Before we start with this announcement, please press play on the video above. Done it? Good.
In a lengthy post over on Gamasutra, PlayStation 4 systems architect Mark Cerny has described all sorts of technical bobbins. Bus speeds, GPU bottlenecks and “bypassing its own L1 and L2 caches.”
Exciting stuff I am sure you will agree, but not as exciting as this: news that will thankfully see the end to a billion ‘humourous’ comments on websites across the globe.
Mark describes a number of dedicated chips on the PS4 and says “by having the hardware dedicated unit for audio, that means we can support audio chat without the games needing to dedicate any significant resources to them.”
The PlayStation 3 does not have cross game chat because there was simply not enough resources for it. The PS4 seemingly has a dedicated chat chip, it has cross game chat built in!
Huzzah! Happy Friday everyone!
theturtleking
A feature I have never really cared for.
Adam Garrett
Good, but also a given considering the resources. It’s hardly rocket science for them!
Alex C
Audio chat, not cross game chat.
Although: http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2013/02/25/sony-confirms-playstation-4-will-have-cross-game-chat/
quinkill
Hallelujah!
The Von Braun
Was’nt it ‘impossible’ to do on PS3 due to the way the Ram was spilt or something?…
If so then part of me cannot help but think that with 8 G of Ram this time around, it would have been a given, but yep, it’s further proof that Sony really have learnt a lot of lessons from the PS3 era and indeed PS2 era and that by talking to developers and listening to consumers, this time around they’ve designed a platform that ticks a lot of the ‘want!’ type boxes.it’s something i personally would never use and i’m glad to see included, but after all the flak Sony took for it not being possible on PS3, in all honesty, they had to ensure PS4 had it.
Personally i ‘want’ PS4 to be region free like the PS3 is for games, yet seemingly Sony seem unsure whether this will or won’t happen.
Sheepdip
this split ram thing was more meaning fluff from internet “experts” live from their bedrooms. The only chips they ever see are the frozen ones they pour into the deep fat frier at their day job.
You really shouldn’t believe anything you read online by these bedroom experts. Go off and fire up Uncharted 2, go to the bit where you are standing on the train and tell me that the PS3 wasn’t the best damn console that’s ever been made to date.
Origami Killer
I don’t see how Uncharted 2 falls in line with this topic. Nevertheless, the omission of cross game chat is a major technical flaw for the system. With the 360, cross game chat arguably makes the online experience more engaging, and combined with other factors this is the case at the moment. So please would you kindly go away with your fanboy comments?
TSBonyman
I expect PS4 will be capable of cross game, cross purpose and crossyerlegsoryellgetpreggers chat it’s so blimmin’ powerful.. :P
Kennykazey
But, but, what will we complain about now?
What I do like is that the console has dedicated processors for background stuff so more POWER can be spent on games.
Sheepdip
It was only ever Microsoft that seemingly cared about the PS3 not having chat rooms (despite of course the PS3 actually having X-Game chat since Firmware 2.70, but nobody told them).
Who wants to what with friends playing DIFFERENT games? That’s dumb. Microsoft can keep that “feature”.
The Lone Steven
People that want to chat to their mates whilst playing a game but don’t want to use Skype as it’s easier to use Cross Game Chat?
Sheepdip
then use the PS3 Cross Game chat, the one that appeared way back in firmware 2.70, the one where you set up a chat room with all your mates, and can access it from the XMB ingame….
We use it all the time. Some people need to stop listening to internet myth.
BrendanCalls
Awesome!
I’ll get a sweepstake going on the next major bug-bear that will be used to drown numerous corners of the internet :-P
An-dz
Moved on to using skype for chat in games now. Probably will keep using it too.