Also, Im a bit confused, the plasystation website stated that it was 8Gb of gddr5, yet other websites dont state what gddr it is, Could they even use gddr5 yet? since gddr4 is only going into mass production for regular systems this year?
I dont get why they call it supercharged pc architecture, since its supposedly just a tweaked gpu. I did a little bit of research and from my opinion it doesnt even seem like they have a dedicated gpu, and are just using a tweaked fx-8350. I honstely cant remember how I came to that conslusion though :P
So whats are your opinions on it? It pretty much just seems like a locked down pc from last year to me.
The "supercharged architecture" is just the "Blast prosessing" of this generation. The 8 core x86 processor could mean we will see some better PC ports in the future though.
ok... so ddr and gddr are two different things. just to clear up the confusion.... GDDR5 is the same thing as ddr3, but it has an added 8 bit lookahead bus. so basically it is ddr3. if you are interested, theres a wikipedia article on it.
No backwards Compatibility doesn't bother me that much. I thought it would, but I still have my PS2 out because the PS3 just isn't great at it. Chances are when the PS4 hits my shelf either the PS2 or the Wii will go away. It's nice that Sony actually made a dev friendly console this time. No weird shit to trip you up, like the incredably fast and powerful Cell processor that took 6 years to learn how to use it. I'm excited for more Move functionality, that thing is really cool. I'm excited for more Vita functionality, I thought remote play was going to be something all PS3 games would get, but only a few do. The rumors flying around this thing proved to be mostly true, if Microsoft releases a similer box as is rumoured then multiplatform games should benefit greatly, and that's awesome for everybody.
I don't play games on consoles but the PS4 is the first console to get the nod of approval from me. Why?
1. You're dealing with a direct to hardware architecture with the PS4. That means no software layers in between the hardware and the game (such as an Operating system and other APIs controlling sound, 3D rendering etc such as Direct3D and OpenAL). 2. This is an 8 Core Jaguar based architecture. It supports ALL of the latest Optimizations including AVX, SSE 2,3,4,5 etc and best of all is based on an x86 architecture (making Console ports easier to port and better in terms of PC performance). 3. The GPU is somewhere between a Radeon HD 7850 and 7870 in terms of TFlops. It is likely going to be a GPU AMD will rebrand for their upcoming 88xx series. With a direct to hardware implementation Devs should be able to create BEAUTIFUL games.
The AMD Jaguar 8 core CPU is also more powerful than an IBM Cell Processor in terms of Floating Point performance.
I should stress something... Consoles have NEVER contained better hardware than what was available on the PC at the time. The PS3 is sporting a 7800 GT/GTX-like GPU when nVIDIA had released their 8800 GTX at the time. Yet the PS3 could still compete with the PC in terms of graphics eye candy. Why? Direct to hardware.
The PC isn't a gaming rig. It's a personal computer that has the option of gaming. All the hardware put in a PS4 was made just for gaming thats why it has an edge, if computers where made just for gaming it would blow the consoles out of the water.
It will be interesting to see where the next gen goes. Unfortuantly im getting into pc gaming right now (just finishing up the touches on a gaming pc) so im comflicted as to weather I should pull the trigger on this gaming pc or wait and see what these new consoles go. Cause they seem to be just like computers and since there dedicated just for gaming, could they hold their own agaisnt a 1500$ gaming pc?? Will we see more pc type games on console (mmo, strategy). Its reall hard to say. But I feel I may get screwed over and pc gaming might go into the shadows for a couple years tell the whole new console thing is over. Yes I do know though that pc is already ahead but I think these new consoles could give most gaming pc rigs a run for their money.
I think it's too early to decide if you're really that much in doubt about what to get. The PS4 won't come out before Q4 and a lot can still change.
But even if the PS4, or the next Xbox for that matter, turns out to be the fastest machine in the world and pumps out graphics that'll make you loose sense of what's real and what isn't, that shouldn't affect your judgement too much. Instead, ask yourself if you'd rather have a multi-purpose beast PC or if you'd rather have a media/gaming only machine in your living room. It's all about personal preference.
Games that are usually only for PC, as in MMO (though a lot of MMO's could easily be for consoles as well), RTS and so on, probably won't make it on the consoles. It seems to me like all the consoles, both now and next-gen, will be spending as much, if not more, focus on alternative ways to control your games and as such the games we see will try to utilize these new controls. I just don't see how a RTS would be controlled with either a controller, PS Move, Kinect or whatever that thing for the Wii U is.
So far I have no real opinion on the PS4. It's too early for me to say anything. I've had the PS3 since launch and I was quite happy with it for a long time. But after numerous firmware updates that removed features I liked and added features I didn't, I lost a lot for Sony. They've also done other things that should raise eyebrows, but that's probably a discussion for another topic.
I imagine, even though theyve jumped ship and started using the x86 platform, Im convinced the interfaces will all be proprietary to make us modders try harder to squeeze more performance out of the unit. They surely are not going to just allow us to "tamper" with anything within it. They want you to buy a new console when the originally purchased unit has something in it that fails.
The software side: Who knows? Im sure it wont take long for someone that hates SONY to dig into this one.
IMHO, Theyre probably taking the cheaper (for them) route with the hardware....even though us builders will most likely be able to build a clone cheaper than SONY will release this unit for. They may have access to industry leading componants that are smaller in physical size but in all honesty, PC gaming will always be more powerful and versitile.
Dont get me wrong, The ps4 is going to be a great machine, I am glad it did not go in the direction OnLive did for the reason of internet usage but there are a few things I dont like about it. It is the whole streaming of content and atomatic downloading of content. As stated in the confrince, it will look at the theme of games you buy and play, things you watch and made decitions on what you would possibly like to play or watch. It then goes ahead and downloads games and such right onto the console. This may seem like a good idea though it is technicly advertising, For someone who lives in a country with slow, harshly capped internet. (New Zealand) I am currently on a 120gb high speed business line yet I flew through all 120gb's in just a third of a month. Even with me not downloading games, only watching 1 anime season and playing mostly offline games. Its not much better in Australia ether. So with that sort of problem, why would I want to stream games to friends? play games that I dont own yet, rendered on another server streamed to me through video?. Download games automaticly when I spent a week trying to download planetside 2?
You can say that you can turn it off but in reality thats not going to happen is it? Games are going to take advantage of these features and have them as an expected requirment just to complete the game. Not to mention, The 4 only places that really have the capasity to support The downloads are America, Europe, Korea and Japan. Any other smaller country or even africa will be left out (Minus the ocation country)The whole streaming from your ps4 to psvita is nice aswell but what about all the other devices? They will probibly support their smart phones aswell with this software but there are Android, IOS and windows devices that could be streamed to. I am going to stick with my pc streaming to my phone I think. (Wifi only) and lastly, Where is the 4K support? I understand that there are almost no 4k tv's yet but they have the ability to produce 4k tv's, they have this new console and they could set forward a massive advancement in technology power and quality but they decided to stick with 1080p. This will hurt them in the near future. 4K resolutions have been in development since before 1080p became standard, Movies are filmed in 4K, some cinimas use 4K projectors and there have been 8K prototype minitors being made since 2003.
I just think Sony could have done something great but all they have done is taken already available technology, pollished it, put the PS theme on it and called it their own. May be new in console terms but its really not that great in the overal picture. And this is comming from someone who loves what sony has done in the past. and for heaven sake, dont let pc's turn into servers with consumer terminals. Because thats what companies like Nvidia are pushing :\
At the end, it's good to see AMD inside these next-gen consoles. Everything at the moment is all hear say and mostly all speculation. From what Sony has said is that their using the Jaguar APU which means its 3rd gen. This possibly means that instead of the Piledriver chip, it may be Steamroller tweaked for the PS4. GDDR5 has been utilized by DX10 and 11 for quite some time. Since they're going to be supporing more PC like hardware. I'm not suprised that they skiped GDDR4 all together. In the consumer world, GDDR4 didnt rly do much, i hear it's more for workstation cards and only for a brief moment.
All together, i'm pretty happy with what Sony announced. Realisticly these game companies were able to push a lot out of the PS3 and Xbox360. Comparing the technology difference. The systems in time will be better optimized when companies start to figure out how to push certain parameters. The GPU's on PS3 where i think 2 generations behind when they came out, look at the kinds of graphics they were able to pull out. In the PC world, our parts are not properly optimized for Windows, OSX, and Linux. They'll never perform that great because of the limitations of API's and generic drivers and support. I don't think hardware is too much of a problem. I'm more worried aobut the game developers and if they will be able to make good with the system.
I think what is important is that Sony are trying to keep the machine relevant in an age where gaming has heaps of platforms.
It is no longer PC, Nintendo, Sega or PC, Sony, Nintendo. Instead it is PC, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Ouya, Steambox (which is PC but ok), Smartphones, Tablets, Vita, 3DS etc etc.
So Sony have not rested on reputation which did not move as many PS3's as PS2's but learnt to go with a very social machine that from a development and marketing perspective publishers can love and get behind. This should give it its own identity along with the future proofing of buying out Gakai. In other words GAMERS buy consoles not mum and dad looking for set top boxes and Sony know this is the loyal market they need to focus on.
Countering that, I have a feeling MS will stuff up trying to take over the living room before Apple TV (if it happens) and make the new Xbox more about Kinect 2.0 and youtube/tv stuff and alienate the gamers. This is rumour but MS has said it and the firmware updates for 360 do back there attitude to the evolution of the platform. A lot of Xbox gamers turn on there 360 and go "gah I don't care about IGN and movie ads" yet that is what is shoved down out throats.
Also another rumour is that the new Xbox will be similar spec to the PS4 BUT have alot of API's in the way (for Kinect and media integration) in the same way a Windows based PC does with drivers making it harder for devs and more limiting. Looking at Windows 8 I am sure MS has lost the plot and will not get the new Xbox right for those same gamers and Sony will return to the console that is most successful. I am basing this on Nintendo not turning the Wii U around to Wii success levels.
Also remember install base is not the only measure of success. Volumes of software is how Sony and 3rd parties make money. That is the measure of success.