Xbox 720 vs PlayStation 4: Whats in Store?

[ForeverChiefs58]

Microsoft's Xbox 720 and Sony's PlayStation 4 are the two gaming consoles that have been heavily discussed on the Internet over the last few months.

Though both the companies had denied any such developments, gamers expected announcements of the devices at the CES 2012. However, no such announcements were made and now it is expected that official announcements will be made at the E3 2012.

Both PlayStation 4 and the Xbox 720 have to be launched at the same time if they want to stand any chance to outclass each other in the console market. The prices are expected to be high for a console that will deliver next-gen graphics and gameplay. However, both the companies have to play this card wisely as the price factor will have a major determining point in the popularity of the console. The same goes for the game and points achievements and the Live arena options.

Let's have quick look at what could be expected:

Processing Power: Though it is widely believed that the current PlayStation 3 has the edge over the Xbox 360 technically with processing power, graphical prowess and high-definition media via Blu-Ray drive, the next generation Xbox is expected to sport a more powerful processor with extreme graphics capability. According to a New Xbox 720 report, the new Xbox will feature an advanced Central Processing Unit with ground-breaking graphics. The current generation console sports a triple-cored 3.2 GHz processor, coupled with an exciting Graphics Processing Unit (GPU).

However, these specs have been countered by a report from PS4Playstation4.com report, saying Sony will add more SPEs (Synergistic Processing Elements) to the current amount of 8 SPEs which run at 3.2 GHz. Out of this, one is disabled for yield purposes and one for security purposes such as encryption and decryption of the hard drive in real time.

The cell in the PS3 has an overall performance of 204 GFLOPs (floating-point operation per second). It is believed that Sony will increase the current amount of 8 SPEs to 16 SPEs to provide optimal power to heat ratio, provided it is manufactured at 32nm. This will make it capable of consuming the same amount of energy as the 90nm Cell processor found in the 60/20GB PS3s.

It is expected that Microsoft may not choose to stick with IBM to deliver the device's processing power in the future for their new console and a new Fusion chip from AMD might replace it. To meet the fan expectations, Microsoft will surely have to bring in more horsepower to last for at least 10 years. This can be done with an enhanced CPU that will compliment the GPU to produce amazing visuals. Although no game has been declared for the new Xbox, it is believed that titles like "Halo 5" and "Gears of War 4" could become one of the first few games to arrive for the console.

Disc Format: Many believe that Sony will let to go its usual Blu-Ray and replace it with HVDs (Holographic Versatile Disc) though the HVD drives are too expensive and too big.

The new drives are expected to use a full 100GB disc with an advanced Blu-Ray drive for faster reading. The current PS3 has a 2x Blu-ray Disc, where 4x is the minimum to read a 100Gb disc. However, the average read speed nowadays is 8x and it is also relatively cheap. Hence it can be expected that the PS4 will have at least an 8x drive which reads at 36MB/s, and games will load much faster.

The 720, on the other hand, has an unusual rumor making rounds saying that the new console will use Cloud for storage which have been redirected from the fact that Steam has done so well on PC over the years. Now it is being thought if the 720 games will actually feature on a disc at all, or will be simply downloaded from Cloud whenever they will be required. Microsoft could also have opted for the traditional Blu-ray system hadn't it been already owned by rivals, Sony. Other sources have claimed that the future 720 games could also come as Flash drives.

Controller: With rumors making rounds, stories about the console controllers have also gained momentum over the months. Although nothing really is known about the PS4 controller or is too absurd to write about it, the 720 controllers have seen interesting rumors and stories making headlines. It is expected that the 720 controllers will be controlled purely by Kinect style motion sensors. This may sound absurd at the moment but could make a surprise entry with the 720. However, hopefully the traditional style controllers for both Sony and Microsoft will be around for a while.

USB connections: Like the controllers for Sony above, nothing really is known about the Xbox 720 USB connections while a little has been known about the PS4 USB connections. At least 2 to 4 USB 3.0 connections are expected that will back up 100GBs of install data, save data and applications that will take only half the normal time of transfer which can currently take up to 8 hours.

(These are all speculations based on what the consoles currently have and the latest technology that is available at the moment. Any further developments will be posted.)


Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/technolog...#ixzz1jggMJJFG

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

http://huguesjohnson.com/scans/ebspring93/

I remember seeing $70 for games like Super Mario RPG, Final Fantasy 3 (6) , Chrono Trigger, etc.

I remember buying Yars Revenge for the ATARI 2600. It was $59. That was somewhere around 1982.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Dayze

oh, ok. So, no backwards compatibility etc?

wasn't there also somethign about paying a fee?

This isn't unique to next gen consoles.

I bought a used copy of Fight Night Round 4 at Gamestop. I never planned to play online but I found out right away that SLIDER TWEAKS (what EA Sports calls "tuners") were only available with a Fight Night Online Pass.

I ended up having to pay $10 extra dollars and would have been better off just buying a new copy, which included a FREE Fight Night Online Pass.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Guru

all games I never owned. heh

Thanks to discounts I rarely pay full retail for todays games either. Gotta love Newegg!!!!!!!!

Tecmo Super Bowl was $60 when it first came out.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by -King-

Doubt it. If I can't get on live on my xbox, it won't get touched. I know this is true for the majority of gamers. No one buys games anymore just to play the CPU.

I don't play online much. Probably has the most to do with the fact that the CPU isn't a foul-mouthed 14-year old moron...

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by FringeNC

Unless it is whisper quiet, I won't buy it. Xbox is attempting to be much more than a gaming device, and when not gaming, the noise makes it useless.

My 360s is completely silent.

[Saulbadguy]

I think we've been spoiled with backwards compatibility. Very few consoles have been backwards compatible. I don't think you will see too many more of them in the future, it's not worth it.

[Valiant]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

I think we've been spoiled with backwards compatibility. Very few consoles have been backwards compatible. I don't think you will see too many more of them in the future, it's not worth it.

I think it depends on how long a system is out..

Originally I don't think it was feasible for them to do it from nes to snes..

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Saulbadguy

I think we've been spoiled with backwards compatibility. Very few consoles have been backwards compatible. I don't think you will see too many more of them in the future, it's not worth it.

You're absolutely right, it's not worth it to the manufacturers.

Allowing people to play their old game catalog is nice, but it doesn't generate SALES.

[ForeverChiefs58]

I don't like this at all


Say hello to the brave new world of console gaming



New game console rumors are piling up -- and they're painting a pretty bleak picture. Is the future of console gaming something out of an Orwell novel?

By Jeff Bakalar, CNET

The next evolution of home console gaming is shaping up like a dystopian Philip K. Dick short story. Refueled by the latest PlayStation 4 rumor, signs continue to point to a future in which games are no longer really yours to own, instead just a virtual right to play -- just as long as you're connected to the Internet, have a unique ownership ID, and aren't playing a used copy.

This isn't the first we've heard of this either; a January report says Microsoft's next machine will attempt to thwart used games too.

Of course Sony hasn't confirmed any of these supposedly leaked details, but is it really out of the realm of possibility? The Vita is a prime example of the company's piracy paranoia. It's locked down and vacuum-sealed, made painfully apparent by how tedious it is doing trivial things like transferring files between device and computer. The reason for all the red tape? To combat piracy.

Given this recent display of aggressive protection, reading a rumor about a PlayStation 4 that's just as meticulously locked down isn't too hard to swallow.

Think this worst-case scenario is that far off? Think again. It's already starting to happen. Every EA game sold for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 now has anti-used game components built in. New games ship with one-time use codes that give the original owner access to online game play and features. If you try and play one of these titles without the code on a different console or gamertag, it'll cost you extra to get online.

The most infamous anti-used game controversy came with the release of last year's Batman: Arkham City. Players who bought the game used missed out on the entire Catwoman campaign as it required a unique code upon playing the game for the first time. Game reseller GameStop eventually made good on the incident by including codes for those who bought the game pre-owned.

Speaking of GameStop, I can't imagine the company is too thrilled about the recent rumors surrounding the PS4 and its anti-used game tech. Gamesindustry is already suggesting the game giant could theoretically refuse to sell PS4 games simply for the fact that they would be "un-resellable." Now I'm not going to lose sleep over the death of a company that makes money off buying used games at a low price and then selling them back just $5 less than retail, but GameStop isn't the only entity that could potentially see an impact from the elimination of used games.

Look at the game rental business with services like Gamefly and sites that organize game trades between consenting players. What about those guys? It all funnels into a core concept of how ingrained used games are to the entire video game marketplace and ecosystem.

But perhaps the most overlooked element of this entire conversation is the idea of selling a game back has become such an integral part of the psychology of game buying. A customer feels much better about buying a brand new $60 game that turns out to be awful because they know there's a safety net in place that will most likely get them at least half their money back -- or more if they sell it in the right marketplace. In a world where selling back games is no longer an option, will games sell as well as they do now?

And what about the social ramifications of eliminating used games? Does this mean kids won't be able to go to a friend's house and show them the great new Portal game they just bought? That was half my childhood for crying out loud. But in this brave new world, that act may be considered trying to play a used game.

This week's PS4 rumor suggests that all games would be tied to a single PSN ID -- so could one sign into their ID on a friend's console thus allowing the "sharing" of the game? We just don't know yet.

So what does the future of gaming look like? I think a good indication of what might come to be is how Activision has approached Modern Warfare 3. Encouraging gamers to hop on board a subscription-based gaming experience not only shifts focus away from those who might want to sell a game back, but also increases overall game play value.

Modern Warfare 3 offers a one-year subscription price that includes any and all DLC over the course of a calendar year. It's cheaper to buy the membership upfront rather than picking and choosing which DLC you want.

What this really boils down to is the end of physical media. We lost a possessive right the second physical discs and material items like books, games, and music became nothing more than 0s and 1s on a drive. Sure, they might consist of the same data you'd get on an actual disc or book, but once they were made intangible, an unwritten sense of ownership was severed. There doesn't seem to be a used-game epidemic plaguing the Apple's App Store, does there?

So why is this the trend? Why does every little rumor and bit of news that leaks out all indicate that the next generation of game consoles will be fashioned this way? It can't be because console manufactures actually believe it will increase revenue when I just explained how, if anything, it might even lead to less sales.

Is there a silver lining here? Perhaps. Maybe this will could drive the cost of games down. The push towards the elimination of physical media does remove a number of middlemen from the equation, bringing overhead down. It'll also light a fire under those who can help improve the state of broadband connectivity in this country because not everyone is lucky enough to have a high-speed connection that will deliver a 50GB game in a timely manner.

Will Sony unveil details about the next PlayStation at E3 2012? Microsoft has already preemptively announced that an Xbox 360 successor will not be a topic of conversation at the big show. If the rumors are true and we do see a PlayStation 4 in 2013, Sony would also trade places with Microsoft in being the first to market with a new console, the opposite of what happened with Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2005 and 2006 respectively (not counting the WiiU of course).

Whichever way the chips fall, we'll be the first to let you know as we'll be covering E3 2012 live from the show floor this June.


http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged...003839870.html

[BryanBusby]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

Well, that will probably happen, but not with me. I really dont buy all that many games, but when i do i almost always buy used or at a discount price. $60 for a game is out of my price range. This will probably help extend the life out of the 360 and PS3. The industry should try and figure out a way to sell new games at a cheaper cost if they want to kill the used market.


IMO its just an incredibly sh*tty way to treat your customer base.

The video game business is a pretty shitty one.

Sony/MS are making a huge mistake if they're trying to push DRM'd lock down cloud-based game distribution. It's just going to lead to an eventual push to reverse engineer which eventually leads to that whole piracy thing.

Online distribution off the bat is going to **** them hard in countries that have ISP's with long established bandwidth caps and will really **** them if more ISP's in this country jump in.

After the whole 360 RRoD and the PSN network security ordeal, think I'm not buying a console for the next generation.

[SnakeXJones]

This is absolutely ****ing stupid

[007]

I could live with it if they would take on the Steam model and drop prices appropriately over time AND have the occasional kick ass sale.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by BryanBusby

The video game business is a pretty shitty one.

Sony/MS are making a huge mistake if they're trying to push DRM'd lock down cloud-based game distribution. It's just going to lead to an eventual push to reverse engineer which eventually leads to that whole piracy thing.

Online distribution off the bat is going to **** them hard in countries that have ISP's with long established bandwidth caps and will really **** them if more ISP's in this country jump in.

After the whole 360 RRoD and the PSN network security ordeal, think I'm not buying a console for the next generation.

It's not just MS and Sony. The large publishers like EA and Activision want this just as much, if not MORE, than the console manufacturers themselves.

[htismaqe]

The future of gaming is "pay for play".

Facebook has infected the mainstream gaming industry, make no mistake about it.

When EA sees a HALF MILLION people playing Farmville EACH AND EVERY DAY, they want a piece.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by ForeverChiefs58

signs continue to point to a future in which games are no longer really yours to own, instead just a virtual right to play -- just as long as you're connected to the Internet, have a unique ownership ID, and aren't playing a used copy.

Thanks Apple!