Sony Computer Entertainment decided not to show the PlayStation 4 video game console at the formal unveiling event this week, but focus on gaming capabilities of the new platform instead. While the company is unlikely to reveal the look of the PS4 at the upcoming Game Developers Conference next month, the firm intends to show the actual PlayStation 4 system up and running at the E3 in mid-2013.
The perception of game consoles have changed dramatically in the last decade as a result of platform holder’s wish to make them more popular among casual gamers. While non-core customers now represent a significant share of Microsoft Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3 owners, core gamers still represent the lion’s share of the market. Therefore, it was logical for Sony to concentrate on gaming at the official announcement of the PS4 this week and skip the details about consumer-oriented features of the console.
Even though for core gamers the look of a video game system is clearly not an aspect of primary importance, the actual design is still a significant feature. Thus, it is not surprising that many gamers now wonder how the PS4 really looks. Sony Corp. plans to unveil the actual game console – and possibly show it in action at the E3 trade-show in early June, 2013.
“I am real proud of the fact that we are talking about [launching in] holiday 2013 and we have already got a lot of detail out there, and a lot of game play, in February. But I was so focused on the content […] What’s the controller gonna look like? What’s the box gonna look like? We made a conscious decision that was not going to be a part of the first reveal, but I would look for E3 as a time when you’ll get a good look at it. Or sooner,” said Jack Tretton, the president and chief exec of Sony Computer Entertainment America, in an interview with Forbes web-site.
Keeping in mind that Sony has not yet demonstrated how the PlayStation 4 looks, it is highly likely that Sony does not have the final version of the console just yet. For example, installation of 8GB of GDDR5 memory involves 32 2Gb chips (there are only 1Gb and 2Gb GDDR5 chips on the market), which requires a PCB of the size of two mainstream graphics cards, too large for a game console. The highly-integrated AMD semi-custom Fusion system-on-chip with eight x86 Jaguar cores and advanced Radeon HD graphics core consumes 80W to 100W, something that requires a sophisticated voltage regulation module (VRM), which takes space as well. All-in-all, without a lot of both external and external work, Sony just cannot come up with a final design of the PlayStation 4. Still, given the PC nature of the PS4, it should be pretty easy to fit the PS4 into a relatively small box.
This is not the first time when Sony does not reveal the actual game consoles while unveiling its features. For example, to demonstrate capabilities of the PlayStation 3 back in 2006 the company used multi-GPU-based x86 personal computers, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Tags: Sony, Playstation, Orbis, 4K, UHD, AMD, Jaguar, Radeon, ATI, GCN, x86
Comments currently:
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Discussion started: 02/23/13 02:41:05 PM
Latest comment: 03/05/13 10:26:09 AM
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"For example, installation of 8GB of GDDR5 memory involves 32 2Gb chips"
What? Last time I checked 4x2Gb = 8Gb and 32x2Gb = 64Gb. Am I missing something huge here or what?
Also, I assume you mean "internal and external work".
I also have my doubts about hardcore gamers being the lion share of the console owners. Especially when talking about the Wii which has to thank a lot of its success to the casual market.
I'm willing to take your word for that though since I don't have numbers to back that up. But please look at that second to last paragraph, if you read it only once you would've seen that these things aren't clear or simply mistyped.
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Posted by: whythisname
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Date: 02/23/13 02:41:05 PM]
+ expand thread (6 answers)
- collapse thread
Yes, you are missing the difference between GB and Gb
A capital G, followed by a small case b, means that we are talking about Giga-bits and not bytes.
A byte is a combination of 8 bits.
So you're right: 64Gb = 8GB
I wonder if they will actually use DDR5, as it looks overkill, or stick to DDR3.
Who knows, they might have a partner who's making larger sized DDR5 modules for them to use.
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Posted by: TonyK
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Date: 02/23/13 06:13:15 PM]
GDDR5 is DDR3. The main bonus of GDDR5 over DDR3 is the interconnected throughput is massively higher. DDR5 does not exist; DDR4 is in development currently. GDDR6 will be DDR4-based.
GDDR5 is definitely not overkill. Considering these consoles are using one massively sized APU; and memory bandwidth is the limiting factor of an APU; they seriously need a lot of memory bandwidth, which only GDDR5 can deliver. Even on the smaller APUs on desktops, you need 2400MHz dual channel DDR3 to get the best framerate in games.
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Posted by: mmstick
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Date: 02/23/13 08:18:07 PM]
GDDR5 is equivalent to DDR4. GDDR4 is equivalent to DDR3.
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Posted by: SteelCity1981
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Date: 02/24/13 04:01:21 AM]
Wrong.
GDDR5 (Graphics Double Data Rate, version 5) SDRAM is a type of high performance DRAM graphics card memory designed for computer applications requiring high bandwidth. Like its predecessor, GDDR4, GDDR5 is based on DDR3 SDRAM memory which has double the data lines compared to DDR2 SDRAM, but GDDR5 also has 8-bit wide prefetch buffers similar to GDDR4.
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Posted by: TAViX
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Date: 02/25/13 01:26:39 AM]
wrong GDDR4 is based on DDR3.
GDDR4 is based on DDR3 SDRAM technology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GDDR4
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Posted by: SteelCity1981
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Date: 02/25/13 01:36:36 AM]
You enjoy being an a$$?? Read again, what I have wrote in bold. And don't forget to vote down my post please.
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Posted by: TAViX
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Date: 03/05/13 10:26:09 AM]
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