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Sony has announced the PlayStation Neo, formerly referred to as "PS4.5" or "PS4K", and Microsoft has announced the Xbox "Project Scorpio". Both will be "mid-cycle refreshes" of the preceding consoles that will significantly boost graphics power, supposedly allowing for existing games to be played at a minimum of 1080p/60FPS, using virtual reality headsets, or at 4K (2160p):
And so gamers have been promised a console for release in 2017 that packs a whopping 6 teraflops of processing power (compared to the current Xbox One's mere 1.31), along with a much improved 320GB/s of memory bandwidth. Even ignoring some of Microsoft's more questionable claims (uncompressed pixels anyone?), those are some impressive specs. Forget 1080p/60fps: Microsoft says that this system is more than enough hardware to push a VR headset (the company isn't saying which one yet, but I'd bet on Oculus), and run regular games at 4K resolution with support for High Dynamic Range (HDR).
[...] The PlayStation Neo has it even harder. Leaked specs put its performance at somewhere around 4.2 teraflops, while its 36 GCN compute units clocked at 911MHz strongly suggest it's using a form of AMD's upcoming Polaris architecture, most likely a down-clocked RX 480. Memory bandwidth is up compared to the PS4 at 218GB/s but far behind that of Scorpio. At this stage, those specs are unlikely to change, particularly as developer kits have already gone out to developers. A radical redesign to match Scorpio's GPU—which, given what we know about AMD's GPU lineup and the cooling setup in Project Scorpio, is likely to be a down-clocked version of Vega rather than an overlocked Polaris—is pretty much off the table.
The two consoles should be available sometime in 2017. Sony is also launching a PSVR head-mounted display on October 13th.
If nothing else, the enhanced capabilities of these new consoles will help relieve "consolitis" (PC games being held back by weak consoles). Both consoles are likely to feature another 8-core AMD CPU: either a higher-clocked Jaguar or possibly a Zen processor.
Previously: Sony Rumored to Be Developing PlayStation 4.5
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2016, @08:09AM
Gaming is about graphics. NetHack does not have graphics. Therefore NetHack is not a game. I play a game which is not a game. Therefore I am not a gamer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2016, @08:10AM
Do you get paid to work NetHack?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2016, @08:17AM
In which case nethack looks like the old 'boss screen' in various videogames :)
See boss, I'm working, honest! I mean just look at all those unintelligible characters on the screen!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2016, @08:32AM
I tried telling some friends that NetHack is one of the most rewarding games ever made and is so challenging that it takes years to master. Then they looked at the screen.
"It's just a bunch of boxes!" they said, "It doesn't even have GRAPHICS!"
They never spoke to me again.
(Score: 2) by Webweasel on Thursday June 16 2016, @10:13AM
My son started playing nethack on his mobile phone last week, he thinks its great.
Still, he has watched me play it on and off over the years.
Fucking game, I have still not ascended. Got close a few times and yes, I know deaths are my fault.
"The dwarf hits, the dwarf hits, the dwarf hits."
"You die..."
"Would you like your possessions identified? (Y/N)"
Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956