Why the PS4 Neo is the Future of Console Gaming Whether We Like it Or Not

The PS4 Neo has attracted tons of criticism, but here's why current PS4 owners shouldn't be concerned.

[uth11]

> systems such as the Neo that bring the home console industry more-or-less up to speed ensure that there won't be a massive divide between how console and PC owners are experiencing their games.

There is less of a gap between PC and console gaming than ever, The differences tend to be mostly more detailed visuals, nowadays, not missing game features or dumbed-down games like in the past. The fact that the PS4 is a "light specced PC" has not hurt its sales at all. It's clear console gamers aren't looking for PC game parity

> With 4K looking to be a TV industry standard at some point in the not-too-distant future, Sony releasing a system capable of running in this resolution adds longevity to their console

That's twisted logic.. "Let's kill the OG PS4 prematurely in the name of longevity!"

> According to sources, there will be no Neo-only games, with PS4 games instead shipping with both a Base Mode and a Neo Mode that allows gamers to select between graphics options depending upon which console they own. This means that no PS4 owners will be left in the shade

There's a requirement that by October that all PS4 games have a NEO enhancement. But what's stopping a developer strapped for time and money from downgrading the PS4 version to make the NEO version appear enhanced?

[TheCommentator]

•High end graphics cards are around 10Tflops already, so Neo won't even come close.
•PS4 Neo will not be able to run native 4K gaming without being prohibitively expensive.
•Neo enhancement could simply mean running better AA and at a higher framerate.

[Naughty_Cloud]

- The high end graphics cards that cross the 10tflops mark you are talking about are in the dual gpu end like the AMD R9 290X2. Lets take high end single gpu like the 980 Ti which has 5.63tflops, while the 980 has 4.61tflops. Compare that to the PS4 Neo improved gpu which has 4.19tflops. So they are kinda close.
- Most if not all AAA PS4 Neo games will run 4k upscaled, but there probably will be quite a few native 4k indie games though.
- I see Neo enhanced games running at 1080p and 60fps with higher settings compared to PS4 base games.
http://wccftech.com/sony-ps...
http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeF...

[NewMonday]

the 6Tflops TITAN-X costs $1000

the only way to get 10tflops is with double GPU SLI

the PS4Neo is the same power as the GTX780 (4tflops), benchmarks show it can run 4k30fps

her is GTA5 running 4k40fps
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Batman AC is 4k40fps
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is 4k30fps
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Battlefield Hardline Beta on ULTRA 4k40fps
https://www.youtube.com/wat...

Witcher 3 is a new generation game is pretty close running 4k25fps
https://www.youtube.com/wat...
(with console optimization can be a stable locked 30fps)

[freshslicepizza]

lets say after the ps4 is 6 years old and sony once again revises the hardware but leaves the original ps4 owners out in the cold because all the new games going forward must be compatable with the neo and the next upgrade after that. is this really a problem when new consoles comes out every 5-7 years? think of it like the iphone and how after so many new iphones the old one doesn't work too well. i could see this happening in the console space where you don't have to upgrade right away if you don't want to but eventually you will just like everyone already does when ps3 owners all of the sidden are not getting the new games the ps4 gets.

[TheCommentator]

Something doesn't add up with the numbers though, so until I see these rumors confirmed by Sony, I'll take them with a grain of salt. Here's why:

A GTX980 ($500) has around a 1200mhz clock and 4GB GDDR5, and runs at around 220Gb/sec. That's just the GPU, and most CPUs are going to be at least 3.2 GHZ quad core with 8-16GB of memory on their own. If the PS4 Neo has a bandwidth of 218Gb/sec in total with 8GB of GDDR5, it would still barely compete with a modest gaming computer such as this and that's with all the Neo's memory bandwidth going to the GPU. Now on a PC, you can bump up the cores in a computer to 8 @3.2(or better), the CPU ram to 32-64GB, and run 4GPUs if you're made out of money.

Anyways, the point UTH11 made was that the console would be close to a PC, but the truth is that a decent gaming rig will still pass it by and an über PC would make it look downright silly. We all understand economics, so none of us was expecting PS4 Neo to rival a Quad GPU setup, but the fact remains that the setup is still possible on a PC and we should be comparing the best PC configuration to the best console under these circumstances if we want to be fair. Otherwise I can compare a regular PS4 to an outdated PC and show everyone how it can compete, and that's not the point.

[Vegamyster]

"There is less of a gap between PC and console gaming than ever, The differences tend to be mostly more detailed visuals, nowadays, not missing game features or dumbed-down games like in the past. "

Yes & No.

Architecture & other features like web browsing yes but most of the previous consoles when they came out were pretty high spec for the $ money you spent compared to PC's, especially the 360/PS3 but this isn't the case with the current gen ones. There was dumbed down games between console versions of games as well in the past, it just depended on the game.

[rainslacker]

"There's a requirement that by October that all PS4 games have a NEO enhancement"

Is this something from the "leaked specs"?

If so, that's enough to make me think this isn't real. That's 6 months(7 from when Sony first started talking to devs about it allegedly) and supposedly most devs don't even have the dev kit, yet in such a short time they're supposed to implement a "neo mode", get it tested, have it go through compliance, and set it to go gold with what amounts to about 5 months from today? That's roughly 3 months of actual time before it goes to compliance. Do people not realize that these last 4 months of any game about to go gold these games have what's called a code lock, where no new code is implemented, and bugs start getting worked out, or existing code is optimized. Unless Sony has some extremely seamless tools to facilitate all this, I just don't see it happening, and it still sounds like not enough time when testing is calculated in.

I'd imagine if PSNeo is scheduled for this year, actual mandated compliance for it won't come around until the end of next year. Consider that trophies took a year before they were mandated for compliance, and then add in a much more difficult implementation and testing process.

[bf000777966]

don't forget that devs have the option to not implement the "neo mode", just make it the same as the base mode, Sony didn't say that the neo mode should have any difference to the base mode.

[ORyanDeee]

@bf000777966 digital foundry said according to the documents the neo version cant be anything less than 1080p, so in th case of a 900p game they can not make it the same as the base version.

[Oschino1907]

For someone who clearly isn't following the leaks/rumors you sure seem to have a lot of opinions about it.

I will keep it simple and ask you again
... If they were able to make games for ps3/ps4, x360/x1 and higher/lower specs of pc at the same time why would it be some huge hurdle to make a game on the same exact architecture with 2 different power levels?

I mean they announced Ps4 and in under a year had how many games ready for it. But now an upgraded Ps4 is too much work?

Come on dude, I know you're not that illogical, pessimist maybe (on this subject) but you're not an idiot.

[rainslacker]

Kind of hard to follow something that changes almost daily. How many iterations of this rumor have we gone through in a month now?

Making two different versions isn't difficult, particularly if one is just a visual upgrade, but it does consume resources, and unless this was something brewing for a while, there's no way that required compliance could be implemented by October. Development just doesn't happen that quickly, and the number of games coming out this holiday for PS4 are kind of high, and it's just not going to happen. These things just take time, and with so little time before October there is no way to get it implemented and tested properly.

PS4 and X1 were known about well before the announcement. Baseline requirements were out there, and early dev kits were provided to allow for compliance testing.

Logically, lay out the time line here.

Last month, rumors circulated Sony was asking devs about it. 7 months before Oct. At this point, it's possible, assuming Sony had awesome infrastructure in deploying required tools and specs to the devs, that they could implement some sort of Neo functions, and start testing them. But just deciding what and how to do such a thing requires meeting and time to plan, not to mention getting the required approval from Sony for what they were going to do...which would be a massive undertaking on Sony's part just to approve all these things quickly.

Last week, supposedly Sony had dev kits out there. 6 months before release, and now devs can maybe start testing their new Neo builds. In a perfect world, assuming the game was going pretty well otherwise, a simple visual upgrade would just require testing this new stuff....all while putting any other testing and optimization on hold, or requiring a increase in resources at the dev to make it happen....which would cost them money. To keep things reasonable, lets assume that this new testing and final optimization takes about 4 months....and I can tell you that's the low end, and lets face it, delays are so common nowadays, it's hard to imagine all these games are going well.

Now we're at 2 months from release. No code lock as of yet due to all the new stuff having to be implemented, and all that's left is one month for getting the game ready for compliance testing. Assuming they're ready to send it out after one month, these companies have to hope that it passes compliance within a week, so they can get the go ahead to go gold, which leaves them 3 weeks before the compliance is mandated for new releases.

All of this cuts it very close, and there just isn't enough time to make it happen.

I'm sorry, but I've been in enough AAA development to know that things just don't happen because the developer turns up a setting on the engine. Every little change requires testing, and here we're talking about a complete overhaul of the graphics, and in some cases, that requires a lot of work depending on how the rendering pipeline is tied into the actual game loop.

Now, I will qualify all this and say that it's possible it just means that the new games have to run on the Neo, and no actual Neo compliance standards(such as the rumored 1080p required) have to be met....as in no actual changes have to be made at all. But my original comment assumed that neo standards as a whole had to be met.

[ninsigma]

Saying they're going to kill the original ps4 is being dramatic. No leaks have alluded to such a thing. They've even stated the exact opposite where the base ps4 MUST be optimised for and not lose out on content.

[Nightmar3Demom]

But the base price is supposedly the same for both consoles. By everything that we've seen and heard, the original PS4 will be killed by default as there is no incentive for anyone to purchase the original model who hasn't already done so.

Far too much grey area here. Sony needs to address this whole Neo thing as soon as possible

[Thatguy-310]

I mean we've grown accustom to buying consoles when they release a slim version of it why not buy it now more than ever when an upgrade comes with the redesign?

[Aenea]

I never saw the need to buy a Slim model so I never did...

[Thatguy-310]

But the majority of people did. A big chunck of what the console makes in its life cycle is with the introduction of the redesign.

[rainslacker]

Most people do not buy the slim if their current console works. The sales boost because the price drops, and it gets more people to buy in. It's far from the majority that replaces their console. Only people I've ever known to get a slim while having the original were those that had faulty consoles with their originals. While I'm sure there are some that buy in, it's not as many as you are saying, however, most console sales do come after the slim price drop...or just a regular price drop would serve the same purpose without a redesign.

[Aenea]

Majority of people? Where do you get that idea from? Can you back that statement up?

I've never seen anyone buy a slim version of a console while they already have a working original one, though have to admit that's only for the people that I know...

[mamotte]

Speak for yourself. With sony I always wait for the slim model to buy their consoles, never bought one at launch. And this time, that lesson was completely worth it.

[Aenea]

Oh man, wouldn't it be bloody hilarious if this whole Neo stuff turns out to be fake as all hell?

[XeyedGamer]

Hell is real, maaan.

[Next_gen_2015]

Atleast all of this shows how pathetic sony fans are...

Even when Sony does something anti-consumer they damage control XD

[mike32UK]

Its so anti consumer yet you've stated you're fully behind the idea of MS releasing an XBONE.5? obvious fan boy is obvious

[game4funz]

That's the nature of being a fan. Stick to pc...no one owns PC.

[GHOSTxx420]

I just wish they would stop with all the articles and just wait till E3 when we actually find some official out.

[Orionsangel]

So the new trend is forever upgrading? MS announced this last year with Windows 10. No next Windows. Just upgrade Win10 forever and now Sony announced no PS5. Just upgrade PS4 forever. WTF?

[ninsigma]

Sony haven't announced anything.

[Orionsangel]

http://bgr.com/2016/04/21/w...

[S2Killinit]

Finally a more rational article.

[22CobraKing]

Another one of these articles. Take everything by a grain of salt. No one has confirmed it. It could be just a minor revision like media in 4K or it might just be something related to ps5.

[Christopher]

It's only the future if we make it happen.

I remember lots of people complaining about XBO reveal items. How is this any different?

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

We are not being forced to buy it. That's how it's different

[Concertoine]

And you were forced to buy an xbone?

I think you missed the point. He was saying that, as consumers, we will decide whether this succeeds or not. If people buy it, like Nintendo's handhelds revisions, Sony will probably make it a regular inter-generational inclusion. If they don't, they won't.

[Omegasyde]

How the fuq are you forced to buy it??

Wtf is Sony holding your momma hostage??

[Christopher]

What Concertoine said as well as... People spoke out about the planned XBO features before release, though, and they changed away from those. Why couldn't people do the same with this? Why are we being told to just accept this when we always have the option to tell people what we do or don't like in something.

Nothing is set in stone. And, no one said anything about being forced to buy anything nor was anyone ever forced to buy any console.

[Kyosuke_Sanada]

Pretty well said Christopher. Every situation has their pros and cons which should be discussed. In the end everything is decided by the customers themselves not a company. There is a little irony in the article's title for having no choice for a notion that's "optional". My only question is how long will these hypothetical upgrades remain as such because horse armor started the same way.

[Underworld]

If it's the future then consoles lose one of the great things about them and I'm done with them. I've been wanting to get a good gaming PC to have along with my consoles, but this gives me reason to just go with PC. Really hate this idea.

[ninsigma]

Let's say this is true and we're going to get a refresh soon. You're base model will play all games as if the neo model didn't exist. If you're happy with what your model puts out then you can skip the refresh, carry on as normal and get the ps5 next gen if you so wish. How is that any different to normal??

Edit:
I agree there are worries here and making sure that games are optimised for both is imperative. However, according to the rumours, Sony is making sure devs do this and if that is the case then that will become part of the review process Sony implements for games releasing on their console. If they haven't been optimised for the base model the review would fail and they'd have to fix it to an acceptable level. I'm literally just going by what the rumours are saying and talking hypothetically about that.

[thisgamer503]

What's to say developers won't be lazy with the base model now and concentrate on the Neo model? This definitely has some very real worries associated with it that I think people are ignoring. Just like most console generations, developers choose a console as the lead platform and that platform gets the most optimization. What if the Neo model gets optimized now and the base PS4 gets the port with loads of bugs or framerate issues, whereas if there was only one ps4, they would have more time to optimize it. Thoughts?

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

I don't like this one bit, but it's still coming. And I might even buy it depending on whether the specs are worth the purchase.

Gotta say it's become reallya annoying coming to N4G and only seeing this articles. Time for me to take a break until U4 comes and these news stop

[Agent_hitman]

We really need to adapt the rapid changes in today's technology. Console systems are included in that changes. that being said, a refresh or upgraded consoles are pretty much welcome for me.

[Omegasyde]

How the fuq is this the future when this info has still yet to be confirmed???

Whether you're PRO or anti ps4neo - wait till these leaks are "facts".

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Actually I think pc really is the future... console makers will fully shift to services delivered on pc's and will have interfaces similar to the valve steam OS that keeps boot up straight forward.

[ninsigma]

Yeah I think that's what will happen eventually too. That or a streaming service. I'd rather they go steam like route though and let us download the games.

[ScorpiusX]

Lucky us its only an opinion pieces

[ninsigma]

So what will be the future of gaming if this turns out to be fake?? :p

As long as this is done correctly there shouldn't be a problem. It's been quite obvious for a long time now that the traditional console space was going to change. While I didn't expect this specific change, I could see something was going to. More than likely we'll see hardware refreshes become the norm in the future.

[Mr_Writer85]

I posted this in the comments on the article...

I'm not against the idea of the Neo but I think there are some points you have missed.

For example you said each game will ship with a base and Neo mode and the player can pick.., well yes they can if they bought a Neo. However the base owner cannot only not pick, but paid the EXACT same amount of money, for technically an inferior version.

With this upgrade they are assuring game prices for their games don't go down from launch RRP. For example the PS3 version of MGS5 is and always has been cheaper than the PS4 version, which with the PS4 version being better makes sense.

But this won't happen with the base to Neo. Not exactly fair that is it?

Secondly I think this marks the end of generations. Surely it would save Sony more money in RnD, having to establish a new network, having to run a seperate network ect, if they just upgrade the PS4 again?

3 years after the Neo, release a slight upgrade on that, the difference won't be too big to have to stop supporting Neo, but enough of an upgrade for people to think about moving on from the then 6 year old base model?

They could still support it network wise, as all 3 would share the same network ect, they would just abolish their "no exclusives".

It would also you hope, ensure backwards compatability.

Edit: Just thought of other reasons

OS, Sony worked on the OS on PS3 and refined it and made it use less memory ect freeing that for developers.

But then had to develop one of PS4. It gained a lot, but also lost things. With the regular upgrades you get the bonus of freeing up more space by working on the same OS, and never have to go "backwards".

Sure you can change the look and design if need be (like 360 and X1 do) but it won't be a brand new OS.

Another is development costs, sure developing more that one version won't be easy, but is it not easier to just move up settings than having to code a whole new version?

PC versions have a min and recommended specs so developers are used to scaling.

It could also mean in the end development kits last longer so no need to buy or rent new ones.

[ApocalypseShadow]

I mentioned that in another thread too. Not just paying for an inferior version for the same price, if developers are putting in more work, I would assume they would want more pay and increase prices to compensate for that extra work. Gamers think developers are working for free. Nope, they will get their money back guaranteed. By raising prices.

Also, it shows gamers unsatisfied with frame rates like 30fps that are perfectly fine to play on. They think the new supposed neo system will brute force 60fps. But what if a developer wants to make a neo 1080p/30fps game. Are gamers going to have a hissy fit because it's not 60fps? It's a developers choice how they make a game. All games can be 60fps RIGHT NOW. But then, gamers would complain consoles aren't keeping up with PCs. When consoles were never competing with PCs.

Funny thing is the response of unsatisfied gamers if none of these consoles exist. The shear disappointment and outage for their own problems in chasing graphics instead of GAMEPLAY. Or that the "neo" version doesn't look good enough still to PC. Or that the money they spent means they deserve star citizen graphics in all games. When ever developer is not at the same level or has the same finances.

Sad days ahead for those chasing that greener grass and not finding it.

[MagicBeanz]

I'm not concerned, cause I know the "criticism" is little more then a propaganda smear campaign based on rumors and speculation to try and turn people against Sony and help sales of another console. Sorry no sale.

[Kiwi66]

Man you really need to get out more and remove the tinfoil hat always with the conspiracy "smear campaign" because people are questioning why sony would be doing this , but go ahead and blame another company for people thinking for themselves instead of always defending sony like your doing

[MagicBeanz]

You need to take off your blinders and see reality for a minute, its pretty obvious whats going on here, but hey if you're cool with article after article bashing Sony based on nothing more then rumors and speculations then that's on you.

[Kiwi66]

You mean like article after article bashing MS based solely on rumor and speculation which you get also , so i guess your cool with that then and so i guess the articles about this from ps related sites are exempt from being included from this bashing , in your words , of poor old sony , then how do you feel about the ps gamers who question this

[MagicBeanz]

There aren't any articles bashing MS here, nice try though.

[Kiwi66]

So you said "article after article bashing Sony" so all i did was point out that the same thing happens regarding xb , so maybe you should take off your blinders as there have been plenty of anti ms/xb articles posted on this site so stop making it seem like its your precious sony that it happens to , so nice try to you JA

[MagicBeanz]

Nah you're wrong. MS is protected here by people just like you.

[Kiwi66]

Lol of course you wouldn't have seen the anti ms articles given how you only joined 47 days ago but trust me there has been plenty of anti articles for any 3 of the consoles and how am i protecting ms by telling the truth

[pompombrum]

I think we the consumers will be the ultimate judge of that. I'm not sure where I stand on whether or not it's a good idea but seems like a potential banana skin for me but Sony has solidified it's number one spot in the console war to the point where they can afford to take a chance on something like this.

[NickAwesome]

I Hate it when people use the word "is the future" to get away with everything, if the world ends after a nuclear meltdown are you still going to say it's ok, it's the future? if world war 3 happens are you still going to say it's ok, it's the way of the future? WE MAKE OUR OWN FUTURE, nobody has the right to say how are we going to live our lfie

[MilkMan]

This article stinks to high heaven. There's nothing about it I like.
The "reasons" given where researched by children.
Please delete.

[R6ex]

Just get a PC!

[JayH1980]

Only if a large enough group if consumers choose to buy it and that remains to be seen. This is a gutsy move.

[mamotte]

Mainly because they're selling it on the future whether we like it or not. On a side nite, bot because "it's the future" does ti mean is a good one.