Sony held a press conference in New York City to provide some new detail for their next gen PS4 code-named Orbis. The new machines will use processor cores similar to PC processors making the porting process easier and pushing the performance ahead of current systems.
Sony has always been bold in selecting the processor used in a PlayStation, starting in 1994 with the first CD-ROM based console using a 32-bit MIPS CPU. They followed that in 2000 with the 128-bit (MIPS-based) Emotion Engine PS2 and the first DVD-based console. The PS3 came out in 2006, the first machine with a blue ray player, and a remarkable new IBM-Power-based SIMD CPU structure they called the Cell. Now, in 2013 Sony introduced the PS4 with an X86-based architecture that looks like a PC.
In addition to the new processor, Sony also revealed details about the new hardware. The PlayStation Orbis introduces the wireless Dual Shock 4, a new controller that includes a touchpad as well as a light bar on the top with three color LEDs that illuminate in various colors to match the color of characters in a game and offer a way of identifying players, even when playing side by side.
The PlayStation4 Eye is a new camera for PS4, which incorporates two 85-degree diagonal wide-angle lenses 1280 x 800 cameras that can sense depth. This enables the PS4 Eye to cut out the image of the player from the background, or to grasp players’ position in front and behind, increasing the ways to enjoy games. PS4 Eye also has four microphones for accurate sound position location.
Sony has definitely raised the bar for console suppliers. The eight X86 CPUs will give the PS4 long legs in the market. The Orbis CPUs will have plenty of headroom for physics and AI, so this machine is not going to get trounced by PCs in 3 to 5 years like past consoles.
Porting from PC to PS4 and vice versa will be much easier with this architecture, and that will appeal to developers and increase their ROI by reducing their costs and time to market.
ralphg says
The choices Sony made are shrewd for today. The question in my mind, however, is “Will the design decisions of today will still be seen as shrewd in a few years when technology veers in other directions.”
Jon Peddie says
Hello Ralph
I think the PS4 will have long legs because the CPU and GPU are tightly coupled, which means data can flow between them quickly (no needed to go in and out of the PCIe buss – which also costs power). Also, there is 8 MB of high-speed DDR5 memory, and in graphics memory and memory bandwidth is everything. Add to that, that it is an x86 environment and you suddenly have a ton of developers who know to write programs (unlike the crazy IBM Cell with Nvidia GPU in the PS3 – what a programming nightmare – and yet they still got amazing results, go figure). So now game developers will be able to write for PC and PS4 almost simultaneously, which will quadruple their market. Furthermore, the custom APU will be able to easily support stereo and when higher resolution TV screens show up, the PS4 will be able to handle them. And Sony will enjoy the economy of scale a high-volume part brings – which will let them maybe make money on the console. Last but not least, although it’s been anathema in the past, Sony could even come out with a soup’ed up special versions (higher clocks) and charge a premium. The opportunities this choice of processor gives them are incredible.
BrianG says
JP > “Sony could even come out with a soup’ed up special versions (higher clocks) and charge a premium.”
I know how from a hardware standpoint + 1 of the reasons I use PCs for gaming, that this sounds like a good thing.
However, within conversation with a top game developer, especially with online gaming, they want every player out there to have exact equal performance traits so that there wont be fastest units giving an added edge against the slower hardware.
Jon Peddie says
Yes, that “common platform” is popular mythology. The reality of it is, at least in the case of the PS2 and PS3, that the processors (CPU and GPU) used were more powerful than programmers (game developers) knew how to use when the respective machines came out. Over the years the programmers learned how to develop better compliers and how to exploit that “dark” power that was in the chips. If you compare the images and game play of the early games with the latest releases you’ll see quite a bit of difference – you’ll see visual magic that wasn’t there before.
Sony is a master at this game and the AMD APU is still a fairly young device, with lots of head room so I expect drivers and compliers for it will also be tweaked over the years giving yet more visual magic to it too. And if you need any more convincing, just look at the frequency of PC graphics AIB driver updates and how, with each update better benchmark scores are realized – with the “same platform.”