The ‘Elemental’ demo has been used a few times to show the power of Unreal Engine 4, but the video below shows the same slice of tech running on a PS4, or at least the current state of the PlayStation 4 development kits.
It looks good, right? Well, below that is the same demo running real time on a PC equipped with a GTX 680 graphics card. Whilst it’s true that the PS4 hardware (and sofware) isn’t final yet, it’s clear the PC version is a step or two ahead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNuIzOxOfn8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY20pxEQM-A
First glance suggests there’re less fancy particle effects, some shadows are missing and the frame rate isn’t nearly as smooth. Early days, perhaps, but we’d have hoped that even at this stage the PS4 would look the superior version.
The PS4 video is from GDC (with the PC one from last June) and if nothing else shows that next-gen games are (potentially) going to look beautiful.
Kennykazey
The 680, so just the GPU, costs more than the entire PS4. The PS version is very likely rushed and could be much better. Agnis Philosophy looked better.
wonkey-willy
i’m due a lappy update so i figure im not gonna piss 400 bells up the wall on a 720 or a ps4
so £750 should stand me fast for couple of years
Nismo400R84
I thought nxt gen would probably only go to say a equivalent of a NVIDIA 5series didn’t think it would be that high, and I thought my next upgrade of a 660ti would be more than enough to pass a ps4
cam_manutd
To be expected as is the case with all graphic capabilites of consoles being soon outdated by PC. Not really the point though as the consoles have their own advantages over PC and also gamers that prefer the graphics that much over the game, story etc do need shooting.
JesseDeya
As several people have pointed out, of course the PC version will look better. PC will ALWAYS look better than console because PC is a matter of $$$, and the more you have the higher you can crank the graphics options.
The issue is how much the console costs, and we already know it’ll be less than the cost of the (compared) graphics card alone. I have a seriously powerful gaming PC (for now), I love it, but I’m still massively excited for the PS4 and the amazing games devs will be able to push out.
I recently revisited GoW III, a game from 2010, and I still can’t believe the quality the PS3 can push out. The PS4 will literally amaze us, mark my words.
Awayze
Pretty sure a PS4 will cost the same as a GTX680 card.
Erroneus
No surprise there, the GTX 680 is lots more powerful. Also i’m guessing there are still lots of optimizing to be done from Sony and AMD on the hardware in the PS4 and like always with consoles, the quality is pushed every year of it’s life cycle.
Erroneus
Just wanted to add, there should be room for some pretty crazy optimizing in the PS4, considering the many cores, which shall only be used for one thing and the high amount of fast memory vs a PC, which also has to run a bloaty operating system. Also very few games/engines take proper advantage of multi core CPU systems on the PC.
plutoniumdragon
Does anyone seriously consider than a console could even approach a top-end PC (low to mid maybe) in terms of absolute performance?
There are too many constraints on price/power and generated heat – the GTX680 referenced, although highly power- optimised can still sink 200W. Add a 100W+ CPU and that that’s a lot of heat to dump.
Much better to concentrate on what a console offers that is different to the PC experience and preferably not muck it up with a dog-slow interface this time. And yes Sony, I’m looking at you ;)
boeboe
Insecure PC gamers who are pressed to upgrade to the latest card because of business men wanting shinier suits, is a completely different business to the console way of doing things and the 2 shouldn’t be compared. I buy a console every 5 years and enjoy the enJOYment I get out of it. It should be about the games, not the effin graphics. Leave my hobby alone…GAMES. Ugh.
boeboe
Point being: stop bringing that insecurity to console gamers. We are a happy race, or were.
The Von Braun
@loxstokk:There’s nothing wrong at all with trying to ‘ape’ the cinema experience in games, i loved scripted, O.T.T set pieces as much as anyone else, a fav.genre of mine is space combat games and i want lasers/ion cannons etc to rip ships apart with ear splitting audio, which is totally unrealistic, but when it’s things like lighting being way over the top, just to show off a fancy new engine, i’m left cold.
Oblivion was a game i poured hours into this gen, but some of the lighting there? just bizzare, sheep that were so white it looked like they’d been boil washed in Persil, then bleached, just ruined the effect of being there.
A decent Aliens game could really come to life on something like Unreal 4 or DICE’s new engine, they have the power to do some amazing stuff with light+dark, shadows etc etc, i just ask developers to use the effects wisely, to enhance a games atmosphere, not just throw in everything they can to brag about what it’s shifting whilst running all this.
The BF4 demo, did as i say look great in places-the explosions, sparks coming down from above, heat shimmer etc etc, it really worked to help create the feeling of utter carnage, so that’s why i groan when i see throwbacks to the 3DO/PSone era coming to the fore again, my concern is a lot of resources will be used on effects that are purely for show, rather than making the best enviroment to play in.