PlayStation 4 discussion v2.0
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So what's everyone's next PS4 game? I'm planning on picking up Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition since I didn't get to play it on the PS3/360 and because of the drought.
Probably inFamous or DriveClub, whichever comes out first. Although if I find Knack for a good price I may get it before those.
I opened my extra controller boxes today and found out that they don't come with a charge cord. You have to use the one that comes with the PS4. Way to go the EXTREME cheap route Sony. I heard the controllers cost like $11 or something to make. You telling me you couldn't add a $5 cord in there? And of course the cord that does come with the PS4 is short as all hell.
Extremetech: Power consumption analysis points to Sony advantage and future efficiency gains
A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council put the PS4 and Xbox One under the power efficiency microscope and came back with less than glowing things to say about the new devices. According to the organization, both consoles draw more power than they should despite heavy investment in power-saving technologies.
The long-term impact? ”Over five years, the Xbox One’s 250 kilowatt hours per year usage represents roughly $150 in electricity costs, enough to buy two or three new games!”
True. But the tone of the original blog piece is a bit overdramatic — particularly given that these are figures we could generate for virtually any non-critical appliance that runs on a daily basis.
Image by the Natural Resources Defense Council
First, the NRDC does have a point: The Xbox One and PS4 use significantly more power than their predecessors. Data from various sources, including NRDC, suggests that power consumption is far higher than it ought to be, at 80W for Blu-ray playback for the Xbox One and 90W for the PS4. Blu-ray players from 2009 (Samsung’s BD-P3600) was tested by CNET and found to consume 22W against the PS3 Slim’s 81W. Not much improvement there.
The PS4 consumes more power than the Xbox One in every mode except Connected Standby, where the Xbox One chews threw 18W compared to Sony’s 8.8W. Since both consoles are expected to spend much of their time in this mode, the Xbox One ends up actually using more electricity than Sony’s system. In other words, the PS4′s higher performance and power consumption in gaming is more than offset.
Image by NRDC
Improving energy efficiency
Where I think the NRDC goes wrong, however, is to assume that this generation’s console power consumption will only improve by 25%. The report also makes some rather questionable assertions about charging power on the PS4.
For starters, let’s talk about that 80-90W Blu-ray decode consumption on both consoles — that’s ridiculous. It made sense for the PS3 to draw that much power because Nvidia’s video decode block doesn’t appear to have been capable of full video offload, which meant the Cell processor was likely handling some of the task as well. AMD’s video decoder, in contrast, can handle the entire process with relatively little effort and for a fraction the power.
Here’s what this suggests: All of the optimization work that went into the Xbox One and PS4 went into making them run properly, with comparatively little tuning for low-power operation when playing video. If you think about it, this makes sense. Load balancing and figuring out which parts of the SoC can be deactivated without impacting the user experience takes a great deal of testing compared to flipping a switch and running full out. Future updates should be capable of improving this by more than the 25% the NRDC estimates. I’d hope for something more along the lines of 40-50W.
The report goes a bit off base when it suggests that Sony must improve battery charge efficiency, noting that “Sony’s PS4 uses 8 watts of power in connected standby when USB charging is enabled… laptops perform this function for only 1 watt.” Presumably this is when a device is actually plugged in and charging. Unless there’s an enormous low-level software issue, this has more to do with charge speed than charge time. You cannot draw 1W from the wall and charge a device as quickly as you can drawing 8W from the wall unless Sony deliberately used a charger with miserable efficiency. Even if it did, fixing it would take a hardware swap.
Finally, there’s the cost figure. The NRDC expects that running your Xbox for five years will cost $150. “Enough to buy two or three new games!” We are further told that consoles could use as much as 500MW of power, or the entire power consumption of Houston.
Total generating capacity of the United States? Approximately 1TW. What percentage of 1TW is 500MW? That’s just 0.05%.
So, to put this in perspective, yes, consoles draw power, and yes, consumers should be aware of that. But while consumer use of resources is an important part of the US total, it’s only a modest amount. In 2011, residential use accounted for 22% of total power, compared to 28% for transportation, 31% industrial, and 19% commercial. Furthermore, since many console buyers will be previous owners of other consoles who will presumably retire those devices, the net impact on US energy consumption due to console production will be negligible.
We still want to see Sony and Microsoft improve the power consumption of their products, but don’t buy the fear-mongering. If you retire a PS3 or Xbox 360 and replace it with the modern version, the impact on your power bill is going to be a few dollars per month, at most.
A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council put the PS4 and Xbox One under the power efficiency microscope and came back with less than glowing things to say about the new devices. According to the organization, both consoles draw more power than they should despite heavy investment in power-saving technologies.
The long-term impact? ”Over five years, the Xbox One’s 250 kilowatt hours per year usage represents roughly $150 in electricity costs, enough to buy two or three new games!”
True. But the tone of the original blog piece is a bit overdramatic — particularly given that these are figures we could generate for virtually any non-critical appliance that runs on a daily basis.
Image by the Natural Resources Defense Council
First, the NRDC does have a point: The Xbox One and PS4 use significantly more power than their predecessors. Data from various sources, including NRDC, suggests that power consumption is far higher than it ought to be, at 80W for Blu-ray playback for the Xbox One and 90W for the PS4. Blu-ray players from 2009 (Samsung’s BD-P3600) was tested by CNET and found to consume 22W against the PS3 Slim’s 81W. Not much improvement there.
The PS4 consumes more power than the Xbox One in every mode except Connected Standby, where the Xbox One chews threw 18W compared to Sony’s 8.8W. Since both consoles are expected to spend much of their time in this mode, the Xbox One ends up actually using more electricity than Sony’s system. In other words, the PS4′s higher performance and power consumption in gaming is more than offset.
Image by NRDC
Improving energy efficiency
Where I think the NRDC goes wrong, however, is to assume that this generation’s console power consumption will only improve by 25%. The report also makes some rather questionable assertions about charging power on the PS4.
For starters, let’s talk about that 80-90W Blu-ray decode consumption on both consoles — that’s ridiculous. It made sense for the PS3 to draw that much power because Nvidia’s video decode block doesn’t appear to have been capable of full video offload, which meant the Cell processor was likely handling some of the task as well. AMD’s video decoder, in contrast, can handle the entire process with relatively little effort and for a fraction the power.
Here’s what this suggests: All of the optimization work that went into the Xbox One and PS4 went into making them run properly, with comparatively little tuning for low-power operation when playing video. If you think about it, this makes sense. Load balancing and figuring out which parts of the SoC can be deactivated without impacting the user experience takes a great deal of testing compared to flipping a switch and running full out. Future updates should be capable of improving this by more than the 25% the NRDC estimates. I’d hope for something more along the lines of 40-50W.
The report goes a bit off base when it suggests that Sony must improve battery charge efficiency, noting that “Sony’s PS4 uses 8 watts of power in connected standby when USB charging is enabled… laptops perform this function for only 1 watt.” Presumably this is when a device is actually plugged in and charging. Unless there’s an enormous low-level software issue, this has more to do with charge speed than charge time. You cannot draw 1W from the wall and charge a device as quickly as you can drawing 8W from the wall unless Sony deliberately used a charger with miserable efficiency. Even if it did, fixing it would take a hardware swap.
Finally, there’s the cost figure. The NRDC expects that running your Xbox for five years will cost $150. “Enough to buy two or three new games!” We are further told that consoles could use as much as 500MW of power, or the entire power consumption of Houston.
Total generating capacity of the United States? Approximately 1TW. What percentage of 1TW is 500MW? That’s just 0.05%.
So, to put this in perspective, yes, consoles draw power, and yes, consumers should be aware of that. But while consumer use of resources is an important part of the US total, it’s only a modest amount. In 2011, residential use accounted for 22% of total power, compared to 28% for transportation, 31% industrial, and 19% commercial. Furthermore, since many console buyers will be previous owners of other consoles who will presumably retire those devices, the net impact on US energy consumption due to console production will be negligible.We still want to see Sony and Microsoft improve the power consumption of their products, but don’t buy the fear-mongering. If you retire a PS3 or Xbox 360 and replace it with the modern version, the impact on your power bill is going to be a few dollars per month, at most.
Mark Cerny finally comes out and comments on Knack's review scores.
http://www.playstationlifestyle.net...s4s-best-titles-are-still-well-in-the-future/
Mark Cerny Comments on Mixed Knack Reviews, Says PS4′s Best Titles are “Still Well in the Future”
December 20, 2013 Written by Jason Dunning
When it comes to the reception of Knack from critics (we gave it a 6, Metacritic has it at 55), it hasn’t been overly positive, with Shuhei Yoshida saying shortly after PS4 launch, “It’s disappointing to see some of the low scores” and “I was hoping Knack could score in the mid 70s.”
Addressing the Knack reviews now is Game Director Mark Cerny, who said in an interview with Gamasutra, “I’m very proud of the team for creating an original launch title. It takes extraordinary effort to be out on the same day as the hardware and to do with a new brand speaks to the dedication of everyone at the Japan Studio.” But when it comes to the critical response, he replied:
Cerny then explained what he thinks lead to this:
http://www.playstationlifestyle.net...s4s-best-titles-are-still-well-in-the-future/
Mark Cerny Comments on Mixed Knack Reviews, Says PS4′s Best Titles are “Still Well in the Future”
December 20, 2013 Written by Jason Dunning
When it comes to the reception of Knack from critics (we gave it a 6, Metacritic has it at 55), it hasn’t been overly positive, with Shuhei Yoshida saying shortly after PS4 launch, “It’s disappointing to see some of the low scores” and “I was hoping Knack could score in the mid 70s.”
Addressing the Knack reviews now is Game Director Mark Cerny, who said in an interview with Gamasutra, “I’m very proud of the team for creating an original launch title. It takes extraordinary effort to be out on the same day as the hardware and to do with a new brand speaks to the dedication of everyone at the Japan Studio.” But when it comes to the critical response, he replied:
There was definitely a very mixed response to the title. On the plus side, there is some appreciation of the core concept of a creature made from parts – at the same time of course one can see the desire that this concept had been explored further.
Cerny then explained what he thinks lead to this:
Expectations are very high for next-gen titles, and rightfully so! Everyone is looking to see how that factor of ten improvement in performance, or the more connected nature of gaming, is going to change or enhance the core gaming experience. At the same time, it’s pretty clear that the titles that unmistakably take advantage of that performance or connectivity are still well in the future.
Looking into the future, Mark revealed how he’s “looking forward to Ubisoft’s new two IPs, Watch Dogs and The Crew,” with Cerny believing that The Crew’s drop-in drop-out features will work really well with the social aspects of next-gen.
I was hoping it would be similar to Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet & Clank, etc., in its fun factor. Seems like it fell short of that. Oh well, they can't all be gems, eh Cerny? Maybe next time. Or maybe the rumors about a new Crash will come true. That Mario Kart 8 trailer makes me wish for more games on the PS4 or X1 that are like that -- just good old childish fun, you know?
Knack was pretty disappointing, mainly because he only had like 5 moves the entire game. The 55 metacritic was justified. At least Killzone was decent, and looked great.
Really nice article on Naughty Dog's History.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/04/rising-to-greatness-the-history-of-naughty-dog?page=1
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/10/04/rising-to-greatness-the-history-of-naughty-dog?page=1
I played Knack at the demo booth. It sucks.
Anyway, could be the abuse at the booth by people, but I feel the controller for PS4 is flimsy, particularly the triggers, with minimal haptic feel. I am surprise, as I heard how the controller is so much better. Also, not sure if its normal, I notice the touchpad can be push back.
Anyway, could be the abuse at the booth by people, but I feel the controller for PS4 is flimsy, particularly the triggers, with minimal haptic feel. I am surprise, as I heard how the controller is so much better. Also, not sure if its normal, I notice the touchpad can be push back.
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