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Sony Offers PS4 Info: Power Consumption, Noise Level, More

Ben-Dutka 21 Comments

Think you know everything there is to know about the PlayStation 4? Well, maybe not.

SCEJ and Asia Senior Vice President and Director of Business Unit 1, Masayasu Ito, gave an interview to Japanese publication AV Watch (as cited by DualShockers ), and he offered some fresh technical information for Sony's new gaming hardware.

After confirming that being online will help you get the most out of your system (which we already knew), Ito added a few intriguing details. Here are some of the highlights:

"The secondary chip for ultra-low power operation will mostly activate at night from 1 to 4 AM and download any required update automatically. It will also activate when software is purchased through external means like the PlayStation App."

"Power consumption will vary greatly depending on the performance of the game played."

"The noise level of the console during operation is generally much lower than it was on the PS3."

"The PS4′s cooling fan has a low noise level and stepless speed control (meaning that it will increase its speed to match heat smoothly and not in sudden steps like the one on the PS3)."

"The Audio/Video performance (for movies and music) of the PS4 will target PS3 levels at launch, but will be improved through updates, for instance with the addition of 4K, as Sony is also an Audio/Video company."

Is this about what you expected? Or are you at all surprised by any of these new details? I want the thing to be quiet…

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Check Out The PS4’s CPU Specs

Ben-Dutka 59 Comments

If you've been looking for a full breakdown of PS4 specs, Sony was prepared to oblige during this year's GDC conference.

Check out the full rundown and then decide for yourself. Many are saying these are essentially nothing more than low-end PC specs, while others say they're a bit more special than that. Here's the PS4's CPU:

There's also 8GB of 256-bit GDDR5 RAM and they're saying the machine will come with "a very large hard drive." Many are hoping for 1TB, because that seems like what we'll need to deal with the size of next-gen titles. While it's certainly true that the PS4 is more developer-friendly than past PlayStation consoles, a lot of gamers don't like the sacrifices Sony had to make in terms of futuristic, cutting-edge power. Well, don't forget; that kind of thing costs everyone more and people freaked out over the $600 PS3 price tag, remember…? Can't have it both ways, ya know.

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Sony Issues Full Details And Tech Specs For PlayStation 4

Ben-Dutka 71 Comments

I just wish they had shown the actual console, so we don't have to keep using this silly mock-up design. Getting annoying.

Anyway, although we've already posted up most of the relevant PS4 info and details from the PlayStation Meeting last night (and the ensuing discussion is awfully lively), Sony has provided us with the official press release. Hence, we have more exact feature details and specifications now. Check it out:

First on the list is the fact that the new PlayStation "was designed from the ground up to ensure that the very best games and the most immersive experience reach PlayStation gamers." The PS4 also fluidly connects players to the larger world of experiences offered via the PlayStation Network and mobile spaces. The press release also emphasizes other features we previously touched upon; for example, shared game experiences via the Share button on the Dual Shock 4, social spectating, always-on video compression and decompression systems, and streaming upgrades.

They further mention PS4 second screens, such as the PlayStation Vita, smartphones and tablets, as one of the new system's key features will be Remote Play. A new application from Sony called PlayStation App will enable iPhone, iPad and Android-based smartphones and tablets to become second screens. Then there's the Immediate Gameplay feature, as the PS4 "radically reduces the lag time between players and their content." A new "suspended mode" keeps the system in a low power state while preserving the game session, which means you don't have to reboot the system and start the game again.

The PS4 boasts "personalized, curated content," which is still a little creepy and of course, gaming in the cloud. Here's part of the release concerning the latter; it clearly illustrates Sony's intentions:

"By combining PlayStation Network with Gaikai Inc's cloud technology, it is SCE's goal to make free exploration possible for various games. In the future, when a gamer sees a title of interest in PlayStation Store, they can immediately start playing a portion of the actual game — not a stripped down version of the game. With Gaikai and PlayStation Store, gamers will be able to experience appealing games and only pay for the games they actually love. PlayStation Network and the cloud will offer additional value to PlayStation gamers. SCE is exploring unique opportunities enabled by cloud technology with the long-term vision of making PlayStation libraries including an incredible catalog of more than 3000 PS3 titles*6 that is unmatched in the industry, mostly ubiquitous on PS4."

And lastly, the specs. The PS4 system architecture is specifically designed for "high performance and ease of development." The console is centered on a powerful custom chip that contains eight x86-64 cores and a state-of-the-art graphics processor. The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) has been enhanced, "principally to allow for easier use of the GPU for general purpose computing (GPGPU)." The GPU contains a unified array of 18 compute units, which collectively generate 1.84 Teraflops of processing power that can be "freely applied to graphics, simulation tasks, or some mixture of the two."

Lastly, the PS4 is equipped with 8GB of unified system memory. GDDR5 is used for this memory, giving the system 176GB/second of bandwidth and giving the graphics an additional boost. Here's the spec list:

Main Processor: Single-chip custom processor, CPU : x86-64 AMD "Jaguar", 8 cores GPU : 1.84 TFLOPS, AMD next-generation Radeon™ based graphics engine

Memory: GDDR5 8GB

Hard Disk Drive: Built-in

Optical Drive (read only): BD 6xCAV, DVD 8xCAV

I/O: Super-Speed USB (USB 3.0) 、AUX

Communication: Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T), IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth® 2.1 (EDR)

AV output: HDMI, Analog-AV out, Digital Output (optical)

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PlayStation 4 Coming Holiday 2013: Details And Highlights

Ben-Dutka 250 Comments

The PlayStation 4 has been officially revealed and chances are, you want to know all about it. We will oblige.

Well, here we go- The PS4 is indeed coming and Sony is really pulling out all the stops with this new machine. Not only are they pushing the envelope in terms of technology, they're also implementing a horde of new innovative features. Check it out:

Brief Specs: The PS4 is built on an x86 XPU with an enhanced PC GPU and 8GB of onboard GDDR5 memory. There will also be a local hard drive, and a secondary chip that handles all downloading, which means PS4 titles will be playable as they're being digitally downloaded. Nice for the very impatient.

The PS4 also comes with an always-on hardware for both video compression and decompression, which means that playing and even recording video won't use up the CPU during gameplay. We'll get the chance to experience seamless uploading and downloading, and players will be able to share their gaming experiences with others (with the help of the Dual Shock 4's "Share" button). We'll even be able to view streaming videos on the Vita or a tablet. The strangest – and perhaps most provocative – part involves players actually being able to take over your controller remotely via streaming, just in case you need some help.

A "Mind-Reading" Console: Well, sorta. Basically, the PS4 will learn a gamer's behavior and guess what they're going to buy. Then the machine will download those games even before you've purchased them, and you can sample them before actually spending the money. Creepy but cool.

Gaikai Revolution: The integration of the Gaikai streaming service is really a game-changer. For instance, we'll be able to find anything in the PlayStation Store and with the simple press of a button, the game or media will immediately start playing. Furthermore, we'll be able to pick up where we left off; going back to our game won't have to involve turning the system back on, booting the game up, etc.

Streaming PS1, PS2 and PS3 Games: Sony's new console will utilize the PlayStation Cloud and be able to stream games from the last three generations of PlayStation consoles. Sony wants gamers to be able to stream "everything ever" released, although no titles were revealed during the presentation. We do know that services will be rolled out over time for the Cloud.

Remote Play on Vita: The PS4 will also let gamers play remotely on the PlayStation Vita. The Gaikai technology means this will involve "reduced transmission times" so the gameplay will be fast and immediate. For instance, Mark Cerny's Knack , the first game unveiled for Sony's new console, was shown running on the Vita.

Coming Holiday 2013: Yeah, that's self-explanatory.

More news is a-coming, we're sure. Stay tuned. 🙂

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