Sony Working on Multi-Core Design for PS4?

[Guest]

That is the lamest possible PS4 mockup logo.

 

[Guest]

"But even with all that said, consoles don't hold back game development."

True, they do hold back advancement though.

Anyone looking forward to seeing DX9-games, developed around 512MByte shared memory, being released in 2014? Anyone?

 

[Regulas]

[citation][nom]loomis86[/nom]An upgradable console is absurd. The whole point of a console is to spare the user the trouble and expense of upgrades...and also to rape the consumer on game prices.However...if they could figure out a way to jam PS4 guts into a PS3 case while utilizing the old disk drive(s)...that would be cool. Call it a complete brain swap. PS4s would have to be backward compatible with PS3 user interfaces though.They would need to develop a standardized form factor for console motherboards.[/citation]
Really, look at the Crapbox 360. Upgrades are there for it. A HD DVD was for sale, WiFi is for sale!

 

[Computer_Lots]

I remember an upgrade for the Sega Genesis. I think it was called the Genesis 32X. I remember marveling at the "awesome" graphics of Star Wars Tie Fighter that came out for the 32x. WOW, 32-bit graphics!!!

 

[Computer_Lots]

We're all forgetting the need for kids to 1-up each other. If Sony makes a graphics expansion module for the PS4 and one kid has it, then all of his friends will want one so they can play GTA6 or SOCOM 7 or whatever.

 

[ryokinshin]

[citation][nom]Regulas[/nom]Really, look at the Crapbox 360. Upgrades are there for it. A HD DVD was for sale, WiFi is for sale![/citation]

So true, but when I grabbed a 120gb hdd for $50 on my system. Way worth it.

 

[JonathanDeane]

Yeah the 32X was awesome, it almost single handedly killed off the Genesis as a platform, all it needed was some help from its brother the Mega CD. Combine the 2 and you get the Mega CD 32X (they actually made a few games that required this combo) Another problem with upgrades is that it effectively divides your sales base. So while you may sell 50 million consoles X% will buy some add on needed to play the new games. So if that % is say 50% thats 25 Million, then not everyone who bought the add on will buy your game so it gets trimmed down even further.

I would love to know the sales numbers of the games made for MegaCD 32X... I am pretty sure it was abysmal lol (awesome games though btw if you have the right emulator you can play the Rom's all 5 of them)

 

[eccentric909]

[citation][nom]Computer_Lots[/nom]I remember an upgrade for the Sega Genesis. I think it was called the Genesis 32X. I remember marveling at the "awesome" graphics of Star Wars Tie Fighter that came out for the 32x. WOW, 32-bit graphics!!![/citation]

First the Sega-CD, then the 32X. Unfortunately, they didn't give much of an edge to the Genesis, though neat concepts. I especially loved Lunar for the Sega-CD.

 

[nevertell]

They should really release a fully-established sdk, that sort of converts usual and easily written code to "cell" code.

 

[fulle]

Interesting. At one point we're going to have console gamers playing on a system with a 500 million-ish transistor system with like 256mb of memory, and PC gaming enthusiasts are going to be using GPUs with like 6-9 billion transistors and 2-4GB of memory. I guess we'll end up running with SSAA, Triple Buffering, like 32xAF with like 6 screens hooked up to Eyefinity at 5760x2400 resolution, while making it run Crysis benchmarks in the background for fucking giggles, and still be like "Goddamn consoles. I'm still limited by the refresh rate of this 240Hz monitor".

In all seriousness though, 2014 is a freaking long time to wait for progress. I hope PC gaming makes a bit of a comeback soon... I'm already sick of DX9 based console ports. I can only imagine how boring things will get 2 years from now if this console dominance continues.

 

[sceen311]

Ok Noobs,
First off upgradeable cpu and graphics are absurd, that would only add variations to the hardware that would make developing games much more expensive.

Secondly, Why dual graphics solution? How about a multicore graphics processor with a built in physics engine?

 

[megamanx00]

I expect that Microsoft will do a bit of the same. Go with a more powerful PowerPC derivative, a custom GPU from ATI or NVIDIA with a mix of DX11, and whatever they have planned for DX12, and a development kit that isn't too hard to transition to for those currently familiar with the 360 development kit.

Who knows what Nintendo will do. They should keep Wii backwards compatibility, but we'll see. As for Sony, they need to make development for the PS4 easier and cheaper for developers. They are now at the bottom of the race so they can't impose their will and expect developers to follow like they did with the PS2 but failed to do with the PS3.

 

[sceen311]

Upgradeable graphics and processor are silly and would only frustrate developers, due to the extra programming required to accommodate different hardware configurations.

Oh and we'll be seeing the full strength of the ps3 oh in about a year from now, after the release of 3d on the console.

Sony's going to make Microsoft look like the noobs the are, when everyone wants 3d and Microsoft has no answer.

Sorry m$ fanboys gonna have to wait for the next hardware cycle before you get to enjoy 3d. Sony was smart enough to plan for it. Meanwhile sony has been planning it since the ps3 was in development about 5 years ago.

Hardware wise sony has done an excellent orchestrating the implementation of 3d. Blu-ray was essential, it's a good thing that won out and they have the publishing capabilities as well as the tv's to run it on. Oh and that wand they're coming out with... in a 3d environment! brilliant.

If the developers get comfortable with 3d and can put out the software then m$ is about to get pwned like the noobs they are. I just hope sony has the money leftover to win them over.

 

[Guest]

I love how Larrabee was so widely "adopted", yet at it's prime, it was expensive to make, consumed tons of power, and was slower than any card you can buy for $60 or more today. But if you believe that slapping 20 Atom cores at 3gflops each on the same die gives you 2 teraflops of performance, I have a fine designer watch to sell you...

 

[alextheblue]

[citation][nom]SneakySnake[/nom]I seriously hope they don't use the PS3 and 360 with their X1950 and 7800 GTX until 2014, we'll have the 7xxx and 5xx GPU series by then[/citation]
Actually Xenos is a semi-custom chip, not an X1950. It has unified shaders, for one, so its more similar in design to the 2000/3000 series. Plus the eDRAM chip.

 

[palladin9479]

Problem with the PS3 is the Cell isn't a good gaming CPU. Its a CPU designed to do lots of parallel operations, very similar to how SPARC's work. In gaming very little work is actually parallel, most of your "performance" is just the GPU doing its wizardry, the rest is basic physics and AI which isn't very parallel friendly. I mean you CAN write the code to work that way, but there will be too many instances where one operation has to stop and wait for the final output from another operation before proceeding. You can't do the math for the sound of the can bouncing until its determined that the can will bounce, and that won't happen till its been determined that your bullet struck the can, which won't happen until its been determined that you aimed at the can and pulled the trigger, ect.

Same concept goes for everything else in a game, very few things are done at one time, most is serial code based on whatever the player chooses to do. Its almost always better focusing the brunt of your CPU power in a small number of cores (2~3, 4 at the most) the to divide it up amongst 6 or 7.

But for array math and scientific calculations, the cell would be a perfect match for that stuff. This combined with the ease of putting a custom OS on a PS3 is why so many college researchers are stringing a bunch of PS3's together for a mini super computer.

 

[alextheblue]

[citation][nom]Eccentric909[/nom]First the Sega-CD, then the 32X. Unfortunately, they didn't give much of an edge to the Genesis, though neat concepts. I especially loved Lunar for the Sega-CD.[/citation]The Sega CD was a really awesome add-on. It was mildly successful, even. It actually added significant muscle to the system, for developers willing to use it, and tons of storage.

The 32X on the other hand only saw a handful of good titles, with few developers ever harnessing it well. It came way too late in the development cycle, they should have just stuck with Genesis and Sega CD titles. It had pretty solid ports of Doom and Space Harrier, however. Plus a few gems like Metal Head and Kolibri.

 

[stevo777]

I have nothing against PC gaming. But, the advantage of PC gaming vs. PS3 is being overstated. If anyone pays attention to news, many entities are building supercomputers with chained PS3's as they are very cost effective and have high throughput. Also, in cases like folding@home, the PS3's are faster than anything else.

In case people don't know what throughput is, a system is only as fast as it's slowest part. PC's have slow parts--especially, the very antiquated x86 lineage. Because of legacy concerns, the PC has many bottlenecks that do not exist in the PS3. On the flip side, the PS3 does lack RAM amount, yet that RAM is fast. With the Cell, legacy was not a concern, so innovation was possible. Intel seems desperate to hang onto the x86 strategy, so PC's will still have the same bottlenecks going forward. True, you can keep boosting the GPU tech, but, there is no way around the rest of the system. Consoles on the other hand don't have to worry about such problems, so a system can be designed from the ground up that is very fast. RAM should continue to be the weak point of the consoles, but they can still be very robust.

I think some heads will be turned this year when Gran Turismo HD comes out (GT5). This game should showcase some of the true potential of the PS3.

 

[sonnywoj]

yeah, its to bad the world ends in 2012, wont even get to see ps4.
...
lol

 

[stevo777]

*I mean this coming year lol.