PS4 ,some specs released.

[blackwiggle]

Have a read of this press release.
Makes me wonder how PS3 specific games will be BC with this new processor.

http://fgnonline.webs.com/

[infoxicated]

Wow... seems like the PS3 has barely got going and already people are after a successor.

It's easy to forget that stuff like God of War came out more than five years into the life cycle of the PS2, but hey - bring on the next big thing, 'cos there aren't enough game studios going under trying to meet the cost of current gen games development!

I see the XBox 360 being replaced sooner than the PS3, though - reckon next E3 will see Microsoft start teasing their next gen.

[RedScar]

WHERE IS MY ACE COMBAT!!!!!!!
How can the PS3 call itself a sony product without an ace combat game on it?

[infoxicated]

'Cos it's not a NAMCO product? ;)

Thanks for reminding me of how starved of Ace Combat I am, though - Ace Combat 4 was one of my top games of the PS2 era.

[Lance]

When the game developer studios go under, Sony can buy them up cheap and acquire their 'intellectual property' and such employees as they want who are willing to work for Sony. Then Sony can own an even bigger part of the entire gaming world. Hey, it's just business, right? Just a good strategy.

}please note that the above post contains some sarcastic comment{

BTW, the PowerVR graphics set is what the Dreamcast used. In case you've not heard of TBDR, before, it's Tile Based Delayed Rendering which is what made the Dreamcast such an efficient high-performance graphics machine.

[AG-wolf]

wasn't TBDR the thing that didn't render polygons that weren't visible on-screen? I was never a fan of the dreamcast (despite my sega fanyboyism), but I think it's ironic that Sony is now opting for the same hardware as their competition once used :P


Also, am I the only person who remembers back in the day Sony said they'd release a new "Playstation" every 5 years? :P

[Lance]

Yeah, but lately, I hear a lot of yak that Sony is pursuing a 10-year cycle.

hm... What to believe, what to believe?

Nothing. Just wait and watch what actually happens. Preserve one's sanity and calm.

-----

Yes TBDR doesn't draw anything that won't appear in the final frame.

[abukii]

@AG-Wolf-- I remember. Circa '98 iirc. But dont forget, this was before Bill Gates stuck a wrench in the wheel of gaming ;)

As for this new Processor, SONY (and other companies) will copyright the material they are going to use WELL before hand. For example (and a bad one), before Killzone 2 was even a pipe dream, they had copyrighted the names, Killzone 2,KZ2, Killzone 3, KZ3 just so down the line, they could make a sequel without having to rename the game or cause mass confusion as to what KZ2-3 was.

As for the life cycle, SONY is sticking with at least a 10 year cycle. The PS2 is nearing its end, so when it does [hit 10 yrs.] we should see some sort of indication where the market is going.

*edit* Yay. It posted. Ive been active on the forums, but everytime I posted, Id get a "Server too busy" message and loose my post. Grrrr. I like the old server better :(

*edit again...* How could anyone NOT be a fan of the Dreamcast?? What a great system and they release games for it to this day!! Albeit only 3 since its untimely demise, but the DC gets a birthday present from devs every so often. There are also VMU games being made all the time. Practice for the big consoles anyone??

[Lance]

Which old server? ;)

[abukii]

The one before this one (WOZ server)...the site goes down so much more frequently and experiences so many more hiccups than before imho. I havent PM Rob yet, Ima let everything settle in proper.

[blackwiggle]

Sort of makes a mockery of DLC only games.
WAS THE WRITING ON THE WALL?

It might explain why HD/Fury was released as a DISC version.
Never to be lost to the NEW [DLC only] system that would totally piss people off

[Lance]

abukii, The original WZ server was two servers back; we just left the second one after a very short and unsatisfactory experience. But I knew which one you really meant; I was just being silly. :)

blackwiggle, none of the angry feedback seems to stop them from doing something to piss off their users again and again. Despite the wallwriting, they just keep trying every profiteering scheme they can think of; I don't think the PS4 will change that even if they do keep producing disc-based machines.

[abukii]

Silly mod, tricks are for new members
Oh wait......

BW, Im not sure Id be totally against DLC only, just so long as I have a way to put in a hard copy and read a physical manual. Game back-ups this way could prove useful. "Too lazy to get up? Just play your backed up copy from your HDD."
But I can definitely see everyones frustration.

[infoxicated]

When the game developer studios go under, Sony can buy them up cheap and acquire their 'intellectual property' and such employees as they want who are willing to work for Sony. Then Sony can own an even bigger part of the entire gaming world. Hey, it's just business, right? Just a good strategy.
Right - like how Media Molecule wanted to create this physics based game called Little Big World that publishers thought was far too risky, until Sony saw the potential of it and invested in the studio, before making them a first party studio to shelter them through the final year of development.

What about Millennium? They became the Cambridge Studio and the financial shelter offered by Sony helped produce the modestly successful Primal, followed by Ghosthunter - disaster, 24 The Game - disaster, MediEval Resurrection - disaster, and yet those guys are still around having just released the acclaimed PSP version of LittleBigPlanet.

And Evo - long supporters of the PlayStation brand, but wanted to break away from the WRC license and do their own off road racing game. Sony made them a first party studio and provided the financial shelter that studio needed to launch their own IP. Many of the people who were at Evo before the merger now enjoy high ranking positions at Sony at the expense of those who had long serving careers at Sony.

More? What about Lost Boys? Who became Guerilla Games and went onto produce the Killzone games with the kind of budget an independant studio could only dream of. It must suck to be them, being swallowed up by a faceless corporate entity.

So yeah, lots of fine examples there of how Sony waits for a studio to go under before reaping the benefits. :rolleyes:

Quite the contrast to the support a cash-rich entity like Microsoft offered to their 3rd party studio Curly Monsters, who made Quantum Redshift exclusively for the original XBox, and yet had their hopes of producing a sequel dashed by Microsoft before going out of business.

Really, the Sony is the root of all evil stuff is even more tiring than someone irrationally bashing Microsoft or Apple.

[blackwiggle]

décidez la destruction si votre propre cul
Or in English
Decide the destruction of your own arse.

Not that we seem to have a choice,the tech people will be the "Be all" about that.
I wish it was otherwise,but stuff happens

[Lance]

Not all evil, just a very large chunk. I would say that Sony acquired those for their own future profit, not as an exercise in altruism, but if the studio was saved from complete disappearance, that is well and good, but what Sony does to the customers who buy that newly acquired property is what frosts me. To have so much gaming property under the control of a company that so badly treats the people who buy it cannot be a good thing for gamers and gaming.

[blackwiggle]

Very true.
I agree totally.
Still doesn't explain the dearth of "Actual Talent",or what is currently portrayed as Talent .
A rather sad state of affairs in that regard.

[infoxicated]

No Lance, of course it wasn't altruism and you know what I meant, but Sony has done more to expand the horizons of gaming with the PlayStation brand by investing in new IP than Microsoft have done with their billions.

While SingStar and EyeToy were being worked on, I think Redmond was promoting Halo, Halo, and then maybe some more Halo. Oh, but look - they have Natal now so they're awesome and forward thinking and so good for the games industry. Lets just forget them rushing to replace their first console to steal a lead in the hardware race at the cost of many indie studios who had invested in tech for the XBox but barely got to use it before Microsoft pulled the plug on the platform.

And what did they replace it with? An over-priced, under specced piece of crap that they had to eventually admit was faulty at the point of manufacture and grudgingly replace it for people. There's a company that's done nothing but good to their customers, right?

Every single one of the companies wants our money in different ways.

This is why every fanboy war ever is pathetic and why this topic should stick to being about PS4 speculation... if you're a Sony hater then it's maybe not the thread for you.

[Lance]

I don't seem to recall saying or implying that Microsoft are a bunch of idealists. They did do right by my neighbor, replacing his old 360 for free, and no postage, in a week, but they were doing it to save their own ass, no altruism there, either. :D

hm... are you angry at me for banning you for a year in the CoD thread? ;)

[xEik]

After reading the article in the first post and already having read this one
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-ds2-vs-psp2-article
and considering the timing involved I believe they must be talking about PSP2 not PS4 when they say 2012 deployment (although I would bet PSP2 will be officially announced in 2010 and released in 2011).

[MetaKraken]

PS4 = No thank you

[ACE-FLO]

I almost hate myself... not Sony. I bought my FAT pregnant, overdue PSP the same day the PSP 2000 was released... only, I didn't know that at the time or i woulda got the 2000 lol...

anyway, agreed with Rob here, fanboy wars are all too repetive, and only serve to wind up the fanboys themselves. Sony and Microsoft won't be the least bit aware of these wars, and even if they are - they don't care. Sony/Microsoft understand their respective markets so well that they have emerged as joint winners alongside Nintendo in the console wars... they have ensured their marketshare in this neat lil oligopoly they've established, therefore ensured the future of their business. No matter how fanboys play slating the 'other' console, the facts remain, we have a choice of consoles to choose from, and they will continue to be bought no matter what. And consoles will continue to be developed into ever more powerful machines which provide an even better gaming experience... like the PS4 :)

[Lance]

That article mentions an NVidia chip as being rumoured for PSP-2, although it doesn't mention whether it would also be involved in central processing.

I'm wondering if Sony is really going to abandon the cell concept so soon in the big consoles. If they did, programming might be easier, although by this time, I'm guessing the developers have learned its characteristics well enough to be able to write code for it with reasonable speed. A whole new processor, especially if it's a GPU, something different from what they've dealt with in the past, it could be a whole new steep learning curve.

[xEik]

That article mentions an NVidia chip as being rumoured for PSP-2
uhm, no?
It says the new DS will use an NVIDIA chip. For the Playstation consoles it seems the GPUs in the will be from IMG.

[infoxicated]

The Cell is the CPU, though - the recent speculation has been over the GPUs.

Either way, I don't think the Cell has been the success for gaming that Sony hoped - the yield rate was still too poor early on when Sony had to make the decision to drop a core to go into production of the PS3. Bit of a shame, that, as I think being able to wield the Cell at full tilt as IBM are now doing in their utilization of it would have been good for the PS3.

[Lance]

Do the latest PS3 production runs still only use 7 of the eight sub-units?

xEik, this is the part I was referring to, though maybe I'm misinterpreting?

" Only the third-generation Tegra, set for release in 2011 - and unlikely to feature in the new Nintendo console - features GeForce 9-level functions such as the unified shader set-up that makes Xbox 360's Xenos chip such a useful GPU, and which is also found in the chipset mooted for PSP2."

I read that as meaning that a GeForce variant may be used in PSP-2.

[Amorbis]

Don't believe this website for a second, FGNonline is a notorious website for rumour mongering. A few months ago they 'released' specifications on the Dreamcast 2, which didn't exist. The writer Zach Morris has a reputation amongst the SEGA community for hoaxes and the like, going all the way back to 2004. For more information see the following articles: http://segatastic.blogspot.com/search?q=zach+morris

I think it's too early for a PS4 anyway, I'd expect it to be 2012 or 2013 by the time they even release any information about it.

[xEik]

" Only the third-generation Tegra, set for release in 2011 - and unlikely to feature in the new Nintendo console - features GeForce 9-level functions such as the unified shader set-up that makes Xbox 360's Xenos chip such a useful GPU, and which is also found in the chipset mooted for PSP2."

I read that as meaning that a GeForce variant may be used in PSP-2.

I believe that it means that what is also found in the PSP2 is a unified shader setup, not a Tegra chipset.

[Lance]

As I realised too late to avoid the appearance/actuality of being insufficiently alert. :D

[blackwiggle]

I did a search for conformation from another source,but have not as yet found any.
There is nothing in the official press releases at the Imagination site.
The information could of come from a leak from within Sega,as they have signed an agreement with Sony to release their games for the Playstation,and were the ones who released details of Sony's plans to release all it's PS2 titles as downloads at the PStore.
I suppose when Sega signed this agreement, Sony would of needed to tell Sega what it's plans for the PS4 were.
It does seem to make sense though since Samsung's tie in with Imagination,and since Samsung & Sharp make the LCD panels for the Sony Bravias.
If 3D technology is going to be the next "Big Thing",and as yet, no decision on which of the 3 competing formats of 3D will be chosen for the consumer level variant,I can see the reason why Sony would want to use a chip that would have to best chance of being fully compatible with the new screens.
It seems Sony would rather now purchase a technology rather than try to develop a new one "In House",I don't think they can afford to do that as much as they have in the past.

If you also factor in that certain allegiances between console manufactures and games developers have shifted dramatically,I can't see "System exclusive" games ,apart from Wipeout [but then a again Sony might think better of this ,as well] lasting for a great deal longer.
Wall St has seen the profits that can be made from gaming.

[Lance]

I read an article yesterday that said IBM is ending the Cell processor, and that this makes it more likely that Sony will go with the approach of having a GPU and CPU on the same chip, which seems to be the next big wave for game consoles. AMD/ATI could end up being the supplier. However, all this is so speculative; no one is letting out anything concrete enough to bet on.

[abukii]

Kotaku comfirmed yesterday that "As long as SONY needs the Cell, IBM will continue making them".
http://kotaku.com/5411248/ibm-well-keep-making-cell-processors-as-long-as-sony-needs-them

[Lance]

But that need will end with the PS3. The cell has been so much effort to program for, and IBM is not making any new designs for game consoles, only the old already-in-production model. So new consoles will have to use something else to advance their next gen designs.

[abukii]

I could be completely wrong, but I dont think anything is going to change...not yet anyway.