, what does it mean for the future of gaming consoles? Where will we go for the PS5 or the Xbox... whatever they call it? Are we done with those days, and from now on, will only make the hardware better and better?

It's hard to say. It would certainly solve the backwards compatibility problem.

Regardless, while similar sources have said similar things around the web, Microsoft itself has been silent on the matter, so... for the time being, this is still just a rumor. A damn convincing one, though.