Are the PS4 and Xbox One as powerful as we're led to believe?

Punching Beta: "SONY held a great E3 conference. Putting the competition to the dirt, SONY showed gamers that they’re on our side and are focusing on games. Using the Xbox One’s DRM and sharing policies as leverage, they managed to cement themselves in pole position for the upcoming console generation."

[Kingthrash360]

I was interested untill they said the compaired watch dogs of all games.......watchdogs? the same game that is coming out on 4 consoles and pc?...c'mon man they are working on alot of different systems so colour me not surprised if ps4 a new console btw dosnt look as good or play as smooth as on pc....smh. while you also admit that you dont know if its an early build or not you still felt the need to report it.....be it good or bad news hows about we report things we know are facts....other wise it isnt news, its trash.

[devwan]

The whole premise of the article is based on some very flimsy "evidence". Porting PC games at this stage of the next gen consoles' life isn't going to be something that results in maximum use of the ps4 and xbox one. I've no doubt some devs will be quite lazy and do little more than that - a matter of simply getting it running and saying "job done", for the first year or so at least.

But to say this is the way it's always going to be and next gen consoles are already way behind is utter nonsense.

[FortKnight]

Except that the article, as evinced by the question mark in the title, is conjectural. As for "flimsy evidence", the PS4 runs on PC architecture, and has been said to allow for very fast ports of games. We see how the PC version is running - significantly better than on the PS4. This /would not/ be if the graphical capabilities at launch are already below what AAA devs are striving for.

[devwan]

@FortKnight No, it runs on custom PC architecture and doesn't have all of the same bottlenecks traditional PC architecture has, both at the hardware level and OS - not having windows and all that comes with that and its services for a start.

As for your "This /would not/" stuff, do you have any idea how a game is created and how one is ported? Your comments seem to suggest not.

[FortKnight]

@devwan

It's custom PC architecture. That is PC architecture, but modified. When on the Cell processor on PS3, there was a pretty big gap, that was due to massively different architecture. And yet, with the PS4, that gap still exists in similar form. Regardless of OS and bottlenecks from mem. distribution, the PS4 should be much easier to port to. So why is there no AA? Or as many dynamic effects? For a company as large as Ubisoft, you wouldn't expect the game's quality to be at that level when demoing it unless they couldn't go any higher without seriously pushing for it.

And I do have a basic understanding of game development and porting code. Not terribly much, honestly, but enough to know what I'm saying mostly.

[nukeitall]

@devwan:

"No, it runs on custom PC architecture and doesn't have all of the same bottlenecks traditional PC architecture has, both at the hardware level and OS - not having windows and all that comes with that and its services for a start."

Doesn't seem much of a bottleneck for PC, when every single PC game is superior with a $200 graphics card.

Consoles are a low cost and value targeted device. Price to power is key here, not "power" on it's own merit. Another key benefit are features (such as Kinect) and ease of use.

Arguably those are the consoles real power!

[wishingW3L]

let's quote a real developer that knows more than all of you guys. Timothy Lottes, Nvidia developer and creator of FXAA:

"The real reason to get excited about a PS4 is what Sony as a company does with the OS and system libraries as a platform, and what this enables 1st party studios to do, when they make PS4-only games. If PS4 has a real-time OS, with a libGCM style low level access to the GPU, then the PS4 1st party games will be years ahead of the PC simply because it opens up what is possible on the GPU. Note this won't happen right away on launch, but once developers tool up for the platform, this will be the case. As a PC guy who knows hardware to the metal, I spend most of my days in frustration knowing damn well what I could do with the hardware, but what I cannot do because Microsoft and IHVs wont provide low-level GPU access in PC APIs."

http://www.gameranx.com/upd...

[thechosenone]

Well, the PS4 is at least.
http://youtu.be/4i6TiYLwHW4...

[HammadTheBeast]

http://gematsu.com/gallery/...

http://gematsu.com/gallery/...

I rest my case.

Show me a game running on a PC for $400-$600 with the same visual fidelity. We can compare the Second Son and Shadowfall gameplay videos as well.

[livininsin]

@hammadthebeast

Sorry to break it to you but the screenshot you have there isn't from a PS4. Only a high priced PC could generate a game with that fidelity at a resolution of 5,760×3,240.

Here's gematsu's real (fake) screenshots.
http://gematsu.com/gallery/...
http://gematsu.com/gallery/...

[MariaHelFutura]

Through Playstations secret Evaporation technology the Ps4 will be able to summon all the moisture available on your street to help keep your PS4 cool and supercharge it so it can render an unlimited amount of data. So yeah, the Ps4 has unlimited power. Specs mean nothing, it all about how well you can manipulate moistures.

[arianabiscuit]

Hence will not be sold in desert countries without free bottle of water.

[fermcr]

"Are the PS4 and Xbox One as powerful as we're led to believe?"

NO. For 400$ console nobody expects a top of the line PC (yes, PS4 and X1 are PC's). The PS4 and X1 are like a average PC, unfortunately a couple of years from now they will be low end PC's... but developers can extract more from the consoles then an average PC, because they can optimize the software (games) for a specific constant (next 6-7 years) hardware.

[AgentSmithPS4]

It has been shown that the PS4 is more powerful than 80% of PCs, that is a lot better than average. The ps4 is good enough but if you want more than a console can give you will pay a lot more, and not only in cash.

When I used to pc game I remember many games with griefers, cheaters, etc. Battlefield 2 had griefers that would rain down hundreds of trucks from the sky and it would make it so laggy you couldn't do anything, this went on for a month or more with no fix (companies don't have to pay to patch games on ps4 right?). Then I think it was call of duty that had cheats where you could see people through ANYTHING so there was no point in being sneaky. Midnight club 2 PC had an INFINITE nitro cheat that was NEVER fixed as far as I know. BF also had disadvantages for people with average PCs, the draw distance was shorter and you couldn't see people in windows farther away but they could see you. I played many hours of bf3 on the 360 and I barely recall any games being destroyed by cheaters or glitchers.

I just hope ps4 multiplayer games aren't tainted by cross platform games like warframe(?) that allow pc players to play with ps4 players.

[B-radical]

So far ps4 hasn't proven to be more powerful then xbox one....(no hate on the ps4 gents) But i think we need to see more 1st party games and When it comes to frames per second i reckon developer will have the hardware down packed and will be able to use it better as they did with this gen

Edit

I did notice AA on pc did make watchdogs look alot smoother

[ChrisW]

Both consoles are going to have their perks... But its mostly going to come down to how devs utilize them. Especially multi-plat games.

Nonetheless, many are hoping for a distinctive difference between the two consoles. Especially PS4 fanboys. However, we'll see when the consoles are released. For right now, it's only speculation and less than stellar 720p YouTube videos we have to rely on.

[dennett316]

Both consoles have the same CPU, but the PS4 has a beefier GPU to the tune of 50%. On a spec level, the PS4 is the more capable machine....it flat out is more powerful. That's the price of Kinect and the focus on Live TV pass through.
Xbox One games won't be ugly by any means, but the PS4 has a definite advantage in terms of grunt. It all comes down to games and features.
For me, Sony has shown a greater commitment to indie devs, exclusive first party titles and a focus primarily on games.
MS is hampered by their insistence on Kinect, their reduced focus on games, and the fact that their exclusives are not as interesting to me. Kinect is the main killer though...I object to paying for something I'll barely use, something that really only potentially benefits advertisers and marketers, and something which has consiistently proven to be next to useless for all but the most basic of games.

[hennessey86]

It isn't 50 percent more powerful, the xbox one is said to be using a 7790 and the PS4 a 7850 and there sint a 50% difference between those 2 cards

[B-radical]

I was just saying we haven't got to see the advantage yet

[Elit3Nick]

@hennessey86 well they don't use those actual cards, but they have comparable performance to them :)

[LocutusEstBorg]

They're not even half as powerful as decent gaming laptops which have GTX680Ms.

[ChrisW]

Of course the PC version is going to be better. That's never going to be a surprise.

Still waiting for a PS4 vs Xbox One comparison...

[chrissx]

Ask this question 5years later,then we will know for sure

[B-radical]

Yus but 5 years would be pointless cause it would be a fact pc's are alot powerful

[givemeshelter]

Right now high end PC's are a lot more powerful... Imagine in two years from now...

[dennett316]

@givemeshelter, and a lot more expensive. Build a PC that can offer anything close to the same capability of a PS4 for the same price....I dare you to try.
You jam two Titans in a PC with a top end i7 CPU and 16 gigs of Ram, then of course it'll show you amazing results....but it's not even close to a fair comparison.
Further to that, the law of diminishing returns comes into effect at a certain point. People often spend hundreds to achieve a 5-10fps improvement in a game, which to pretty much everyone, is barely noticeable. You'd need to have PS4 and High end PC running side by side to see any differences, and even then, most would have to look REALLY close to do so. If PC owners think the improvement is worth it, that's cool, and I'm glad they enjoy it...but for the majority of games, the improvement is minor, and not really worth the premium it cost to achieve it.

[tubers]

5 years from now, higher end PCs will run 4K games at 60 fps with better than console details.

[dennett316]

And only a tiny minority of PC gamers will care. Everyone else will have heavier wallets and be enjoying their games at 1080p.

[Wikkid666]

Not sure he human eye can even detect that resolution on such a small screen that is so close.

[xjatsx]

want to c a ps4 and xbox 1 comparison of watch dogs

[givemeshelter]

Powerful as in compared to what?

[KennersEd]

'Mark' my words i don't have a single 'Concerny' about the power of the PS4
;)

[wishingW3L]

all I want are less jaggies and corridors. And because of the easier architecture I hope Japanese game developers make a comeback to consoles instead of running away to handhelds and phones.

[McScroggz]

Compare the original Resistance to The Last of Us. Anybody using launch titles as a barometer for the power of a system is doing it wrong.

[dcj0524]

I have a question. How long does it take to use extra ram in a game? These next-gen fames have been running 3GB of GDDR5 ram until they got new dev-kits in feburary with 7GB. How long does it take to utilise that? A big chunk of development time was using weaker hardware than the state ps4 is in now.

[B-radical]

well sony developers have been using up to 4gb as thats what they were told they would have.

Im pre sure on xbox one they have been finding it problamatic to do things with just 5gbs even so what im saying is the full potential wont be utilized for a while

[xReDeMpTiOnx]

Game quality not only depends on the specs but a lot of it depends on the dev and would they utilize what is given.

And for all you pc fans just wait for Sony first party studios like ND years down the road then u will be impressed.

[Einhert]

By then PC's will have advanced far beyond that just like this generation.....

[xReDeMpTiOnx]

Hey man I ain't trying to start anything, it just irritates me when pc fanboys sit there and trash consoles just because pc has better graphics. Their is an advantage to having a console and a pc don't understand why that's hard to understand.

Consoles- get very nice first party exclusives

Pc- pretty looking games/better performance

It really irritates me when pc trashes consoles then starts petitions because certain games aren't on pc for example gta5 and the division.

Now don't get me wrong it's not all pc people its just the fanboys just like Sony and Microsoft fanboys.

They are all terrible.

Anyone here actually still play good games to experience good games regardless of brand, graphics etc?

[Einhert]

Then don't make silly uninformed comments about a platform you barely know anything about.

[Hicken]

The irony of you being the least informed in this thread is almost painful.

[Einhert]

I can promise one thing, all of the gameplay shown in big trailers at E3 has been edited to make the gameplay look better.

Every dev and publisher touches up their trailers and they get saved by the "not representative of final product" message.

[xReDeMpTiOnx]

Not nessesarily true, look at last of us the trailer looked less polished than the actual final game and their have been multiple games like that.

Like ryse where as it was shown on modified kit if the devs actually push there is no doubt that they can make it look that nice, I'm not gonna be hypocritical Sony fanboy and say they can't like Microsoft fanboys did to Sony with killzone 2 and heavy rain

[Trago1337]

They're both bare bones PC's basically, but power is irrelevant to us, it's up to the developers to make something amazing with the hardware.

Otherwise PC will always be 100 steps ahead.

[GraveLord]

Barebones PCs? Really? You are really uninformed.

[Trago1337]

They both have low end CPU's, low-mid range GPU's, and one of them has expensive RAM.

Bare bones. PC's from 3 years ago can still out perform these consoles.

[dcj0524]

@ tgaro most of the pc developers are saying its a highend gpu and medium-high end cpu. This may be just baseless hype and bs but bethseda and epic games are pretty credible. We'll find out when some one opens up the consoles and find out whats really in them in december/janurary .

[PSN_ZeroOnyx]

Consoles should not be compared to PC's. Unless it's a ND game which has nothing on consoles to be compared to.

[strickers]

Taking ps4, I can see that KZ and Infamous look considerably more advanced than their later ps3 counterparts. That is for devs first games on ps4 too. Imagine what their 2nd attempts will look like?