Many game developers were unaware of the PS4's RAM increase

[admartian]

Sony (and I'm hoping MS follows suit) just made devs wet their pants. Which means the games are going to be WTFBBQ.

On a side note; I seem to see some articles posting how the core/traditional gaming market is dying citing PC resurgence and iPad/Tablet growth). But I think what they're failing to see is that I don't think one necessarily negates the other.

There will always be core gamers, and if anything the portable markets are what will help to prop and grow the core gaming market in the future.

[daLa]

So this came as a surprise to everyone, huh. I actually had to applaud when they showed it on the live meeting.

[Nitey]

I know lol. The Eurogamer editorial on it is funny, Tom Bramwell sounds like he has a vagina at the best of times so it's no real surprise to hear that diddums is "feeling a little downcast this morning".

Lol I enjoyed that

It's funny cos Richard Leadbitter on Digital Foundry posted a spec analysis of PS4. He seemed happy enough with what Sony is bringing out

[PSTrey]

There are so many websites having a moan, unsurprisingly one of them is CNET with the infinite stupidtity and stating there is no reason to buy this console. Wait for the XBOX they claim.

So many people are missing the point, the developers love it, that's reason enough right there. Happy developers means happy gamers.

I don't know what the bitching is about. Do they want Sony to appeal to people that play stupid casual games like Angry Birds? I hope that never happens. That would be the death of gaming.

The console specs? Looks like a beast to me. About games? Did they honestly think Sony was gonna show off all their games at this event, and then have nothing to show at E3? Please.... That would be stupid.

And like you said, game developers seem to like the the console. That's all that matters. Game devs opinions > journalists opinions.

[Kauldron]

Maybe someone should make a thread detailing the difference in RAM.

I see a lot of people thinking that their system RAM is the same as their video card RAM.

GDDR5 is only used in video cards. DDR3 is used in basic system RAM.

So many "professional websites" out there are equating each type as equal.

[Ixion]

So what will more RAM allow for? Please explain to the technically illiterate like myself.

Greater scope? More detail? Better textures?

[Aquanox]

I'm not sure how familiar you are with technical talk but this is unified RAM:

It means it will act ad RAM and/or vRAM... developers will be able to have 4GB+ of vRAM in consoles. Probably close to 5GB or vRAM considering the biggest games on PC hardly get close to 2GB of RAM currently.

Now, how many videocards are there with 4GB of RAM? Currently the only videocard with 6GB or vRAM is the GTX Titan, which hasn't even been officially released...

In terms of memory then... the Ps4 and most likely the Xbox 720 will be on the high-end side, and heck, there are chances that an exclusive console game might not be able to be fully ported to PC due to the lack of vRAM, even when exceeding them in horsepower.

First time ever a console has had the same or in some cases more RAM as amany many PC's?
According to Steam around 29% of Steam users have 8GB RAM or more.

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

8GB is alot.

Textures! Beautiful, high-res texturing all over the world. Also objects count and view distance. The main reason the PS3 had texture problems in multi-platform games compared to the Xbox 360 is because it only had 256MB of dedicated vRAM and RAM, whereas the Xbox 360 had 512MB of unified memory. In many cases, devs were able to use more vRAM on the 360 than in the PS3.

With the PS4, Sony has taken this approach as well and I believe they will easily be able to use as much as 6GB of vRAM for games that don't take that much RAM like fighting and sport games.

Engines like UE3 and id Tech 5 (RAGE) stream textures directly from the storage (i.e. HDD) but results vary causing annoying texture pop up and noticeably low-res texturing when looking close (speceially on RAGE).

Combining both (the technique and massive RAM) this could allow spectacular results. Of course, it will be limited by the horsepower of the machine but devs will definitely find the best way to take the most of it.

Another wise approach is the use of x86 technology. Sony took a big risk with the Cell on PS3, which while had some great results in a limited bunch of games, it was kind of a bottleneck for developing on the platform to many devs, mainly in the first years. This will allow for more indy and multiplatform houses to make their ports more seamless.

So what will more RAM allow for? Please explain to the technically illiterate like myself.

Greater scope? More detail? Better textures?

[keefy]

They might get close to that much VRAM usage if they render in 4k.

[Blacksite]

From what I've read, PS4 won't be rendering games in 4k resolutions... which is perfectly fine. I'd rather they make 1080p the norm.

[TAZ427]

Well part of the point of putting out the Dev boxes is to also figure out where the weak points in the design are. If they were struggling a little bit to be able to full utilize CPU and GPU do to memory limitations, it would make sense to go ahead and make an adjustment.

I'm sure Dev's provided plenty of feedback on this to Sony.

[Aquanox]

That's not going to happen.

They might get close to that much VRAM usage if they render in 4k.

[keefy]

I know its not, it was hyperthetical situation due to the 6GB VRAM you brought up in your post.

[Aquanox]

There are very few things more taxing than a massive resolution increase. Going 4k would be senseless unless you want to make an UltraHD Pacman or something.

Texturing, object placement and pre-loading is most likely how this feature is going to be better used.

[coolguy]

it might as well be that some delvolpets did not know this its a nice surprise just think these trailers where made witj 4 gigs of memory

[RedOrb_Collector]

From what I've read, PS4 won't be rendering games in 4k resolutions... which is perfectly fine. I'd rather they make 1080p the norm.

Hell, I'm perfectly fine with even 480p games if it gives them even more leg room.

I don't really give a shit about HD.

[Syphon_Filter]

Its great that PS4 will have 8GB. Its a big different between the PS3 and PS4.

[PeanutButterMunky]

Its great that PS4 will have 8GB. Its a big different between the PS3 and PS4.

Nah, it's only 16x more RAM...



...oh wait. :P

[Cyn]

So what will more RAM allow for? Please explain to the technically illiterate like myself.

Greater scope? More detail? Better textures?

Draw distance will be better across the board, much much better. Can't wait for open world games. Pop-in could be almost a non issue, which is massive for third party studios especially Unreal engine games. High res textures. You know how Naughty Dog say they model all their environments at really high resolutions then scale them back, well now they simply won't have to scale them back any more. Or to a much lesser degree.

When we're seeing ultra high res assets running at 60fps on large 1080p screens is when it starts feeling next-gen.

anti-aliasing and AF will also benefit and you could say more RAM can be a crutch for less talented developers. Probably won't see many bad ports.

Also all the operating system stuff. So many problems on the PS3 that just wouldn't have been there with more RAM.

[MjW]

That's not going to happen.

Thanks for that. We don't need any half assed attempts at 4k.

[Naxi]

Hell, I'm perfectly fine with even 480p games if it gives them even more leg room.

I don't really give a shit about HD.

Nah, you couldn't enjoy the beauty of the games.

Nah, it's only 16x more RAM...



...oh wait. :P

PS2 to PS3 was almost a similar increase.

[Coconut_Crunch]

So what will more RAM allow for? Please explain to the technically illiterate like myself.

Greater scope? More detail? Better textures?

More stuff going on on the screen at once without the lag, More people on at once (for example, limitations to Battlefield 3 and the RAM limitations I believe are caused by why there was still only 24 players per server.), The communication between the CPU, GPU, and RAM are much better and because it's GDDR5 it's going to flow so much smoother. Infact I expect launch games running at 720p 60fps maybe even 1080p60fps.

For APU's you need faster RAM and since this APU is customized and beefed up a whole heck of a lot, the really fast RAM + the quantity is going to ZIIIIIIIIING! or in other words sing in harmony with the APU.

Also, with stuff running in the background with PS4 multitasking, that RAM comes in really handy.

[TAZ427]

Hell, I'm perfectly fine with even 480p games if it gives them even more leg room.

I don't really give a shit about HD.

Hum, I can't decide which group to put you in.

[admartian]

I'm somewhat relieved that Sony didn't (or hopefully, won't) put a focus on 4K.

[DarkVincent07]

I'm somewhat relieved that Sony didn't (or hopefully, won't) put a focus on 4K.

It's been said that the ps4 won't support 4k


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[MonkeyClaw]

It's been said that the ps4 won't support 4k


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Not for games at least...but video and pictures at 4K, it is game on!