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The American Who Designed the PlayStation 4 and Remade Sony

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Re: The American Who Designed the PlayStation 4 and Remade Sony

#91

Post by robmcm »

fit2rule wrote: post #82
robmcm wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get this desire for backwards compatibility. Why would you want to play a really old game on a shiny new console? If you really did, then pick up a used ps3 or 360 for about £50 and get the PS4 later!

Because maybe I've already got $1000 invested in games I'd like to keep playing? Well, I understand the clean break was necessary .. since their architecture strategy sort of requires it .. but its still a nuisance that we're confronted with yet more consumerist ideals being marketed as 'features'.

You have two options, keep your old console and keep playing them. Or sell the lot second hand and the IF you want the play them in the future download them on your phone or what ever device can now emulate them in JavaScript ;)

Re: The American Who Designed the PlayStation 4 and Remade Sony

#92

Post by arh68 »

jmduke wrote: post #13
voidlogic wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, this is why I use a PC running Linux and an Android phone... and wait- so does my Grandma... And we have very different use cases.

Your Grandma uses a Linux PC? I'd love to hear about her experience with it.

For what it's worth, my brother & I set our mom up with a Slackware machine running dropline GNOME (this was years ago). It was a good thunderbird+firefox combo, very stable. I remember the uptimes past 90 days. She needed some software for work that only worked in IE, so it had to go eventually.

When it does work, it works really well. The only requirement she had was that none of her icons changed: there were several links to specific websites she wanted on the desktop (bookmarks be damned), arranged in clusters. It's no trouble at all for Gnome, with launchers, of course.

Re: The American Who Designed the PlayStation 4 and Remade Sony

#93

Post by kayoone »

lucian1900 wrote: post #84
kayoone wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The notion that mobile GPUs will soon overtake console GPUs is nonsense, yet i hear it over and over since the iPad2 days. Even the latest iPad Air is still quite far off a Xbox360, they might catch up during the next 2 years but then we have a completely new console generation anyway. If mobile GPUs will reach a point where they are good enough, thats an entirely different story, but that still leaves you with subpa…

They're more "different" than "weak" nowadays. Most tablets have way more memory and much better SIMD than a 360, with a (now) similarly powerful GPU, but with much lower bandwidth. While the end results don't look as good as on a 360 overall, some aspects do indeed look better. The one huge difference is the input method, which will always hold tablets back.

Thats true but my fact still stands that in terms of raw processing power for games they are still far off. I believe a Xbox360 manages around 10 GTexels/sec while the ipad Air is around 3 GTexels/sec. For comparision a modern desktop GPU is at about 50-80 GT/s which is where the new console generation is at as well.

Same story for GFlops and most other relevant metrics..

Re: The American Who Designed the PlayStation 4 and Remade Sony

#94

Post by Mikeb85 »

jmduke wrote: post #13
voidlogic wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, this is why I use a PC running Linux and an Android phone... and wait- so does my Grandma... And we have very different use cases.

Your Grandma uses a Linux PC? I'd love to hear about her experience with it.

Linux can be great for alot of people, provided you set it up for them.

My computer illiterate wife uses Linux PCs all the time with no issue (albeit for basic tasks, but then again that's all she ever used Windows for either).

Re: The American Who Designed the PlayStation 4 and Remade Sony

#95

Post by Mikeb85 »

ye wrote: post #3

PS4 is just a PC stuck in one configuration, linked to a popular delivery system. I don't get what the hype is about. Yes, it's a pretty good configuration at a reasonable price. But that will only be the case for a few months. PCs will catch up very quickly and will become cheaper, and then much cheaper. As somebody who loves games, I don't see a reason to buy PS4. I'd rather spend a bit more on a PC, and then upgra…

> I don't get what the hype is about.

Video game consoles are entirely about experience. PC gaming and console gaming are entirely different. It's not just about graphics, it's about the controller, the immersive experience of playing on a TV screen in your living room (I know PCs can do that too, but for the average person it can be a hassle to set everything up).

For developers it's a single target that never moves.

Peoples' love for consoles is shown by the fact that many people still play on consoles that are 10-25 years old. I still play games on a PS1 occasionally.

Re: The American Who Designed the PlayStation 4 and Remade Sony

#96

Post by Mikeb85 »

ewzimm wrote: post #12
quanticle wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The XBox One is an x86 architecture as well. Pretty much everything that you said about the PS4 also applies to XBox One. Now, there are differences between the consoles, but fundamentally both of the next-gen consoles are x86 CPUs tied to memory architectures that are designed to stream HD content to the screen as fast as possible.

What does processor architecture even matter to a consumer? Is the Xbox 360 a pre-Intel Mac because it uses PowerPC archictecture? I don't see why so many people mention this. Consoles have always been about custom software, not unique hardware architecture.

It matters to developers, and in turn to the customer in that it affects the amount and type of games released on the console.

Re: The American Who Designed the PlayStation 4 and Remade Sony

#97

Post by ScottWhigham »

robmcm wrote: post #81
fit2rule wrote: post #77

So I'm clueless as I haven't been paying attention to this market since the PS4/XBox360 were released - does the PS4 not run PS3 titles? If so, does it have some emulation or is it new hardware sitting on top of the old Cell design?

I don't get this desire for backwards compatibility. Why would you want to play a really old game on a shiny new console? If you really did, then pick up a used ps3 or 360 for about £50 and get the PS4 later!

Says a guy who obviously doesn't have children and who also doesn't own console games :)

I bought my kid the new Lego Batman II for PS3 in March for his birthday. We decided to upgrade to the PS4. He can't play this new game - that was recently released - on the PS4. It's a weird thing to not support backward compatibility IMO. It's a win for the developers/Sony but a loss for consumers. I have to now buy all new games and Lego Star Wars isn't going to be any better on PS4 than on PS3. Your question acts as though there should always be this "evolution" going on but I disagree. I like watching Daffy Duck from the 1940s - I don't like watching the Daffy Duck from the 1980s. Sometimes a game is "really good" and doesn't need revving - it just needs to be made available for the current gen console.

Re: The American Who Designed the PlayStation 4 and Remade Sony

#98

Post by voidlogic »

robmcm wrote: post #90
voidlogic wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For both her, my mother, my mother-in-law and my my step-mother-in-law it is great. From their perspective they click on Firefox, thunderbird/gmail link, OpenOffice, Skype , etc they get what they expect. Only unlike when they were running Windows they don't have to call me over every 6 months to de-worm their sick machines. They all use Ubuntu in gnome-fallback mode (so it looks like gnome 2.x). Now days I only have…

I have the same story by geting them a mac, although now I just send them to the apple store. Enjoy your support calls ;)

Helping a couple hours a year is a small price to pay for giving them a rock solid experience AND not support a company like Apple (at least in my book ;) )

P.S. The nearest Apple stores are also 150-200+ miles away for them...

Re: The American Who Designed the PlayStation 4 and Remade Sony

#99

Post by robmcm »

ScottWhigham wrote: post #97
robmcm wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get this desire for backwards compatibility. Why would you want to play a really old game on a shiny new console? If you really did, then pick up a used ps3 or 360 for about £50 and get the PS4 later!

Says a guy who obviously doesn't have children and who also doesn't own console games :) I bought my kid the new Lego Batman II for PS3 in March for his birthday. We decided to upgrade to the PS4. He can't play this new game - that was recently released - on the PS4. It's a weird thing to not support backward compatibility IMO. It's a win for the developers/Sony but a loss for consumers. I have to now buy all new gam…

Firstly why are you getting rid of your PS3, secondly I have a 360, and a PS2 before that, PSX before etc etc I also have a XBone and PS4 pre ordered.

I trade in all my old games as I never re-play them, if I do it's normally after such a long time that I can download them on my phone or run them emulated as I'm sure will eventlally be possible on the PS4.

Supporting backwards compatibility could result in developers not bothering with the new hardware, soemthing that has happend a bit with the GBAdvanced and DS platforms.

Re: The American Who Designed the PlayStation 4 and Remade Sony

#100

Post by robmcm »

voidlogic wrote: post #98
robmcm wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the same story by geting them a mac, although now I just send them to the apple store. Enjoy your support calls ;)

Helping a couple hours a year is a small price to pay for giving them a rock solid experience AND not support a company like Apple (at least in my book ;) ) P.S. The nearest Apple stores are also 150-200+ miles away for them...

Without being snide, I have actually found facetime is great for support calls, as they normally call me on it when there is a problem. I can just say, point it at the screen...
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