Kamis, 07 Maret 2013

PS3 is still more fun than a PS4

Opinions of Wizzy about PS4 at gameoverthinkerdotblogspotdotcom :
As someone who has never owned a PS3, backwards compatibility would still be a major selling feature.

There are many PS3 exclusive titles I have been interested in, but could never play. Considering the 360 has been the dominant console for so long, my situation cannot be unique. I imagine that buying a PS4 to catch up on the PS3 catalog would be a major motivator for many.

Also the PC and 360 catalogs are far more cross-platform then the PS3, it really is a big mistake to not have cross compatibility. Sony really comes across as the most apathetic towards a medium that they once dominant.

In terms of game preservation; what I find scary is how many early PC titles survive only through piracy, and fear that other titles may someday share the same fate. In a world where a copyright lawsuit can effectively almost erase Too Human with a “recall and destroy” order. Sure, the game was universally terrible, and Silicon Knights had terrible management, but the fact that the game could someday not exist still bothers me.

Similarly MMOs exist on very shaky grounds. Outside of fan projects to emulate master servers; the majority of MMOs are forever lost when they are shutdown, only to be remembered through the occasional low-res YouTube video. Sony, in particular, is very guilty of this. 


Durango tech specs leaked in full, Orbis detailed

The next Xbox console, codenamed Durango, and its rival PlayStation 4, codenamed Orbis, are the subject of yet another round of industry whispers, this time getting even more detailed on both machines’ innards.



The information comes from VGLeaks, but matches up with and is expanded by information received by Eurogamer, and is said to concern development kits not more than nine months old.
According to this latest report, which agrees with many previous leaks, the new Xbox has an eight-core CPU from AMD running at 1.6GHz, based on Jaguar tech.
So far, so Orbis, but where Durango differs is its memory set up. The report claims it has 8GB of DDR3 and 32MB of ESRAM, with the two memory kinds working together to produce throughput of 170GB/s. The ESRAM is accessible by other components, not just the console’s graphics core, potentially making it more flexible and easy to develop for as the hardware ages.
Durango is said to have a number of dedicated hardware accelerators. A couple are devoted to audio and another to video encoding, suggesting Microsoft intends to continue ramping up its media box efforts, and there’s also a couple of Data Move Engines which nobody has any theories about as yet.
Kinect appears to have its own input rather than be built in, and Durango will be USB 3.0 compatible, with a 500GB harddrive as minimum and a 6x Blu-ray drive.
Again lining up with past rumours, the Orbis is said to have more raw computational power than the Durango – although its what you can do with the power that counts, of course. The report reiterates this power imbalance by claiming the next PlayStation has 18 Radeon GCN compute units at 800MHz (1.84 teraflops in total), while Durango has just 12 of the same speed (1.23 teraflops in total)..
If you’re technically minded, visit both links above for more detailed analysis of the new consoles’ gizzards.
We’re expecting reveals of the next consoles from Sony and Microsoft this year, and perhaps even to see the hardware launch before the holidays. A recent comment from Sony boss Kaz Hirai suggests Microsoft may go first.
Thanks, Telepathic.Geometry.

PS4 and Xbox Specifications

Xbox Durango:
- Eight-Core AMD Jaguar CPU clocked @ 1.6Ghz
- 8GB DDR3 RAM (68GB/s)
- 800Mhz GPU, 1.2 Tflops
- 32MB ESRAM (102GB/s)
- 50GB 6x Blu-Ray drive
Playstation Orbis:
- Eight-Core AMD Jaguar CPU clocked @ 1.6Ghz
- 4GB DDR5 RAM (pegged by most over 100GB/s, some saying as high as 192GB/s)
- 800Mhz GPU, 1.843 Tflops
- High-speed Blu-Ray drive

PS4 Vs Xbox 720

Secrets from CES


The temporal order ties in with countless opportunities for leaks at CES and there is very little doubt discussions can are happening behind closed doors. what is additional, similar info has appeared from many sources, that is typically a decent omen. On, then, to the meaty details.

The next Xbox is codenamed Victoria de Durango, whereas the PS4 is understood internally at Sony as Orbis. each are going to be high-powered by chips supported AMD's forthcoming Panthera onca hardware design and provide AMD's Radeon GCN graphics technology.


What's additional, the CPUs in each Victoria de Durango and Orbis are going to be clocked at one.6GHz and each can pack eight process cores. wherever the 2 seem to disagree but, is within the graphics engine.
AMD's Graphics Core Next

Sony PS4 Orbis gets eighteen Radeon GCN units. Microsoft Xbox Victoria de Durango makes do with simply twelve. Elsewhere, Victoria de Durango can have 8GB of shared DDR3 RAM at the side of 32MB of superfast ERAM for the GPU and a grand total of 170GB/s of information measure.

The PS4, meanwhile, can sport simply 4GB of RAM, however it'll be of the ultra-quick GDDR5 selection. All told, it's thought Victoria de Durango can pack a grand total of one.23 teraflops of raw figure power to Orbis's one.84 teraflops. Oh, and each area unit expected to own Blu-ray drives.


Image representing Xbox as depicted in CrunchBase
Image via CrunchBase
On paper, then, and if the leaks area unit correct, future Xbox looks to be clearly outgunned by Sony's new PlayStation. however is that actually the case? And what will we actually expect from these 2 consoles in terms of a vice experience?
Those eight-core CPUs fully

First up, let's trot out those apparently identical eight-core CPUs. Panthera onca is AMD's next low-power, low-priced hardware design. Per core, it's less powerful than AMD's full-feature Piledriver design as found in each the FX desktop chips and A10 fusion processors.

Problem is, even Piledriver is marginal in terms of per-core performance for vice. therefore the prospect of Panthera onca cores clocked at simply one.6GHz is definitely the most important worry regarding the performance of each consoles.

Yes, each provide eight cores. however the straightforward truth is that, to date, game developers haven't extremely cracked the matter of spreading game-engine work masses across several cores. Having individual cores that may method one thread super quick still matters.

That's why, even as a for example, Intel's quad-core, quad-thread Core i5-3570K may be a quicker vice hardware than AMD's eight-core FX-8350.

PS4 vs Xbox 720 vs Wii U


Admittedly, game consoles have lower software system overheads. they are additionally easier to develop for because of a set target to aim at in terms of hardware specs. however we'd still {prefer to|like better to|value additional highly to|favor to|opt to|choose to} trade core count for a more powerful underlying design.

If you are questioning however all that compares with the Wii U, well, Nintendo's latest features a triple-core IBM PowerPC processor running at one.24GHz. That sounds unhealthy as long as even the 8-year previous Xbox three60 has 3 PowerPC cores running at 3.2GHz.

But the Wii U's hardware may be a comparatively complicated in-order style. Overall, we have a tendency to suspect the performance of the Wii U's hardware are going to be almost like Victoria de Durango and Orbis on a per core basis, it's simply that it's fewer than 0.5 the quantity of cores.

As for the graphics 1/2 the equation, we will build direct comparisons with computer hardware once more. every of AMD's Radeon GCN (or Graphics Core Next) figure units packs sixty four shader cores. thus we're talking one,152 shaders for PS4 and 768 for Xbox 720.

PC power


AMD's quickest current computer graphics chip, the may Radeon HD 7970, packs 2,048 cores. thus even presumptuous everything else is equal, together with clockspeeds and memory information measure, Sony Orbis can deliver roughly 0.5 the raw graphics grunt of a prime finish computer.

Again, lower software system overheads and superior package optimization sometimes enable consoles to shut the gap. however there is very little questioning future brace of games consoles fall well wanting the most effective playacting current PCs, abundant less hardware that may be on the market in six month's time.

Arguably, it is not however the consoles compare to PCs that matters, however what quantity they modify the sport compared to previous consoles and the way they compare to every alternative.

On the primary purpose, each are going to be an enormous leap forward. And in many ways, that may be largely right down to a colossal increase in memory. Xbox 360 and PS3 have simply 512MB of memory and it is a limitation that games devs area unit setting out to despair of.

The new consoles are going to be terribly liberating therein regard and also the result are going to be games with Brobdingnagian, open and seamless environments, the likes of that haven't been seen before. That'll be excellent news for computer gamers, too, since consoles offer a baseline for game development.

Get out your guns


As for comparative performance between the new huge console guns and additionally compared to the Wii U, we can't apprehend needless to say till we've got hardware in our hands. each area unit seemingly to own rather more powerful graphics than the Wii U.

But we have a tendency to reckon Sony Orbis's performance advantage within the graphics department can prove largely theoretical. that is as a result of the performance of these AMD Panthera onca hardware cores might otherwise be a leveler.

As for once we'll verify, the serious odds area unit presently on AN initial reveal of each consoles in March to coincide with the Games Developer Conference, or GDC, and on-sale dates towards the top of this year.