Playstation 5: Thread 01

[Neon Ignition]

Just for hardware to start disappearing, I could easily imagine Microsoft starting to make bigger strides in streaming services as an option in select markets and devices before the next gen is done

[Team Andromeda]

If you're saying 2035 before streaming becomes the way a significant proportion of people play videogames, I disagree.

Well said. At the moment the streaming is more as a companion to the console and allowing the user to play their games on the go, rather than a replacment to the console. So one needs not just need a half decent internet connnection, but more some decent 4G coverage which opens up quite a lot of markets.

[Brad]

Minimum 5G latency will be 1ms from handset to cell tower. So we're looking at 4ms round trip + normal game loop processing. Fine for some stuff but I guess no Street Fighter for the serious players?

[Team Andromeda]

Minimum 5G latency will be 1ms from handset to cell tower. So we're looking at 4ms round trip + normal game loop processing. Fine for some stuff but I guess no Street Fighter for the serious players?

I very much doubt any serious SF player would be happy playing on a Smart Phone or Tablet due to the button layout, never mind any issues over latency. Should imagine 4G will be ok for most

[Neon Ignition]

One other hurdle both would face in a console free streaming future is the continued need to sell controllers. In a stream based market they're reduced to a similar role as remote controls but wouldn't come as standard. Presumably they'd be sold on shelves like shavers, dvd players etc in supermarkets etc as games stores would be gone.

Irony is Nintendo would likely be the last man standing on physical units

[Brad]

I very much doubt any serious SF player would be happy playing on a Smart Phone or Tablet due to the button layout, never mind any issues over latency. Should imagine 4G will be ok for most

Point I was making is that the latency on a 5G network is superior to our current cabled infrastructure. Potentially you'd be better off setting up a hotspot on your phone and connecting to that for playing Battlefield than you would going through your regular broadband connection. The opposite is true for 4G i.e. it's slower and has more latency that most people's wired connections.

[Team Andromeda]

Point I was making is that the latency on a 5G network is superior to our current cabled infrastructure. Potentially you'd be better off setting up a hotspot on your phone and connecting to that for playing Battlefield than you would going through your regular broadband connection. The opposite is true for 4G i.e. it's slower and has more latency that most people's wired connections.

Hey hang on Brad, the UK is still trying to get 4G up to par, never mind 5G. I know where you are coming from though. The 4G network on my smartphone was faster than the 1.7 Meg broandband I could get for the home, untill the lame tossers that are BT OpenReach, finally upgraded the local network for Super Fast Fibre.

I would imagine 4G speeds will be enough to handle the service MS is looking to offer, at least in the short term

[Neon Ignition]

I remember when our office in Manchester city centre enquired about switching to fibre and were told we couldn't. BT had put fibre stickers on all street exchange boxes so the management asked, why not and were told BT weren't aiming to push fibre installation much in the city as the existing network was in such a mess that it was too much work to upgrade it, instead installing select new lines so the stickers were 'technically' true but many still wouldn't have access to it. What hope do lesser served areas have?

[dataDave]

Minimum 5G latency will be 1ms from handset to cell tower. So we're looking at 4ms round trip + normal game loop processing. Fine for some stuff but I guess no Street Fighter for the serious players?

I think one fifth of a frame's delay is fine. PS3 SF4 came with one whole frame dolloped on top for whatever reason, and a lot of the pros in Singapore had PS3s.

In my experience single-digit latency is always unnoticeable. Usually in the 20 to 30 range things go ever-so-slightly wonky.

[EvilBoris]

https://twitter.com/Colteastwood/sta...46857046589440

One of the Digital Foundry guys says PS5 will have backwards compatibility. To me, still remains a very tiny-tiny deal if it didn't so any outcry if it doesn't will get old fast

He wasn't saying that based upon any insider information, just that it is surely a given and anything but that would be dangerous for Sony.

[wakka]

It would be cool if it did, so it was like a PS4 Pro X and a PS5 rolled into one.

@Superman Falls yes, I know what you mean regarding controllers. It’ll be interesting to see how they play that one in order to retain consistency, but I don’t think it’s a dealbreaker really. A pad will be a must really, whether you’re using mobile/tablet, an app built into your TV or what have you - so official and third party optionswill likely become available that will be compatible across multiple different bits of hardware.

Maybe a ‘Made for iPhone’ type scheme for third parties - to qualify for the ‘Made for Xbox’ labelling you pay a license fee and your pad must have a certain layout/button loadout, and compatibility across the Xbox Streambox, compatible smart TVs, PC and iOS/Android devices. That way they could enforce a standard over a broader ecosystem.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.unilad.co.uk/gaming/playstation-5-could-be-backwards-compatible-according-to-sony-patent/

Speculation about PS5 backwards compatibility

[CMcK]

The Google streaming thingy APU looks like it could drop hints at what we could expect from next gen consoles. Bring on the HBM.

[Neon Ignition]

Breaking from the hardware spec discussion in the other thread:

https://www.polygon.com/2019/4/16/18410683/playstation-5-ps5-specs-8k-ssd

https://www.polygon.com/2019/4/16/18...microsoft-xbox

Opinion pieces on the reveal of the first information for Playstation 5 are starting to emerge and the picture is one that seems a bit deflated.

In the articles above it's discussed as to how observers should err on the side of caution given the history of Sony's hardware promises falling short of their realities. Examples cited are the PS4's Gaikai implementation for the Store that in reality has players navigating a slow and clumsy menu system, also PS4 Pro's 4K dream that instead see's checkerboarding implementation used to achieve an approximation instead.

They discuss how the PS5's proposed 8K resolution support is likely to be a level of support the system won't deliver on as well as the minefield that is Ray-Tracing support, something that can be delivered but in widely varying degrees of worth. The same goes for backwards compatibility, seemingly great with high speed loading suggested but PS3's b/c support showed that the reality doesn't always meet the promise there either.

[fishbowlhead]

Breaking from the hardware spec discussion in the other thread:

https://www.polygon.com/2019/4/16/18410683/playstation-5-ps5-specs-8k-ssd

https://www.polygon.com/2019/4/16/18...microsoft-xbox

Opinion pieces on the reveal of the first information for Playstation 5 are starting to emerge and the picture is one that seems a bit deflated.

In the articles above it's discussed as to how observers should err on the side of caution given the history of Sony's hardware promises falling short of their realities. Examples cited are the PS4's Gaikai implementation for the Store that in reality has players navigating a slow and clumsy menu system, also PS4 Pro's 4K dream that instead see's checkerboarding implementation used to achieve an approximation instead.

They discuss how the PS5's proposed 8K resolution support is likely to be a level of support the system won't deliver on as well as the minefield that is Ray-Tracing support, something that can be delivered but in widely varying degrees of worth. The same goes for backwards compatibility, seemingly great with high speed loading suggested but PS3's b/c support showed that the reality doesn't always meet the promise there either.

If Sony keep up the level of in house quality exclusives as they have for PS4 then none of that matters a jot. People want to play games on their consoles, Sony provides them so people buy the console, same for Nintendo’s decent uptick on Switch sales.

MS will be left in the dust once again.