Implications of PS4

[bpgt64]

The two biggest things I have gotten out of the PS4 announcement are positives for PC gamers.

1st. PS4 is an x86 based system, will likely be very easy to port games from PS4 to PC, if not simultanously release them.

2nd. AMD has all 3 consoles for GPU hardware, potentially meaning games will be developed strongly around utilizing this architecture.

3rd. Nvidia, is still pushing PhysX, on AMD hardware(granting it is probably CPU based). But that means there's a possibility of AMD hardware based support.

I miss anything?

 

[techtard]

nVidia will probably be using CPU physics on PS4, they will probably finally update it so it is running newer instruction sets than the ancient x87 they were suing. That will be a bonus for PC gamers if PhysX is your cup of tea.

 

[Mathragh]

Iirc there is no technical reason Physx cannot run on AMD GPU's.
Also, judging by benchies from ClBenchmark, physics calculations might actually run faster on AMD hardware compared to their own. This is just speculation ofc.

 

[happita]

Borderlands 2 looks amazing with Physics set on high with my AMD card
I could certainly get used to more games utilizing physics. The effects are nice.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

I think the inclusion of Physx might be a good thing. At the same time, I want to see Sony actually deliver on their promises. I think the more interesting components of the PS4 are:

8GB non video RAM.
Multiple x86 based cores.

The former makes 512 MB seem like the nightmare it was. This gives people a reason to program for a 64 bit OS, unlike the current 32 bit limited games.
The later means truly multi-core optimized game. The requirement to use more cores (in a non-arcane architecture, I'm looking at you Cell) for better performance will mean that 3570 will finally be put to good use.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

I wouldn't give a second thought to physx. Tomb Raider was signaling how things will be done from here out, compute physics as it always should have been since DX11 hit. That should be the preference on next gen consoles.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

PhysX is only still around because NVIDIA refuses to let it die. Open standards for physics processing is the future, not closed source, proprietary systems. If developers want closed source, use Havok--functions great without the hardware constraints.


PS4 is OpenGL where the next Xbox is DirectX (likely a derivative of 11). Xbox also uses XInput, DirectSound, and other DirectX technologies making porting to Windows easy. PS4 being so much like Xbox really only serves to make porting between the two consoles easier. Wii U is the odd one out; just like the Wii, only Nintendo can turn a huge profit on it.

I think the market for the 8th generation will look very similar to the 7th generation. The only thing I see being different is the Wii U won't have run away sales like the Wii did.

 

[Guitar]

It's gonna make everything a lot better as far as PC to PS3 or PS3 to PC porting, IMO. Honestly I can't wait, I hardly play my PS3 anymore but will get a PS4 just because.

 

[Chryonn]

better start investing in that BD-Drive chaps, i hear the next generation XBox is going to have one too, which means more games WILL be published on BD.

 

[Nordic]

PS4 is OpenGL where the next Xbox is DirectX (likely a derivative of 11). Xbox also uses XInput, DirectSound, and other DirectX technologies making porting to Windows easy. PS4 being so much like Xbox really only serves to make porting between the two consoles easier.

Hmm. Isn't a good portion of porting to linux about making the game opengl? If so, the closeness of the ps4 to pc architecture + open gl make porting to linux much much easier.

 

[W1zzard]

PS4 is OpenGL

PS3 is NOT OpenGL, it uses an API called libGCM. Closer to hardware, but conceptually it's not much different to OpenGL or D3D

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

The two biggest things I have gotten out of the PS4 announcement are positives for PC gamers.

1st. PS4 is an x86 based system, will likely be very easy to port games from PS4 to PC, if not simultanously release them.

2nd. AMD has all 3 consoles for GPU hardware, potentially meaning games will be developed strongly around utilizing this architecture.

3rd. Nvidia, is still pushing PhysX, on AMD hardware(granting it is probably CPU based). But that means there's a possibility of AMD hardware based support.

I miss anything?

Yeh you missed two points derr 3

1, a reason for starting this thread weeks after the ps4 showcase and its thread

2 ,4 -8 gameing system types using amd gpu not 3

3 , with all these gameing arenas covered or cornered by amd direct x could become erelivant as amd hinted at a year ago, why use an api when you could bare metal code for more performance

 

[FordGT90Concept]

better start investing in that BD-Drive chaps, i hear the next generation XBox is going to have one too, which means more games WILL be published on BD.

I don't think there will be a market for BD games. BD-ROM drives still don't have very good proliferation in the computer market. I think the ridiculously huge games are going to be increasingly delivered via the internet.

 

[1Kurgan1]

I don't think there will be a market for BD games. BD-ROM drives still don't have very good proliferation in the computer market. I think the ridiculously huge games are going to be increasingly delivered via the internet.

Exactly this. There is no reason to push Blu-rays on PC owners. The revitalization of PC gaming has been the digital platform, and I only see that continuing to be the trend.

PhysX is only still around because NVIDIA refuses to let it die. Open standards for physics processing is the future, not closed source, proprietary systems. If developers want closed source, use Havok--functions great without the hardware constraints.

As far as I know, NV actually pays companies to use Physx on their games. And those are really the only games running it, they refuse to let it die because they made an investment on it a long time ago, sucks but thats how it is, we've seen Havok work just as well without the hardware requirement, but money talks so Physx gets used.

 

[Bjorn_Of_Iceland]

As far as I know, NV actually pays companies to use Physx on their games. And those are really the only games running it, they refuse to let it die because they made an investment on it a long time ago, sucks but thats how it is, we've seen Havok work just as well without the hardware requirement, but money talks so Physx gets used.

It's the other way around. Physix is "100% free for both commercial and non-commercial use on Windows PC". Commercial use has a catch though.. It is free as long as they make less than $100K in gross revenue.

https://developer.nvidia.com/physx-downloads