Mark Rein vice president of Epic Games answers to EA's "XboxOne\PS4 is a generation ahead of PC''

Mark Rein vice president of Epic Games(creators of the Unreal Engine and the Unreal game franchise) responds to EA

[Shadonic]

I'm a console gamer and i doubt this.

[Mariusmssj]

Quote Mark Rein ‏@MarkRein:
"the article said “highest-end PCs currently available” which isn’t even close to true, it’s miles away from true."

[ShinMaster]

When it comes to multiplatform games, next-gen doesn't come until consoles say so. I can play some really old-ass games in 1080p and 60fps, but that doesn't make them next-gen at all. And that's what a lot of PC fans will tell you.

PC needs more overhead. Consoles don't need to overcompensate. I don't think consoles need to to have that much power. Not just from a pricing standpoint, but also because superior optimization gives much better results than a PC with the same exact specs would. So comparing PC specs with console specs is pointless.

[psyxon]

Actually, it's not. I love when people make the claim that it's not true with no information to back it up. No data, no statistics, nothing. Mark Cerny, who has over 30 years experience, laid out why the PS4's architecture is undoubtedly better than any high-end PC that's currently available.

Do you have anywhere close to 30 years experience in computing? I doubt it!

[papashango]

I guess that makes John Carmack the end all be all.

Mark Cerny is more of a consultant. What's the most significant games he's helped develop in the last 10 years. He's a consultant that's not experience in computing. He was insignificant as far as technical advances go.

Mark Rein on the other hand is a key figure in the ps3 and 360 generation of gaming. Hate it all you want but the douchebag oversaw the development of the Unreal Engine. Which despite its shortcoming was a technological masterpiece.

Cerny's a Sony thumper through and through. He's a shadow of his former self that only does PR for Sony. Guys like this will never admit that their console is 2nd rate. Which it is to the pc.

@influxity
Soooo John Carmack must be god to you?

[psyxon]

papashango, so no background in computing eh? figures lol.

edit*: "god" lol. you're so delusional, man. i feel sorry. there is no good, there is no bad. no divine, no evil. there are people who love technology, and people who love money. can you seriously equate Cerny with the latter? when the dude was underpayed during the entire development of sonic? just stop.

edit*: he's so insignificant that he was the lead architect on the ps4, right? sounds insignificant to me. so insignificant he was inducted into the AIAS HoF? yeah, totally a feat you could achieve! how am i contradicting myself? i never once said computing is all that matters. you don't know what you're talking about lol.

[papashango]

LOL

just about every developer in existence was underpaid during the genesis/nes days. How's that make Cerny special?

You are completely contradicting yourself btw. You say only computing experience matters but fail to realize that these guys are just people. Carmack lost it. Molyneux lost it. Cerny lost it. Get over it dude. It happens. I'm not ragging on him but Rein is someone who ACTUALLY made a difference last-gen. Cerny has gone the way of Carmack and Molyneux. He's insignificant in this day and age.

lol dude Carmack was also inducted into the AIAS HOF it's for his PAST ACHIEVEMENTS! Jeezus man stop living in the past. You're spouting off like the PS4 is a super success. Calm down it hasn't even been formally announced yet.

[nukeitall]

What is there to doubt. It is the truth!

The power of the console has almost always been slimmed down performance, but in trade it is price and convenience.

This is no different, although the hardware has more unique capabilities this time.

Still for games, you can't fight brute force hardware.

It's a fact. Deal with it! :)

[Ju]

aehem...Mark Rein is a ... sales guy...when was the last time he ever touched code? He sure is no CTO or chief architect - doesn't need to be. Just saying.

He will do a 180 as soon as their console business will be taking off again - or depending on which conference/meeting he is visiting.

[Arai]

From a architectural stand point EA is probably right, Mark Rein is taking things out of context and spinning it.

No where in the original article does it states performance wise, in other words there's nothing to see here.

"The Xbox One and PS4 are a generation ahead of the highest-end PCs currently available on the market, says EA’s chief technology officer."

Notice "technology officer" and not a coder/developer and what's not.

Example would be PS4's HSA, GDDR as system memory, southbridge having it's own processor and the other enhancements.
So yes EA is correct, Mark Rein should focus more on coding a proper engine with global illumination.

For people disagreeing, the ability to read, research and understanding might help.
Everything I wrote is on the net and covered by multiple tech savvy sites.

[givemeshelter]

You don't want the same type of system memory for PC's because of the higher latency

[Ipunchbabiesforfun]

and you're still wrong...don't believe everything you read on the internet. If the next generation of PC games is 3 gens backwards for GPU's and mobile CPU's than we're all f'ed.

[nthstew]

architectural stand point EA is probably right???? current PCs(2013) X86 processor(core i7[6 cores, 15 mb cache] or AMD fx 8350[8 cores, 8 mb cache]) , ddr3 RAM,GDDR5 (memory brandwidth ranges from 144 gbps to 288 gbps),computation power (nvdia titan 4.5 teraflops & amd 7990 8.2 teraflops)
PCs (2014) ddr4 ram finally comes to market ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wik... GDDR6 (memory brandwith 1 tbps) , computation power nvdia maxwell (16 teraflops) and nvdia volta (32 teraflops)
NEXT GEN CONSOLES
ps4 and xbox comes with low powered X86 8 core 1.6 ghz processor (2mb cache)
computation power PS4(1.84 tera flops)& xbox one(1.29 tera flops)
FINAL VERDICT
NEXT GEN CONSOLES are lagging behind current gen pcs in terms of RAW computation power and architecturally

[psyxon]

You're gonna get disagrees because few people on n4g have any real background in computing or even a slight understanding of how computer parts work.

Sonyclearlistens says not to believe everything you read on the internet, yet that's what a large percentage of gamers do. They read, believe, spread rumors, then cry and get disappointed when the rumors aren't lived up to.

If more people took the time to educaate themselves about the technology they plan on buying, they wouldn't need to have "technology officers" say seemingly absurd things to them about the tech.

In short, most gamers are blind "know-it-alls", the ps4/360 have a better architectural design than any PC currently available, but in terms of raw performance, PCs are miles ahead. The difference will come when developers can exceedingly optimize their games on next-gen consoles due to the architecture, while PC just won't be able to do that for some time.

nthstew, dude, what're you talking about? do you even know? lol. the point isn't, as you're saying, in RAW power. it's in the way each unit communicates with each other, THAT is what they mean by architecture, specifically in their design. your entire comment is only focusing on RAW power, which is irrelevant, seeing as nobody said consoles have more raw power or performance. cause they don't. they can't. just stop. you're a perfect example of how sensitive a lot of PC gamers are. it's worse than console gamers lol. you really can't handle the idea of some other device being better than your platform in any way. probably because you paid a grand for technology you barely understand.

[DeadlyFire]

PC's next generation starts in 2014, and then a new one in 2015, 16, 17, 18 and so on. So they will have all the same features in less than a year available to the PC community. So yes technically EA is correct for now, but PC evolves every year. Consoles do it once ever 5-10 years and do have some advantages with locked hardware for game development, but easily surpassable for PC users in a year's time at most.

[Ju]

Not so sure about that. Until MS, intel, AMD and NVidia is actually sitting down finding a common ground how to merge CPU and GPU - without killing each others business the PC architecture will not really change much. Brute force forever. Just inventing a bigger hammer to get this box through that round hole. So, yes, I think consoles (well, at least the PS4 - I'd think One is still very traditional PC; except those piggy back "engines" they added) are way ahead from an architectural point of view.

And the PC industry will do fancy tricks to get to a unified computing model with all kind of mixed interfaces to RAM and handle cache coherency between - still dependent - compute units.

If you'd have a empty sheet, you never start designing things that way...

Doesn't say anything about what the final pixel will look like. If resources are not a top priority brute force wins over efficiency. We all know that.

[dantesparda]

PC guys and MS fanboys keep crying about GDDR5's higher latency vs DDR3 yet, where is the PC heading? to DDR4 with "HIGHER" latencies. Bandwidth has been more important for years now, catch on already people

[WillM17]

I think because of unified memory system and APU we are one step ahead.

[Ippiki Okami]

^^ This. the titan chip is a waste of time. Nvidia will make more money on its hybrid mobile chips than titan.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

U know its not true when a man in bed with M$ says its not!!

[3-4-5]

How come it's always the people who work at super huge company's always lie about stuff like this and over sensationalize when they could just tell us the truth ?

I think they are so used to BS'ing and lying to each other every single day, that they don't know how to turn it off.

It starts at the top. If it was frowned upon buy the guys at the top and they demanded truth only, then everyone below them would as well.

So obviously companies like EA & Microsoft and just going to BS there way into sales once again this gen.

That is so 2 gens ago.

[SirBradders]

Because the casual market haven't a clue about a lot of things. Neither do it's just you guys here keep me informed.

[N4g_null]

So what they are saying is they don't use pcs to make our games any more they are using ps4s and x1 lolololol. Wooooow some great lies are coming from E3 next week.

[indysurfn]

Likewise I'm a console gamer and know it is bs. Like I keep saying WHY does EA still think they have credibility? I mean every week gamers get their intelligence insulted by these slims. And talk back, and yet they just keep on doing it! EA defended always online as a favor to the gamers?! Then they attacked Nintendo and said they will never make games for the system only a week later announce they are already making games for it. And now they make this supper stupid statment? All this in less than 1.5 weeks!

[ATi_Elite]

"One Generation ahead"?

So can you PLEASE explain to me what Xbox One/PS4 can do that my PC hasn't already been doing for the last 7 years cause so far everything listed is OLD news to me.

One Generation Ahead LMAO EA still DO NOT have dedicated servers for console games. Fix that before making stupid comments.

Instead of STUPID comments how about EA Over-Haul Star Wars: The Old Republic cause it's losing Gamers faster than a chicken with it's head cut off losing blood and it's the Biggest FLOP this MMO Gen.

[Prcko]

Ea is really talking stupid stuff,how can xbox one and ps4 be one generation ahead when ONE geforce TITAN eats ps4 and xbox for Breakfast

[MegaMohsi]

THANK YOU someone from the development community said something!

[NYC_Gamer]

Only an idiot would believe what EA said

[Supermax]

Does next gen mean keep upgrading you pc or is it innovation of gameing.

[isyourhouseonfire]

It doesn't matter if the consoles are ahead or not because PC gaming is dead.

[Are_The_MaDNess]

say that to the millions that use steam each day for games.

[warewolfSS]

hows that bubble doing?

[Ashunderfire86]

Hey

Is-your-house-on-fire? Yes it's filled with people heated by your stupid comment.

[Monkeysmarts]

Must be why Sony is trying to get all the PC games on PS4, smart guy.

[soultecc]

ever wondered why you only have 1 bubble. no the pc is not dead , its your brain cells that are dead

[hennessey86]

And I can confirm that PC gaming is alive and kicking, steam is a god send. Metro last light is already next gen on PC

[Jovanian]

gens don't apply to PCs, its always just a steady rise of improvement to hardware

[PopRocks359]

I may not agree with everything Rein says or does, but I'll take this answer over more of EA's PR hype bullcrap. I mostly play consoles and even I know that console tech can't necessarily outmatch PC tech. Console tech is PC derivative for goodness' sake!

[cunnilumpkin]

lol...ok

its already a gen behind pc, lets be honest

pc gamers can use resolution of 2560x1600, can the ps4 or nextbox??

the pc can do 16x anti aliasing, can ps4/xbox1?

the pc has games with 1000's of hours of mods for free, does the ps4/xbox1?

the pc has emulators that play ps1,ps2,gamecube/wii/ds/psp etc..... does the xbox1/ps4

I am a console gamer and a pc gamer and a handheld gamer and I even play games on my iphone, I love them all, but I do not see a single solitary way the ps4/nextbox are anywhere close to being ahead of pc, to be honest, they are already a gen behind.

totally with mark rein on this one, as he calls it pure "bullsh@t"

[Prcko]

exactly
Just Icenhancer and sweetfx eats console stuff,but i love consoles because of exclusive games for example,and controller

[Jovanian]

you can use controller and pretty much any input method available on the PC

[darx]

More exclusives on PC than PS & Xbox combined by the way.

[hellvaguy]

@Swadian

How could have gotten so many disagrees? Are some console users really that stupid to not know your ps3 and 360 controllers work on your pc too?

Heck there's people users ps3 controllers on android phones (but that takes more work to do, not plug & play like console and pc).

[twinspectre]

did Pc gaming support the Used Game Block ? Yes
did Pc Gaming require always online ? Yes
Did Pc gaming ruined everything ? yes

Pc is Raw Power but sometimes the Pc gaming Community Support STUPID THINGS

[aliengmr]

Wait. Are you being serious?

PC gaming has very little to do with used games. That's a console problem.

Ubisoft tried the "always online" thing and promptly lost a lot of revenue because of it. They have since stopped.

PC gaming does not have the largest market. Consoles are the money makers when it comes to AAA. We don't set the trends for consoles, we just provide the hardware:P

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

Actually used game block/DRM and online requirement come indeed from PC business models that raised after digital distribution and piracy concerns, but Aliengmr is still right.

The reason those trends glued on console is because console gamers, despite complaining a lot about online passes (or on-disc DLC and many other anti-consumer crap publishers had been doing), would still buy millions upon millions of said games, making such practice acceptable. It had nothing to do with where it generated, but with people with more money than common sense.

EDIT: Also, if you look around, you'll notice that people with more money than brains and anti-consumer policies from big companies are hardly gaming industry specific problems. This trend is going around everywhere, it goes hand in hand with consumerism and weak costumer protection laws. Don't be surprised if in a few years you have to sign a contract to buy a car that'll force you to use only one maintenance service, only one gas brand and pay royalties over mileage.

[Angeljuice]

He's talking about hUMA and chip architecture not performance, in that way they are ahead of PC's as more powerful iterations are expected to be powering pc's over the next few years.

[indysurfn]

Well actually he said the architecture unleased more performance. So he was talking about both. Also Soc is not new it is before current gen.

[ssj27]

actually every answer is yes.. the PS4 can.
but not in/for every game. and that's a fact

well the PS4 can.. and only thing it can't is play Nintendo or Xbox games for barging rights.. not because it can't

Just been honest and facts are facts..

[hellvaguy]

"actually every answer is yes.. the PS4 can"

So it's backward compatible with ps3 games?
So it can play games (not movies) in 4k?
Let's tone done the fanboyism here at least to dull roar.

[ssj27]

yes it does.. thanks to the PSN it does play ps1,2,3 games, you are really stupid to not know this.

it does 4k games, psn games could easily be in 4k and i bet some SONY games will run at 4k 120fps games such a "Ultra Startdust" witch I bet is been mad already, and btw how does it feel playing game sin 4k? right because you pc can lol

you call me fanboy and you are the one hating the others consoles, instead of loving yours, you comment is stupid and you just got owned by a superior human, me :)

I don't understand the hate..
and how someone is stupid enough to argue a fact.

[Saints94]

No.

[twinspectre]

for me the most important thing is PS4 is more powerful than Xbox One :D

[indysurfn]

I can't believe I agreed with a Sony fan on THIS! I find myself doing that constantly the last few weeks!
Microsoft you have yourself to thank for that!

[DivineAssault]

U cant get the same gaming experiences on a PC as you can on a console.. A consoles ease of use is also a strong point.. I dont want to modify my machine every time a stronger game comes out just to keep the graphics as high as possible.. Console gaming will always be better for ppl than PCs

[givemeshelter]

You are obviously a console only gamer with that comment

[kingduqc]

Ease of use argument was valid 10 years ago, this is 2013. Nvidia got software to upgrade drivers for you, set video settings for you(probably too dumb to figure it out lol) and you don't need to upgrade every game there is. Enthusiastic do it because they crank everything up and play on insane resolution but you can buy an average pc now and be set for the next 7-8 years and still get a better gaming experience.

[DivineAssault]

& what about console exclusives huh? U can get those too right? GTFO, I would much rather hook up a console to my TV than buy a rig, & a good size monitor, & find a nook to put it all in... A PC is useless unless all you care about are multiplats..

Dont matter & theres no point in arguing with u either.. Console #s speak for themselves.. PCs will never take over

[kingduqc]

Right not there is under 1500 games for the ps3 at the end of it's life cycle. The pc got close to 20 000 games. ps2 witch had hte most game by far out of every console had around 3500. I think it's easy to understand that there is more pc exclusive that you are missing out then console one.

[2pacalypsenow]

Thanks to consoles now Pc games will lokk much better overall not just 1 or 2 games

[Pandamobile]

EA's CTO is definitely not in the know on this one.

[V0LT]

....

[vork77]

as long as we can mod games on pc and not console the pc will always be a head

[ninjahunter]

Then we all had a good laugh and went back to playing "next gen" games, now.

[kingduqc]

EA and it's PR bullshit lol.

[nthstew]

The GeForce GTX 780 is based on the 7.1 Billion transistor while xbox one is based on 5 Billion transistor so just don't make me laugh

[Mithan]

Load of bullshit.

[Memoman]

Hahaha why are we even considering believing what a PR shit says? Whatever it may be, it's 95% lie. That's his job.

[deerain]

Isnt the Titan like $1000 not really a fair comparison... at the end of the day every time I build a gaming pc with in 3 years game's are so much better that it needs a new card or memory or something. Hence why I game on a console now, I just wish the controller was updated.... to maybe a mouse and keyboard :)

[Rubberlegs]

You don't even need to compare it to a Titan. 780's just came out which are basically a step down from Titans and don't cost as much. Even current 680's/7970's are just as powerful compared to next-gen systems and are not a generation behind.

[indysurfn]

You would have a valid point if the EA executive had not included the Titan. He said xboxone/Titan is better than the highest end pc. Not the $500 dollar pc. If he had not made a crazy statment we would not have to regulate his crazy statement. He is the one not being fair saying the ps4/xboxone is better than the HIGHEST PC.

[kiwipunk]

stfu!

[listenkids]

Regardless of power, PC games sell shit, of course EA is going to spout bollocks.

[givemeshelter]

Steam says otherwise...

[listenkids]

Steam rarely sell EA titles, which is what my point was about. Your point, while somewhat valid, is moot.

Just for perspective into the point - MW3 sold upwards of 15 million copies, just over 1 million of those were PC sales, now as a company ( Activision ) where would you stand? That's correct, where the money is.

Logic.

As for below, can't tell if it's gone over his head or not.

[ExCest]

Only F2P games sell shit (Sweet, sweet shit). PC companies, however, sell gold.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

Guy making a product for next gen consoles says next gen consoles are good.

Story @ 11.

[Belking]

My pc smoke both of them easily....lol

[maliciousNPC]

Mark Rein, vice president of Epic FAIL