Frictional Games Explains How They Tackled The Slower Clock Speed of the PS4's CPU

Frictional Games’ Thomas Grip on the challenges of developing the PS4 version of SOMA.

[DarkAstronaut]

What kind of a title is this? This is super amateur. Who is pushing this narrative of the CPUs in either console being tapped? I just can't believe people want to push these insane tapped narratives, they did it last gen too when early games would have technical issues. The same systems produced GTA V and TLOU with in comparison to PCs or the new consoles very barebones specs.

From this to people making judgements on pre alpha demos, I think it's time for people and websites that know next to nothing about game development to stop talking about it. Unless your goal is just to push negativity and in that case you should step back and check yourself because this is getting out of hand.

[nucky64]

I'm with you. however, the internet is full of people with agendas - I just laugh at it.

[GameNameFame]

This is gaming bolt...

And from benchmark, PS4 has more CPU for gaming.

http://www.cinemablend.com/...

[creatchee]

@DarkAstronaut

Did you even bother to read the article before you vomited your overly zealous reply???

From the article:

' "We handle the slower clock speed by trying to offload as much as we can on the GPU and to use multi threading wherever possible.” Thomas Grip from Frictional Games said to GamingBolt. “Having to deal with the PS4 CPU has made our tech programmer, Peter, do some really nice optimizations to the game and engine, which in turn means that much lower-end PCs will support it. If it has a DX 10 card, it will probably be able to play SOMA." '

So not only does the article explain the processes and methods used to counteract the CPU, but also thanks it (in a way) for helping the devs optimize the game to run on lower PCs than their original target. In other words, more people have an opportunity to play the game overall because they developed on the PS4.

People need to drop jumping off of the handle just because of their perception of a title of an article. This is getting ridiculous.

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

The author himself belittled the "clock speed" of the PS4's CPU as well as the CPU's of consoles by saying, and I quote, "It’s no secret that CPUs in current generation consoles are pretty slow compared to current trends."

Now it's obvious that he's trying to compare the "slower" CPU of the PS4 to something is he not? Again, if everyone reading this article has a clear grasp of English, then you do understand that the author is comparing slower "console" CPU's to "current trends."

"Given that developers will be stuck with these slower processors for quite a long time now, it’s indeed a challenge for games that want to push visual boundaries."

As I stated before, it is absolutely absurd to compare the clock speed of a console with laptop architecture with that of a PC. Why would this author even pose a question to a developer in such a way as to compare consoles to PCs? It's stupid and serves absolutely no purpose other than to reveal the author's lack of knowledge on the subject.

[DarkAstronaut]

It's the delivery and the drive for a negative headline like "slower CPU" than explaining the technical process itself. My point is, is these websites go around asking questions about things they know nothing about trying to encourage a response. The way the narrative is pushed is ridiculous, it's like insinuating the CPU needs to be pushed for this game, when in reality this generation will be pushed much farther than the technical processes this game is delivering. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about.

[TheBrownBandito]

"Did you even bother to read the article before you vomited your overly zealous reply??? "

You are spectacularly naive.

[ChickeyCantor]

"It's the delivery and the drive for a negative headline like "slower CPU" than explaining the technical process itself"

The dev said "Slower clock speed". So he was just paraphrasing the dev. Why you guys tripping over this? Of all the flavors you could be, you picked salty.

[Bigpappy]

I don't like artificially sensationalizing titles. I don't see this as one, as that is exactly what the developer is discussing. No need to defend the PS4 CPU so hard. Most people spread kno

[badz149]

yeah, the CPU of the PS4 is so problematic and that is why it's the most problematic console this gen. oh wait...

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

Stupid article. Another silly PC/PS4 comparison. Everyone knows that the PS4 cannot compete with a PC in terms of performance. This is an utterly useless article.

[DarkAstronaut]

Everybody just treats game development like a straight forward process when it's the complete opposite.

[zero_gamer]

360 and PS3 however did when they came out. Wonder why we can't have it this generation. Console gaming has never been so underpowered.

[Paytaa]

The sad thing is you're right. When the 360 and PS3 first came out the hardware was top of the line and could compete with PC for the time being spec-wise. Right out of the gate Xbox One and PS4 were underpowered from a standpoint in 2013 since you could find similar hardware in a tablet.

[telekineticmantis]

It's called the cell processor, and a $600 price tag. Sony's attempt to make the PS3 as future-proof as possible, made it a laughingstock, remember? This generation in order to avoid that, they just used comparable intuitive PC specs with a few tricks to make it easier for devs and have a price tag most consumers can accept. Hopefully, cloud gaming/processing will make up for it, sooner or later.

[Qrphe]

PS3 might have, but PS2 did not and neither did the PS1. PS1, PS2 and PS4 are wildly successful, PS3 wasn't.

[Cernunnos]

@telekeneticsmantis. The PS3 didnt fail at future-proofing due to the Cell CPU, it failed due to a pretty bad memory architechture, as well as memory amount, and the pretty slow GPU it had. The cell probably has more raw power than the PS4 CPU today, just very hard to utilize, especially with the memory architechture it ended up with.

[mkis007]

Both previous gen consoles were sold well under cost. $800+ for ps3 alone. Both new gen consoles are already profitable at their normal msrp of $399.

[hkgamer]

no one is comparing a pc to a ps4. the dev just mentions that they had to do lots of optimisation to the game and engine because of the ps4's cpu. bfause of that they ar able people with lower spec pc are now able to play this game.

[Deano7394]

Another terrible article from GamingBolt.

[Volkama]

Watch as they ask every dev they can about the "challenges of the slow CPUs in the consoles" in desperate hopes of a headline quote.

[Dramacydal]

Gaming Bolt - We're part of the problem

[hkgamer]

ok. it isnt that great of an article by gaming bolt, but they really didnt contribute much. most was said by the developers and they did mention about the speed of ps4's cpu. now anything negative about ps4 is going to get people riled up for some reason.

its a good thing. dev mentions this game is now more optimised for pc because of the ps4.

[scark92]

Had no idea Frictional were developing for the PS4, Pretty cool to hear!

[mochachino]

The picture they use for the game is terrible and there's no link to more pics or info about the game either.

You'd think that maybe it would be nice to give one iota of care about the actual game in an article about it..

[HeMan76]

I will say something but will be labeled as a fanboy. Not only slow clock rate GDDR5 and API which is OGL based choking the weak CPU. GDDR5 not CPU beneficial its for GPU because high latency choking it and API requires CPU power more than GPU. Look at the PS3 exclusives they look gorgeous because of very powerful CPU.

People blaming MS of being cheap due to using DDR3 but this is the best solution if you consider CPU beneficiany. As for rendering ESRAM a good solution. Anyway. I will be accused being a Mr.x follower. I would tell more but....

[DarkAstronaut]

The thirst is real.

[TOTSUKO]

No please tell more.

[mike_honcho]

@SheMan.. this is not the defining comment that has labeled you a fanboy.. I mean cmon ur constantly trolling Sony articles.. what it boils down to is, your mad and your 38 years old.. time to be a big boy and get over it..

edit: please define "beneficiany"

[ziggurcat]

you mean, at most, the .15 difference in clock speed? yeah... that really needed to be "tackled."

stop approving gamingbolt.

[mixelon]

They're comparing it's performance to modern PCs, not to the X1.

[ziggurcat]

so then why single out the PS4? why not include the xbone? oh, right... because it would paint the console in a negative light, and gamingbolt won't have that happen.

[mixelon]

Because they aren't *making* it for Xbox one, so asking them how they've dealt with that CPU would be totally pointless?

Ther is no Xbox One announced version of SOMA. This isn't gamingbolt's fault. Lol.

[ps5fanboy]

Slower clock speed ,but same results(or better) pretty much, so who cares...?

Techies care for such things not gamers.

[darksky]

Most people who say the consoles are weak fail to take into account that the clock speed is 1.6GHz while a decent top end pc is usually 3.4GHz or higher. No doubt if the clock was doubled the performance would too.

Even at half the speed the PS4 appears to be capable of producing games which are close to the higher end pc's. No way would a 1.6GHz PC match a PS4.