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[Flopfan]

I'm really excited about this rumor. good thing I haven't bought a PS4 yet.

 

[Xion_Stellar]

How many times must this be repeated??

Yes, my games will work. But how will they work? How motivated will the devs be to push my PS4 to the limit of their optimization, when they can have an easy excuse for a sub par port, in the name of PS4K?

Just the fact that my games will continue to work, doesnt mean I am losing nothing over this...

You see the thing is..Devs are already giving you badly optimized games RIGHT NOW! and the PS4K isn't going to change that. You're still going get badly optimized games on PS4 and the PS4K will provide those developers an easy alternative to make games run "better" without putting much effort into optimization anyways.The existence of the PS4K isn't suddenly going to motivate those developers to optimize you games better now if they didn't care to do so before.

 

[oti]

I can see why people could be angry about this, personally I'm not because of two reasons:

- I own a PC with a 770. I'm fine with not getting the best available graphics/performance
- I just don't use my PS4 enough for me to care that much about the new hardware

If the PS4 was my only console that I got a launch then I would definitely upgrade though.

 

[Audioboxer]

It's was literally half the price and we already had four years of great games. For PS4, we are still waiting for some of the announced games made before the launch of the regular PS4. Hardly feels like we're ready for an upgrade, huh?

The release date for this will be late this year at best, next year at worst. We're only in April.

Leaks of details to the gaming world are not from Sony, they would want this announced when they want to announce it. So it's hardly fair to take this as something we should all know and discuss now when realistically details of this should be coming later in the year (after many more exclusives are already out).

 

[Go_Ly_Dow]

Perhaps this will prove an effective way for Sony to massively increase the PS4 install base through double adopters?

Many current PS4 owners will flog off their original PS4s to friends for a cut price.

In the UK the current PS4 sells for around £260 at retail, assuming a new price cut at E3 that will probably drop to 220ish.

If I were to list my PS4 for around £160 even after a price cut and NEO'S announcement it would be eaten up within an hour.

I would gladly do that and put the money towards NEO if it means a non butchered FFXV at launch.

 

[Lister]

There is a reason why people like consoles so much vs. PC. But that barrier is actually being broken with this, so you make a very good point. Why bother with this if you can just get a PC with much cheaper games?

They'll tell you it's for the 1 Sony exclusive per year that's any good. Nevermind the number of good PC exclusives in any given year is ten times that.

Or in other words, it's the marketing. Sony has sold the platformt o them as the only place to game, greatness awaits etc. And just like the crazy people that get ne wiPhones eveyr year, there's going to be a core audience that will pick up any and every new PS4 that comes out.

The question is, how large is that core base?

An iphone has become an essential piece of technology... I don't think consoles are that for most people.

 

[xamidoxhua]

Not knowing anything about game development... how hard is it for devs to have these PC style scaled settings on games? Is it likely it lead to lower quality on regular PS4 titles as devs will spend more time/resources optimising for PS4Neo? Or is it simply a case of developing for the higher end and then scaling it back a little for the regular PS4 with the net result being the same?

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

I find it funny that everyone complains about this, but are completely fine with New Nintendo 3DS

Yes and it's the exact same people too! Here, look at this list I made:

 

[valkyre]

Install base PS4 = 40 million +
Install base PS4K = 0-5 million in the first year

I bet devs will drop PS4 support day one. Because, why not? Fuck money and common sense...

Aaaand another thing that must be repeated for the 100th time:

How many of that 40 million user base is going to bitch about their game running on 900p instead of 1080p?

How many of those 40 million users are going to bitch for not enjoying a rock solid 30 fps?

You assume that 40 million users are hardcore when in reality its just a tiny tiny fraction of them who will be vocal about these shortcomings.

Oh and please use your common sense to try and convince me that certain "questionable" devs (EA, Ubisoft, Bethesda) that are already putting out sloppy ports on PS4, are not going to open up a bottle of champagne with the news for PS4K, their perfect excuse for pretty much everything.

You see the thing is..Devs are already giving you badly optimized games RIGHT NOW! and the PS4K isn't going to change that. You're still going get badly optimized games on PS4 and the PS4K will provide those developers an easy alternative to make games run "better" without putting much effort into optimization anyways.The existence of the PS4K isn't suddenly going to motivate those developers to optimize you games better now if they didn't care to do so before.

But you see, the thing is that PS4K will provide even more excuse for them to not give a fuck about my version when they can have a definitive version of their product on the store shelf. The blame will be easy: "PS4 is not enough, we tried, but if you get PS4K, you are golden."

Its is just so easy for them.

 

[Alx]

So I guess they only need a new motion controller codenamed Trinity, and they can sell a Matrix SKU with everything for state of the art VR.

 

[McHuj]

I really hope it's launching this year and hopefully BF5 takes advantage of it.

 

[Inglorious_ Man]

If the PS4k releases at $400 and it plays 4k blu rays that is a really good deal for a 4k blu ray player because it also does more than the $399 Samsung 4k blu ray player.

 

[dead monkey uk]

A fuck ton of used PS4s about to enter circulation. Incoming price crash.

There will also be a large number of PS4s given to friends and family by owners who upgrade to PS4K, especially if the resale value is not that high on the PS4.

I plan to upgrade and will probably give my PS4 to my brother, who really only plays driving games and currently has a 360 and would not spend the money to upgrade for the one or two games a year that interest him. The PS4K could do wonders for expanding the PS4s reach.

I also expect the PS4 to be lowered to $300/£250 on release of the PS4K further boosting sales (and reducing resale value)

 

[wapplew]

Because the power of PS4k means they don't have to optimize as much .
How much work do think it will be to make FFXV have better AA , effect and same 30fps on PS4k.
As i said it depends on what you expecting from PS4k and i don't expect them to push it.

Better hardware doesn't magically solve port problem.
Just see QB PC port, dev don't spend time optimize, game run like shit on beefy hardware.
A crappy PS4 port will be a less crappy port on PS4 Neo, but still crappy.

I agree it's all about expectation. I expect nothing more than stable frame rate on Neo.
I expect PS4 Neo will have nothing to do with PS5 too, if they decide to forward compatible that thing, I'll be very very pissed.

 

[Lister]

I really hope it's launching this year and hopefully BF5 takes advantage of it.

Well BF5 will be on PC, so it certianly should be able to scale up to better GPU hardware. CPU might mean nto much more destructibility though.

 

[bidguy]

glad i held off on buying ps4 lol.... hopefully the price drops below 200

 

[Am_I_Evil]

so will this increase install sizes as both the base version and the Neo versions will be installed or will the systems be smart enough to only install what's needed? and if all is installed won't this also make patches bigger?

 

[Audioboxer]

Perhaps this will prove an effective way for Sony to massively increase the PS4 install base through double adopters?

Many current PS4 owners will flog off their original PS4s to friends for a cut price.

In the UK the current PS4 sells for around £260 at retail, assuming a new price cut at E3 that will probably drop to 220ish.

If I were to list my PS4 for around £160 even after a price cut and NEO'S announcement it would be eaten up within an hour.

I would gladly do that and put the money towards NEO if it means a non butchered FFXV at launch.

Which considering everything sounds interconnectable isn't exactly a bad thing for Sony. The more PS4/PS4.x being used the more people on PSN spending money, or buying multiplatform titles on a Sony platform.

 

[vato_loco]

Even if they take all the necessary steps to not divide the user base, devs will still give priority to one platform over the other. Meaning that there will come a point where if the Neo is sold well enough, the base PS4 version of the game will stop being optimised and devs will use all their resources for the Neo game. If this happens, Sony will not be beyond massive criticism.

If the opposite happens (PS4 game is optimised best, Neo game is crap), Sony also gets criticism.

I still can't understand the decision regarding this.

 

[Lister]

so will this increase install sizes as both the base version and the Neo versions will be installed or will the systems be smart enough to only install what's needed? and if all is installed won't this also make patches bigger?

I doubt there is going to be much difference in asset quality (and therefore install size) anyway. This is mostly a better/more stable framerate, and better performance on alpha/particle heavy scenes, posisbly better shadows too.

 

[Paasei]

The only thing I care about with this new PS4, should it arrive, is that I hopefully can play the exclusives on 60fps. I don't have a 4k screen/monitor so that's not worth it for me personally.

 

[GasProblem]

Wonder what'll happen with multiplayer games like Battlefield and CoD, the PS4 being 30 fps and the NEO being 60 fps would give NEO players an unfair advantage. Maybe PS4 will be 60fps/900p and the NEO 60fps/1080p with some added sparkles maybe?

 

[Kenzodielocke]

Question for the tech guys:

Isn't 399 pretty good value for what you're getting, even better than PS4 at launch?

 

[ScaryShark]

I still can't understand the decision regarding this.

Longevity/future proofing/adapting to a changing market?

Wonder what'll happen with multiplayer games like Battlefield and CoD, the PS4 being 30 fps and the NEO being 60 fps would give NEO players an unfair advantage. Maybe PS4 will be 60fps/900p and the NEO 60fps/1080p with some added sparkles maybe?

Both of those already run MP at 60. They'd just lock (or be required to) lock the frame rate on both versions.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

Better hardware doesn't magically solve port problem.
Just see QB PC port, dev don't spend time optimize, game run like shit on beefy hardware.
A crappy PS4 port will be a less crappy port on PS4 Neo, but still crappy.

You are comparing two very different things .
Porting a X1 games to PC means porting to many different hardware sets .
If a game get port to PS4 and it GPU bound , PS4k will take of that without much work by brute force .
Also what are you calling a crappy PS4k port to begin with ?

 

[Audioboxer]

Even if they take all the necessary steps to not divide the user base, devs will still give priority to one platform over the other. Meaning that there will come a point where if the Neo is sold well enough, the base PS4 version of the game will stop being optimised and devs will use all their resources for the Neo game. If this happens, Sony will not be beyond massive criticism.

If the opposite happens (PS4 game is optimised best, Neo game is crap), Sony also gets criticism.

I still can't understand the decision regarding this.

Considering that they're going to both be x86 and pretty much the same brand of components, is it really that difficult for devs to scale? They've been doing it on the PC since the beginning of time with all the versions of AMD/Nvidia and Intel components.

I'm not a developer, but surely it's not now some new massively challenging concept to allow faster hardware to just run something at a higher FPS? Besides trash PC ports you have the same engine of a console game going to PC and simply running better with faster hardware. Same should apply here.

 

[ViciousDS]

can't wait to see the complaints of the 4k still having games running sub 30 fps. We have sub 30fps now due to Dev incompetence, they will just bump graphics and give you the exact shit you eat now. Then they will just drop the resolution on the base model and call it a day. This is only going to make things worse.

Best scenario base model - is still really solid with a good stable framerate.....which some games don't do now....so how is this going to change that fact....it won't.

Ok case - 4k will run well, while base model is garbage and gets worse due to lack of optimization now having to produce for multiple SKU's in less time. Lower res with sub framerates

Worst Case - They both run like shit thanks to lack of Dev Optimization

 

[pixellated_man]

Take a look at the cross gen hell that was 2013-2015 and tell me that you would be able to enjoy those games on a PS360.

The gap is not going to be that big but when devs are rarely given time to properly optimise and regularly release games on only TWO platforms which end up having performance issues, I don't know why anyone would expect them to suddenly be given extra time to optimise for weaker hardware when they can just brute force it on the new console. There would be literally no reason for Sony to incentivise otherwise anyway - get people to upgrade to PS4K.

The bolded is speculation on your part and kind of moot when you consider that Microsoft and Nintendo will be releasing more powerful consoles soon and then the ps4 will be in pretty much the same situation with or without this NEO version.

 

[Kimawolf]

glad i held off on buying ps4 lol.... hopefully the price drops below 200

Eh i see 300, 400, 500 for pricing. Why drop the price? Ps4 Neo,is a dumb ass name stuck in 2003, but i may bite due to it being somewhat competent hardware (gpu wise anyhow). Cpu still is a hot piece of shit though.

 

[Black Hat]

Have we had confirmation that there actually will be a UHD Blu-ray drive in the system?

Seems logical as Sony would want to push their tech and could possibly be the driving force behind all of this. In saying that I have no idea on how much a UHD drive would add to the price.

Think UHD Blu-ray players retail for around $399 US - so the drive can't be cheap (yet?)

 

[Lashley]

Keep it. Losing interest in console gaming as it is. Probably the last push I needed.

 

[MrBS]

I'm still in denial. I just.... sigh. Until the thing is in my hands it's not happening.

 

[dead monkey uk]

Wonder what'll happen with multiplayer games like Battlefield and CoD, the PS4 being 30 fps and the NEO being 60 fps would give NEO players an unfair advantage. Maybe PS4 will be 60fps/900p and the NEO 60fps/1080p with some added sparkles maybe?

I think this is likely, for COD etc I could even see both being 1080/60 with the NEO offering better textures, lighting etc. I would not be surprised if third party games, especially mulitplats, having a very modest improvement on the NEO. Time will tell.

 

[OmegaX06]

I doubt old games will magically get an FPS boost. My guess is that many of them are capped at 30fps and would require some sort of update or patch to uncap it. I don't see most devs going back and doing this.

 

[pixellated_man]

No one Sony disallowed devs doing that. Did you not even bother to read the op?

I guess some people feel the need to keep the doom mongering going even in the face of facts.

 

[Audioboxer]

Keep it. Losing interest in console gaming as it is. Probably the last push I needed.

Due to the hardware or the games? Because surely games are the number one reason why anyone loves consoles? As in there are exclusive games from the company makers you cannot get on a PC.

Genuinely interested as I find it hard to see masses of people simply waiting in prime to drop playing on consoles due to faster cycles if said consoles put out titles they enjoy that can only be played on them.

 

[BKK]

Starting in October, every PS4 game is required to ship with both a “Base Mode” which will run on the currently available PS4 and a “NEO Mode” for use on the new console.

I guess that this will also apply to older games localised after the deadline, such as Yakuza 0. I'm glad that I waited for Yakuza 0 before getting a PS4, especially if it has UHD Blu-ray support!

 

[Magwik]

Some of you guys are acting like you'll be forced to buy the thing

 

[valkyre]

Due to the hardware or the games? Because surely games are the number one reason why anyone loves consoles? As in there are exclusive games from the company makers you cannot get on a PC.

Well, so far this gen ,except a few titles, most exclusive games have been rather disappointing...

 

[The Cartographer]

Starting in October, every PS4 game is required to ship with both a “Base Mode” which will run on the currently available PS4 and a “NEO Mode” for use on the new console.

I wonder how many softco will close thanks to this shit.

 

[Z3M0G]

Well this is exactly what I hoped it would be... best possible scenario. Sony seems to be really protecting current PS4 owners as well, which is fantastic. Let's hope that they have very strict requirements of how well the games run in Base Mode.

They really should require that Base Mode be the dev target at all times... and any extra performance they get out of Neo Mode is just a bonus. Heck, they're not even making native 4K a requirement...

I wonder how much of the new system's resources will be taken up by the scaler... it will clearly be a big part of the architecture.

 

[Lister]

Question for the tech guys:

Isn't 399 pretty good value for what you're getting, even better than PS4 at launch?

It's not bad, but I don't think it matches a launch the PS4 in terms of value.

The price of the equivalent GPU (today - who knows how much cheaper they will get once this thing is out and the new Nvidia/AMD GPu's are out too) is about $225. I don't think you'd want to game with an equivalent CPU, so an entry level i3 that will still outperform the PS4's CPU is about $125.

So a PC with equivalent GPU + better CPU will probably run you $100 more, again, today.

The value proposition is worse if it turns out to be $500.

 

[orioto]

Problem is that it will obviously make the entry level for PS4 games lower.

Meaning we'll be back to sub hd rez (after all it was acceptable in the beginning, and there are still games in 900p, and below that on XBO). If people can play FFXV at 720p on XBO, why wouldn't they play FFXV at 720p on classic PS4, if that allow them to show of their cgi korean boy's band models.

Devs will always try to have the best graphics, regardless of the iq, we know that. If they have an option to make the game run better on Neo.. It will be the new minimum. Running at 30fps/1080p on NEO, and god knows haw bad on classic.

Not directly, but in 2-3 years from now.

 

[Lashley]

Due to the hardware or the games? Because surely games are the number one reason why anyone loves consoles? As in there are exclusive games from the company makers you cannot get on a PC.

Genuinely interested as I find it hard to see masses of people simply waiting in prime to drop playing on consoles due to faster cycles if said consoles put out titles they enjoy that can only be played on them.

Games. Couldn't give a rats ass about hardware.

Have a PC I can use for multi plats. The exclusives have been massively disappointing.

 

[Beefy]

So how much of a upgrade is this really?

 

[Wollan]

If this comes in under $500 and features Ultra HD Blu-ray (4K + HDR) then it will introduce a disc-format en masse just like the PS3 and PS2. Though to a smaller degree due to convenience of streaming these days and Blu-ray being 'good enough' for many. It will however be one of the more important events in having 4K resolution adopted.

 

[Audioboxer]

Well, so far this gen ,except a few titles, most exclusive games have been rather disappointing...

I get that, I do, but it's always an eye of the beholder esque thing. While I'm personally disappointed at some of the delays, I still have a beefy console library just now, with a decent whack of exclusive content.

I have however noticed more devs, especially the Japanese with RPGs putting out PC ports of previously console only franchises. Which IMO is a good thing.

Games. Couldn't give a rats ass about hardware.

Well it seems like you're already in the camp to move on from consoles regardless of hardware announcements. Which is fine, I understand that. I said above the PC is getting more love from franchises previously console only.

 

[hwy_61]

So how much of a upgrade is this really?

If it's enough to get 60fps out of most if not all of these games, I'd say it's a pretty considerable upgrade.

 

[KOHIPEET]

On GPU, it's pretty significant. On CPU side, not so much.

 

[lukeskymac]

They'll tell you it's for the 1 Sony exclusive per year that's any good. Nevermind the number of good PC exclusives in any given year is ten times that.

If that helps you sleep at night, okay.