IGN writes: "In the first part of three part interview, IGN speaks to Mark Cerny, lead architect of Sony's new console. Today we talk about the hardware."
Cerny is officially a consultant. He is not officially on Sony's payroll as a Sony employee. He has mentioned this in many of his interviews and presentations. He likens the position to that of a director on a film. He has creative control over the direction and vision of the project at hand, but he does not have to report to supervisors or investors on a regular basis. He doesn't have to directly answer to anyone because as a consultant the responsibilities of the day to day activities do not lie with him. He prefers this as it lets him concentrate on the direction of the project with a minimal amount of distractions and also none of the other stresses.
Cerny reminds me of Steve Jobs in that he had the guts to do something radical, which was design PS4 from the perspective of a game developer, not systems engineer.
Regarding the Cloud: "Well, to the extent that it's possible to do computing in the cloud, Playstation 4 can do computing in the cloud. We do some things....Today matchmaking is done in the cloud and it works very well. If we think about things that don't work well...Trying to boost the quality of the graphics, that won't work well in the cloud"
--Mark Cerny . . . That part was the most profound to me.
cerny has been with sony in a non employee way for a long long time, i am glad he went to sony to see if he could be the lead guy for ps4 and i am very glad sony allowed him
i think he can sense what developers want more because he himself is a developer and because he makes/consult on games than he knows what gamers want too
PS4 has all the positive media attention behind it since February, can't wait to get mine
one thing that is ruined is this pre order craziness, i like it because i don't have to stand in a long. But in a way it was fun standing in a line with fellow gamers and than some were told we are sold out and some were mugged in the parking lot lol
@Conzul Now now, keep any references to the magic baby, his dad and the ghost from scooby doo out of public forums.
They are neither welcome or tolerated.
As to Mr Cerny, a Zeitgeist he maybe in his field and I agree that his approach to the design and architecture has been a radical departure to previous iterations of the playstation, however the only issue i have is saying only the ps4 has been designed with gamers at the forefront.
I'd argue that all consoles are designed with gamers at the forefront as it's primary consumer base. That said both Sony and Microsoft have embraced additional features.
Whether it is TV, social media, netflix, music, movies or internet gaming they all diverge from a pure gaming machine.
Both the next gen consoles are focusing in the right way, harnessing new and innovative ways of focusing the user while at the same time giving them choice.
On a final note it was interesting to hear Cerny refer to Computations in the cloud in the same sentence as match making. I'm not sure if it was intentional or deliberately ambiguous. Makes you wonder doesn't it?
This guy seems like he's on the ball, very impressed with what he has accomplished so far. Off topic, does anyone else get reminded of Jim Carrey with this guy? Every time I look at Mark I get a rush of Carrey haha Maybe it's just me
I just like that there's a face behind the PS4, someone who can come out and explain all the technical nuances of its creation and development. As a consumer it makes me feel like real effort was put behind my hard earned purchase. Something I always admired about companies like Apple, they aren't evolutionary, but they are extraordinarily revolutionary. I love to see passion behind these things. And I'm not knocking Xbox, because its obviously a comparable machine to a certain extent but all I remember about it was that brash comment Don Mattrick made about online connectivity and "you should go buy a 360." I would hate to hear that as a consumer for their product(s).
Huh, I figured PS4 was a concerted effort; like R+D, business analysts, industry feedback, a whole bunch of people really. If this guy built PS4, Sony needs to fire some people since obviously they're surplus to requirement
You think Mark Cerny is single-handedly responsible for the PS4? My comment is simply an attempt to invoke a little perspective here. I'm not trying to rile anybody up, just bringing some common sense is all.
nobody thinks he made the system by hand all completely by himself,get real. not a serious comment,just some ms trolling is all. he is the biggest single reason for most things with the insides of it. a design team created how it looks.
No it is not just "MS Trolling" it was a simple comment so stop being paranoid about your precious console that you don't even own yet and read before you slam your face in the keyboard again.
I have all 3 consoles and a gaming PC and play the PS3 predominantly and I have PS4 and XBox one on pre-order. I have no problem with sony or their playstation business, I just think people need to realise PS4 is a group effort. mark cerny most likely arrived at the PS4 architecture through a lot of research in conjunction with his bosses, developers and the playstation family at large, their are lots of people to thank for PS4!
He does seems to know what hes doing but he is the public face of a much bigger team that does all the hard work and still answerable to his far eastern overlords.
The amount of worship of him already from certain parts of the community for a product that isn't even out yet is a bit strange to say the least. Reminds me of Monty Python - The messiah is coming. He is a project manager not a saint.
If the PS4 is a success then congrats to him and his extended team at Sony.
mark cerny farted wheres the article? wait for it wait for it! ...THERE it is. the guy is likeable, speaks to the public for that i commend him. he made knack ...MEHHHHHHHH
cerny's fart would me more interesting than your pointless drivel. the man is the chief architect of ps4 in addition to developing knack. don't be a hater give credit where its due
Wow...because the list of Nobel Prize winners include a long series of undeserved black people!?! Take a look at the Nobel Prize list and you will find many people that "didn't do anything" to deserve it and some that do. It's like any other "prize".
Lol Molyneux? Lets not get ahead of as a yourself here, the guy is as straight forward about the PS4 as he can get. Molyneux or anyone at MS hasn't been that forth coming about anything Xbox related.
He isn't brash, he's just talking about the Console he lead development on, and as far as I've heard, he isn't calling Knack a bastion of New game play experience or anything that's showcasing the PS4's full potential. Infact he isn't hyping his game in saying to Eurogamer's editors that Knack is a "small game... meant for accessibility and fun compared to Games like Watch_Dogs, Killzone, and AC". We all know how Molyneux over hypes and, and Mark Cerny giving interviews to talk about and being forthcoming about a console he lead development on should not be skewed as being cocky..
It's face time, he isn't slandering the competition, he isn't coming off like Don Mattrick or Aaron Greenburg or even Major Nelson.
Lol it's funny how people from the other camp is annoyed because the guy is gaining more notoriety. Is it bad that Currently the PS4 has better standing with public because Sony took steps to make sure the console appeased the very consumer they want to have purchase the merchandise?
Yeh I agree, he comes across as a humble genius. I mean even today that little snippet about the Cloud impacting graphics, he wasn't like "oh those other guys tell you different? psst ...NOPE" ...he just sounded technical in his answer like he was backing it up with first hand knowledge of how it all works, and here's the crazy part I believe him.
lying? "They blink less than normal during the lie, and then have a flurry up to eight times faster than usual afterwards."
I believed him, but we do know that you can do less latency demanding tasks over cloud, atmospheric affects, fog, lighting etc.. All these things would take demand off the gpu, so that there may be more resources available to "improve" graphics. Thats my explanation, but gosh darnit, it sure looked like he was lying there!
Ah yes, fog calculations - the bane of any graphics processor, thank the lord that they can now be handled in the cloud !
And atmospheric effects no less ! I look forward to seeing glorious cloud processed heat shimmer because thats clearly a much better idea than just doing it on the local hardware.
Excessive blinking, even when timed with a statement, doesn't necessarily denote a lie. What it DOES denote is that the person is accessing another part of the brain that is required for creativity and not memory. That COULD be for creating a lie. Or, it could be trying to be more creative than just giving a PR memorized answer. I would say that better indicators would be eye contact (too much or too little), avoidant body language, and excessive talk (more explanation than what is needed for the answer). No ONE of these can tell you that someone is lying. However, a combination of them could provide a huge clue.
Cerny is a genius. Sony sure knew what it was doing when they hired him to design the most powerful console ever!!!
cerny is god!
This guy seems like he's on the ball, very impressed with what he has accomplished so far. Off topic, does anyone else get reminded of Jim Carrey with this guy? Every time I look at Mark I get a rush of Carrey haha Maybe it's just me
I just like that there's a face behind the PS4, someone who can come out and explain all the technical nuances of its creation and development. As a consumer it makes me feel like real effort was put behind my hard earned purchase. Something I always admired about companies like Apple, they aren't evolutionary, but they are extraordinarily revolutionary. I love to see passion behind these things. And I'm not knocking Xbox, because its obviously a comparable machine to a certain extent but all I remember about it was that brash comment Don Mattrick made about online connectivity and "you should go buy a 360." I would hate to hear that as a consumer for their product(s).