PlayStation 4 Officially Announced

Shuhei Yoshida wroteQ:On possibility of PS4 blocking used games

A:When you purchase the disc-based games on PS4, it should work on any hardware. So that's what I'm saying.

Q:On whether or not the PS Vita price cut in Japan will become effective worldwide

A:No, it's not. It's a region-by-region-based decision. Always.

Q:On activation codes for secondhand PS4 titles

A:It's a publisher decision. We are not talking about it. Sorry.

Q:On Sony's decision not to show PS4 hardware during the announcement

A:I'm sorry we did not show the hardware. But we have plans from now--in February--through the year for the launch. We like to disclose things based on what we think we really want to communicate first. And next time we will talk about these things.

Q:On 3D support for PS4

A:No, it's not a focus, but it does [support 3D]. More games will run at 1080p and 60 frames per second, so it's an easier and better experience when you watch on 3D TV. We like what we can do on PS3 using 3D, but now the consumer electronics side [of Sony Corp.] has shifted focus from 3D TV to something else, so if they are not talking about it, why are we?

Q:On 4K support for PS4

A:The official answer is the PS4 supports 4K output, but does for personal content like photos and videos, not games. PS4 games do not work on 4K.

Q:On support for legacy platforms now that the PS4 has been announced


A:So we have Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls coming out this year; these are pretty big titles. And after that we haven't announced any new software for PS3.

Q:On the possibility of bringing PS3 titles to PS4

A:It's an interesting concept. We've been upgrading PS2 games to PS3 with better resolution and better frame rate. And people love it. So I think at some point it makes sense and it's great for developers to be able to develop some things that they missed or couldn't get working properly on the older hardware because of the performance to be able to make it better for newer hardware. So we are open to look at that.

Q:On Gaikai integration for PS4 launch titles

A:So we are saying virtually every PS4 game will be playable on PS Vita via Remote Play. I would be heartbroken if it doesn't day one. On day one, my expectation is that we have to have all games work on PS Vita.

Q:On whether or not Sony would acquire Quantic Dream

A:We don't look at developers in the world who are making great games for some other publisher and say, 'We have to acquire them." We never do that. The way we acquire developers, when we do, is the natural evolution of the relationship that develops. When it makes sense, we sign a deal. In terms of Quantic, we worked with them on Heavy Rain, and we are working with them on Beyond: Two Souls, and they are showing something very interesting on PS4. So we are definitely developing that stronger relations and we love them as well.

Q:On possibility of PlayStation App store

A:Personally, I would like to see that. Our PlayStation Mobile is really targeting to do that so smaller developers can really publish from the countries we support. But on the console side, for the PS3 and PS Vita, we still treat publishing like our disc-based model in terms of certification, approval, quality assurance. So we are discussing internally how we can make it a bit more open or a bit easier especially for smaller developers to publish. Because we totally believe in the importance of supporting these smaller developers because they provide really unique and interesting ideas to the platforms.

Q:On what the PlayStation 4 Eye Camera is capable of

A:The PS4 Eye has two HD cameras, and these two cameras can be used in several different ways. One way is to use it for triangulation, so that space in front of the camera can be measured so that when you do this [motions with his hands] the game knows you are doing this. The other way is to make the augmented reality games like Wonderbook, using one camera for the video streaming, the other camera to…optimize for that task.

"We totally believe in the importance of supporting these smaller developers because they provide really unique and interesting ideas to the platforms."

Q:On whether or not the PS4 will be region-locked

A:I know the answer, but I don't want to be quoted and get a call from my PR guy saying, 'What did you say?'

Q:On whether or not PSN will remain free for PS4

A:We totally believe that we want to provide more functionality and more services and more content on the network. And so we are looking at how we are going to structure that. And we are not ready to talk about that.

Q:On possibility of backward compatibility for PS3 discs

A:No. You can quote me on that.

Q:On whether or not the PS4 will make another appearance before E3

A:[Looks at PR rep] I hope not (laughs).

Q:On whether or not The Last Guardian is still a PS3 game

A:I’m not ready to talk about it. Sorry. Because we've broken promises [before], we are waiting for the right time to reintroduce The Last Guardian.

Q:On status of Rockstar's Agent and Square Enix's Final Fantasy Versus

A:You are asking the wrong person. I have some knowledge, but I'm not in a position to talk about it.

They don’t just use off-the-shelf HSA stuff; they are using OpenGL to the point of “full access to the hardware.”
They mention having to drop BC as being a necessary evil to make sure devs will be happy going forward.
They used what they learned from the Cell to make a powerful console. The did this by having to modify the GPU, etc (via ACE for proper compute processing).
He also talks about 4k gaming, and he said they are focusing on 1080p, but he did say that they can, for example, put the OS UI in 4k, but render the game in 1080p.
With that, he says they’d like to save as many resources as possible to ensure that 1080p because having the 4k UI alone will take 10 GB/s.
The drive can read CD’s–the system just won’t support playback of music CD’s.
He also mentions the custom on CPU chip and monitors all I/O systems (confirms ARM TrustZone).
Mentions background downloads and smaller initial sizes and play while downloading.
He mentions using BD and Hard drive combo for game reads and how to cut down load times.
Cerny also discusses the dedicated audio and video compression/decompression hardware for sharing videos and vita remote play.
The Android/iOS Playstation App lets you access all things Playstation. Store, game info, etc.
Regarding adding Vita remote play: “almost no overhead, without pain whatsoever, you will be able to Remote Play a game of PS4.”
So basically all PS4 games can be played on Vita EXCEPT those who use controller tracking or Move with the PS Eye.
They also talk about off-TV play.
Not all features will be there day one, but they will try to support everything they are planing going forward.
Also, OS is BSD, so they can make full use of multi-tasking.
Possible hint of PSOne discs being playable as the article was at one point corrected to distinguish between a lack of general CD support and a lack of music CD support, with some mention of ‘game compatibility’
OS is BSD-based to support rich multitasking; first time Sony is using that approach in a game machine
The idea of a secondary chip for low-power-state usage started to be talked about in 2009. European regulations around power consumption were part of the motivation.

Targeted to be the “central device in the living room”
- “Core gamers are our primary audience
- PS4 build around them, salable to the outsiders
- 5 core PS4 principles: Simple, Immediate, Social, Integrated, Personalized
- PS4 CPU: 64-bit x86 arch, low power consumption, low heat, 8 cores, 8 HW threads, 2MiB L2 cache per 4 core group, 32kib l1 I/D-cache
- PlayStation Shader Language, very similar to HLSL, allows featured BEYOND Direct X 11 and OpenGL 4.0
- “GPU – Tessellation – adding geometric detail to smooth edges or create more organic shapes”
- PS4 RAM – 8GB 256 bit GDDR5 (GDDR5 is very high end graphics memory only found on PC graphics cards)
- Will come with “very large hard drive in every console”
- PS4 Dev Environment – Windows 7-bit, tools are fully integrated into Visual Studio 2010 and 2012
- “Debug your PS4 code as you would your PC code”
- PS4 Controller: Start/Select buttons are now “Options.” New System button is “Share.”
- Speaker, headset hack and “extension port” on the PS4 controller
- PS4 controller buttons are going back to digital over analog because no one used it on PS3
- PS4 controller L2/R2 – Curved design to get rid of the accidental netflix fast forwarding
- PS4 controller: 1920×900 resolution on the analog touchpad
- PS4 controller colors are the Player Numbers: 1-Blue, 2-Red, 3-Green, 4-Pink (Like the buttons)
- PS4 will charge controllers when it’s off. Unlike the PS3.
- PS4 controller light bar can be used for muzzle flashes, health bars, etc
- “The #PS4 Eye will enhance the PS4 user experience.” High sensitivity dual color cameras – 1280×800, 12 bits/pixel, 60Hz
- Dedicated port for the #PS4 camera, exclusive SCE Connector. Means it won’t use a USB port on the console, but won’t plug into your PC.
- Cam suggested uses: walkthrough vids, taunting in killcam, login, speech recognition, etc; possible PS4 Camera Magic – Sees the controller, you guys move, splitscreen moves to be on the right side
- The above is what devs could do (not mandatory)
- Video example shown of PS4 combining the camera and the controller. “AR Menu”
- Zoom into the controller, tilt to shake little dudes inside, push into our world like EyePet
- 2004: XMB, 2011: LiveArea, 2013: New #PS4 one based on the five principles from earlier
- UI is meant to give you at a glance info without loading the game. See what new DLC is out and whatnot. What friends are saying.
- Have to enable people seeing your real name on the #PS4. Auto-enabled if you import from another social network. (Can be turned off)
- PSN friend limit raised
- PS4 Mock-up: Heavy Rain choice with the number of your friends that chose each option.
- All the PS4 streaming and sharing: that’s on the hardware. Devs don’t have to do anything special to their game.
- PS4 Remote Play: Screens are mirrored on PS4/Vita (Both on at same time). Hardware does it/not on devs. Start at any time; no special mode.
- Talking about the PlayStation App. Login, buy game, PS4 starts downloading at home, you get home and start playing the part that’s DWLD.

Part 1:

Focusing on the “positive aspects” and Moving to the x86 Architecture
Cerney states that he started thinking about a “next generation console” in Fall 2007. SCE should have gone into basic R&D regarding next gen technologies soon after PS3’s release and this falls in-line with when Cerney started investigating.

Cerney: I had started discussions regarding the next generation following PS3 in 2007. At that time, I was investigating what should be done for next generation [technologies]. It was at that time, I wondered if we couldn’t use the x86 architecture for the next generation. I used then entirety of Thanksgiving weekend looking into this (lol). For Americans, this holiday is extremely important. But, that’s how I sacrificed (lol) the holidays to think about the future and what possibilities this might bring for our organization.

After that, I went to Phil Harrison since he was at the top of the game development division. I was also introduced to Masayuki Chatani who was SCE’s CTO at that time and was directing the next-gen project. What was surprising was that he said “yes” to me being involved with the next generation console.

By moving to the x86 architecture, this also means losing backwards compatibility with PS3. The basis of Cerney’s vision was to use this x86 architecture. This is a huge tradeoff, but SCE accepted this vision.

Cerney: We struggled with this point. As a matter of fact, this was the major point I thought about during Thanksgiving. What to do with the current CPU and x86…

We decided to focus on the “positive aspects” rising from switching to x86. X86 has instruction sets which are of significant importance for games. Multimedia instruction sets, specifically the existence of SSE 4.1 and 4.2. And of course, the existence of an APU gives us the ability to come close to the results obtained from the SPU.

The decision to move to x86 had an extremely complex set of requirements. Of course there’s issues of backwards compatibility and issues from the vendor’s side as well. But that said, I believe the biggest topic for us was how much affinity the developers would have for this change. In the past 3 years, there have been a large number of refined tools and technologies released for the x86 architecture. If another architecture had been selected, it probably would have been even more problematic. The x86 architecture is well known and development is relatively easy.

Ito: Backwards compatibility, particularly in Japan, is something that is strongly brought frequently, so we thought long and hard about this. Realistically, to support backwards compatibility with PS3, the CELL Broadband Engine would have needed to been part of the new console. Currently, it’s not possible to simulate this via software. If CELL were the only requirement, that wouldn’t have been much of an issue. We would also need to support the supporting hardware indefinitely. We can freely manufacture CELL if the decision is made that it is needed. However, that’s not the case with supporting hardware. There are parts which will become difficult to obtain since 7 years is already considered to be long in the IT industry…

Using this opportunity, we decided to stop going down this path, and as Mark said, to focus our efforts on simplifying developer efforts.

Essentially, SCE’s thinking was that when considering focusing on sustaining and maintaining PS3 (and prior) hardware long-term, they also saw the need to transition to a “more ordinary” platform. It can be interpreted that x86 offered easier development opportunities and also provided for a way to get away from a “proprietary” track, leading to this decision.
Now, SCE hasn’t come to a conclusion regarding the BC problem. It’s said that use of Cloud long-term is part of their vision, but more accurately, SCE is evaluating various content in various forms including sustaining BC.

GPU Customization with use of GPGPU in Mind. Difference in Launch Title Numbers
Use of the x86 architecture also means externally, it becomes difficult to see the difference between PC development. How does Cerney think about how to showcase the difference and value of PS4?

Cerney: Our primary target is to provide a powerful system that developers are familiar with. It goes without saying an x86 CPU has high familiarity. From a power perspective, and providing new possibilities, it will become more important to realize technologies benefiting from a GPU. GPUs increase graphics performance and have been used in that manner traditionally. But, the computing capabilities of GPU will be harnessed in various areas in manners we can’t even begin to think of now.

This essentially means, [PS4] will be a console that not only focuses on CPU performance, but also on GPU performance…essentially a realization of a console using a GPGPU. In fact, at the PS4 press conference, a physics demo using the GPGPU was shown, and PS4 has an added value proposition of having a high performance GPGPU as a core feature set of the platform. For that purpose, the PS3 CPU and GPU has a few proprietary tricks up its sleeve.

Cerney: The GPGPU for us is a feature that is of utmost importance. For that purpose, we’ve customized the existing technologies in many ways.

Just as an example…when the CPU and GPU exchange information in a generic PC, the CPU inputs information, and the GPU needs to read the information and clear the cache, initially. When returning the results, the GPU needs to clear the cache, then return the result to the CPU. We’ve created a cache bypass. The GPU can return the result using this bypass directly. By using this design, we can send data directly from the main memory to the GPU shader core. Essentially, we can bypass the GPU L1 and L2 cache. Of course, this isn’t just for data read, but also for write. Because of this, we have an extremely high bandwidth of 10GB/sec.

Also, we’ve also added a little tag to the L2 cache. We call this the VOLATILE tag. We are able to control data in the cache based on whether the data is marked with VOLATILE or not. If this tag is used, this data can be written directly to the memory. As a result, the entirety of the cache can be used efficiently for graphics processing.

This function allows for harmonization of graphics processing and computing, and allows for efficient function of both. Essentially “Harmony” in Japanese. We’re trying to replicate the SPU Runtime System (SPURS) of the PS3 by heavily customizing the cache and bus. SPURS is designed to virtualize and independently manage SPU resources. For the PS4 hardware, the GPU can also be used in an analogous manner as x86-64 to use resources at various levels. This idea has 8 pipes and each pipe(?) has 8 computation queues. Each queue can execute things such as physics computation middle ware, and other proprietorially designed workflows. This, while simultaneously handling graphics processing.

This type of functionality isn’t used widely in the launch titles. However, I expect this to be used widely in many games throughout the life of the console and see this becoming an extremely important feature.