The Road to PS5

[hanselthecaretaker]

Official from Sony?s blog site. [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ph8LyNIT9sg]

Key takeaways -

A. PS5 will be quite a big step up from PS4, which will lead to some incredible games in the hands of good devs

B. This is definitely not a console reveal video (which about a third of those who rated the clip seemed to think), so unless you?re really interested in tech talk, you?ll be pretty really disappointed

I really don?t know what Sony was hoping to accomplish with this. It?s something that could?ve easily just been informally mentioned in a blog post rather than putting together a possibly faked presentation [https://www.polygon.com/2020/3/18/21185297/playstation-5-ps5-specs-mark-cerny-presentation-youtube-fans-expectations?_gl=1*p4l6zw*]. It certainly isn?t enough to get consumers interested in buying their latest flagship product, as they must already be discovering based on early feedback.

 

[Yoshi178]

TL;DW gotta get to work.

do they show us more than just a logo this time?

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

TL;DW gotta get to work.

do they show us more than just a logo this time?

Uh...they showed a lot of...charts. Do charts count? Probably a solid ?no?.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Key takeaways -

Although one thing the video does lay out that people probably do care about is backwards compatibility on PS5.

So basically, no PS1-3 BC, only PS4, and even then not full BC, just the 100 most popular games at launch.

No PS1-3 is kind of disappointing, but not unexpected. Limited PS4 is more of a bummer. Especially compared to the Xbox Series X, which does have BC across the entire Xbox line, albeit also in a limited fashion on a game by game basis where your disc is basically a key to download a version of the game patched to run on the XSX. Still, that's games from 3 legacy consoles, as opposed to just one.

 

[Neurotic Void Melody]

well that was as exciting as a soggy pack of half-eaten piss crisps. tbf tho, I wasn't really expecting anything due to being pretty much clueless, unlike seemingly everyone else. and have fairly malfunctioning enthusiasm glands. so maybe it was secretly exciting for other humans? however, the upside is the bump in arms sales to the warring console fanboys - though admittedly a diminishing business - there are still a few evangelicals out there to stoke. and I have many arms. literal arms. not those coward shooty ones used only by cowards and some role models who are just closeted cowards anyway. hmm, closeted cowards might work as an ironic band name. but first, fanboy business to attend to

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

All I want to know is A. Backwards compatibility, and B. will the new games actually be worth the $400 asking price, 'cause this PS4 I have certainly wasn't.

 

[Drathnoxis]

Good to see the backwards compatibility confirmed, since I've already bought a couple PS4 games on the cheap banking on that feature.

 

[ChupathingyX]

Damn I was hoping for PS2 backwards compatibility at the very least.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

This sounded technical, it was probably gonna be their gdc presentation but gdc got cancelled so they did this instead.


The main thing I got out of this outside of the BC stuff is how they will not have a proprietary memory card SSD like microsoft is and they'll just tell us which of the ones out on the market the ps5 will support. I can see that cutting the cost of the console down somewhat.

 

[bluegate]

I really don?t know what Sony was hoping to accomplish with this.

It was a technical deep dive meant for GDC, you were not the audience, developers were.

 

[Yoshi178]

will i still be able to play the PS Plus games i already own on PS4 that are ports of old PS2/3 games like the Jak & Daxter Collection?

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

will i still be able to play the PS Plus games i already own on PS4 that are ports of old PS2/3 games like the Jak & Daxter Collection?

Maybe through BC, but I wouldn't bank on it. Only the 100 most played games will work at launch. Doesn't seem likely Jak & Daxter is one of those. I'm guessing it'll be all the big PS4 exclusives and the major 3rd party games, particularly those you can sink a lot of hours in like GaaS. Maybe some of the remasters like The Last of Us.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

Key takeaways -

Although one thing the video does lay out that people probably do care about is backwards compatibility on PS5.

So basically, no PS1-3 BC, only PS4, and even then not full BC, just the 100 most popular games at launch.

No PS1-3 is kind of disappointing, but not unexpected. Limited PS4 is more of a bummer. Especially compared to the Xbox Series X, which does have BC across the entire Xbox line, albeit also in a limited fashion on a game by game basis where your disc is basically a key to download a version of the game patched to run on the XSX. Still, that's games from 3 legacy consoles, as opposed to just one.

Really surprised they haven?t figured out a way to emulate older hardware yet, when other homebrew modders have already been doing this for years up to PS3. There are also examples of games from every generation on the PS store playable on PS4, so it shouldn?t be a question of power. Far weaker PCs are running PS3 games at a fraction of the optimization that Sony could muster knowing all their hardware to the metal.

This is one area where X1X seems to be putting them to shame. I wonder if they ever look back on the first three generations? eccentric hardware designs and question if it was ultimately worth it.

 

[Chimpzy_v1legacy]

Really surprised they haven?t figured out a way to emulate older hardware yet, when other homebrew modders have already been doing this for years up to PS3. There are also examples of games from every generation on the PS store playable on PS4, so it shouldn?t be a question of power. Far weaker PCs are running PS3 games at a fraction of the optimization that Sony could muster knowing all their hardware to the metal.

This is one area where X1X seems to be putting them to shame. I wonder if they ever look back on the first three generations? eccentric hardware designs and question if it was ultimately worth it.

I agree. As said before, Microsoft's approach to BC is basically letting using your game disc as a key to download a version of the game that's not emulated nor really ported, but sort of "patched" to run on the new hardware. Which I'm sure requires a ton of work, and I think it's very laudable from Microsoft that they're willing to put in the time and money.

My guess is that Sony is taking the same approach with its PS5 BC, but it's only feasible with the PS4. PS1-3 would need to be emulated, and I suspect Sony didn't feel like developing a general emulator for PS3 that's both accurate and performant was a good investment. PS1 and PS2 should not be too much of an issue tho, so why those aren't in remains a questions. Maybe they didn't want to leave a generational BC gap?

 

[bluegate]

I wonder if they ever look back on the first three generations? eccentric hardware designs and question if it was ultimately worth it.

You know how you shouldn't look back on and judge the past through today's glasses?

Back in those days, custom hardware and figuring out what technical balance worked best was the name of the game.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I wonder if they ever look back on the first three generations? eccentric hardware designs and question if it was ultimately worth it.

You know how you shouldn't look back on and judge the past through today's glasses?

Back in those days, custom hardware and figuring out what technical balance worked best was the name of the game.

I guess for consoles. Microsoft would probably be an exception though, using X86 architecture from the beginning. Was a generation after the first PS, but still. Probably the main redeeming factor for them in the console market.

 

[Squilookle]

Key takeaways -

Although one thing the video does lay out that people probably do care about is backwards compatibility on PS5.

So basically, no PS1-3 BC, only PS4, and even then not full BC, just the 100 most popular games at launch.

And in that instant, any interest I may have had in it completely evaporated.

 

[hanselthecaretaker]

I?ve been more of a PS gamer than PC lately but

A. Still have more than enough PS3/4 games to play
B. Still have more than enough PC games to play when I run out of A.

The PS5 will probably be nearing 5 years of age before I consider dropping the $ for one. Only notable exception might be if another Bloodborne is made and bundled with a Slim edition.

Having said that, it does sound like it?ll be quite a bigger step up from the PS4 than the PS4 was from the PS3, which is intriguing. Really liking the focus on near instant load times and high quality audio, which has been sadly ignored for far too long. Also sounds interesting how Cerny pretty much confirmed [https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2020-playstation-5-specs-and-tech-that-deliver-sonys-next-gen-vision] my suspicion that the PS3 still puts the 4?s audio capabilities to shame.