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Reminder of why Mark Cerny believes a Pro is needed and why comparing to PC builds is disingenuous

cormack12

Gold Member
Source: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/mark-cerny-at-60-i-the-gi-interview

I think he was basically saying as far back as here that the second half of this gen is really going to tax the hardware - even though we say there are no real next gen games still out.

Also addresses the PC experiment by LTT, would be interesting to review that now at this price point.

In fact, for all the different roles that Cerny has had in his 42-year games industry career, the one he's never stopped doing is that of 'gamer'.

"I continue to be a massive player," he tells us.

"I have been very surprised by the degree to which developers are using ray-tracing," he begins. "Putting that in, that was a big decision and actually a rather late one. I thought that this is not going to get much use initially, but if we look at generations, and a generation is seven years or so, software is created for ten years, and so later in the lifecycle we will start seeing people using that technology. But instead we had launch titles that were taking advantage of it. I guess, having worked on games for consoles that were a bit difficult to get into, like the PlayStation 3, I can be a little skittish about very deep technology like that. But in this case, my guess as to how things would go was totally wrong. And I am so happy to have seen the early adoption of the technology.

"The other thing that has been surprising is the push to 60 frames per second. Based on previous console lifecycles, I would have expected there to be a lot more games that are 30 frames per second only, just because the artwork can be so much more detailed if you have longer time to render it.

“One of the exciting aspects of console hardware design is that we have freedom with regards to what we put in the console," Cerny begins. "Or to put that differently, we’re not trying to build a low-cost PC, and we aren’t bound by any particular standards.

Or to look at something more consumer-focused, I believe that releasing PS5 in 2020 with a very high-performance integrated SSD put pressure on the PC world to get their corresponding DirectStorage API into the hands of their gamers.

He points to an amusing video by Linus Tech Tips, which attempted to 'kill' the PlayStation 5 by building a $500 gaming PC that outperformed the console.

"They had to get a used motherboard," he says. "That was the only way that they could build a PlayStation 5 equivalent for a PlayStation 5 price. And if you're using used parts… well you can get a used PlayStation 5 for eBay for $300-something.
 
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HL3.exe

Banned
That's all fine and good, and appreciate the clarification

..but its still pretty much a GPU replacement basically, keeping the CPU and RAM the same.

Don't see much value in this box, especially with this price hike and barely any current gen games out there that tax the system.

They showed like 4 or 5 PS4 games on top of that. That tells ya something about how this current gen is going.
 

ap_puff

Banned
Nothing in that post proves that comparing vs PC is disingenuous? The higher up in price bracket you go the more a PC comparison makes sense and at $700/800 a comparison with PC is perfectly valid. Nothing in the PS5 pro points to a $200 increase in BOM costs so this is just Sony saying that they are going to be making money on people who want to buy it. And that's fair, but it's still a sticker shock to people who are used to paying 1/2 as much for hardware.
 
Of course, for most people, building a PC from new parts for the same price as a console is not a realistic scenario (yeah you can somehow do it but that piece of crap that you'll have in the end is nothing anyone would really want to buy). That still doesn't make the comparison useless though, as a PC can do so much more than a console and games are cheaper overall. Breaking out of a stiff ecosystem where you're basically the payslave to a single corporation holding all of your licenses hostage is the biggest advantage imho.
 

Cyberpunkd

Member
I think he was basically saying as far back as here that the second half of this gen is really going to tax the hardware - even though we say there are no real next gen games still out.
Then why are we even discussing it? Yes, there are no games pushing hardware and we are in the middle of this gen. So the whole PS5 to start with was a lie? "Buy your new console, so you can play cross-gen games on it, for really good stuff we will ship another box in 4 years for $700".
 

cormack12

Gold Member
Then why are we even discussing it? Yes, there are no games pushing hardware and we are in the middle of this gen. So the whole PS5 to start with was a lie? "Buy your new console, so you can play cross-gen games on it, for really good stuff we will ship another box in 4 years for $700".
The priorities of this generation have more compute cost. Like the RT and 60fps which he admits blindsided him in terms of adoption.

And that needs to be complemented with an upscaling tech, which has fallen short and more rendering power. Basically the bells and whistles are costing more and the market has chosen performance as the most important option
 

ClosBSAS

Member
Wow, Mark Cerny thinks his new system is better than a PC, that's crazy
lol its hilarious how they always say the same thing...but yeah, its better than a windows office PC for sure lol. ps5 became obsolete so fast, shit cant even run aat stable 30fps lol. pro will do better but it aint gonna change much.
 

Ashamam

Member
As far as I'm concerned the Pro reveal wasn't a real Cerny presentation anyway. It was just marketing fluff, zero technical technical details. Found that aspect pretty disappointing really. I suppose I should have expected it given the length was known, but still. Where was the PSSR deep dive?
 

TheKratos

Member
That's all fine and good, and appreciate the clarification

..but its still pretty much a GPU replacement basically, keeping the CPU and RAM the same.

Don't see much value in this box, especially with this price hike and barely any current gen games out there that tax the system.

They showed like 4 or 5 PS4 games on top of that. That tells ya something about how this current gen is going.
Well it's a pro upgrade, not a whole new console. Crazy price though, I fully expect PS6 to start at 700 now.
 
I like how everybody is "he is working for Sony, of course he's saying that, huh, obviously", but when it's Phil Spencer "what a retard" with 281 pages of Spencer memes laughing at him.

PS: I shit in Spencer but the difference of treatment is laughable.
To be honest, I have heard Cerny talk a lot more confidently about technical stuff than Spencer ever did. For obvious reasons.
 

Topher

Identifies as young
I like how everybody is "he is working for Sony, of course he's saying that, huh, obviously", but when it's Phil Spencer "what a retard" with 281 pages of Spencer memes laughing at him.

PS: I shit in Spencer but the difference of treatment is laughable.

Probably because people have a hell of a lot more respect for Mark Cerny than they do Phil Spencer. For good reason. But if you haven't seen Mark Cerny memes around here then you are not looking hard enough.
 

IntentionalPun

Ask me about my wife's perfect butthole
The comparisons are just kind of boring. PS5 is an incredibly good value as a package, it’s also just not a PC.

PC is about flexibility and consoles are about out of the box “it just works” (with slightly more flexibility than last gen’s with perf mods.)

That’s the bottom line, the vast majority of consumers aren’t debating between the 3 platforms based on hardware.
 

The Cockatrice

I'm retarded?
Next time, have some games lined up exclusively for your new console guy and nobody will complain, at least not as much anyway. but...but...older games 4k!!!!!!! yeah Im sure people are going to replay TLOU for the millionth time. They should've scraped the pro and waited 2 years until gta 6 releases and just launch the PS6 along with it. Would've sold like hot cakes.
 
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Fabieter

Member
Funny is that all these people online screaming "NOW IM GOING TO BUILD A PC", don't even know how a CPU looks like in real life. Majority is just screaming, but in the end they just buy a console for convience.

So the only benefit of consoles is convince now? That's sad man
 

HogIsland

Member
Funny is that all these people online screaming "NOW IM GOING TO BUILD A PC", don't even know how a CPU looks like in real life. Majority is just screaming, but in the end they just buy a console for convience.
There's some great gaming laptop deals out there too
 

Dorago

Member
"Console games are programmed to the metal" as long as the metal is some bizarre RISC or PPC custom architecture and the devs are 180IQ programming nerds.

Now, CPUs are x86-64 laptop APUs and the programmers are recent college graduates with an average 100 of IQ.
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
Consoles are not coded to the " metal " anymore but they do have a very optimized overhead compared to pc but it's not nearly the gap it use to be.
 

kiunchbb

www.dictionary.com
People highly underestimate how annyoying owning a PC could be, when everything work fine it is perfect, but if one things go wrong; it is really hard for average consumer to figure out what went wrong. I had random crashing and pc wouldn't wake from sleep mode, it could be caused by new software, corrupted window install, virus, faulty ram, overheat, motherboard issue, power supplies issue, bios, etc. etc. etc. I been built all my gaming PC, but this made me want to paid a premium for pre-made in the future. Having a nearly $3k system break on you is soulcrashing.

If I am not a loser that sit in front of my pc all day, I would buy a PS5 instead. Younger generation nowsaday can't even use a keyboard, much less building a PC.

Don't like the pro price? Sony is still selling the normal PS5 for under 500, paying extra $200 bucks so you get better reflection or high resolution crowds in a racing game that you will never notice is a luxury.

*For anyone curious it was a ram issue, I had to turn off EXPO, I guess my rams didn't like it.
 

simpatico

Member
Mark probably has a bet with the marketing department about people still buying it if they show mostly PS4 games
 

SenkiDala

Member
Probably because people have a hell of a lot more respect for Mark Cerny than they do Phil Spencer. For good reason. But if you haven't seen Mark Cerny memes around here then you are not looking hard enough.
I also have more respect for Cerny than Spencer but I find funny to see "everybody" excusing him to advertise a console made for a company he's working for, while Spencer being shitted on all the time. I get that Cerny is respectable and knows what he talks about, unlike Spencer the fraud, but still.
 
People highly underestimate how annyoying owning a PC could be, when everything work fine it is perfect, but if one things go wrong; it is really hard for average consumer to figure out what went wrong. I had random crashing and pc wouldn't wake from sleep mode, it could be caused by new software, corrupted window install, virus, faulty ram, overheat, motherboard issue, power supplies issue, bios, etc. etc. etc. I been built all my gaming PC, but this made me want to paid a premium for pre-made in the future. Having a nearly $3k system break on you is soulcrashing.

If I am not a loser that sit in front of my pc all day, I would buy a PS5 instead. Younger generation nowsaday can't even use a keyboard, much less building a PC.

Don't like the pro price? Sony is still selling the normal PS5 for under 500, paying extra $200 bucks so you get better reflection or high resolution crowds in a racing game that you will never notice is a luxury.

*For anyone curious it was a ram issue, I had to turn off EXPO, I guess my rams didn't like it.
The Steam deck is basically a streamlined PC console for gaming purposes only, if that can be pulled off I don’t see why a Steambox can’t be pulled off.
 

kiphalfton

Member
If Cerny couldn't sell it, nobody could.

Feel bad for him, as he had to promote that garbage, and will ultimately be the person people blame.
 
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od-chan

Gold Member
He's actually a somewhat reasonable guy and his statements here seem very level headed as well. I don't really get why people are throwing shade at him here. Not a Sony guy anymore btw, dropped out with the PS5 and switched to PC, so not a fanboy.

E: He's a bit overenthusiastic in regards to what the PS5 SSD did for DirectStorage implementation I guess, but that's not my main take away from his statements.
 
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K' Dash

Member
Well, they can go fuck themselves with that Pricing, specially in Europe.

They are charging $10 more for their piece of shit controllers and also charging more for their shitty online “service”
 
I'm sure it's good performance for the price. If you want a plug and play machine for your 4k tv in the living room it's a fine upgrade. It's still ugly as shit though.

If you're starting from scratch, build a desktop for around that price and play at 1080p. We're entering that price point where it kind of just makes sense to go all in on pc due to all the added benefits of a computer.
 
What else was he supposed to say? He works for Sony and his employer wanted (and wants) to sell a Pro version.
But, but, these people are supposed to be our friends. They should give us a dime bag on front and not expect the money back for several years.
 
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