MeBrains • Comments

  • Spec Analysis: Xbox One

  • MeBrains 23/05/2013

    @Uncompetative "Either that or Sony reserved 1GB for their OS making their initial claim of 5GB GDDR5 true, until reports of Microsoft's having nearly double the amount scared them into a bump."

    either that and Guerilla indeed targeted total system memory of 4Gb with 1Gb for OS....

    OR they were pleasantly surprised indeed by Sony's announcement that PS4 would get 8Gb.

    my $.02 says the latter. 8Gb was a late double-up, but it is there. SCE is able to do so, as it engineered its console quite satisfactory.     Reply +1

  • MeBrains 23/05/2013

    @johndrinkwater well... the ESRAM is pretty fast (but only 32Mb big), the data move engines should help, according to leaks it should have a built in video decoding chip, another audio decoding. Problem is that a multitude of components necked ease of development on PS3 (PPU, SPUs, GPU, each with their own caches, clockwise and counterclockwise busses...). XO seems to be the puzzle for devs PS3 has been...

    but it has HDMI in and Kinect... <_<     Reply +1

  • MeBrains 23/05/2013

    @Uncompetative that pdf is interesting. it also mentions
    On the newly designed PS4 menu screen, players can look over game-related
    information shared by friends, view friends’ gameplay with ease, or obtain information of
    recommended content, including games, TV shows and movies.
    matching a large part of XO's reveal in just one line, but it does not seem to be Sony's focus.     Reply +3

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @cloudskipa "In my opinion it would be RIDICULOUS to say that that based on the fact Sony have a better GPU and different type of RAM (negated by the Xbox One's 32MB of ESRAM) when we don't even know the clock speeds of either the CPU or the GPU nor how any of this will translate to the games."

    sorry to seemingly single you out, it's just that your posts bring up points which are worth reacting to.

    back with the ps3 vs 360, cell had a clear advantage over PowerPC. In raw GFLOPS it almost doubled the output, as mentioned in Kutaragi-san's presentation at E3. The chap was not lying.

    GFLOPS is not what matters only though - GPU, as well as ease of access are equally important. PS3's GPU was significantly weaker, its memory make-up less versatile. To make matters worse (for Sony), Cell might have been a damn good FPU cruncher, but it was far less adequate for games, as well as very very difficult to program for. Remember the busses connecting the PPU with the SPU's? You could send lightspeed signals clockwise or... counterclockwise (!!) - shaving microseconds of transactions within the chip. Damn fine engineering maybe, but difficult to crack. Cell was a fast processor and ten years after its inception, it still is for specific tasks - which are hard to couple to gaming tasks, unless you sunk millions into researching optimal usage, hence the great first-party titles.

    Now comes PS4 and One. PS4 seems to be engineered to make it easy for developers to use. A lot have gone on-record saying this is indeed the case. Now One on the other hand seems to be engineered the way PS3 was and it will be more difficult to code for. If indeed they will have a clock-speed advantage (which might be a last moment decision putting reliability in danger), devs will have to learn how to get to grips with the hardware make-up more than they will have to do with PS4's. The ESRAM you mention is additional, intermediate storage. Things will have to moved in and out of it - it's only 32Mb remember). These transactions need to be carefully considered, timed, planned, scheduled, sequenced. That takes more development time and overhead and, is, de facto, less straightforward than PS4's unified pool of Fast (with capital letter) GDDR5.

    edit: this is my longest post ever. Excuse me, but I'll drink to that! :D     Reply +20

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @skunkfish "I'm probably not the best person to judge, but all I can tell is that the 360 board has a lot more capacitors?

    Is it longer traces on the PS3 board that is the problem, or the closeness of the RAM to the CPU/GPU?"

    it will not be the longer traces or the closeness - with electricity running from one component to the other at nigh-lightspeed you'd have to build a mighty big board for relative "closeness" to have any impact.

    so, the boards I posted interpreted for your understanding.

    360 looks eighties and a mess.
    PS3 looks modern and clean.

    just to make the point that MS is not as good HW wise as Sony is, which is logical, as MS is not and has never been a HW company. Sony is.     Reply +5

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @cloudskipa: "Just compare Killzone 2 vs Halo Reach to see what I mean."

    maybe Killzone 3 vs Halo Reach would be more fair? :rolleyes:     Reply +20

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @skunkfish ivorb mentioned that hardware design is not their strong suite. I think the shots speak for themselves at which is adept at HW design and which is not, wouldn't you agree? Reply +3

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @IvorB "Truly hardware design is not their strong suite."

    not really...

    compare this:


    to this:


    or side by side:
     Reply +3

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @frunk apparently the shareprice has more to do with a reaction of Kaz to a letter of a shareholder. bloody coincidence that is...

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22623569     Reply +3

  • Microsoft registers Kinect One and Kinect Fitness domains

  • MeBrains 23/05/2013

    all the right priorities... good job microsoft!

    :rolleyes:     Reply +10

  • Crytek's Ryse confirmed as an Xbox One exclusive

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @Negotiator1 lovely that you keep on using the image of an insecure, incestuous coward to make your point chap...

    harharhar     Reply +5

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    looks sweet... until the last 15 seconds...

    and it has a dog in it!     Reply +12

  • Hands-on with Xbox One

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @snick "the PS3 is a bandwidth monster (to push their 3D desires), Xbox a cache monster (to allow instant app switching)."

    hmm... great-looking games vs. being able to easily switch away from games...

    err... yea...     Reply 0

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    wait... didn't this guy on stage say he was going to make a Live Skype call to his buddy? You mean that in the end it could have been all video?! For something as simple and established as a Skype call?! WT... Reply +8

  • Phil Harrison tries (again) to clarify game ownership, second-hand sales and always-online in Xbox One

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @jakewhitman "They chose to go over the features of what the console can do rather than respond to the crazy rumors that were started online."

    yeah... and that's American TV, sports, soldiers and cars. They didn't address the rumours, because the rumours seem to end up true: no 2nd hand sales, always-on, always-"spying".

    The problem is not that the people have nothing to complain about. You're right: people will always find something else!

    The problem is: the people have not seen anything to really get excited about! Or did I miss something during the reveal?     Reply +2

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @dogmanstaruk "as long as it hits greedy retailers and not the gamer's on a lower budget I support it."

    yea I could generally live with that idea. Now, the margins you say are not that extraordinary. A while back I had this discussion with an importer of doors. In his warehouse I saw one which I had just seen days before in one of these big DIY chains. I asked him for the price. He bought it for around $20 in China. Retail price?!? OVER $200!! Now THESE are margins!     Reply -1

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    What we're doing with the digital permissions that we have for Xbox One is no different to that.
    oh yes it is and I don't like it. My son just had a copy of Black Ops II from a friend of his, which I refuse to buy for him. I played it for one and a half mission and then got utterly bored. What is it with all the Angolan MPLA running towards you right at the beginning like they pay visit from Serious Sam?

    This game does not deserve the €64.99 which is asked for here and I would like to find that out sometimes prior to buying things.

    It's totally different Phil - miles away.     Reply +2

  • Microsoft exec's Xbox One Rare game tease sets tongues wagging

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @coolbritannia ""that really is a dumb!" Ironylol."

    I'll give you that! :)

    I do not understand the mechanics behind instant game collection - publishers and devs seem to like it though. Quite why? Hmm... exposure? I don't know.

    It still is dumb to think publishers would boycot PS4 should Sony not follow MS's 2nd hand policy. They'll lose millions in revenue should they decide not to create and publish for PS4 - even when they'll not have 2nd hand additional streams.     Reply +4

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    whatever it is, expect it to be "enhanced" for Kinect.

    Since MS really wants devs to use it, you can be sure they'll always use it in first-party stuff.     Reply 0

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @coolbritannia "Now either EA don't expect to sell anything on PS4, or Sony is following the exact same model."

    what if Sony will continue to allow 2nd hand the way we know now? Do you think EA will not create games anymore for the system?

    to think so really is dumb.     Reply +4

  • The big interview: Phil Harrison on Xbox One, Kinect, indie games and red rings

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @FireMonkey "Yes they showed American TV, but that was because they are IN America."

    they were in America indeed and I do wonder how the NFL, NBA and NHL licencing works there. He said something about how the One would give you replays of fantastic parts of the game you missed. Lovely...

    Now, I know that in the small country of Belgium I live in, allowance to broadcast our national league is far from straightforward. There's rivalry between station, exclusivity, months of contract negotiation, high-costs etc. Is MS going to go into these kinds of deals in every country they are going to launch in AND be successful? I highly doubt that. As with 360, the US gets the complete deal. The rest of the world will have to make do with a seriously impaired experience. Like another reader said: do you want to sponsor the American market functionality and use only parts of the complete package yourself? You'll also very likely pay more than them for it!     Reply +11

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    @dogmanstaruk lmao.

    indeed. TV, sports, soldiers and cars. that's it.

    (I should watch the HW panel thing - indeed haven't followed that)     Reply +2

  • MeBrains 22/05/2013

    the lack of any real HW specifications make me think that indeed they are fine-tuning the HW components still. Having the kit run three OS's at once seems like a difficult challenge, but MS should be able to cope with this as it has always been a SW company.

    It has never been a HW company though and if they are still tuning specs now, it could very well become quite a reliability issue all over again.     Reply -3

  • Xbox One second-hand games will charge a fee to play

  • MeBrains 21/05/2013

    right... so we go from the ping to the pong and back again.

    we'll see the coming months then.

    oh yeah... back to what matters then...

    did you guys also think the actual reveal was kind of underwhelming?     Reply +1

  • MeBrains 21/05/2013

    @andy25801 err... yes andy, whatever you say. Reply +1