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Hynad on 22 October 2014
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Landguy said:
Hynad said:
Landguy said:

I am not sure i buy into the "it'll blow them away" theory about later genereation games.  Last gen, that was the case becasue the totally different architecture of the systems.  This gen, the X86 architecture is very similar to last gen and the video cards and processors are nearly identical to their off the shelf.  I don't see the games getting a lot better over time.  Sure, the first party Sony titles will look pretty good, but that will be a design decision more than anything.

Errr, no. It wasn't the case last gen "because the totally different architecture of the systems".

It happened... every... single... generation.

Why would the current gen be an exception? People are, again, blowing shit out of proportion. 

Not my point.  All of the previous generations had completely custom processors unique to the particular system.  The current gen are using mostly off the shelf cpus and gpus.  This results in easier to program for setups.  Has there ever been a generation where the cpus/gpus were based on the same x86 architecture as the PC?  The fundamental design of these processors and cpus are nothing new.  Why do think so many apps are being ported to the XB1 and PS4 so fast?  If the systems are not designed using console specefic cpus/gpu's, why is it going to take 3 years for developers to "figure them out"?

Previous generations didn't have so many developers working on developing for the systems either.  There are hundreds/thousands of indie developers working on games before the systems even being launched.  Development is much more advanced this time around.


It's not about figuring them out. It's about developing tools and engine features that properly harness the power of each individual consoles. Those evolve over time. Those are not appearing out of nowhere just because the architecture is similar to what has been in use for years.  The fact that the consoles are closed architecture means that the devs have to go the extra mile to suck as much as possible from the consoles. Something they don't need to do on the PC and where optimization is near impossible due to the countless possible PC configuration. Instead, games are asked to use hardware that are far over the actual requirements due to poor/no optimization. Also, GPGPU is still new. And the devs will learn to tackle it over time, as tools will be made to harness that aspect of the console more efficiently. Among plenty other factors that will change, evolve and improve throughout the generation.