It makes a lot of sense for Sony to try and make their hardware as similar as possible to what they think the next xbox will use. They got murdered by shoddy ports this gen.
Hmmm not spoilt, well a little, but definitely not a kid. See this is why to a point, depends how much some one really does game, i must admit i never did get a saturn.
Truth be told, I wonder if they'll use low power CPUs? Because the last ones were horrifically hot. Mainly due to the complexity.
Would be nice. (Semi-)passively cooled consoles again? Only problem is that the game devs would have to improve their multi-threaded coding skills even more.
Manju Hedge is part of the 'Fusion Experience' or whatever it's called now. Dunno if he's still there.
It wouldn't be difficult to say, get a lower powered quad or triple core. I mean there are processors that run at ~20 watts. The key would be selecting something cheap, yet not detrimental to the performance/power envelope of a console. 4 actual threads should be adequate as long as the processor can handle.
Digital Foundy/Eurogamer have backed up the rumours and are reporting that the PS4 will be based on PC hardware.
Some interesting times ahead for consoles, would be interesting to see what both Sony and Microsoft bring to the tables, but most importantly, how much will both new consoles be able to play old gen titles, as the one that can do the most will be the ultimate winner imo. Sam
Unfortunately all these gaming sites are 2 years behind the fact Sony said it was ditching the Cell. http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multim...ives_to_Cell_Processor_for_PlayStation_4.html It's a well documented fact that Toshiba and Sony pulled out of the Cell partnership leaving IBM to develop it alone for server products that better use the high bandwidth, long pipe approach. Afaik no one has confirmed anything about x86 yet, only that Sony will most likely be using AMD graphics in the PS4. Given its past relationship with IBM, the fact that IBM has fab'd AMD graphics tech before in the Xbox (Glo Fo and IBM share in technical FAB development) and the fact Sony's software development team will have skill in PPC vs x86 (one SPE in the Cell was a normal IBM PPC core and Cell is based on PPC tech) and given how much the original Xbox was hacked and how anti-hacking Sony is, I am still waiting for strong evidence they are going x86. If ANYTHING I could imagine Sony waiting for ARM to get its 64-bit A15 cores out and dropping on a very high-spec quad with a massive GPU! That would be much cheaper to license than x86 or PPC and it would leave a lot of power available for the GPU, plus, it will give cross-compatibility with smartphone and VITA games. It's plausible since Sony will be 'late' in the next generation. The only downside is that noone has shown a VERY high-performance and high-frequency ARM core yet. Sub-15 stage pipelines don't scale the frequency wall well.
Arm would be very interesting indeed. The low-power chips can scale quite well, even if they're not astoundingly fast. Plus even with lacklustre cooling; they still don't suffer issues. Look at all the users of Tegra2 Smartphones pushing the stock core to 1.6ghz or more. Under just a passive aluminium block; you could probably have a reasonably powerful quad core, or even two quad cores, running at near 2ghz on ARM.
This was my favourite part of the Eurogamer article. I hear you on using the PPC architecture. Will the next gen consoles adopt a download only model or require internet access to play games which would handle the piracy problem? The rumour mill is already saying the next xbox will not play second hand games. It is an interesting time for Sony, the change in focus from technically advanced hardware to a platform which is easy to develop software for could benefit all of us. Personally I think Sony's fear of piracy was part of the cells failure. If they had embraced the open source community and Linux it might have been more successful.
The problem is ARM CPUs are FAB'd using low power transistors which only die when you apply voltage. You need the high-performance transistors that leak a little more but can withstand the voltage push to run faster. I don't think there's been an ARM design on this yet, but I'd expect one come 64-bit/ECC server hardware. @Da_Rude_Baboon - We could attach a motor to Kaz cause he spins so much, and we'd never need to build another power station again. I don't think download-only consoles are ready for another generation (5-10 years). In the first world we are fine but many people are still locked behind sub-2Mbit connections and crappy data caps. Plus the channel model is VERY well ingrained and you don't want to restrict your publishing partners who have deals etc. I think the online buying will sit complementary and we may see more exclusives in some regions, as Steam/Origin does today. Registering your account and game disc for 'free DLC' and other online options, would also effectively kill the second hand market too. This also means that they can track your purchases and progress better = advertising $$$
No, there's nothing debatable where you just dump an opinion of 'everything is **** apart from what I like'. It adds nothing to the conversation and only winds people up. In addition the 9800 Pro was universally recognized as one of the stepping stones of great graphics cards, like the GeForce 256, 3DFX Voodoo 2 and 8800 GTX. To go so much against the grain without a shred of reason is classed as trollbait.
Fascinating times, and I'm not even interested in playing on these consoles unless they seriously improve their controllers! I think Bindi's argument about x86 is quite sensible, and given the advances being made with ARM processors in the mobile and tablet ecosphere advances will be made rapidly.
I understand the PS4 will have an 8-core processor. It will be designed to use all eight, and will be optimized for future 3D games. That's some complex programming! Sony is coming out with a series of TV's that will use shutter glasses to enable co-op full screen gaming, and a set of video goggles like were used in virtual reality stuff, which might yield real immersive 3D gaming. Imagine full surround virtual reality maps !! What're the chances this might be in the works?
