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What To Expect From Sony's Next-Gen PlayStation (wired.com)
Daetrin writes: Sony is unwilling to confirm "Playstation 5" as the name, but their next console is "no mere upgrade" according to a report from Wired, which cites Sony executives -- who spoke on the record:
"PlayStation's next-generation console ticks all those boxes, starting with an AMD chip at the heart of the device. (Warning: some alphabet soup follows.) The CPU is based on the third generation of AMD's Ryzen line and contains eight cores of the company's new 7nm Zen 2 microarchitecture. The GPU, a custom variant of Radeon's Navi family, will support ray tracing, a technique that models the travel of light to simulate complex interactions in 3D environments. While ray tracing is a staple of Hollywood visual effects and is beginning to worm its way into $10,000 high-end processors, no game console has been able to manage it. Yet."
The console will also have a solid-state drive and is currently planned to be backward-compatible with both PS4 games and PSVR.
"PlayStation's next-generation console ticks all those boxes, starting with an AMD chip at the heart of the device. (Warning: some alphabet soup follows.) The CPU is based on the third generation of AMD's Ryzen line and contains eight cores of the company's new 7nm Zen 2 microarchitecture. The GPU, a custom variant of Radeon's Navi family, will support ray tracing, a technique that models the travel of light to simulate complex interactions in 3D environments. While ray tracing is a staple of Hollywood visual effects and is beginning to worm its way into $10,000 high-end processors, no game console has been able to manage it. Yet."
The console will also have a solid-state drive and is currently planned to be backward-compatible with both PS4 games and PSVR.
a whole bunch of fancy marketing speak that makes it sound like the console will be the second coming of Jesus Christ. But its actual release will just be a powerful computer with a Sony emblem on it. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but come on, this'll be the 5th one. We've seen this show before.
Why would they ? Tens of millions of people are happy to spend hundreds of dollars for subpar outdated hardware and play overpriced downgraded games compared to their PC version.
Sony and Microsoft would be crazy to change this business model.
Their Sales and marketing team feel like their job is in jeopardy if they just rebrand the product with a new number. 3 or 4 times of doing this normally gets them nervous so they will want to give a new edgier new name. Heck Microsoft decided to call their Latest Browser Edge. I expect they will rename Windows 10 in a few more years to just Windows or Windows Edge or something stupid like that.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
What really has my interest is that it seems that it will be compatible with PSVR
I've not gotten as much use out of PSVR as I thought I would but it's always a hit with friends (Fruit Ninja VR or watching friends get motion sick playing DoomVR in full locomotion mode is always a hoot)
The idea that it will be backward compatible with PSVR makes me happy as it'll give me more time to feel I really got my money's worth out of it as more titles drop
Though it also means they're likely ~not~ going to change their basic operation premise .. using the camera which means no room scaling
Yeah, yeah, I know if I really cared that much I'd go get an HTC Vive
Honestly, I would have except that I need a whole new gaming rig as my gaming laptop is just a bit underpowered/old for VR but still doing well enough for the games I play on it... oh first world problems...
SO yeah, the idea that PSVR will be compatible with it means I'm much more likely to go for it.. but also means that PSVR is not likely to see much in the way of innovations.
Still, just the updated processing power combined with the fact that devs can count on Sony continuing to support it will likely encourage more titles .. which is never a bad thing
Anyway, I've certainly enjoyed the Playstation 4 (though its pretty much just been "VR gaming or Fallout4" and not much else for the past year or so in my house)
The Digital Sorceress
People here are expected to know these things! This is not US Weekly, you know?
Sadness, disappointment, features you don't want or need, and still no version of kodi.
and true 16 bit. None of this "8 bit CPU with 16 bit graphics".
I'm still kind of on the fence about CD-ROM vs cartridge though...
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Consoles are usually low-end PCs by the time they're released, plus lockdown and a limited input device. That's it.
Which is no surprise, given that they have to cost a fifth of a new high/mid-range PC.
Somebod calculated the SoC to/cost about $65. My Ryzen 3 cost more.
"backward-compatible"
Remember to buy some pop-corn.
The whole point of buying a video game console was to not have to worry about different "tiers" of quality and performance like you have to with PCs.
With the recent generation pulling this "PS4/Xbox-Lite" crap where games run at worse performance on the cheaper consoles, it makes me wonder why should I even purchase a console when a desktop will be infinitely better in terms of cost, performance, and longevity? That ignores the fact that I could easily set on up to run in the living room.
Consoles nowadays nothing more than overpriced specialized computers for the living room, of which there are many free options available for PCs if I so desire to go that route.
Every game will have a requirement that some portion of its processing be done on centralized servers, for a monthly fee, without which they won't play.
I expect they will rename Windows 10 in a few more years to just Windows or Windows Edge or something stupid like that.
Only if they ever make it all-subscription. Otherwise they need version numbers to make people feel bad about their old Windows, because more is better.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
The video gaming industry is the biggest dog and pony show around. Every few years another console generation comes around, and the 'retro' genre grows.
At this point, you cannot even buy a full AAA game outright on launch-day. You are instead offered a framework of minimal features, and are expected to pay again a few more times for 'expansions' and 'DLC', which are just code for 'the rest of the game'. Let's not forget loot-boxes, micro-transactions, GB scale day 1 updates, data harvesting stores, always online requirements, and the death of the second-hand market.
All of this despite the truly massive library of 'retro' games with no such shenanigans for pennies on the dollar. The big players have to make big PR noise every few years before the next generation develops an interest in what the older gamers are playing, and to keep the older gamers from realizing they already have more than they can play in a single lifetime.
I used to spend a sizable portion of my income on gaming, and it used to be worth it. Before that, my childhood was fixing and playing the rich kids broken consoles and computers. I grew into a respectable engineer on the skills I earned doing that, but now I buy maybe 1-2 games a year.
Had I played my Fender instead, I'd be fucking a rockstar. Today they learn those fucking obnoxious dance moves, and how to talk shit like a racist-sailor-criminal.
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
I'm a game developer. And none of that has ever been a problem.
Every main quality level is like a console generation, has certain minimum expectations, and the game enigne checks your hardware to see which one is completely fulfilled by your hardware.
The only difference is that PC games ship with the assets for all levels, while for ever, consoles we support, We only add one.
(It's a bit more complicated, since screen site can still vary. And the checker is much smarter, often having per-GPU profiles.)
In the end, you *always* have to design and develop for multiple qualities anyway. Not just because you release for multiple consoles and multiple GPUs, but because the game itself might change in ways that give you less or more resources for key scenes or entire levels.
Game enines have gotten MIP mapping of textures and models, and scaling of lights, effects and even actors (like moving things, or enemies out of attack range), down since decades now!
With Windows 10, Windows became a service. It is currently a "buy once and use forever" service application. What we dread is the day when that switches and they make us start paying a subscription fee to get updates.
I have a 7 year old high end PC for my GF, and nearly ALL games still run in good quality settings! The GPU can keep up with a 1050!
It's even better than for consoles! Because with old consoles, you just won't get recent games AT ALL. At least with PCs, you can scale them down until they do.
And as a game deveroper... games *always* had to be designed to be perfectly scalable for a wide range of performance. Do you think we design with only one console at one resolution ever in mind?
A "next-gen" console with an old-school platter drive is a deal-breaker for me. There is no reason, in a 2020 console, why they shouldn't have 2TB+ SSD drives (or at least offer them as an option). There is only so far you can optimize a platter drive (and MS pretty much reached this wall with the Xbox X). At some point you have to bite the bullet and move on to SSD. No one wants long load times anymore, and the technology has gotten cheap and reliable enough now that there is really no excuse for using spinning magnetic discs going forward.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
What makes you think speedy isn't needed? You need larger because games are getting larger (in size) but expect loading times to remain the same?
When that day comes, all the dumbasses will pay to keep using it.
overpriced downgraded games compared to their PC version.
Where is the PC version of Horizon Zero Dawn, or God of War, or Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, or Firewall: Zero Hour? Or any of the Uncharted games? Spider-Man?
The best games of the last few years haven't been on PC, and probably never will be. Doesn't matter how good the hardware is -- Sony is killing it with software, which is where things matter.
So take your hardware superiority somewhere else. The adults here are trying to have a conversation.
Yaz
PS5 1TB super disk only $1499 vs PS5 with sata ssd $799 vs $899 1TB pci-e or just by an apple at $1999
The playstation's (3 & 4) harddrive is officially user-replaceable. Feel free to exchange it for a bigger one (or ssd)
A 5 and an S look too similar. They don't want it to look like PSS when abbreviated. Didn't stop Samsung from having an S5, which looks more Nazi than urinary.
Write cycles are going to be low since games are basically write once + patches. You can easily get away with QLC, which is pushing 1TB down near the $100 mark at retail for even M.2 (at SATA speeds).
I still have my original launch PS4 and games run fine on them. Do you recall how games were at the end of previous generations? Developers really start pushing the envelope in terms of visual fidelity and you see that take a priority over frame rate.
For example Shadow of the Colossus ran at a low frame rate on the PS2 but it was trying to do things like simulate physics, draw crepuscular rays, use motion blur and bloom lighting, and present a sprawling landscape with giant beasts.
It's the same story with any console generation.
Twinstiq, game news
Playstation V.
I'm actually fine with people who would prefer to play on a console instead of a PC. Other than bad PC ports of a game originally released on a console it doesn't really affect me. But this stuck out to me as needlessly myopic:
The best games of the last few years haven't been on PC, and probably never will be.
Where is the console version of Oxygen Not Included, or Factorio, or Satisfactory, or Dota 2? Or any of the Total War games? Rimworld?
Don't pretend that just because consoles get exclusives, they get all the best games. It really depends on what you're into. And something to keep in mind is that PCs could handle any of the listed games without requiring any hardware or peripheral changes apart from having an XBOX controller. Some of the games in my list, on the other hand, would be horrible experiences without a mouse and keyboard. Out of all of them, Satisfactory is the only one that even makes sense to try playing with a console controller.
Console games use exclusivity to lock people into their platform to boost sales of the console itself. Not because the platform is inherently a better way to experience the game. PC games are usually only ever exclusive because the experience would be lackluster on a console.
The exception to the above is the Nintendo Wii/Switch systems. Their peripherals wouldn't make as much sense being tied to a PC (and in some cases don't exist for the PC), and many of their exclusive games are intimately tied to their controller type.
For me, there just aren't enough games on consoles for me to justify either having multiple options or switching. Others will choose differently, and that's fine. PC is not the obvious gaming choice for everyone, but there are some aspects it's just inherently better at.
The key word I'm seeing is "expense". I used to fund a videogame obsession on a relative pittance back in the day, but the next generation will need a full-on salary to keep up with Sony :(
Mind you, even that starts to look reasonable when I see teens carrying iPhones everywhere!
People have put SSDs into the PS4 and it made virtually no difference to load times because the PS4's mass storage interface is unbearably slow.
An SSD in PS5 will only be a win if the mass storage interface also gets an upgrade.
"For me, there just aren't enough games on consoles for me to justify either having multiple options or switching. Others will choose differently, and that's fine. PC is not the obvious gaming choice for everyone, but there are some aspects it's just inherently better at."
I totally agree, the flamewars over consoles and PC master race BS is just that, BS.
There are games that should never of been ported to the consoles as well specifically because consoles are incapable of doing them justice. Two that come to mind off the top of my head are Kerbal Space Program and Cities Skylines. They play horribly on consoles and lack many features that make them great on PC.
BTW, Oxygen Not Included has become a real whore to me, I've had it since it first released in early access and have an embarrassing number of hours into a game that hasn't even been released yet, sort of like KSP was for me as well. Yea for small studios taking chances!!
Donald Trump, on a crusade to make Nixon look respectable
Lots of manufacturers sell console either at thin profit margin at a loss and make crapload of money on games (and accessories).
Selling console that will not be used for gaming will make a huge cut into their profit stream.
It won't happen.
So no comeback of officially sanctioned "Other OS" (you'll have to wait for the homebrew scene to find a way, and then Sony will block them in a game of cat and mouse "because piracy !"), no enterprise features, no multi-monitor setup(*), etc.
---
(*): for the "enterprise" variety. For the gaming applications, it won't catch-on because it boils to an "add-on".
Unless in their largest market it suddenly becomes common to have 2 TVs in the living room, so by the time a dual-monitor console is released it seems natural to everyone to plug it into the 2 pre-existing screens at the same time.
If that doesn't happen, dual monitor support would be a weird corner case that few studio will put efforts in supporting.
See:
- past add-on in console history (the classical example being SEGA's CD-ROM and 32x)
- under utilized attempts at second screen (Nintendo's Wii U (an extra feature compared to same generation consoles, so few 3rd party multi-platfrom games exploit it) as opposed to DS/3DS/New 3DS family (the most popular console in everyone's pocket has it so it's worth trying to exploit) )
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
The original use of the word comes from one of the developper speaking about cool tricks that you could do by abusing DMA to blast data to the VDP.
(Among other doing high color tricks mentioned in the Eurogamer articles, explored but eventually unused by some developers back in the day, and found on some modern-day demos).
Then marketing department found the term cool and ran with it, basically using it to say "our device has more raw power than the competitor's" and plastering it all over any communication channel.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
The best games of the last few years haven't been on PC
Errr no. The "best" games come out on PC just fine (as well as the most popular ones which you can see by sales figures). Your particular flavour of games haven't been on PC. That's quite a different story.
Nvidia's 2000 series starts at $350 and goes up to $1200. What are these, "$10,000 high-end processors", mentioned in the article?