Ben-DutkaWhen Sony announced the technical specifications for the PlayStation 4, some were just a little underwhelmed.
After all, it didn't appear to be some futuristic, next-level tech; it just appeared to be some relatively high-end PC technology. Developers really seem to love it for its accessibility, but what about the overall raw power?
Well, Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios says we really shouldn't be too concerned about that. Co-founder Linus Blomberg told GamingBolt that Sony's new machine will "out-power most PCs for years to come." He also said due to aging tech, consoles are in "desperate need" of a new generation:
"It’s always very exciting with a new console cycle, for a number of reasons. The consoles desperately need a boost since having been overtaken in terms of performance by PCs several years ago, and also losing market share to mobile platforms."
This generation has lasted longer than any previous generation in the industry's history (at least as far as I can remember), and many game makers have complained about battling gamer fatigue. In other words, we're all waiting for the new hardware, so even the most anticipated titles for current hardware seems a little less exciting. Anyway, Blomberg definitely seems to like the PS4:
"It’s the best of all worlds in a way; great performance for demanding high-end gaming, good social ecosystem and connectivity, and integrated business marketplace. For Avalanche Studios as an open-world games developer this is super exciting and opens up many new opportunities."
Avalanche is rumored to have several next-gen projects in the works, including Just Cause 3 and a new Mad Max game. As for next-gen power, we'll have to wait and see what the PS4 is truly capable of…
I like the positive press. But his statement about out powering 'most' pc's for years to come shouldn't be misinterpreted. He's right in the fact that it probably will have more power than your average joe-pc (or in other-words 'most') but mid-high end GAMER PC's have it beat in most regards already. The big difference being that most gamer PC's communicate between processor and gpu along a bus, whereas the PS4 cpu and gpu exist on the same chip making for some nice processing advantages… this is a nice benefit the average pc gamer won't recognize when boasting superiority. And then of course there's the 8GB's of unified DDR5 which is just downright awesome. Most, even high end, PC graphics cards don't come with more than 2GB GDDR5. My graphics card for example, the geforce 670gtx, is easily more powerful than the one in PS4 BUT it has only 2GB of VRAM.
so basically… PC gamers shouldn't get too comfortable with optimized multiplatform ports with their existing hardware. Chances are they'll need or want to upgrade to play PS4 games smoothly. THis probably wont be true of early multiplatform games, as most will be trans-generationally developed.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 3/11/2013 11:45:31 AM
^This
The internet is on fire with PC fanboys revolting over this article. The word MOST is the most important thing. If he said ALL then I can see MOST ridiculous statement of 2013 appearing over and over. The PS4 will be more powerful than MOST PCs for years to come. It's a dedicated gaming machine with virtually no OS overhead.
Don't we already have CPU and GPU on the same chip as seen in AMD APUs? Traditional system of discrete GPU and CPU still beats them. But maybe because games aren't optimized for APUs. Will be interesting to see how game developing changes in future.
And even though the PS4 is 'off-the-shelf' PC guts, those can still be optimized for console use. Plus, it won't have Windows bogging it down! Those (as well as devs having a standard hardware reference) could easily make it outperform a PC of seemingly comparable hardware.
You're right about his statement being likely to be misinterpreted. The PS4 will out-power "most" PCs, because most non-gaming PCs sold at retail stores usually cheap out BIGTIME on the graphics card department, so will usually come with a on-chip gpu that can't even handle standard DirectX games at all properly.
But don't fool yourselves, compared to even a mid to high-end PC, the PS4 is already left in the dust.
Temjin, APU systems is nothing new, and in fact most APU systems GPUs are too slow to compete with dedicated graphics cards, and since Sony seems to want to cheap out on the GPU in the PS4, that won't translate into an advantage.
Seriously, just stop with the memory garbage already! The 8GB of RAM in the PS4 is like you just wrote, UNIFIED – aka both system RAM AND GPU RAM, so you can't in ANYWAY OR FORM compare it to dedicated graphics card RAM. Let's get this clear: IN ORDER TO GET ANY PERFORMANCE ADVANTAGE WHATSOEVER FROM 2+GB VRAM YOU WOULD NEED TO RUN RESOLUTIONS FAR ABOVE 1080P!! In fact the only reason people even get a 2GB VRAM card instead of a 1GB or 1.5GB VRAM card is because they want to play at resolutions like 2560×1440.
I hate when they blame so called "Gamer Fatigue" on aging consoles.
PLEASE GIVE ME A BREAK!!
Its called being creative and imaginative and giving us something new, different or at least fresh look.
This last gen, and I am probably wrong, the media be it in the gaming community or not, seems to me to have focused on FPS games, specifically Call of Duty and its like. Thats gamer fatigue.
Heck, when some indie companies come out with retro looking games or pixel games they do well, why, because its refresh visit to the early days.
Okay sorry, bit of a rant.
Creativity and gameplay are a big thing with the success of many games.
Whatever the next gen brings, I don't give a rats a@@ if its pretty. I can go up north and take a picture or just look at pretty. If the gameplay sucks and the story or characters suck… well… the game is gonna suck.
Keep Playing!
when i hear the term "gamer fatigue" when applied to how long this generation of consoles is lasting, i just laugh and shake my head.
fatigue? bullcrap. i have a ever-growing backlog of amazing games this generation, and with last of us, god of war, tomb raider, and bioshock all on the horizon, my wallet will surely have to be kept under lock and key every time i happen to go by a game store
It really doesn't matter if you love or hate the PS4 for what it is.
I only say this because it seems Sony is recieving a much more positive vibe from the media and 3rd party developers this time around.
I have a feeling that Avalanche Studios is the first of many to sing the PS4's praise.