These are certainly interesting times ahead for consumers, who will have
a wide choice of platforms to choose from, with four simple-worry free
routes (mobile, console, and Steam Box), apart from the
performance-driven PC enthusiast way.
The recent past has seen many interesting leaks, comments and predictions about the next-generation consoles, the Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox 720,
and we’re taking a look at a few of the most interesting of these,
which range from the proximity of the two release dates, the effect of a
Steam Box from Valve on the market, to the type of GPU technology used
and maximum frame rates.
The recent past has seen many interesting leaks, comments and predictions about the next-generation consoles, the Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox 720,
and we’re taking a look at a few of the most interesting of these,
which range from the proximity of the two release dates, the effect of a
Steam Box from Valve on the market, to the type of GPU technology used
and maximum frame rates.
A post on NeoGAF points to a patent
supposedly filed by Sony recently, which indicates the PS4 may feature a
dual graphics structure (APU+GPU) with switching technology, with each
processor handling different tasks to achieve streamlined performance.
The patent application reads:
Graphics processing in a computer
graphics apparatus having architecturally dissimilar first and second
graphics processing units (GPU) is disclosed. Graphics input is produced
in a format having an architecture-neutral display list. One or more
instructions in the architecture neutral display list are translated
into GPU instructions in an architecture specific format for an active
GPU of the first and second GPU.
John Carmack, the genius behind Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake, recently spoke out about the next-generation consoles, saying
that the PS4 and Xbox 720 will probably not up the target frame rate to
60FPS from the 30FPS mark the current generation delivers, though some
titles may do so. This is certainly disappointing news to those gamers
who expected consoles to catch-up with at least this year’s PC graphics.
The two consoles are expected to release
at roughly the same time in 2013 – before the last quarter’s holiday
season – unlike in the case of their predecessors, when Sony released
the PS3 a whole year after the Xbox 360. The market at that point might
be unsuitable for their arrival however, with DeNa CEO, Clive Downie
predicting that by that point mobile gaming, especially in the tablet
and phablet categories, will have made serious inroads into the gaming
market, eating up the console share.
In his interview with GameIndustry, Downie goes on to say that consoles may become ‘ultra-core’ or ‘hobbyist’ products. He adds
that the rewards for developers are greater in the mobile space as
well, with a far vaster market to tap. If you are wondering just how the
PC gaming share fits into this, we’ll have to take into account Valve’s
Steam Box, which will have a huge impact in further splitting the
gaming market, into four – console, mobile, PC and Steam Box.
A GameIndusty report says:
"A Steam Box won't stop the core
from buying an Xbox or PlayStation, but it could easily distract them
away from those systems… Steam has shown there's plenty of value in back
catalog games. And it has been equally efficient at shaking up
traditional pricing models, with its quarterly sales and surprise deep
discounts.”
"Publishers are already comfortable
with the way things sell on Steam and know the benefits of those sorts
of discounts - and there's no reason to think they'd become gun-shy
about them now… If a larger set of players gets used to them, that's
going to put pressure on traditional retail stores to lower or be more
flexible with their own pricing models.”
These are certainly interesting times
ahead for consumers, who will have a wide choice of platforms to choose
from, with four simple-worry free routes (mobile, console, and Steam
Box), apart from the performance-driven PC enthusiast way.
Source:thinkdigit