# PS4 to be announced Feb 20th - Your predictions **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 1, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023 "2013-02-01T12:47:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/161 "2013-02-15T19:13:36Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Well, the Wii U was changed so it will be able run Unreal 4, which seems to be an engine the other new consoles will be using. It seems that scalable engines are in vogue now. > > EDIT: Since the Roku is $50, I’m not sure there’s really any need for your console to also be an Internet Video device. Granted, you’ll still need a computer server to run Plex to get all the big stations, but most people have a computer that can handle that. Engine scalability doesn’t necessarily mean that your game will simply run on less capable hardware out of the box. It just means you can target that lower spec hardware. The implementation and optimization of code and assets, is still up to you, and not many studios have the resources or the will to do this. In fact, difference in hardware might mean essentially designing two different games, even if running on the same engine. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/162 "2013-02-15T19:24:40Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > I honestly think that having consoles with long-standing technical limitations is a very good thing for the industry, since it forces algorithmic innovation. What algorithmic innovation has occurred? I mean, devs have gotten a bit better at tapping that old hardware, but this knowledge is, in great part, only applicable to dealing with this particular hardware. Much of the improvement in the way things look in modern console games, is lighting techniques and tight control over level design (one reason why we see so many “corridor” games). But things light deferred shading and lighting have been around for a while, it’s just it took current console hardware muscle to be able to do it in real time. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/163 "2013-02-20T23:10:17Z")
They are introducing it now, but are just jibber-gabbering about stuff before actually getting on with it. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/164 "2013-02-20T23:13:32Z")
Can read between the lines. The PS4 will have to be on-line. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/165 "2013-02-20T23:19:28Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Can read between the lines. The PS4 will have to be on-line. Something like that. I have no idea what he’s going on about. At least he is now getting to showing it. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/166 "2013-02-20T23:25:17Z")
Some game called Knack is the first game they’ve shown. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/167 "2013-02-20T23:40:17Z")
The Vita will kind of work like the Wii U gamepad, in the sense that you can play your PS4 games on it via streaming. Not a bad idea. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/168 "2013-02-20T23:42:12Z")
The Gaikai service they are tlkaing about now is the future of gaming I’ve been talking about. The ability to play Sony playstation games direct from Sony’s digital market place WITHOUT the need for their console hardware. PC, tablets, laptops, phones. Sony is smart. The hardware will die, but the games, and their digital market place will continue. I for one would definitive be happy to play those PS exclusives from my PC/tablet. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/169 "2013-02-20T23:43:14Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > The Vita will kind of work like the Wii U gamepad, in the sense that you can play your PS4 games on it via streaming. Not a bad idea. Reminds me of the Nvidia shield. How much is a vita again? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/170 "2013-02-20T23:45:27Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > Reminds me of the Nvidia shield. How much is a vita again? No idea; I’ve never bought a handheld. However, for those who have it, it’s a nice feature. When are they going to show us the freaking machine? I’m curious about how it looks. they must have it ready to show, or at least an empty case of it so we can see what it looks like. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/171 "2013-02-20T23:45:33Z")
Ugh, they’re going to have easy features for recording game footage and posting it online. That’s going to flood youtube with a ton of low quality footage that’s going to make it difficult to find well made stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/172 "2013-02-20T23:49:47Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Ugh, they’re going to have easy features for recording game footage and posting it online. That’s going to flood youtube with a ton of low quality footage that’s going to make it difficult to find well made stuff. It’s already a glut of terrible content. If this changes the amount of crappy camcorder/smartphone recorded content to a bunch of console-captured content, I call that a win. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/173 "2013-02-20T23:52:16Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > It’s already a glut of terrible content. If this changes the amount of crappy camcorder/smartphone recorded content to a bunch of console-captured content, I call that a win. I may not be searching for the same stuff, but I see almost no camera captures of video game footage. TV and such, yeah. People that have to buy a hardware capture card or use something like fraps to upload footage typically put a lot more care into selecting what’s worth posting and taking care to edit it and all that. Games which allow automatic uploading to youtube tend to get a whole lot of crap shoveled up onto them because it becomes easy for people just to hit “share” on everything. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/174 "2013-02-20T23:55:11Z")
The game they’re demoing now seems to have a lot of draw distance and objects in the background, lots of stuff on the horizon, lots of world detail. Good to see. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2013, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/175 "2013-02-20T23:58:50Z")
Given how laggy the press conference is, I do not have high hopes for gaming in this new world. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/176 "2013-02-21T00:00:00Z")
8 core x86 based. Wonder how long til it’s hacked…there are LOTS of people that know base level x86 code. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/177 "2013-02-21T00:03:14Z")
Keep in mind that whatever they are having isn’t necessarily what the end product will be like. These are essentially tech demos. But the killzone game looked good. Let’s hope things actually turn out to be like that. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/178 "2013-02-21T00:04:01Z")
I haven’t seen anything on the console yet (just the controller) ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/179 "2013-02-21T00:18:16Z")
An interesting focus on how many people are talking about how they’re finally able to create teh games they’ve always wanted to make. How technical limitations have held back creativity and options, blah blah. I’m told on good authority that improved technology only adds glitz, so I think someone should rush the stage Kanye West style and interrupt these guys. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023/180 "2013-02-21T00:19:54Z")
Funny how the main thrust of the current speaker is that technology allows developers to move forward in game design. Contrary to the philosophy of many of the posters here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ps4-to-be-announced-feb-20th-your-predictions/649023.md?page=10)