Dev: Mastering PS4 Compute Yields Massive Gains, Like PS3 CELL

Zombie Studios spoke with us about Compute on PS4, stating that mastering it will lead to massive performance gains, similarly to PS3's CELL.

[TheUltimateGamer]

Good. I'd like to see 3rd party games reach the peak of quality that only the first parties were able to on the last gen. I'm really looking forward to seeing what comes of this gen of consoles.

[awi5951]

I need a game that will push my pc. There isnt anything out yet that's really pushing the edge in graphics right now. We dont have a crysis type game out at all now. Metro last light is good but its a single player game only and its very doom like.We need a Pc game with far open spaces to explore. BF4 isn't a challenge to run at all at 60 fps on ultra. We need that big game but with new consoles out there isnt and rush from developers to push the PC at this point. I just witcher 3 doesnt suffer for this when it comes out.

[I_am_Batman]

Games are getting more expensive and there is almost no point in making PC exclusive AAA games for most big publishers anymore especially when you look at the success of the new gen consoles.

[ATi_Elite]

Crysis 3 with the Realism mod my friend and of course GTAIV with Icenhancer mod.

Cryengine 3 is so Optimized that it can produce awesome graphics very efficiently. The Realism Mod pushes the Engine further and adds even more eye candy.

Icenhancer on GTAIV is flatout a MONSTER to run and it makes GTAIV look better than anything EVER.

Metro LAst Light with Sweetfx or Realsim MOd is pretty tough.

Heck The Witcher 2 on Ultra with Uber Sampling turned on is still a PAIN.

[zeuanimals]

Most multiplats wouldn't exist if they didn't come to consoles, and you should be happy that there's a new generation. Consoles are almost always the main target for 3rd party devs, they have to make their games work well on them because that's where the games are gonna sell the most and make the most money. PC gets upressed ports with some better details and effects.

New console generations don't just mean better looking console games, it also means much better looking console to PC ports. Look at this gen's best looking games and soon to be even better looking games. Now imagine them being ported to PC with better IQ and effects. They could potentially rival a lot of the best looking PC games.

Maybe this gen, we're gonna start seeing more PC to console ports instead, because of the x86 architecture.

[randomass171]

You can expect to see a lot of PS4/XB1/PC games ported across all three platforms since they all have the same architecture. With game prices rising, why wouldn't developers easily port their games over for extra profit?

[mysteryraz11]

who gives a crap about the pc, the devs dont, so shutup crying and saying wah what about my pc, unlike pcs devs know know what are in the consoles, so its easier to optimize and improve games on them and thats why games sell best on consoles, cause they are so simple

[Magicite]

No, we dont, very few people can afford super high-end PCs.

[ravinash]

With the consoles being closer to the PC architecture now more than ever, it should be to much of a problem to turn the graphics up with larger textures and effects.

I'm sure with the new consoles, the PC version of the games will benefit from this as well.

[ATi_Elite]

Taking instructions or actions from the CPU and sending them to the GPU has been going on for a long time on teh PC side so now that Consoles ARE PC's it's good to see console Devs use Compute functions.

This frees up the CPU to do other things like BETTER ENEMY A.I. or larger game worlds.

The PS4 will get stronger as more Devs use Compute and offload some task to the PS4 GPU.

[kaiserfranz]

Indeed, as the developer said, it can add "a lot of life" to a game world. That's very important to me, I feel AI is so far behind graphics and even physics right now in most games.

[randomass171]

Keep in mind, devs on consoles haven't had capabilities like the PS4 before. The platform before it had about 512MB of RAM and the CPU was difficult to work with. Now we have about eight times the RAM and a much more reasonable CPU for which developers other than Sony's first party studios can actually work with.

[Xtremist]

Compute parallelism is not possible on traditional pc hardware because it doesn't have the architecture for this kind of tasks.
On pc, when you send actions to the GPU you are actually stealling the processing power from the GPU.
That's not the case with ps4.

[odderz]

Can't wait to see that first next-gen title that'll truly blow me away. I'm primarily a console gamer but I can't say I've seen a game on the new systems that has really truly impressed me yet. It's coming, I'm sure...

[monkeyDzoro]

Not infamous SS ?

[randomass171]

I take it Odderz wants to go above and beyond Second Son. Beautiful as that game is, I think we all know Sony can (and WILL) push that boundary even further. :)

[Guwapo77]

@Monkey - Infamous is nice but I wasn't blown away. I'm with Odderz, it's coming friends believe that. We WILL be blown away it just hasn't happened yet.

[UltraNova]

Well be patient my friend U4, GoW 4 and the next two titles form Guerrilla KZ4 and the new IP will more than satisfy your appetite for eye candy.

[Festano]

I agree.

[nypifisel]

The Order 1886 is pretty much the best looking game I've seen ever, and I've been an exclusive PC gamer for 11 years.

[Guwapo77]

@nypifisel - I agree. The order looks great on a subpar Youtube video...it's going to be mind blowing on the system.

[cfc78]

No argument from me sounds spot on just hope the mastering comes sooner rather than later.

[Alexious]

For the stated reasons it should hopefully come sooner than PS3, and more substantially across the board with multiplatform games. Can't wait to see the new games at E3

[ramiuk1]

or just wait till week before MS releases dx12 lol,screw them again with htere 5% increase it will bring the bone.

great to hear devs happy though ,

[ccgr]

Awesome, look forward to seeing my PS4 flex its muscles

[soljah]

dat power of the cloud oh wait wrong thread LOL

[akurtz]

Mark Cerny said so!

[MasterCornholio]

Funny how Microsoft said that having more compute cores is a bad thing.

Very interesting how these two firms designed their consoles.

:)

[Dudebro90]

Do you people gotta bring Xbox into everything?

N4g logic.

[MasterCornholio]

@dudebro90

Would you stop getting butthurt every time someone compares playstation to Xbox?

Seriously I just stated something that Microsoft said and I find it curious that Mark Cerney said that having more compute cores is better while Microsoft said that having more was bad. Nothing wrong with what I said and I wasn't attacking Xbkx (like you were claiming) by saying it.

Look if you dont want me to compare PlayStation to Xbox then just ask Microsoft to stop producing video game systems. Its only natural that I compare similar products to each other. For instance you will never see me compare the PS4 to a calculator.

[RadioActiveTwinky]

Where's the source that says that. I want to read that cause that is pretty dumb of whomever said that.

[MasterCornholio]

@Radio

Here you go.

http://www.dailytech.com/Mi...

"We actually saw on the launch titles - we looked at a lot of titles in a lot of depth - we found that going to 14 CUs wasn't as effective as the 6.6 per cent clock upgrade that we did. Now everybody knows from the internet that going to 14 CUs should have given us almost 17 per cent more performance but in terms of actual measured games - what actually, ultimately counts - is that it was a better engineering decision to raise the clock. There are various bottlenecks you have in the pipeline that [can] cause you not to get the performance you want [if your design is out of balance]. "

@dudebro90

I have nothing against Microsoft having a console on the market. I just hate dudebros that's all.

:)

[DigitalRaptor]

There's no bigger sign of a fanboy is one that is so insecure about the "console war" that the words Xbox and PlayStation cannot be uttered in the same sentence or conversation.

That is sadder than any kind of fanboyism in all honesty, cause not only are you deliberately pushing both brands into their own little boxes, you're completely shutting out any comparisons that can be made, and stunting all possibility of intelligent conversation and analysis.

Do you keep your PlayStation's locked away in one room, forbidden to share the same space as Xbox's or Nintendo gear?

You are the one throwing yourself off the handle by literally crying over a person that decided to discuss both consoles, in a valid observation. Eurogamer DigitalFoundry exists to compare versions of games. Technology websites compare similar products because people are interested in how different products compare. If you've been gaming for the past 20 years, and have been here since the dawn of the Internet, comparing consoles and games has been a normal practice.
-------

"If your precious PS4 is so amazing"

Exposed yourself. Do yourself a favour and leave the Internet if you don't want to have a gaming technology discussion.

[Volkama]

MasterCornholio nothing in your quote says that GPU Compute is a bad thing. All that says is MS found the increase in clockspeed was a better decision for them than adding additional compute cores. That's a far cry from "GPU Compute is bad".

More directly on topic, GPU compute is imo the most exciting piece of the PS4 architecture. People talk about the GDDR and that may indeed be lovely in terms of ease of development, but if I were a betting man I'd have money on GPU Compute as the feature that will really drive new experiences in games. Infamous particle effects are (hopefully) just the very small tip of that iceberg.

[kaiserfranz]

Realy? They said having more compute cores is a bad thing? I don't recall this...Would be quite foolish.

[nypifisel]

The Xbox One is at a huge disadvantage when it comes to GGPU tasks. Next to the RAM configuration of the XBO this is probably where the lack behind the most.

[MasterCornholio]

@Volkama

Whoops your right about the qoute I just read it again and the only thing they said was that they studied increasing the compute cores but they came to the conclusion that increasing the clock speed of the GPU was better since it kept the system balanced.

I think all this talk about balance is BS since multiplats run better on the PS4 due to its simpler more powerful hardware. Which is why I think its bit silly that they said that.

[TomahawkX]

Considering how great Infamous: SS looks, I can't even begin to imagine how good the games will look 2 years from now.

[Alexious]

True, infamous really looks fantastic and if you read their postmortem it's clear that they now know many more on the platform and it will show in the next games.

[madworld]

OK then we want to see some great games in this year!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BitbyDeath]

The Order will be the next title to push the barriers of gaming.

[TitanUp]

that is pretty neat, naughty dog are probably the ones that are going to bring the most out of the ps4.

[cfc78]

Uncharted 4 amazing Uncharted 5 mind blowing Uncharted 6 we have lift off.

[I_am_Batman]

As much as I want to see more Uncharted I think Naughty Dog should have a new main IP for the PS4 after Uncharted 4.

[cfc78]

@Batman totally agree on a new ip maybe they can fit both in to a somewhat busy schedule.

[randomass171]

Batman hit the nail on the head. Look at how ND handled The Last of Us? They deserve a shot at another new IP.

[micx]

But others will be very close as well, Sony's exclusives always looked the best on PlayStation.

[kaiserfranz]

Hopefully we'll get a full blown Uncharted 4 trailer at E3!

[desertpunk86]

wait...people still believe in THA POWA OF THA CELL!?

i though it was an excuse for the ps3 500-600 launch price wow you telling me Microsoft pulled a sony this gen....DAMN!

i guess it will take ms all this gen to catch up unless we are going back to the ps2 vs xbox days anyway im sticking to xbox.

[TitanUp]

cell was a powerful cpu not as big as people made it out to be, but it was a powerful piece of technology for the time.

[imt558]

Did you know that Cell is stronger than Xbone's and PS4's CPU in terms of FLOPS? The Cell was and still is ahead of its time.

[RevXM]

What is not to believe in? some first party PS3 games look quite a lot better than any game on 360 and that is not due to the GPU which is about the same if not a bit weaker than the 360's gpu.

POWER OF THE CELL... It is real bro.

You may have a look at some of these, good gameplay shoots in varying quality but mostly 720p.

Or better yet get a ps3 with some games and plug it up to a decent screen. :)

http://img.gfx.no/1311/1311...

http://media.officialplayst...

http://i5.photobucket.com/a...

http://abload.de/img/last45...

http://images.eurogamer.net...

http://www.gamedynamo.com/i...

http://i5.photobucket.com/a...

http://www.psnation.com/wp-...

http://www.play-mag.co.uk/w...

http://www.gamespot.com/api...

[iceman06]

The "excuse" for the price of the PS3 was a hell of a lot of tech in one package. It was Blu-ray, which was selling alone for over $600 at the time, along with an integrated wifi adapter, all the card readers one would need, integrated blutooth tech for controllers, HDMI out of the box day one, PLUS the Cell and other chips that were needed to run it. No, it wasn't the "supercomputer in your home" that Sony was advertising...though PS3 stacks could combine to crunch data like a supercomputer (see the military purchase for just that and Folding @ Home).
All of this opposed to MS, who took the more a la carte route. They had pretty similar tech, but sold it separate or integrated it into future iterations of the Xbox 360.
As for "MS pulling a Sony", ummm, not really. There aren't any real secrets here. The CELL was pretty "alien" to devs. It took Sony a couple of years to open up the tech and then disseminate it to the rest of the devs. (which probably should have taken place before launch, but they were racing to get to market)
Devs have used eDRAM on the 360, similar to eSRAM on Xbox One. They have had improved SDK's in the past. DX 12, while it will open up some efficiency, is not going to radically change the Xbox One. The cloud, while interesting in concept, seems to be very, very early in its development.
I'm NOT knocking your choice on console...that's purely subjective and who and I to tell you what to do with your money? But, providing some objectivity to a comparison that had very little merit other than an age old meme that truly has run its course.

[TFJWM]

The power of the cell was no joke, unlike the power of the cloud

http://www.escapistmagazine...

[micx]

There have always been "waves" of games inside a console generation, each wave pushing in the visua department.
Lets see what the next wave wil bring.

[akaFullMetal]

What's even great about this is that it can be used as well. Even though xbox1 has less compute cores.
Can't wait to see how games are in a couple years, especially how Killzone and infamous looks.

[S2Killinit]

Good to hear

[andibandit]

Uhm, isn't this true regardless of platform architecture?

[mysteryraz11]

ps3 was expensive because of the blueray not the cell

[Milruka]

"Massive gains"

Except games that started out on ps3 didn't really look much different between the start and towards then end of that generation.

[mmj]

The reason it will give massive gains is because it will alleviate CPU workload, the CPU's are the weakest part of the new consoles. It's good that Sony have thought ahead.

[S2Killinit]

Nice to hear that the surprises will continue to flow as tge generation progresses