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Forums - Sony - PS4 will not have a cell, but still be backwards compatible?

 

How will it be backwards compatible?

Gaikai 11 22.00%
 
Per game 8 16.00%
 
Emulation 13 26.00%
 
It woun't 18 36.00%
 
Total:50
JoeTheBro on 07 February 2013

The cell is out the window. Insiders with great consistency have said it's not in the PS4. However these insiders aren't flat out saying it's not backwards compatible. If that's the case then there are three options.

1. Gaikai. This is pretty unrealistic but theoretically possible. Sony could stream PS3 and PSN games to the PS4. It would cost a lot more than other solutions.

2. Per game emulation. Similar to the XBOX 360 running XBOX, the PS3 running digital PS2, and the Vita running PSP games, the PS4 could run PS3 games through customized emulation per game. The problem with this is it takes time and not all content will be supported, especially at launch.

3. Full emulation. This isn't possible with the current leaked specs. However it is possible that the PS4 has an extra CPU we don't know about that's specifically designed to emulate the cell. The advantage of this is the CPU would be usable during PS4 games and would slightly increase the PS4's power. This would cost Sony a lot of R&D money.

Or of course it could have zero BC but that would be crazy in this digital age. What do you think?



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Turkish on 07 February 2013

Yep.

1. Gaikai
2. Software emulation, like non-BC PS3s can play PS2 Classics from the PSN



Andrespetmonkey on 07 February 2013

The way I see it there are two possibilities:

1) Streaming. Maybe that Gaikai acquisition will result in some sort of pseudo BC, allowing us to stream PS3 games we own. Maybe if the disk is inserted into a PS4 it would make that game available for streaming (1 disc locked to 1 PS4). This could end up being quite expensive for Sony (having people use there hardware/servers for free), but the costs could be offset with paid streaming of PS1/PS2 games, a long with whatever else Gaikai could offer.

2) Separately sold BC dongle. By that I mean a little box of some sort with a cell processor and maybe an RSX in there. Sony could sell it for $50 or so, make a decent profit off it. This was rumoured btw.

Don't count of there being backwards compatibility at all though.



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darkknightkryta on 07 February 2013

Sony actually patented technology that would allow an attachment to allow older titles run on hardware. This is most likely the case.



platformmaster918 on 07 February 2013
Andrespetmonkey said:

 

The way I see it there are two possibilities:

1) Streaming. Maybe that Gaikai acquisition will result in some sort of pseudo BC, allowing us to stream PS3 games we own. Maybe if the disk is inserted into a PS4 it would make that game available for streaming (1 disc locked to 1 PS4). This could end up being quite expensive for Sony (having people use there hardware/servers for free), but the costs could be offset with paid streaming of PS1/PS2 games, a long with whatever else Gaikai could offer.

2) Separately sold BC dongle. By that I mean a little box of some sort with a cell processor and maybe an RSX in there. Sony could sell it for $50 or so, make a decent profit off it. This was rumoured btw.

Don't count of there being backwards compatibility at all though.

 

I'm hoping for a dongle since even if it's $100 I could sell my 500gb on ebay for at least $150.  Also a lot better than another whole box under the TV.




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fordy on 07 February 2013
Andrespetmonkey said:

 

The way I see it there are two possibilities:

1) Streaming. Maybe that Gaikai acquisition will result in some sort of pseudo BC, allowing us to stream PS3 games we own. Maybe if the disk is inserted into a PS4 it would make that game available for streaming (1 disc locked to 1 PS4). This could end up being quite expensive for Sony (having people use there hardware/servers for free), but the costs could be offset with paid streaming of PS1/PS2 games, a long with whatever else Gaikai could offer.

2) Separately sold BC dongle. By that I mean a little box of some sort with a cell processor and maybe an RSX in there. Sony could sell it for $50 or so, make a decent profit off it. This was rumoured btw.

Don't count of there being backwards compatibility at all though.

 

And what would this dongle plug into?

Unless the PS4 has technology similar to Thunderbolt, it's going to be impossible running the entire process from USB.



Andrespetmonkey on 07 February 2013
fordy said:

And what would this dongle plug into?

Unless the PS4 has technology similar to Thunderbolt, it's going to be impossible running the entire process from USB.

I'm sure they could figure this out



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Tom3k on 07 February 2013
fordy said:
Andrespetmonkey said:

 

The way I see it there are two possibilities:

1) Streaming. Maybe that Gaikai acquisition will result in some sort of pseudo BC, allowing us to stream PS3 games we own. Maybe if the disk is inserted into a PS4 it would make that game available for streaming (1 disc locked to 1 PS4). This could end up being quite expensive for Sony (having people use there hardware/servers for free), but the costs could be offset with paid streaming of PS1/PS2 games, a long with whatever else Gaikai could offer.

2) Separately sold BC dongle. By that I mean a little box of some sort with a cell processor and maybe an RSX in there. Sony could sell it for $50 or so, make a decent profit off it. This was rumoured btw.

Don't count of there being backwards compatibility at all though.

 

And what would this dongle plug into?

Unless the PS4 has technology similar to Thunderbolt, it's going to be impossible running the entire process from USB.


Since it's based on AMD's CPU and GPU it could ahve http://www.anandtech.com/show/5413/amds-lightning-bolt-low-cost-thunderbolt-alternative-for-usb-30dp



fordy on 07 February 2013
Tom3k said:
fordy said:
Andrespetmonkey said:

 

The way I see it there are two possibilities:

1) Streaming. Maybe that Gaikai acquisition will result in some sort of pseudo BC, allowing us to stream PS3 games we own. Maybe if the disk is inserted into a PS4 it would make that game available for streaming (1 disc locked to 1 PS4). This could end up being quite expensive for Sony (having people use there hardware/servers for free), but the costs could be offset with paid streaming of PS1/PS2 games, a long with whatever else Gaikai could offer.

2) Separately sold BC dongle. By that I mean a little box of some sort with a cell processor and maybe an RSX in there. Sony could sell it for $50 or so, make a decent profit off it. This was rumoured btw.

Don't count of there being backwards compatibility at all though.

 

And what would this dongle plug into?

Unless the PS4 has technology similar to Thunderbolt, it's going to be impossible running the entire process from USB.


Since it's based on AMD's CPU and GPU it could ahve http://www.anandtech.com/show/5413/amds-lightning-bolt-low-cost-thunderbolt-alternative-for-usb-30dp


DisplayPort, USB3 and Power.....I think if you wanted to have a high-speed communication to an external device, it would need to be connected higher up in the hierarchy (such as PCIe, which is what Thunderbolt provides). USB3 is 5Gbit maximum (500MB/s after 8:10 ECC), PCIe can consist of more lanes to push data through  (Almost 2GB/s/lane).



superchunk on 07 February 2013

Considering they quickly ditched hardware BC in PS3 (for PS2), I doubt it will be any hardware solution.

It will be some kind of software solution and that means you'll likely lose usage of discs.

For example... see how it was handled with Vita and PSP.