Fireside Chats, Episode 79: The Future of Consoles
Added 2019-03-06 17:00:03 +0000 UTCThere's good news for gamers: We're on the precipice of a new console generation, and the possibilities are seemingly endless. But, as many of you know who have been following me for years, I loudly proclaim my technical ignorance, which is where today's episode of Fireside Chats comes in. Joseph Bateh is a computer scientist who is completely plugged-in (pardon the pun) to the world of technological shifts, particularly when it comes to computers and consoles. So, I picked his brain. What does he think these consoles will look like? What will be inside of them? What will they be able to do? What will they cost? We cover all of that -- and much more -- over the next hour. After all, in a vacuum in which there's little-to-no information, what's better than conjecturing?!
Comments
The difference between the PS4 and the next console is even more drastic than he's saying in this. The FX8350 is actually significantly faster per clock than the Jaguar cores used in the PS4, so it's probably even half as capable as what he was saying. This alone is probably enough for me to justify the PS5. The other thing is that with the PS5, they can break forward compatibility. They can release games that don't work on the PS4 and PS4 Pro, whereas with the PS4 Pro, they have to maintain forward compatibility with the PS4, which limits how much they can improve over the PS4. I don't expect the Graphics chip to be an order of magnitude over the PS4 however, I'm expecting at most 7x the performance on GPU, and maybe 3.5x compared to the PS4 Pro. This is the speed of the highest end server cards that AMD has right now, and Navi isn't intended to be a top of the line graphics chipset.
Kaz Redclaw
2019-03-29 10:11:42 +0000 UTCThank you. <3
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-16 23:23:24 +0000 UTCThis was SO cool! I feel like you were giving us secret industry behind the scenes info we're not supposed to know. Really good content.
Ethan Voce
2019-03-13 19:47:24 +0000 UTCThanks for listening!
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-12 22:18:53 +0000 UTCJust started listening to this. Another Florida kid and UF alum. Go Gators! 🐊😁
Jimmy Valentine
2019-03-11 19:04:49 +0000 UTCThank you! <3
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-08 21:32:26 +0000 UTCI'm so glad to hear that! Thanks for listening.
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-08 21:32:19 +0000 UTCThat sounds interesting. I'll have to add it to my reading list.
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-08 21:32:08 +0000 UTCThat's well above my pay grade. LOL.
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-08 21:31:56 +0000 UTCI also am a dummy with this stuff, so welcome to the club.
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-08 21:31:45 +0000 UTCThat's expensive!
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-08 21:31:19 +0000 UTCThanks for listening!
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-08 21:30:53 +0000 UTCWould be great to have Richard Leadbetter on for a Fireside chat on day. The work they do at Digital Foundary is excellent. Really liked this episode 🤓
Tony Colton
2019-03-08 20:24:55 +0000 UTCThan you Colin and Joseph! This was one of my favorite episodes so far. I loved Joseph's competent input on what's happening under the hood of these machines, this was a very new perspective for me.
Sascha Navarra
2019-03-08 04:50:06 +0000 UTCIf anyone is really interested in the story of how the PS3 and Xbox 360 CPUs were designed, read the book ‘the race for a new gaming machine’ by David Shippy who was an engineer involved in both projects. It’s a fascinating story which reveals just how much overlap there actually is between the two architectures. The main CPU in the PS3 is based on the same core as the CPU in the Xbox 360, designed by the same people. The reason the PS3 may be more difficult to emulate then 360 is probably not because of its instruction set (CPUs in both machines are PowerPC), I would imagine it’s more to do with the additional 6 separate smaller cores (or SPEs) in Sony’s design. Emulating the timing and parallel processing for those six smaller cores is perhaps a big technical challenge. Also I think the smaller cores had a reduced instruction set, although still PowerPC based.
Ben Hamilton
2019-03-07 19:08:22 +0000 UTCI was thinking of the modularity, what if consoles supported a external GPU? Similar to how new laptop (like Macs) you can buy one and get more power.
Philip Andersen
2019-03-07 14:44:51 +0000 UTCEnjoyed this episode, even if I am a complete dummy when it comes to this stuff. I am just more interested in if it works rather than how it works. Glad some people are in the know.
Peter Campbell
2019-03-07 13:14:26 +0000 UTCHey Ryan. Programmer here (not games), so I like to think I know a little about this sort of thing. If I try and put myself in Sony's shoes circa early-mid 2000's I don't think the Cell processor was a strange choice at all. Broadly speaking, the entire computing industry was (and to an extent still is) arguing about what the "standard" would be. It wasn't like they really had a benchmark (like today's x86 architecture) to work with. On a more granular level, I think the classic Sony arrogance snuck in too. They created a chip that was absurdly powerful, with a steep learning curve. After the PS2's massive success they expected developers to just learn it. Microsoft on the other hand, chose an architecture way more similar to the desktop computers of the time. In doing this, they created a much more enticing platform for developers and the 360 flourished as a result. Multi-platform games certainly looked and ran better on the 360. I could talk about this sort of stuff for days, but I’ll leave you with this. Uncharted 2 and 3, The Last of Us and maybe Resistance 3 look leagues ahead of anything ever released on the 360. That’s the result of a powerful chip in the hands of a great team. Was it a weird choice in retrospect? Yes. Did it pay off in the end? Yes. Here’s an interesting article if you wanted to dig a little deeper into it. <a href="https://gamingbolt.com/the-untapped-potential-of-the-ps3s-cell-processor-and-how-naughty-dog-tamed-the-beast" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://gamingbolt.com/the-untapped-potential-of-the-ps3s-cell-processor-and-how-naughty-dog-tamed-the-beast</a> Have a good morning/afternoon/evening. Russell
Russell Garrett
2019-03-07 13:11:40 +0000 UTCGood show Colin, I respect that you don't just agree with everything Joesph says just because he's in the room with you. Communication!. I also wonder why Sony went with the cell processor for the ps3, seems like a strange choice. Or does it?, I don't know anything about that stuff.
Ryan Murdoch
2019-03-07 09:15:20 +0000 UTCThere does exist a handheld windows 10 pc with a gamepad attached called the GPD WIN 2. They retail for about $900 and run the x86 architecture Joseph was talking about in the form of a very efficient intel cpu called a core m. You can run a lot of pc games, like far cry 3, GTA 5, and bioshock infinite. The other day I was playing halo 2 on there and it was the best portable FPS experience I’ve ever had
Andrew Hess
2019-03-07 07:56:13 +0000 UTCReminded me of Ben Shapiro if he was into engineering. Very awesome conversation, looking forward to him coming back.
Jason Bolla
2019-03-07 03:49:15 +0000 UTCYeah, I think the point was, the reason I came out against Pro was because of the semantic issues that people I know who make games were talking to me about. It didn't quite pan out the way we thought.
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-06 23:29:48 +0000 UTCI think where Joseph is coming from on the developing for 2 (or more) SKUs is that from a development perspective it shouldn’t be that difficult. That doesn’t mean it’s not hard for whoever’s in charge of getting the game approved and all that paperwork bullshit gotta do to get the game on the console. Super cool discussion I only could follow half the shit he said, but I liked it for that reason. Made me wanna look into it more.
Owen
2019-03-06 22:08:45 +0000 UTCYou're very welcome. Thank you for your support!
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-06 21:56:53 +0000 UTCHe's certainly welcome back.
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-06 21:56:44 +0000 UTCNick Foles 'bout to come to town.
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-06 21:56:30 +0000 UTCPerhaps this podcast will give you some insight...
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-06 21:56:18 +0000 UTCI hope you enjoy!
Colin Moriarty
2019-03-06 21:56:06 +0000 UTCHey col, just wanted to say. Thanks for posting so much damn content. It really helps my work week fly by. Cheers
Gordon
2019-03-06 19:58:34 +0000 UTCPlease have him on again. I’m not a huge tech guy so this was a fantastic listen. Get him back after some console reveals and see how correct he is/was
Craig Carter
2019-03-06 18:38:09 +0000 UTCHeyyyyyy! Fellow Jaguar fan! You're not alone my friend!
josh
2019-03-06 18:25:20 +0000 UTCNice! I'm curious about what next gen consoles cost with how expensive computer components have become.
Collin Sparling
2019-03-06 17:06:58 +0000 UTCOOOOHHHH... Looking forward to this one
Tony Colton
2019-03-06 17:01:49 +0000 UTC
