Report: New Details Emerge About "PlayStation 4.5"

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Report: New Details Emerge About "PlayStation 4.5"

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According to the report, the new console is codenamed "NEO."

Rumors have been circulating for some time about an upcoming upgraded PlayStation 4, known as both PlayStation 4.5 and PlayStation 4K. Last month, sources told the Wall Street Journal that the new, beefier console was expected to be officially announced prior to the launch of PlayStation VR [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167034-More-Powerful-PS4-to-be-Announced-Before-PlayStation-VR-Launch-Report-Says] in October.

According to a new report by Giant Bomb [http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/sources-the-upgraded-playstation-4-is-codenamed-ne/1100-5437/] more details have surfaced on the console, which is said to be codenamed "NEO" - quite clever if true, considering the codename for PlayStation VR during development was "Morpheus." According to Giant Bomb, NEO will feature a higher clock speed, an improved GPU, and higher bandwidth on the memory.

According to the report, every PS4 game come October will be required to ship with a "Base Mode" for the original PS4 and a "NEO Mode" for the new console. The new system will not replace the original, rather it will be available alongside it. This appears to corroborate the WSJ report that indicated that the original and upgraded PlayStations would share a software catalogue.

"Sony seems committed to keeping the NEO and the original PS4 player bases connected," the Giant Bomb report reads. "As such, there will be no NEO-only games, and Sony will not let developers separate NEO users from original PS4 players while playing on PSN." In addition, it's stated that there will be no exclusive gameplay options or "special unlockables" for people playing on the new system.

Sony has not yet commented on the reports of the new PlayStation 4 console. We will update this story if and when comment is given.

You can check out Giant Bomb's full report here [http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/sources-the-upgraded-playstation-4-is-codenamed-ne/1100-5437/].

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[McElroy]

Hehehe, "NEO". Is this the one who went down the rabbit hole? Or the one that a little kid destroyed in a single hit? For people who have the buck and want the bang. Pity on the confused consumer.

 

[Bobular]

I've only just bought my PS4 so wont be upgrading, and as long as games aren't going to come out for the NEO only then I'll be OK with this.

I just wonder if devs are going to have to make the game work in two modes is that going to make it more difficult for them and therefore drive devs away from the PS4?

 

[Aerosteam]

So... we expecting something codenamed "Trinity" sometime in the future?

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Does it also know kung-fu?

I've not picked up a ps4 yet. Looks like I might be waiting to see how this pans out before jumping on.

 

[Lufia Erim]

So, what's the point? I mean maybe I'll get one for the PSVR ( which i am buying even if it bankrupts me). But i just don't see the point atm.

 

[The Hungry Samurai]

Will PSVR still run fine on the original PS4? They can say that they're not splitting up bases all they like I'm still pretty annoyed about all of this.

 

[Remus]

Wake up Neo...
The Matrix has you.
Follow the white rabbit.

Knock knock Neo

So if the headset is Morpheus and the upgraded PS4 is Neo, what's Trinity? And what's the pricepoint?

 

[flying_whimsy]

I don't believe for an instant that they'll keep the player bases mixed: maybe in the short term, but sooner or later the march of tech will make them abandon that 'base' mode requirement for games. At least it's a more clearer product distinction than the new nintendo 3ds. Either that, or after the vr thing passes they'll simply abandon the ps4.5. I did just buy a pstv after all...

I'm hoping this means we'll see a big price drop on the ps4: I've been waiting to get one. Come to think of it, we haven't heard anything about the price of sony's new wunderkind; I wonder if it'll be ludicrous.

 

[Saelune]

I don't believe for an instant that they'll keep the player bases mixed: maybe in the short term, but sooner or later the march of tech will make them abandon that 'base' mode requirement for games. At least it's a more clearer product distinction than the new nintendo 3ds. Either that, or after the vr thing passes they'll simply abandon the ps4.5. I did just buy a pstv after all...

I'm hoping this means we'll see a big price drop on the ps4: I've been waiting to get one. Come to think of it, we haven't heard anything about the price of sony's new wunderkind; I wonder if it'll be ludicrous.

I don't know why people are freaking out. Games may have enhanced features or something for the "4.5" but few if any are going to limit it to that cause...money. People are being silly about this.

 

[Kenjitsuka]

So... we expecting something codenamed "Trinity" sometime in the future?

Trinity was an atomic bomb, numero Uno even.

" In addition, it's stated that there will be no exclusive gameplay options or "special unlockables" for people playing on the new system."

Yeah, except for such gameplay options as "framerate doesn't drop below 15 because this shit is still super buggy".
They are already struggling massively with this. See "Just Cause 3" for more...

 

[gillnavisingh]

The last time I saw a machine named NEO, I touched it and it exploded into a million pieces after it realized I didn't want to join its fan club.

 

[Laughing Man]

"Sony seems committed to keeping the NEO and the original PS4 player bases connected," the Giant Bomb report reads. "As such, there will be no NEO-only games, and Sony will not let developers separate NEO users from original PS4 players while playing on PSN." In addition, it's stated that there will be no exclusive gameplay options or "special unlockables" for people playing on the new system.

Well at least until Sony work out that people aren't stupid enough to pay a much higher fee for a console that only offers higher resolution graphics. At that point watch the NEO exclusive content start to flow.

 

[william1657]

I actually wish that they would allow developers segregate the player bases.

If developers have to release everything with a mode for the vanilla console too, then there will probably be more games like Hyrule Warriors Legends that just run terribly on the weaker console.

 

[bluegate]

I just wonder if devs are going to have to make the game work in two modes is that going to make it more difficult for them and therefore drive devs away from the PS4?

The Neo's GPU allegedly has double the compute units and runs 13% faster, so the laziest way for devs to go is to optimize the game for the base PS4 and then set the frame cap for the Neo version to 60 rather than 30 or maybe just turn on some more sophisticated shaders and what not. It will be more work for developers as they now have two benchmarks to test against, but I doubt that it's of a level that pushes developers away.

I actually wish that they would allow developers segregate the player bases.

And piss off 36+ million people who previously bought a PS4? Sure, sounds like a plan, Jack.

 

[FalloutJack]

I actually wish that they would allow developers segregate the player bases.

And piss off 36+ million people who previously bought a PS4? Sure, sounds like a plan, Jack.

Well, on the one hand, I have heard good things about Occulus Rift games. On the other hand, the bigwigs who see a bandwagon to jump on (like motion controls) do so in a mannerthat is poorly executed and not worth having.

I honestly don't know what to think, but a remake of .hack games with technology similar to what the people playing The World had would be a pretty clever idea.

 

[sXeth]

I've only just bought my PS4 so wont be upgrading, and as long as games aren't going to come out for the NEO only then I'll be OK with this.

I just wonder if devs are going to have to make the game work in two modes is that going to make it more difficult for them and therefore drive devs away from the PS4?

I'd assume most of the third party will just develop for the base model and not give a crap about the NEO. Much like most third party developers just use the common baseline rather then squeeze out the extra bit on whichever console is slightly more powerful. Maybe there'll be a texture pack upgrade or something, but I wouldn't bet on much huge work outside of first-party studios to take advantage of it.

 

[Strazdas]

Will PSVR still run fine on the original PS4? They can say that they're not splitting up bases all they like I'm still pretty annoyed about all of this.

No.

Reason: Consoles are too weak.

I'd assume most of the third party will just develop for the base model and not give a crap about the NEO. Much like most third party developers just use the common baseline rather then squeeze out the extra bit on whichever console is slightly more powerful. Maybe there'll be a texture pack upgrade or something, but I wouldn't bet on much huge work outside of first-party studios to take advantage of it.

When games are developed the developers first have large resolution textures to play with and that resolution is decreased based on amount of optimization they are going for. So to have other version with simply higher res textures would require no new texture creation since they already have higher res textures, they just dont publish them because consoles are too slow.

And piss off 36+ million people who previously bought a PS4? Sure, sounds like a plan, Jack.

to be honest anyone still buying a console nowadays is too fanatic to quit anyway.

 

[The Enquirer]

Does it also know kung-fu?

No, but it does get easily distracted by women in red dresses.

OT: Seems a little soon for them to be coming out with the next console model already given the thing has only been out 2 and a half years. Curious how apparent the performance differences will be with vr or higher level games given the already present framerate issues in some titles.

 

[CrystalShadow]

I don't know whether I should laugh, or cry.

On the one hand, new hardware for a system I didn't care about in the first place.
On the other hand, introducing some of the same problems that make PC development complicated...

Meanwhile, it also seems like a subtle hint that the 'new generation' consoles are seriously underpowered.

I mean, I knew that already - go review the history of consoles back to the mid 80's or so and you realise this is the smallest performance improvement we've ever had.

It was quite sad. And what do you know? Every one of the console makers seems to be doing panic upgrades.

Except that Nintendo seems much closer to simply meeting the normal console lifecycle than the other two, but has been catching a lot of flak for the mere rumour of a new system... (if they release by november this year, they'll be 4 years into the Wii U's life - only a single year early. But traditionally, they've had working prototype hardware on show more than a year before release, and we haven't seen a single thing yet so far - it's all still in the speculative rumour stage.)

We shall see what happens I guess, but just ads fuel to the fire that this is by far the most disappointing console generation we've ever had.

It's completely nuts, honestly.