Sucker Punch Says PS4 Future Is Compute, Explains Some Tricks

In the Infamous: Second Son postmortem, Sucker Punch's Adam Bentley explains why compute (or GPGPU) is the future of PS4 development, adding a few PS4 specific tricks.

[odderz]

Doesn't look like the performance gap between PS4 and XB1 will go away or become any less obvious.

[NewMonday]

Mark Cerny talked about the APU from the start, the PS4 is good from the very start, but GPU compute is what it will be about in the future, games like Killzone and inFAMOUS are just the start and will look average compared to future 1st party games.

[randomass171]

Absolutely, PS4 games will look spectacular by the end of the generation. I'm pretty sure Wii U and Xbox One games will also visually improve over time, but PS4 is the one that's going to hold the high spot for graphics this generation, no ifs ands or buts about it.

[TitanUp]

that sounds crazy, infamous and killzone looks terrific. crazy to think uncharted may surpass those games in graphics

[ObiWanaTokie]

i just cant fathom what we will see in 3 -5 years. it will be legend- wait for it-

[kaiserfranz]

Indeed, there will be very, very interesting stuff!

[ObiWanaTokie]

dary!

[stuna1]

Just compare compute units of the PS4 as opposed to the Xbox1, there are 50% more units in the PS4. The fact that Sony is not talking about a lot of thing in the PS4 that are hardware specific, gives the impression that they are in noway, shape or, form intimidated by anything Microsoft have shown thus far!

Some are under the impression that Sony is sitting back idling their time away, while the competitor is moving full steam ahead! But yet it's amazing how quick some forget, it was Sony who coined the phrase "This is a Marathon , not a Sprint!"

[MasterCornholio]

I agree with you. I hate those morons who think that DX12 will boost the power of the Xbox One so much that it will surpass the PS4s. If there's one thing that in learned is that strong hardware is needed to produce graphically intensive games. No amount of software updates will boost a gameboy (for example) to perform on the same level as a PS4.

[vlashyr]

Surely DX12 will give an extra boost to the Xbox one but will never exceed Ps4.

[kaiserfranz]

Let's hope they can show some nice games using compute already by E3/Gamescom.

[TheUltimateGamer]

Pretty much what I was thinking. We know they've got the power, let's see them actually use it.

[Summons75]

I've heard "this is a marathon, not a sprint" way before Sony ever said it. But you are correct. Compared to last gen Sony is playing their cards just right.MS fumbled this gen the minute they decides to focus on the social and cable box and less on games. Last gen Sony focused on social and it led to a messy system until they refocused on games. 2009 on were all about games. Hopefully MS will regroup quick and rethink the cable box.

[Cueil]

50 percent more doesn't mean 50 percent more on screen... that's not how this works

[AtomicGerbil]

More is more regardless of what it achieves.

[strickers]

Expert on GPGPU?

[Cueil]

@strickers the dimishing law of return applies to CUs... it's the reason MS chose a mhz increase over activating the two extra CUs

[MasterCornholio]

I'm glad that they didn't blab about how compute is perfect and doesn't have any flaws. Its great to see developers be honest about technology that they are working with.

:)

Can't wait to see more games use compute.

[randomass171]

Generally that's how Sony devs are. From the interviews I've read, they're very down to earth and honest about what they do and how they do it.

[Ninjatogo]

"they're very down to earth"
I guess you could there heads aren't in the *clouds*
;D I had to.

[micx]

Down to Earth, that's always good.

[Festano]

And we are only at the beginning, in two years we will begin to see the ps4 hardware exploited to good.

[Aurenar]

Hopefully.

[fOrlOnhOpe57]

It looks like Sony's thinking of making the PS4 Dev-centric is going to be a key decision in the consoles success.

[randomass171]

Honestly, that should have been in the forefront of Nintendo and Microsoft's minds. I'm very surprised they didn't hold developers before anything else when considering new hardware. :/

[DarkLordMalik]

GPU Compute will play a big part in games going forward, that's for sure. SPUs, similarly, were used by a lot of the PS3 exclusives.

[micx]

It seems this time Sony screwed up with CPU, they could have gone with a more powerful CPU, especially considering how well GPU is done this time around.

[DoesUs]

That's right, they should of added a more powerful CPU and raised the RRP to $999.00, EVERYONE would of bought one!

[micx]

No need to go that far, they could've raised the RRP to $499.00.

[Cueil]

both chose to go with laptop style gpu rather then a higher level desktop style to reduce heat and noise... I can't blame them, but I would take the trade off of a little more noise for a lot more power.

[Ninjatogo]

You should remember this is actually an APU (not separate CPU and GPU), and it's only semi custom. For some specs, they probably just took what AMD already planned for the chip.

[Skate-AK]

GPGPU is a good idea for both consoles.