It seems game developers are already thinking about the PS5. Paul Ross, the former Criterion tech director, recently spoke with EDGE about the next-generation consoles and he had a lot of interesting things to say about what he thought would define the PS5, and how his studio, Three Fields Entertainment, is preparing for this future in their debut game: “Dangerous Golf” With each generation of consoles, the graphics become more powerful, the games get bigger, and the standards go up. Over the past few consoles, things have made strides forward, but not leaps and bounds. The difference between the PlayStation and the PS2, for example, was far more pronounced than the difference between the PS3 and the PS4. Let’s find how Paul’s predictions line up with our own. PS4 to PS5: The Leap We’ve Been Waiting For? It’s becoming more and more clear the PS5 will represent the quantum leap we’ve been waiting for. Growing technology and the introduction of new innovations like PlayStation VR have triggered a lot of predictions among ourselves and PlayStation fans. It seems that developers have also been looking to the future. After leaving Criterion in 2014 to co-found Three Fields Entertainment, Paul Ross recalled during his interview that he sat at his desk “thinking, OK, what does a PlayStation 5 game look like? What does an Xbox Two game look like? And how can we start to build for that future now?” A Screenshot from Dangerous Golf During his thoughts, he touched upon something we’ve yet to discuss here on PS5 Gamers, and it’s amazing how it was always there, but a gamer like me would never think of it. It’s the physics engines. Paul says quote: “Physics engines haven’t changed since I did the physics on TrickStyle for the Dreamcast. They’re all about rigid bodies and solid objects. This is a real paradigm shift because it’s about simulating physics at a molecular level. It’s been a really hard problem to solve for quite a while.” He’s right. Our physics engines have done their best to simulate things like liquid, light, and solid objects, but we still need monster PC machines just to get cloth and hair right? Physics are way behind the ball, and that’s not anyone’s fault. It simply means that new tech and stronger processing power can bring us worlds and not only look real, but feel real as well. Paul puts it perfectly when he says: “So what does a PS5 game look like? With PS4 we’ve seen some fidelity put into the worlds, but PS5’s going to be about more dynamic worlds, far more interactive worlds that are more believable in the way they behave.” We can make it look pretty amazing, but we still haven’t nailed down the feel of the real world in terms of physics. This missing piece is crucial to creating a world that is indistinguishable from the real thing. Three Fields Entertainment’s Debut Title: Dangerous Golf I was skeptical when I heard that Paul’s … Read More
Will the PS4 Be Sony’s Last Console?
Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter is one of those people who you either love or hate. He makes a lot of bold statements about the game industry and about games in general. Some people clench their fists when he makes a sweeping claim about a game’s sales when it’s not even out yet, but others will take what he says to heart. Now he’s talking about the PS5, so of course we had to lend an ear. He’s predicting the fall of consoles, which is nothing new, but what he’s predicting will replace them is another story entirely. Let’s take a look at his predictions and how Sony has reacted to them. This should be fun. Pachter: “Growth Will Require Leaving Traditional Consoles Behind” Michael Pachter took the stage during DICE Europe in 2015 and claimed that the consoles have hit a wall in terms of their growth. In his words: “The console installed base is as big as it’s ever going to get.” He believes that this generation will not surpass any previous ones, and a generation after that would do the same. No more growth, period. Here are his predictions for this generation: The Wii U is going to sell 20 million units compared to 100 million for the Wii The PlayStation 4 is going to sell 120 million or 130 million The Xbox One will sell 100 to 110 million Xbox 360 and PS3 combined sold 270 million, this time around the total will be 260 million Pachter says that the surge of new gamers playing on their smartphones and on casual consoles like the Wii opens up a huge avenue for more people to play Sony and Microsoft’s games, but these experiences are out of reach since they don’t own a console to play them on. He clarifies by saying quote “This is the last real console cycle. I don’t mean that Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo will go bankrupt and shut down, they will not. Each of them will make another console, some people will buy them, and the next console cycle will be to this console cycle what the 3DS is to the DS (15 million per year compared to 26 million per year for the DS).” All-in-all, pachter’s stance is thus: “So when I say that this console cycle is the last console cycle, the reason is that console games shouldn’t require a console. And I’m not talking about the cloud.” No Consoles? No Cloud? Explain! Pachter argues that games only need a CPU, a GPU, storage, and a controller. As smartphones and set-top hardware become more powerful, all of these thing will be present in devices besides the consoles. By the time the PS5 is supposed to release, Pachter says that “you’re going to have a CPU/GPU in your house that is connected to your television.” He is of course referring to devices like the Roku box, Amazon Fire TV, or Apple TV which allow you to purchase and play apps on your television. … Read More
Will the PS5 Have a Disc Drive? How do Cartridges Sound?
There are certain things in life that we’ve always come to expect: the sky is blue, the sun rises in the east, space is big, and games always come in a physical form. Whether it’s a cartridge or a disc, games have always been something we can hold in our hands and put on a shelf. The prospect of that going away is terrifying for many of us. Change isn’t something that gamers really like. Look at the Xbox One for example. They tried to turn it into an online-only console and we all know how that ended. Case and point, taking away an optical drive or removing the option entirely is something that may not go over well with gamers in the grand scheme of things. Is it truly possible that the PS5 will ditch discs altogether, or will we still have the option between digital and physical like we know and love? It’s time to start asking the hard questions, so let’s discuss the elephant in the room. Will the PS5 have an optical disc drive? A New Patent Points to…Cartridges? In the beginning of gaming, games were delivered to us on cartridges. True old school gamers will remember the old method of blowing into the bottom of it when the games didn’t start (which isn’t a good idea, by the way). Things transitioned over to discs for the most part, but consoles like the Nintendo Switch still use a different format. When it comes to portable systems, discs aren’t the best idea because they’re bound to get jostled or shaken during the course of play. This can lead to skips in the data and damage to the disc itself. So, if we think about the PS5 as a portable/console hybrid, then it would make sense for the format to change. We also need to talk about the fact that games are far too big these days for Blu-ray discs to hold. Red Dead Redemption 2, for example, comes on two discs when you buy it. One disc to install the game, and one to play it. There’s also this quote from PlayStation boss John Kodera, who mentioned this during an investor meeting in May 2018: “Rather than separating portable gaming from consoles, it’s necessary to continue thinking of portable gaming as one method to deliver more gaming experiences.” There’s also this South Korean patent filing that was made public recently. In this patent, Sony describes an “electronic game cartridge.”This was first revealed by TechTastic. It was later revealed that this design is intended for the existing Sony Toio, a robotics toy crowdfunded by First Flight, which produces concepts from Sony employees. Even so, this concept could also apply to the PS5. This is purely speculation on my part, but my prediction would be that Sony could achieve something using a combination of discs and cartridges. For those who buy the physical copy, your game will still be on some sort of high-capacity disc, but when you want … Read More
AMD Planning to Bring 5X Performance on PS5
A large part of the console war is the struggle for power. We love to argue about which system is going to be more powerful. Take the arguments for this current generation for example. The debate over Xbox games being 900p and the PS5 games being 1080p threw tons of fuel onto an already raging fire. It doesn’t matter if you’re a PC gamer or a console gamer. Either way, you’re going to want the most power possible. Deep down we’re all lovers of great graphics and gameplay. So, if someone is promising more power than we’ve ever seen in a console, it turns some heads. Power is the name of the game, and from the looks of it, we’re in for quite the treat when the PS5 releases. AMD, the manufacturers of the current consoles APU chipsets, has come out with some bold claims about when the new consoles will be here, and what kind of power they’ll be sporting. How does Five Times the Power Sound? No one manufacturer has been chosen to supply chipsets for the next generation of consoles, but AMD is pretty confident they will be the ones to do so, seeing as how they’ve been the go-to company for some time now. AMD is developing a new type of architecture called GCN that they believe will be able to put out five times the performance and watts of the current generation. The idea is to make massively more powerful chipsets that still use the same amount of power. As if that wasn’t shocking enough, they also believe they’ll be providing these chips to console makers by 2018, which puts the PS5’s release somewhere in that time frame. The PS4 is currently enjoying massive sales and sports the most powerful graphics hardware currently in a console. This new technology that AMD is working on opens up the possibility for a more powerful PS4, a PS4.5 so to speak. The PS4’s X86 architecture makes it much easier to offer an upgrade than the PS3 which was entirely different with its cell processor architecture. Don’t get too excited though. AMD doesn’t have plans to start making new APU’s until 2018 so it’s not likely that we’ll see a more powerful PS4, but the possibility of one with more energy efficiency and less heat output (i.e a “slim” PS4) is definitely on the table. AMD Predicts a VR-Focused Future AMD has also said that they’ll be shifting a good portion of their focus to VR or virtual reality. This lines up perfectly with the development of PlayStation VR (previously Project Morpheus). Of course, the current generation of consoles aren’t powerful enough to power virtual reality with the level of graphics we expect. Sony is working wonders with their PlayStation VR tech demos, but we won’t be seeing The Order: 1886 on VR this generation. An example is that the PS4 would need to be three times as powerful to run an Oculus Rift with 2160 x 1200 resolution … Read More
10 Gaming Trends Today that are Influencing the Future
The PS5 is coming, but what form it will take continues to be an object of discussion. To truly predict the future, we would need a time machine, but I think we can all agree that trends can easily lead to standards. Looking at what the industry is doing as a whole gives us a unique and exciting opportunity to see where everyone’s heads are at. This kind of knowledge translates to predictions that we can use. So, without further delay, let’s take a look at ten big trends in the gaming industry right now, and what they mean for the next generation of consoles. Using 10 Trends to Predict the PS5 Keep in mind that these trends can suggest a number of things about the PS5. In some cases, it could affect how we’ll play games on the PS5, or it could affect the types of games we’ll see on the new console. In each case, these trends cause ripples in the gaming industry that lead to other effects. We can’t rule any of them out. Let’s take a look, shall we? 1. Virtual/Augmented Reality Much like how Microsoft and Sony fought the Blu-ray and HD-DVD wars of old, the two are at it again. Sony has PlayStation VR (previous known as Project Morpheus), and Microsoft has the HoloLens. Both are devices you wear on your head that change the game entirely. In the case of PlayStation VR we’re looking at total immersion in another world. You see the game all around you, and you can look in any direction you like as if you were standing there. With the HoloLens, the world in front of you changes or molds to the game’s needs. What does this say for the future? Well, it shows that controllers may not be the gold standard for how we play games in the future. It shows that we may be using other devices (like a headset) to control our games. Whether or not that headset transports us to another world, or augments our own, remains to be seen. 2. Games Come to Life With the rise of things like Skylanders, Disney Infinity, and now Lego Dimensions, it’s clear that games are extending beyond just a disc. We’re seeing toys that interact with the games more so than ever. It’s a 3 billion dollar industry now and still counting. Something that makes this much money isn’t going anywhere. On top of this, we’re also seeing cross-media experiments. Take the Defiance game for example. While the show has since been canceled, the online game ran parallel to the show while it was running. Projects like these that bridge the gap between television and games are starting to emerge as well. From a business standpoint, this increases brand exposure. From a gaming standpoint, it brings the games out into our daily lives and incorporates them into our world. Don’t be surprised if you start interacting with your movies or television in shows on the PS5, or … Read More
How Will PlayStation Plus Function on the PS5?
PlayStation Plus is a household name at this point in the PlayStation’s legacy, but it wasn’t always that way. Having only just emerged during the PS3 era, it is a younger program than it’s closest equivalent, Xbox Live, but one could argue that it’s a far better value. Clearly, the concept works because Xbox Live adopted a similar approach. Of course we’re not here to talk about the past or the present, we’re here to talk about the future. We’ll start today’s glimpse into the infinite number of possible futures by first examining the evolution of PlayStation Plus, from it’s first steps on the PS3, to its current state on the PS4. From there, we’ll look to the PS5 and see where this service could be going in the future. With each new feature it seems to gain popularity. With 10.9 million subscribers as of January 2015, it’s also not going anywhere anytime soon. From Awesome, to Even More Awesome: the PS+ Journey Thus Far At its core, PlayStation Plus (abbreviated as PS+) is a PlayStation Network subscription service that acts like a V.I.P program of sorts, providing users with premium features. This began quite simply, with a pre-chosen free game offered each month on both the home and handheld consoles. In addition, users could take advantage of cloud storage for their save files, up to 3GB of space in total per user. This made transferring or duplicating saved data simple and easy for members. The service was immediately lauded for offering high-quality titles each month. At only $50 for an entire year, the value was impossible not to see. What’s more is that multiplayer was free on PS3, so people weren’t forced to buy a subscription if they wanted to play online like another popular console of the time did. The name escapes me, it starts with an “x” and rhymes with Xbox 360. Doesn’t matter, the service was off to a great start. Online gaming wasn’t quite up to par on the PS3 though, but that would be remedied soon. Enter the PS4 and with it, some awesome changes to the PS+ formula. For starters, subscribers now enjoy two free games each month on each of the three Sony consoles. That’s six games total each month! PS4 does require PS+ to play online, but the entire network is much, much better as a result of the paid funding for maintenance. Meanwhile, Xbox has started offering free games each month for gold subscribers. Can’t imagine they were getting any flak for charging people to play online while Sony’s dropping the free titles left and right. Most recently is the addition of yet another feature called Vote to Play. This new program offers players a set of games to choose from each month. Players vote and the winner is one of the free titles on the next month’s list. The others still go on sale for a discounted price for PS+ members so it’s win-win. So, given this new program, … Read More
What Is 4K UHD and Will the PS5 Utilize It?
If you’ve ever gone television shopping, then you’ve probably been exposed to all kinds of confusing terms. Do any of these sound familiar? LED/LCD Refresh Rates (120Hz, 240Hz) The Soap Opera Effect 1080p Full HD And so on. Now we’ve been exposed to yet another term which is Ultra High Definition or UHD. This simply refers to anything with more pixels than a HDTV in addition to more realistic colors and higher frame rates. Currently, one of the steps forward in this regard is 4K resolution. Television makers are scrambling to make units that support this new resolution, but there isn’t a whole lot of support from the software side of things. Image via Wikipedia, TRauMa [CC0] The question on all of our minds is of course: is this the future? Will PS5 utilize 4K displays?. First we’ll discuss the details of this resolution, and then we’ll look into the future to see if this is indeed the resolution that will present your PS5 games to you. What is 4K: A Crash Course on Digital Resolution These days you’ll see most HD televisions advertising a 1080p resolution. 4K is actually 2160p. The term refers to a minimum resolution of 3,840 pixels wide and 2,160 pixels high which makes it the equivalent of two 1080p screens in height and length respectively. In essence, it is another jump in both visual clarity, color, and frame rate. The origins of 4K began in the movie theaters, but when you bring that technology home, it becomes far less of a difference to the average viewer. The jump from standard to high definition was huge, but 4K at a normal viewing distance on a home television doesn’t look that much different than 1080p. 4K sets are extremely expensive compared to 1080p offerings. One of the main features they tout is the compatibility of HDMI 2.0 which promises faster data transfer and 60-frames-per-second visuals. Unfortunately, nothing on the market, save for PC games on powerful machines, can support this resolution. PS4 does not support 4K gaming. Streaming video (possibly games in the future) is the current push for utilizing 4K more commonly. Current 4K sets will upconvert lower resolutions, giving them the ability to push the resolution of current HD games and blu-ray movies. The real question is whether or not this technology will be the standard going forward like high definition has been for the last ten years. The answer is still up in the air seeing as how LG and Toshiba were showing 8K resolution televisions at CES 2012. Will the PS5 Utilize 4K Resolution? While 4K and 8K resolutions are being used right now, the entire picture involves a lot more than simple visuals. It’s one thing to watch a movie in 4K, but to play a game in that kind of resolution, you need some serious hardware. That’s why only high-end PC systems are able to support this resolution for games. It’s for this very reason that the PS4 doesn’t support the … Read More
Is PlayStation VR Holding Back the PS5 Release Date?
It’s no secret that the PS4 is an incredibly successful next generation console thus far. With over 20 million already sold and counting, it’s putting the other options to shame. There is one small issue though: it doesn’t have enough power to sustain itself for a full life-cycle. While the PS4 specs are impressive compared to the PS3, they are dwarfed by modern PC standards, and will continue to fall behind as time goes on. That’s most likely why Sony has already begun work on the PS5. They know the hardware doesn’t add up for the long-term with how fast things are progressing, but they also don’t want to shoot the PS4 in the foot just after its gotten a good sprint going. Some believe the PS5 will be hear as soon as 2017, and while the new console may be ready by then, it doesn’t look like Sony is going to let it go free until the time is right. Image via PlayStation Blog A little virtual reality headset called PlayStation VR is set to release in 2016 for the PS4. Is this accessory part of Sony’s plan to keep the PS4 relevant until such a time that they need to reveal the PS5? Let’s find out. Throwing Fuel on the Fire PlayStation VR is expected to release sometime in the first half of 2016. At the most recent Game Developer’s Conference, Sony showcased a prototype of this VR headset with the following specs: 1920 x 1080 RGB OLED Display 120hz refresh rate 5.7-inch display nine LEDs for position head tracking Again, respectable, but not ground-breaking. Other companies are pulling out their own virtual reality solutions such as the Oculus Rift and Valve’s recently unveiled headset. That being said, now that pre-orders have begun on the Oculus Rift, people are shocked to see that the device is running $600! On top of this, that price is said to be a loss for the company, not a profit. How much would they have to charge to turn a profit on these things? If PlayStation VR sells for $600, the same price as the PS3 at launch, then it’s going to run into problems. People paid $399 for their PS4 system, why would they pay more than that for an accessory? It’s a question that Sony is going to have to answer, and soon. Sony is making a smart decision by creating this accessory for the PS4. With the popularity of VR on the rise, the market is poised to explode, and with 20 million plus PS4 owners out there, the install base leaves a lot of opportunities to sell this new product. If Sony supports it with games, they will have a good couple of years to ride on. This is clearly a move to grow the potential and sucess of the PS4 which suggests that Sony is in fact biding their time, waiting until the PS4 has run its course before unveiling the next console. What do you think … Read More
PlayStation Hiring For Work on a “Next Generation Gaming System”
More than a few rumors in the past have started as a result of job postings. In some cases it’s a company asking for work on a new title, and in other cases someone puts a sensitive bit of information on their resume or LinkedIn profile, which blows the lid off the whole thing. It looks like we have one of those situations in the form of a job posting on the official PlayStation Website. Details on The Job Posting If we mosey on over to the Sony PlayStation Page, we’ll see a job posting that is for a “Senior Game Programmer.” Here’s what the description says: “We have an exciting opportunity at Sony Computer Entertainment of America. We seek a senior game programmer to assist us in developing a game used for R&D purposes related to our next generation gaming system. For someone passionate about gaming this is a very rare opportunity. After reviewing the below job profile, if this is for you, please apply!” The job responsibilities also provide us with some clues: Contribute to the architecture design and development of OS subsystems Advanced level systems programming and debugging using C and C++ Multi-threaded programming Whoa, if that’s not a sign that Sony is pushing forward on PS5 development, I don’t know what is. As we know, R&D refers to “research and development,” so that’s our first clue. The job responsibilities refer to subsystems of an OS, so this could be work on the PS5’s interface or base operating system. Interpreting This News The fact that they’re using a game programmer means that they are most likely developing a prototype for something that would work on the PS5. It could be that they are referring to Project Morpheus as a “next generation gaming system,” but it’s really more a peripheral, so I’m going to write that one off. While PlayStation VR isn’t a system, it could be used as a peripheral with the PS5, so we shouldn’t rule out the possibility that this game is VR in nature. The fact of the matter though is that this is big news for the future of PlayStation. Depending on how Sony progresses, we could see more news quite soon. Perhaps we’ll have concrete evidence on whether or not the PS5 will be cloud-based? This programmer could be developing an operating system that relies on a streaming service, the possibility is certainly there. One of the theories that I’ve been throwing around is the concept of a unified operating system like Windows 10. It’s interesting that Microsoft took this approach, and it’s something that I think Sony may adopt as well. Microsoft wants Windows 10 to be the last operating system they do. They want to transform the platform into a service that is constantly updated instead of replaced. If this job posting is indeed for an OS structure, it could be that Sony is developing an operating system that can run across multiple devices. It may be something as simple … Read More
Grieving For a Character: The Emotional Implications of Crossing the Uncanny Valley
“To say that we shouldn’t react to fictional characters as “real people” is exactly equivalent to saying that we shouldn’t be frightened by the things we meet in nightmares.” – John Gardner Source: flickr One of the things I love most about being a writer is the ability to create something from nothing. I’m not a god though, nor is any other writer out there, no matter how famous they may be. When we place a name to the page, give them characteristics, and build them up, they’re still just words at the end of the day. Characters aren’t real people, right? Whether it’s in a book, a TV show, a movie, or more specifically to our interests, a game, characters build bonds with us. Could it be that they are portrayed by real people in movies and TV shows? Perhaps, but then why do you people cry when they’re reading a book and one of their favorite characters dies? As it stands, there are plenty of people who aren’t emotionally affected by the deaths of characters in any medium of entertainment, but there are also plenty of people who are. Now, let’s narrow our focus a bit here and look at games in particular. We’re not at the point where we have photo-realistic graphics, but we’re getting closer to making these characters look and feel real. Acting and motion capture have helped, plus the rise of more advanced technology, but we’re still falling into something called “the uncanny valley” where those emotional connections aren’t happening as often as they could. So, let’s find out if the PS5 will have your mourning the loss of characters as if they were real people. Why Do We Care in the First Place? The best kinds of characters are the ones that feel real to us. Without considering the additional weight of interacting with and seeing the character in front of you, let’s examine the very basis of a character: their personality. It’s hard to truly replicate the kind of human nature that we all possess, but many authors have managed to do so in books, games, movies, and TV shows. Imagine your favorite movie, TV show, or book. Remember how it made you empathize with the characters? You felt what they felt, and it hurt you in the same way it would hurt anyone else. That’s the key here, if we feel empathy, then the character is real enough to make our brains treat them like real people. Since humans are empathetic creatures, it’s not outside the realm of possibility to think that our brains can be tricked into thinking that someone who isn’t necessarily real is in fact real in our brain’s eyes. An essay by Howard Sklar entitled “Believeable Fictions: On the Nature of Emotional Responses to Fictional Characters,” goes into detail about how and why we grieve for certain characters the same way we would if they were real people. Part of the reason comes from the fact that … Read More