Why can't Microsoft or Sony release external devices for their devices to boost performance...

Why can't Microsoft or Sony release external devices for their devices to boost performance? Like something that could plug into the Kinect port for example.

Look at how that worked out for the Sega Genesis

N64 had a ram cartridge that made games look better. That was neat.

Fragmentation

Because that would leave the door open to it being "modded" and they would end up like the dreamcast where everyone was playing pirated games.

OP is too young

if you want to upgrade parts you get a PC, if you try to add things to a console you always lose. hence Kinect, and

What's this garbage side-by-side shit? My Sega CD mounted underneath.

You had the cool first gen Sega CD with the slide out tray.

It was also proprietary.

It's the same reason why xbox hard drives and and controllers all use proprietary connectors, none of this would benefit you in the slightest.

It would benefit you if you owned the system that the upgrade was intended for. Was op only interested in job proprietary add one?

OP here, I'm 23. I just had a PS1. I remember that Ram Cartridge for the 64 though

I miss the days of addon hardware for consoles. I have a ton of old consoles but the only additional hardware I've ever purchased for any was an adapter that plugged into a PlayStation's parallel port to play Game Boy games. It works as a Gameshark too but you can't save games like Pokémon with it.

>Why can't Microsoft or Sony release external devices for their devices to boost performance?

It defeats one of the points in having a console, which is that everyone has the same machine with the same specs. If you create hardware addons that separates the haves from the have-nots ("this game requires 1MB RAM kit"), then you lose that part of the population for potential sales. Additionally, console people tend to hate having to buy more hardware just to play new games. If they didn't, they'd be PC gamers.

>the Kinect port
No longer supported.

That never stopped Sega from upgrading the Genesis twice and Nintendo offering a RAM expansion for the N64, a satellite receiver for the SNES and a fucking floppy drive for the NES. Gtranted, none of those things kept you from playing games but no one wants to play Perfect Dark without the booster pak.

>That never stopped Sega from upgrading the Genesis twice
That never stopped them because they were one of the first to do it and later discovered it was a horrible idea. The games for the addons didn't sell well because most people didn't want to buy the accessories, and people didn't buy the accessories because there weren't very many games for them. Despite a couple of exceptional games, the addon hardware for the Genesis are generally considered failures.

>later discovered it was a horrible idea.
Actually it was an excellent idea and SegaCD and 32X units initially sold well until their internal corporate culture war fucked everything up and there were no games to play on your upgrades because they wanted you to buy a Saturn instead.

Latency, bandwidth.

>generally considered failures
how about the fact that it all fucking worked and still does? A Genesis with a CD and the 32X is basically three separate game consoles slapped together and by some black magic the machine actually operates.

Microsoft can't even make the Kinect reliable and they've had three tries at it now.

Which is even more reason why Sony and Microsoft shouldn't be making hardware addons.

>It was also proprietary.
there were multiple unofficial, unlicensed vendors that made n64 ram, such as interact (producers of gameshark)
same goes for controllers

proprietary implies a right is required to produce
these situations are just stupid ass connectors

lol what alternate version of history are you living in? the 32X was overpriced and barely sold any units, combined with the fact that it had virtually no games right from the day one and it didn't get much better later on. it was considered a commercial failure and thrown in the bargain bin just a few months after release. the segaCD was marginally more successful but also overpriced and it flopped as a result.

>not posting the superior mark 1 setup.

mfw we will probably never get a remake of Snatcher.

PS4 pro.
Xbox 1X
Both have already fragmented the market with the same general console foundation.

They might as well make their next consoles upgradeable and be fucking done with it.
Most gamers are too retarded for fiddling around with PCs. But snapping in an expansion slot that adds "ULTRA MEGA POLYGONS AWE!" is very easy that 4 year olds could do it. Unless it is those ones with half a brain.

Upgradeable console:
needs a good power supply
needs a good high-bandwidth pipe to connect to the expansion cards
expansion cards need a nicely cooled bay to sit in.
All very doable. External GPUs are already a thing and it uses cables and a dock.
Hide an expansion slot at the back of the console that supersedes port control to it when plugged in. Even just transparently extend the port. or design it in such a way that all ports are just above or below where the expansion would be seated.
Or go the classic route and just do what Genesis did. Might put some people off that like sitting consoles vertically.

Not to mentioned they released the 32X after they had announced the Sega Saturn, which had support for 3D games like the N64 or PS1 did and the 32X didn't. So by that point, literally nobody wanted it because the Saturn was on it's way to being released, so what was the point of buying the 32X in the first place? Hell, what was the point of making it in the first place?