PS4 RAM gets a downgrade?

Today's big story is the rumor that Playstation 4 is reserving 2.5 GBs of its RAM pool for the operating system and multi-tasking features, leaving 5.5 GB of RAM for game functionality. The internet, of course, is a-frenzy with speculation and fear and naysaying and all sorts of pleasantness.

Now, the source of the rumor is a Mr. Leadbetter of Digital Foundry, the same person who claimed the XBox One RAM now has a bandwidth of 196 GB per second due to some magical "holes" discovered in the RAM by the XBox hardware team. Dubious at best, but until we get confirmation from other sources, let's just play along and assume it is true. Let's assume that PS4 uses 2 and a half Gigs of RAM for non-gaming features.

A downgrade? Sure, if you want to look at it that way. The rumors were that PS4 would only use 1 GB of RAM for its OS, rumors that were once considered common-sense during the time when everyone - including developers - assumed the PS4 would have only 4 Gigs of memory in total. However, when Sony announced the PS4 back in February and the 8 GB pool of unified RAM, they also announced a slew of new features. Native Remote Play (something I'm personally very excited about), Multitasking, background recording, cross-game chat, integrated menus and profiles, instant switching, and instantly resuming your game where you last left off when you turn your system back on. These new features - evidently - came at an increased cost of the PS4's hardware resources, but let's also consider the benefit.

I'll use the Wii as an example (and later I'll throw in the 3DS and the Vita for good measure). Keep in mind this is all IMO. If you're angry about Sony "robbing" you of your extra GBs of RAM, that's between you and your god.

Anyway, the Wii. I freakin' love the Wii, always have. I've had it since Day One, believe it or not. Back when the Wii was being developed, Iwata was quoted (in an Iwata Asks, I believe) for saying one design goal they had with the Wii was that it would boot up very fast. Nintendo wanted to reduce the time it took from turning your system on to playing the game, a time frame that has steadily increased since the days of cartridges. And that's something I love about the Wii: it boots up pretty dang fast and you can go from "Power Off" into your game significantly faster than you can on 360 or PS3.

3DS and Vita take this notion a step further. One thing I love about handhelds is that (when done correctly, I suppose) they are designed to respect your time. Handheld titles need to boot fast. They need to get you into the action quickly. Heck, even the "logo splash" screens when you boot up a game are typically abbreviated or absent in handheld games. That's part of why I love handheld gaming. Vita especially is incredibly swift when you want to switch out of a game, boot the browser, consult a GameFAQ, check your messages, quickly reply to a few messages on PSN, and then jump back into your game, and it does that with (iirc) 128 MB of RAM. Imagine what is possible with several Gigs of RAM.

I come from an era when gaming was instantaneous. Some people blame modern "COD kiddies" for having short attention spans, but gaming was even faster back in the day. Done with Ducktales? Pop the cartridge, slap in Mega Man 2, and you're playing a different game in less than 5 seconds. Bored with Metal Slug or Street Fighter 2 or Pac Man? Take your jingling pocket of quarters to a different arcade cabinet and play something else. The near-instant switching of gaming (and of handhelds) is something I have always craved and something that has gradually vanished. It's not about ADD (ironically, I was clinically diagnosed with ADD as a child). It's not about a short attention span. It's about entertainment. I am selfish about my entertainment, and if I'm going to exhibit patience for a game, it better be for the game itself, not the stupid logo splashes and forced updates and calibrations.

And that's exactly what the increase in RAM for non-gaming features will do. It will allow for that near-instant gaming. It will also allow for Remote Play, something that Sony has always promised but never truly delivered on. Every single PS4 game will be Remote Play compatible (that's a requirement from Sony) on the PS Vita. Sony has said that Remote Play "just works" and does not require any extra programming effort from developers. You think it "just works" without using system resources? C'mon. It will allow for background patching and "play while you install" and multitasking and all that fun stuff that PC gamers take for granted. And remember that there are some other features (like being able to "help" your friend play a game over the internet by taking over their game) are probably going to be pretty dang resource-intensive.

Sony was being praised for devoting 7 GB of RAM to gaming. I praised them, too, even though it was only based on rumors. It does sting a little if these new rumors are true as it comes across as a "downgrade", even though Sony never really announced their OS footprint. If you really, REALLY need that feeling of "I have the superior system nyah nyah" well the PS4 is still superior in many ways, RAM included. I suppose if you need an analogy: the comparison between Xbox One and PS4 was like comparing a Toyota Camry (X1) with a Bugatti Veyron (PS4). Now that the RAM allotment for gaming has been "downgraded", the Toyota Camry is competing with a Porche 911.

But regardless, I have given Microsoft a hard time for their 3 GB operating footprint. While it remains to be seen how PS4 will use use its 2.5 GBs, I think it is only fair that I eat some crow with a dash of salt. Omm nomm and all that. I have no excuse for giving Microsoft crap now that Sony is doing it too. Part of my frustration is that XBox One was/is focusing a great deal on TV switching and SmartGlass and camera control and other non-gaming features and when I saw what Sony was doing with - supposedly - only 1 GB of RAM I thought "why the heck is Microsoft devoting so much RAM to non-gaming features?!?" Apparently, as consoles become more and more like PCs, so too does their usage of resources. PCs also have a lot of memory set aside for non-gaming functions.

Moving on, what interests me about this pool is that we're going to see faster multitasking, faster boot up, and whatnot. Sure, it will also benefit non-gaming features but it does not mean games are going to be "crippled". We already have third-party devs saying the PS4 version of their game will be the best by a significant margin. The Witcher 3 devs said the PS4 version would be "neck and neck" with what the game would look like on a maxed-out PC. Consider, too, that 5.5 GBs of RAM is 11 times more RAM than what the PS3 had. I don't know about you, but I was mightily impressed by what Naughty Dog was able to do with that measly bit of RAM in The Last of Us, weren't you?

Lastly, something we should all keep in mind: even if the rumored RAM allotment "downgrade" is true, none of this is permanent. Hey, you XBox One fans reading this? That goes for you too. The footprint of these operating systems shrinks over time. PS3 went from devoting over 130 MB (out of a split 512) of RAM to the XMB, chat, in-game menus, etc when it first launched down to using only 50 MB for the same essential functions. Wii-U currently uses 1 GB out of 2 GB of its RAM for the operating system, streaming to the tablet, Miiverse, etc, but Nintendo aims to cut that footprint in half (I think they've already made the OS RAM usage smaller, in fact, but don't quote me on that). The point is that both the PS4 and the Xbox One seem to be devoting a HUGE amount of resources to these features, but that can change over time. There's already rumors floating around from another industry insider that out of the 2.5 Gigs of RAM reserved on the PS4, 1 GB of it is set aside "just in case" and may later be opened up for gaming usage once Sony has some time to verify the OS pleases the fans and does what it should.

The endgame isn't the day the consoles launch. That's just Day One. As more information comes out (it hasn't come out for the Xbox One, but I'm going to assume the situation is similar) it appears that these RAM allocations aren't because "LOL bloated PS4/Xbox One operating system uses up so much RAM!". These RAM allocations are being set aside (this is just my educated guess) to help futureproof the console. The PS3 was crippled by a tiny RAM allocation and that's why a lot of features (like cross game chat) were never implemented or at best they were implemented poorly. Sony doesn't want Steam or Xbox One or Wii-U to come out with some must-have feature and then suddenly the PS4 can't do it because all the RAM is used up. It sounds silly, but Sony wants wiggle room to copy the competition if need be, and I assume that Microsoft and Nintendo also made similar allowances for themselves when setting that RAM allotment footprint.

And I hate to call some of those things "non gaming features", because they ARE gaming features (some of them at least). Instant switching on Xbox One and PS4 is a gaming convenience. Resuming your game from where you left off is a gaming convenience. Background installations, patching, and downloading are all gaming conveniences.

At the end of the day, other than the rabid wolves who are hungry to eat up any "negative" news for the PS4, I think the gaming community should be cautiously optimistic to see what Sony (and Microsoft; don't forget their own huge OS footprint) is going to do with all this RAM capacity.

[iamnsuperman]

The only reason why I have a hard time believing it is there were Devs saying they wanted more RAM so Sony uped the amount just before the reveal at E3 making it 8GB RAM.

Now we know this was only a recent change. The OS and UI doesn't just materialise over night (talking about months to years of development and tweaking). So unless the PS4 was going to launch with roughly 1GB usable RAM for games (I highly doubt), before Devs advised them otherwise, what has happened in the last few months that has made the OS take up more RAM. I doubt we are going to see new social features as they, again, take time to develop. What is it? Am I wrong? Are we getting major increased functionality at E3?

We must remember that unnamed sources have a habit of coming from here: http://hhnhstrust.files.wor...
(remember the One and PS4 rumours before their reveal). The best thing to do is take this with a pinch of salt and wait for Sony to confirm or deny it.

[dedicatedtogamers]

Though I agree with you that we should wait and see if the rumors pan out, so far the information I have is as follows:

5.5 GB of RAM devoted to gaming, locked in stone, no changing it, which is 2.5 GB more than what devs were previously getting with the 4 GB PS4. Keep in mind, also, that this is GDDR5 RAM. This is going to boil down to a lot more than just raw Gigs of RAM. People who think "lol now PS4 and Xbox One have the same amount of RAM" might as well say "LOL PS4 sucks. My Pentium 4 is clocked up to 2.8 GHz speed but PS4 CPU is slower than 2 GHz! Epic failz!"

Roughly 1.5 Gigs of RAM (a little bit less, depending on who you listen to) is devoted to the OS and extra functions like background recording, Remote Play, etc. This footprint will shrink over time, or maybe it will stay roughly the same as Sony streamlines existing features to make room for new features.

The last remaining 1 Gig of RAM is being "set aside" for now, and even though there is no official confirmation, it seems a bit more likely that the 3 Gigs of RAM devoted to the Xbox One's OS are not completely used up, either. That last Gig of RAM is set aside in case Sony wants to incorporate major new features for the OS or perhaps just to add more RAM for gaming later. It seems to be for the purpose of future-proofing.

[iamnsuperman]

Ah see what you mean. I was reading that Eurogamer article and they made it sound far more complicated than it needs to be. Thanks.

[darthv72]

that car analogy is pretty much a stretch.

considering the specs of both would put them into the same class of vehicles. So you would have been better off comparing a corvetter zr1 as the xb1 and a ferrari 355 for ps4.

both very fast sports cars with technical differences that make one exceed the other but not by the margin your camry vs veyron or even 911 leads one to believe.

[NewMonday]

from the rumors the PS4 is only using 1.5G for the OS and apps, 1G is not used by games or OS and locked out for now.

a few more points about this:

* developers always knew this setup from the start, even when they praised the PS4 RAM, it is only news to us. so their was never a change in policy, the 7G assumption was from rumors.

* 3rd party games will have to fit into the 5G of ram in the X1 anyway.

* giving some restrictions on RAM will limit developers from using unoptimized code as they set up their engines for the start of the next gen.

* Cerny always talked about keeping some of the PS4 potential for later. 1G of ram is locked out for now and not used by games or OS.

* the OS using 1.5G of RAM means it has surprises we don't know about yet.

[rainslacker]

If the rumor is true, it could mean they are just allocating that much space for the OS for future advancements. There is nothing to prove that the entire 2.5GB would be taken up by the OS/features/services themselves. That allows Sony room to grow the OS if other features become in demand later.

One example is cross game chat this gen. Sony had no room to grow the OS due to the lack of memory in the console, so it wasn't possible to achieve once they opened up that memory for games. Basically, if you open up memory or hardware features for even one game, then there is no going back...at least without pissing some people off.

Otherwise, it may just be that Sony is only allowing devs to use 5.5GB of the RAM at this time for whatever reason. It may not have anything to do with the OS at all. Or it's quite possible that this rumor is completely false.

[Christopher]

The fact that one dev mentioned using 5GB of RAM and that before the announcement of the PS4 they were only using 4GB of RAM to develop their games make me very suspicious of this rumor.

Now, remember that 3GB of Xbox One OS covers kinect, base OS, and TV OS to be done all in live. PS4 doesn't have this much to handle. If it takes 2.5GB to keep the PS3 OS going and it's not doing the Kinect or TV, I gotta question what they're doing or if they don't have the right software developers to take them to the next level.

[nukeitall]

Yeah, but then again Sony uses about 50MB RAM footprint on the PS3 OS and they couldn't get party or cross game chat, while MS has always used 32MB RAM footprint for their OS.

That is Sony is wasting 50% more resources than MS, to essentially do less.

Historically, MS is much more efficient at using their resources.

Sony is probably doing this as a reaction to MS, to avoid the whole unable to support cross game chat, as well as storing 15 mins of game play footge which has to be stored in RAM.

[maniacmayhem]

Sony also has a camera with Kinect features. Who is to say that a lot of that RAM isn't used for when you connect their camera to the PS4.

Also what about future features for the PS4, I'm sure Sony probably has a similar TV or movie feature lined up as content.

[Christopher]

***as well as storing 15 mins of game play footge which has to be stored in RAM.***

Actually, the process has to be run through RAM, but it will be primarily stored as a living file on the HDD, not RAM. It's like downloading a file, the file isn't stored in RAM as it downloads, but is stored on the HDD. But, with the video record, it will go through encoding processing on the program side that will utilize RAM for that.

MS' superiority in software comes down to owning so many patents on so many concepts that others have to either pay them an arm and a leg to utilize as a competitor or find less simplistic, more memory hungry ways to do it.

[NYC_Gamer]

I don't know why anyone would be upset because 5gb is enough for developers to program with

[XboxFun]

Yes indeed 5 gigs is more than enough. I think a lot of people are worried specifically on N4G because fans used the more RAM as a slap in the face to the Xbox One fans. That is where the worrying is coming from.

But this is a rumor, Sony needs to come out and clarify this.

@Dedicated

I love that you're eating crow but this is a rumor and you should reserve that crow when it is clarified.

"the Toyota Camry is competing with a Porche 911."

Oh Dedicated...just can't seem to keep your bias out of it. That comparison is completely false. If this gen told us anything is that graphics and gameplay on both systems were almost identical with little difference between them.

[rainslacker]

I doubt anyone's really upset about it. It's really a development thing, and not an end user thing. But there were a lot of people saying how MS took away so much from developers with their OS all for this console war thing. No doubt it will be lauded over those people(and possibly everyone else who had no real opinion on it) as a reason why Sony sucks now.

Otherwise...to a developer, there really is no such thing as too much RAM.:)

[PopRocks359]

"At the end of the day, other than the rabid wolves who are hungry to eat up any "negative" news for the PS4, I think the gaming community should be cautiously optimistic to see what Sony (and Microsoft; don't forget their own huge OS footprint) is going to do with all this RAM capacity."

Man, ain't that the truth.

Admittedly, I hadn't even heard about this until I logged in just now. It seems farfetched, given that this is pretty much an unconfirmed rumor. But it certainly wouldn't be the first time people have taken rumors as facts.

Even if more of the RAM is siphoned for other purposes, the PS4 is still going to be one speed demon of a console and the Xbox One will most likely share in those speedy and instantaneous features. From where I stand, there's no reason to fret either way this rumor goes.

[YNWA96]

Wow, really, that news hurt you so much that you had to blog?? Do you actually play games on these consoles? Is it really worth getting uptight about it? C'mon man, all seriousness, nearly everything in life is more important than this. I know xbox is inferior to PS4, but entertainment will still be the same......

Camry v porsche, not always highway driving.....

[PablitoPaperito]

Still 5.5 GB of VRAM vs 3GB VRAM+8/16GB RAM on a gaming PC is quite a difference.

[EXVirtual]

Good blog, but the rumor is fake downgrade rumor is fake:

http://www.polygon.com/2013...

[PablitoPaperito]

How does an article from February prove anything^

[GameCents]

You keep referring to it as 5.5GB but it seems to be 4.5GB and only in special cases 5.5GB. Not once do you mention that.

Where was all this level headed reasoning 2 months ago when 3 gigs for OS meant that Microsoft didn't care about games? http://n4g.com/news/1262357...
This whole blog is riddled with hypocrisy and bias.

[dedicatedtogamers]

Ah, I get it. So the first news in months that could-be-spun-as-a-negative comes out for PS4, I admit that I was wrong, but now I'm a hypocrite?

No, hypocrisy would be me praising Sony or not acknowledging the fact that I gave Microsoft a hard time about it in the past. But GREAT detective work! You sure...showed me to be a hypocrite...in my own blog confessing that I was due to eat crow...

See, like pretty much everyone else, it was clear as day that Microsoft was diverting attention away from gaming to "all in one" multimedia, and their OS footprint seemed beyond excessive, especially when PS4 was rumored to use only 1 Gig of RAM while still having similar features.

But yeah, I'm totally a hypocrite to fessing up to my own mistake! Flog me!

[XboxFun]

Eyes wide shut Dedicated. Eyes wide shut.

You are hypocrite because you are the first to comment on the OUTRAGE you feel that MS is abandoning games for TV and then you leave it at that.

But then you write a full blog proclaiming that less RAM for the PS4 is ok if true. You go into great detail defending Sony and writing about things like an OS footprint. Where was this calm rationale in the link GameCents provided? Where was the blog for MS about how all that RAM isn't needed, BACK THEN?

One line of humility doesn't justify a whole blog of flip flopping and back peddling as you continue to show your bias against MS and the X1 with the whole Camry and Porche comment. You can't even try and be subjective without hurling a small insult or jab at MS.

Yes GameCents, great detective work. For someone who feels betrayed by MS and on the whole "wait and see" fence for whatever MS does you still seem to be GUNG HO for Sony even in light of this news.

You see Dedicated only the sony fanboys continue to throw the whole MS is reverting attention away from games. Even though they said they are dedicating millions into new IP's and servers. Even though they showed some of the best games during E3. this still wasn't enough for you right. You still have to "wait and see".

The funny thing is Sony is doing the SAMETHING media wise, they also have a console that they want to act as an all in one media device. But Sony is smart they know their fanboys won't go for this, so they feed you lines like "strictly for gamers" and you eat it up and proclaim Sony the king while they are doing the exact same thing as MS. Please write a blog about that.

You can't see this I know.

[dedicatedtogamers]

@ XboxFun

No. I wrote a blog detailing how I was wrong and how - now that I see Sony doing the same thing with PS4 - perhaps I was wrong about ragging on the Xbox One for it. I even go on to point out my own mistake by saying "look, I totally gave Microsoft a hard time about this particular issue and that was wrong of me". I also point out that Sony (and Microsoft) have an opportunity to reduce their RAM footprint in the future. If I was such a hypocrite, wouldn't I adopt a doubt standard by claiming "S-s-sony can change this, g-guys" while neglecting to mention that Microsoft can too?

Though of course let's take my comments from 2 months ago (during a time when DRM and 24-hour check-in were still present) and take them out of context. Let's ignore the earth-shattering shakeup that has gone on within the Xbox brand since then, to which I've consistently replied "good to see they're making progress, but they still need to prove themselves" instead of "24-hour check ins? Microsoft is doomed". Great "detective work". Let's get mad at me for "flip flopping" on one specific issue and let's get mad at me for not immediately praising everything else Microsoft is doing.

Where's the flip flopping? I was the one to call MYSELF out.

I know it's much easier for you guys to think I'm a DedicatedToSony. I know it helps you sleep at night even though I regularly play on Nintendo and Microsoft (if you count Windows) platforms as well. Please, if you really don't mind, at least do me the courtesy of calling me an "anti-Microsoft fanboy". It would be slightly closer to the truth.

The difference between me and you guys is that I'm fine owning up to when I make a mistake. I didn't have to write this blog and I didn't have to eat crow, but I did. Sorry that my "eating crow" wasn't as triumphant as you wanted it to be. Are YOU, XboxFun, willing to eat crow for...hmm, let's just pick one off the pile...how Kinect Sports Rivals was just delayed by several months? I could "play detective" and drum of posts of yours how you praised Kinect and said it would be amazing at launch, couldn't I?

No, I can't, because you joined this site less than a week ago and yet you seem to know so much about me. Hmmm.

I apologize that I don't give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt like some people here.

[Fireseed]

I'd like to take this opportunity (even though only a fraction of N4G will read it) to make light of the even more important matter on hand. Now I mean this in the most sincere and hopefully non offensive way possible, but please stop commenting on developer affairs. I think it was very mature of you to admit to your fault, however in that you admit you are not aware of what really goes into the creation of games, and heavily base your information on derivatives of other devices.

It should be left to this, sure you can know about what specs are in the console you buy, but leave it to us to make the games for you, and pick the ones you like. Should be no argument past that. This whole argument of who has better specs and which console is "more dedicated to gamers" is childish.

[Automatic79]

@dedicatedtogamers

Your hypocrisy is hilarious. Not only are you writing false blogs you kept trying to lead the charge by creating false rumors about Xbox One saying it was weak when in reality it is the other way around.

Note: Gamers anytime you see this hypocrite ignore him. I have no respect for people trying to ruin gaming.

He should change his name to dedicatedliar

[wtopez]

@ dedicatedtogamers
Well come on man... even when blogging about the new development on PS4's RAM allocation, you don't give Microsoft any credit for the fact that they came out of the gate being clear about the X1 RAM resources and you also keep mentioning that it's 5.5 GB available to games when in fact it's 4.5 and 1 GB available if and when background operations allow it and for 1st party games alone. Also Toyota Camry vs Bugatti Veyron? Nice way to take a shot at the X1 while "admitting" your mistakes. As subtle as the final Hindenburg landing. What you seem to be is an all in PS4 fanboy and there is nothing wrong with that! PS4 seems like a great piece of tech even with the recent developments. But this time you don't get to have your cake and eat it too. You are not a fair a balanced paragon of honesty.

[trafalger]

why dont you just sit back, shut up for once, and then you wouldnt need to write all of these blogs trying to explain something?

what is wrong with some of you people, dont you have anything better to do with your free time than to act like a corporate shill? the ps4 will be a great system, why cant that be the focus instead of always feeling the need to put down the xbone every chance you get?

some people just need attention it seems.

[Ducky]

... How will more RAM speed up boot times?
I would figure the HardDrive or Disk read speed would be the limiting factor there.

Having more RAM would be more along the lines of fewer (or non-existent) load screens.

[rainslacker]

More RAM for the OS probably wouldn't affect boot times, however it would likely speed up multi-tasking functions as more services could reside in memory. DTG mentions a few examples in his blog, and it's illustrated quite well on the Vita.

Right now it's all speculation, and that speculation is based on a rumor which may or may not be true.

[ZoyosJD]

A decent HDD would hardly be a limiting factor and with optional backgroud installs the disks will never really have to be in use. Of course they do have worse preformace as they fill, becoming very noticable around the last few gb.

Load times should be non-existant with any decent dev. We are talking more data avalible on RAM than numerous entire 7th gen games.

[Megaton]

It's such a silly story. Sony is hedging their bets. They don't wanna get caught with their jimmies in a vice like they were with the PS3. Unable to add cross-game chat, and I'm sure numerous other unannounced OS-related features because they skimped on RAM.

4.5gb of GDDR5 RAM is overkill for games. Maybe in 5 years it won't be, and they can unlock more of it then, but right now it is. I have 8gb of DDR3 in my PC, and I never even hit 50% usage with games and all sorts of other programs running. Now imagine that in a hyper-optimized environment like a gaming console.

They made The Last of Us on 512mb. Relax.

[HyperBear]

@Megaton: Thank you! I was going to say the exact same thing.

This whole ordeal is just flat out absurd. For starters, Sony never even said, and as of writing this they still haven't confirmed, what part of the RAM is dedicated to gaming and what is dedicated to OS/UI. Everyone on this site are just in an up-roar over absolutely nothing. Xbox fans going "HAHAHA, PS4 sucks now" and PS fans going "PS4 still more powerful, 4>1".

Bottom line is, both the Xbox One and PS4 will have approximately the same amount of RAM dedicated to games and the OS. Are people forgetting that even if PS4 has 4.5GB of VRAM, it is still 8.75x the performance of the PS3 and that's just for game creation. Like what Megaton said, even my PC which has Windows 7 Ultimate and 8GB RAM, I've only ever reached a maximum use of 70% of the memory (and that's while playing a game and having multiple applications opened)

[GameCents]

The point isn't the fact that 4.5 gig is perfectly fine for games, the point is that yesterday 5gigs wasn't enough and was in fact going to hold back the industry.

The big news here isn't the downgrade in games RAM, but rather the hypocrisy being displayed by PS fans who made it a point to give MS grief over their OS RAM.

This rumour may just turn out to be false, however it has exposed the hypocrisy of many on this site, including dedicatedsony who not only wants to call for calm now that the foot is on the other foot, but wants to pretend it is totally justified now that it is SONY.

[Megaton]

If that's what floats your boat, console warrior. Go fight the sad fight, soldier.

[TooTall19]

PS4 will not be held back by RAM. The GPU is what you should worry about 3 years from now.

[cunnilumpkin]

the cpu is the real concern in both systems

a 1.6 ghz cpu is kinda weak sauce

the ram will be totally fine

the gpu is pretty good, certainly could be better, but its ok

[M-M]

No, the CPU speeds are fine. The only reason I say this is that I've never used a PC with an i series processor. The laptop I'm currently on is a 2GHz dual core, and that compared to a 1.6Ghz octa-core sounds pretty good to me. Besides, they are gaming consoles so they should put most of there money towards the GPU.

[dazzrazz]

Fuck Me ! For the past 6-7 years everybody were gaming with 512MB on both consoles (and even less then that was usable for actual games)Now the number got significantly bumped and there is a mass panic around 0_o

[e-p-ayeaH]

yeah people forgot about that xD

[-Gespenst-]

I just get the sense that all the features you claim you be embracing have in fact been imposed on you by these game companies. They make us think we want this gimmicky crap when all we really want is a games console that plays good games.

You make a good point about game booting times. The amount of shiny company logos that splash at the start of games these days is absurd. It's just advertisement saturation.

I'll take being able to connect to the internet, but I literally could not care less about being helped or helping someone else play my or their games. That to me is just the most pointless feature ever, and encourages laziness and people not experiencing their games the way they were meant to be experienced. I don't care about remote play at all. Why should I? I don't care about inundating youtube with mundane, monotonous videos of myself playing a videogame (so absurd), playing while installing I can live without, I can see myself just waiting until the game is fully compiled on my hdd. I don't care about using my Vita as a little companion map for my Ps4 games (seriously the most stupid thing ever, how are people buying into that?)

A games console shouldn't have to multi-task excessively like this. Let it run games, and let it connect to the internet. All these other features are totally extraneous and are merely indicative of Sony and Microsoft cashing in on dumb mass cultural social network, connectivity trends that can only serve to make games an even shallower experience than before when combined with the mass culture pandering triple-A market.

Capitalists have taken over the games industry, not auteurs and creative minds. Games are being assimilated into these stupid ephemeral trends and are not being given room to grow and mature as a medium. They're becoming more and more a part of mass culture and because of this, will necessarily become shallow experiences. Game companies are just spinning all this inane stuff so they retain the gamer demographic along with the masses and maximise their profits. Such a broad market means big budget shallow-fests and low risk, which equals rubbish quality. We've already been seeing this in how games for nearly the last decade have predominantly been forgettable 6 hour linear graphical showcases.

I've said this in another comment, but the SNES proved you can make great, unique, and unforgettable games with only kilobytes of ram. It doesn't matter how powerful your console is at all, it's all about creativity and imagination. Two things which are currently being ignored in the pursuance of mesmerising, but ultimately empty, graphics showcases and technology fetishism. Therefore yes, you're right that 5.5 gb of ram is more than enough, it's just a shame that so much of that 8gb is being lost to silly trends and unnecessary gimmicks. It's the principle of that which bothers me- the deceptive advertising and spin which is being employed to make us think this crap is good or worth having, it's just very cynical and "anti-videogames" or something, not to mention disingenuous.

[dedicatedtogamers]

You're right that the push to be "everything in one box" is taking attention away from gaming, but not in every way. Consider online gaming. That requires resources that - technically - could be used for a richer single-player gaming experience. We all know the cliche of how multiplayer is shoehorned into an FPS and the campaign suffers for it.

However, if (and that's a big IF) console companies are willing to devote these extra resources to improving gaming, I don't see the problem.

[wishingW3L]

even then, 3.5 Gigs of ram dedicated to that stuff is still overkill. I mean, you can do soooo much with only 2GB of ram on Windows 7-8 with its crazy overheads you know. You can watch an HD movie, surf the Internet and download updates all at the same time and you still would have tons of unused ram left. And believe me, right now I'm on a freaking netbook with Windows 7 and only 1GB of ram watching 2 TwitchTV streams, writing this comment here and still have 300MB of Ram left.

[xxLuckyStrike]

REALITY CHECK: It's VIDEO GAMES PEOPLE!!! IT'S NOT REAL LIFE!!! Look, I love my Xbox AND PS3 just as much as the next guy, but common man. Some guys are really buthurt like the family dog died. Why??? Cause Sony might not allocate all 7gb of super fast gddr5 to games. You should see what MS and Sony can do with 512mb. 5gb ram is plenty for both console's.

[s45gr32]

I am still scratching my head when it comes to memory allocation, OS footprint, ram, etc when it comes to video game consoles. For PC is pretty standard

[ABeastNamedTariq]

Hahaha! An actual picture of a ram. I don't know why I laughed so hard at that.

OT: I don't think we should be getting our panties in a bunch just yet. Sony hasn't confirmed or denied this yet, that's what we're all forgetting. For now it's all speculation. You guys just treat this as life and death or something. Fact of the matter is, whether it's 4.5 GB, 5.5 GB, or 7, it's more than enough for this upcoming generation (for now). I mean that for PS4 and XB1 (5 gigs is enough too). We're good here. We're good. Worlds will get only get bigger and better.

[fsfsxii]

Another day. Another fanboy cry

[Crazycory35]

Xbox one takes 3gb to run its operating system lmao, ps4 still has more RAM not that any devs this generation are going to use 5gb of RAM

[Crazycory35]

People tend to believe next gen is going to be photo real graphics and lightening speed everything. Sure those things are better but next gen is mostly about social media and sharing. I mean we are paying $400 for a better version of ps3 it's going to be great, but not like we are paying 600-1000 for a top of the line PC.

[Bowzabub]

Both companies have repeatedly said that next gen is not about how different games will be made but how we will play them.

[s45gr32]

That's what sucks that is the reason why I am kickstarting some of my games like among the sleep a survival horror game from the view of a two year old, distance one of the few or probably last arcade racer similar to Tron. Not of this create an account, pay to play online gaming crapola

[s45gr32]

RAM allocations, OS footprint, resources, the hell is this. For sure as hell is not a gaming console. Why oh why must consoles be more PC like, consoles were better when they were machines that played only games and showed console gamers how gaming was going to evolve via visuals, game play mechanics, story, etc. None of this crap of kinect, gamepad, or social media. I like what the blogger says but I whole heartily disagree the future of console gaming is to imitate the PC gaming market. Come on light gun games were fun, no show for the next nfl blitz or mlb slugfest, no show for the next arcade racer, no show for the next platformer other than Rayman legends. Is just sad that people expect mmo, rts, and the hundreds of fps are the future of console gaming which is not. What these next generation consoles need is an identity, something that no company or corporations have done already. Like the PS2 the introduction of DVD format and how it was going to change gaming also entertainment but it stuck to gaming first and foremost or the first time a gamer played Donkey Kong Country. That's what console gaming was all about, now all I hear is memory allocation, account having to pay to play online, DlC, etc. . My point is console gaming should return to offer unique experiences.

[BillytheBarbarian]

Remember Saturn could read CDGs? It was not only a game console, it was a karaoke machine! It lost to the ps1 because of the 64k ram taken away from games and used for karaoke....

if you believe that well you'll believe all this crap.

O.O

[Captain Tuttle]

This has been a very entertaining couple of days, overdose on schadenfreude.

[CBaoth]

agreed. The best part has been watching all the fantards foam at the mouth from both sides!

[_FantasmA_]

Does anybody really care about this? I mean its not like we aren't going to be getting those AAAmazing games Sony has been doing for 3 consoles now.

[joshuatobi]

im taken everything into perspective and came up with is that this is a lie because before all this a developer i forget the name said that they have all this extra ram and didnt know what to do with it all. these are developers the ones in the know on what is in the hardware and they already know whats allocated and whats not because they are developing games already so if the 3.5 gb of ram were the case that would leave 4 which is not alot to make a developer scratch their heads thinking what to do with it all

[JohnCartenper]

What a buffoonish "article".

So if M$ leaves 3gb of ram for OS(s), multitasking, apps, social it is somehow a crime against gamers everywhere in the world.

If Sony does the same it's "ok" "more than enough ram" "don't really matter".

What a bunch of hogwash.

Both next gen consoles are multimedia living room-oriented POS.

Both M$ and Sony have realized that "hardcore"(it's that how console kiddies are calling themselves now lol?) gamers are NOT ENOUGH to turn in a profit.

THEY NEED THE AVERAGE JOE, the ROKU BOX guy, the APPLE TV woman, the ANDROID dongle kid.

Face it, console gaming is going the way PC gaming has.
Casual, casual, casual + niche niche niche.

Devs and companies do thing to make money not please the ego of internet trolls.