DIGIT-ARC read-only archive · snapshot: July 23, 2026

EA: PS4, XBox One Are a 'Generation Ahead' of Gaming PCs

33 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/ea-ps4-xbox-one-are-a-generation-ahead-of-gaming-pcs.174189/

amjath
amjath Original post #1
May 26, 2013 at 12:28 AM
Rajat Taneja, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Electronic Arts, conjured up an article on LinkedIn of all places talking about the technology behind Microsoft's new Xbox One console. He claims that both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are somehow five years ahead of the most extravagant PCs today due to their system-on-chip (SoC) architecture.

"These architectures are a generation ahead of the highest end PC on the market and their unique design of the hardware, the underlying operating system and the live service layer create one of the most compelling platforms to reimagine game mechanics," he states.

Seriously? Did he just say that? He goes on to say that benchmarks on just the video and audio performance alone are 8-10 times superior to the current generation consoles. "The compute capabilities of these platforms and the data transfer speeds we can now bank on, essentially removes any notion of rationing of systems resources for our game engines," he adds.

Of course, he then talks about the company's IGNITE and Frostbite engines, and how they have been tailored to take full advantage of the new console hardware. In a FPS like Battlefield 4, that combination means more detailed gameplay, behavior and awareness for characters and more detailed appearance down to the lighting and clothing on the soldiers. In sports titles, gamers receive a dose of human intelligence that simulate instincts, awareness and unpredictability that’s more like real-life sport.

"These next-gen platforms create dynamic, living worlds," he said. "Your game could change overnight depending on actions by other gamers around the globe. Your player stats and information can be updated in real time with real-world player stats and injury reports. These consoles are also inherently more social – something that didn’t matter much when the last consoles came out eight years ago."

As Destructoid points out, the "hype train is at full speed now the Xbox One and PS4 are both public knowledge, and Electronic Arts is riding first class." The article reads like one big advertisement for the publisher, and may even come across as offensive to those who know consoles will never surpass PC… unless the PC is extinct, of course. Nvidia said there will always be a place for the high-end desktop, and we're right there with them in that opinion.

Why? It should be obvious: the PC market continues to progressively advance whereas new consoles are launched every five or so years. If anything, it's the mobile industry that the PC and console sectors should be worried about, as its advancement slope if by far a lot steeper than the PC segment. That said, until we actually get our hands on both consoles, or at least see the actual full list of specs, we're going to remain highly skeptical of EA's claims regarding next-gen versus PC.
EA: PS4, XBox One Are a 'Generation Ahead' of Gaming PCs


I don't know what's got into this guy, these consoles makers probably given him so much money to make a statement like this. I'm heartbroken as soon as read the title
TheLetterD
May 26, 2013 at 1:12 AM
*25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsgi2ribsQ1r3pcbso1_400.gif
amjath
amjath #3
May 26, 2013 at 7:51 AM
^ :rofl:
anirbandd
May 26, 2013 at 8:54 AM
*25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsgi2ribsQ1r3pcbso1_400.gif
Corrected :D


whatever they say, one has to keep in mind that the games for consoles are made on PC and then ported/optimised for console. :)
sujoyp
sujoyp #5
May 26, 2013 at 8:55 AM
but isnt it true somehow...PS3 is 2005-6 model and can play the latest games beautifully ....but a 7 years PC need lot of new hardware to do that...
amjath
amjath #6
May 26, 2013 at 9:02 AM
^ As you sow so shall you reap
pratyush997
May 29, 2013 at 12:47 AM
*i.imgur.com/E9HF8yF.jpg

Found somewhere in Facebook
CommanderShawnzer
May 29, 2013 at 12:56 AM
^Call of Doggy can't be compared to *glorified tech demo 3*
Extreme Gamer
May 29, 2013 at 1:43 AM
but isnt it true somehow...PS3 is 2005-6 model and can play the latest games beautifully ....but a 7 years PC need lot of new hardware to do that...

okay...I didn't just read that...

Seriously dude? Try comparing the PC version of a game maxed out to the console version and see that you are mistaken.
pratyush997
May 29, 2013 at 2:34 AM
okay...I didn't just read that...

Seriously dude? Try comparing the PC version of a game maxed out to the console version and see that you are mistaken.
The pic I posted should be good.
Extreme Gamer
May 29, 2013 at 2:42 AM
The pic I posted should be good.

All your pic shows me is a more detailed Psycho compared to a smooth scultp for codfish with bump-mapping.

The reason why your post is not good is that the game has to be the same across platforms.
pratyush997
May 29, 2013 at 2:47 AM
Well it depends on how well game is optimized. For example gta iv on pc was bad port.
Ayuclack
Ayuclack #14
May 29, 2013 at 9:44 AM
but isnt it true somehow...PS3 is 2005-6 model and can play the latest games beautifully ....but a 7 years PC need lot of new hardware to do that...

It Just Like Games Are Optimized to be Used on single hardware then they use full potential of hardware but on pc there is so much variation of hardware that no game uses its full potential.... just like my ipod touch 4G can Still Play Many Games (optimised Hardware) but the older Android Device Might Struggle !!
Nerevarine
May 29, 2013 at 10:15 AM
but isnt it true somehow...PS3 is 2005-6 model and can play the latest games beautifully ....but a 7 years PC need lot of new hardware to do that...

your point is legit, When the PS3 launched, the best card available was 6800 GT or something like that..
Nowadays 6800GT cant play any latest games..
But the only reason PS3/360 manage to play latest game is due to massive optimisation and massive reduction in picture quality

R
rakesh_ic #16
May 29, 2013 at 3:39 PM
Reduced or not, the game still look amazing on the big screens.. Also, most of the current gen games flowing to PC are ports from the consoles.. which is heart breaking for a pc gamer (now into consoles too) like me.

But the fact still remains the same that the developers love to release games on consoles rather than on pcs. Reason - "Pure business, nothing personal" :D
Extreme Gamer
May 29, 2013 at 3:44 PM
your point is legit, When the PS3 launched, the best card available was 6800 GT or something like that.

Wrong.

GeForce 7 Series - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The PS3 uses a weakened 7800GS.
vickybat
vickybat #18
May 29, 2013 at 4:23 PM
EA: PS4, XBox One Are a 'Generation Ahead' of Gaming PCs


I don't know what's got into this guy, these consoles makers probably given him so much money to make a statement like this. I'm heartbroken as soon as read the title

The guy is right to some extent actually. Heterogeneous computing hasn't arrived into the desktop scene yet and thus these consoles are indeed a generation ahead.
Add to that, the closed box model of consoles, which has a significant advantage over the abstraction that a desktop OS brings. Low level access is better in consoles.
Even api's are optimized to maximize the fixed hardware performance.

Despite PS3 having a weak and obsolete gpu by today's standards, it still produces titles like "The last of US". That's because the cell cpu's SPE's can do vertex shading which offloads a lot of tasks from the gpu. The better low level access to underlying hardware ( ps3's cell in this case), the better is the end product.

Xbox one sports a windows nt kernel, but heavily optimized for a fixed hardware config. It has all bloatwares and other unwanted services removed. PS4 too sports a UNIX kernel with modified open-gl api's leading into a new version of PSGL.

Apart from that, cloud will also play a significant role in resource allocation for computing. Read these to know more. Sony can follow the same through Gakei if this thing is successful.

Xbox One cloud is 'one area console has advantage over PS4', says Avalanche tech lead
But believes Sony could implement a similar feature in PS4 if Microsoft is successful.


Microsoft says Xbox One games can offload computing to Azure cloud

So computations like 3d modelling in games, physics , AI and even textures can be moved into cloud servers for processing, offloading a lot of compute resources in the physical console.
I think this was the point why they wanted xbox to be always online. The cloud servers will be built using latest tech hardware.

Sony has the same potential with its gakei acquisition. In pc scenario, both nvidia and amd are upto something like this with their respective GRID and RADEON SKY server computing.
But the consoles will beat them to it for implementing something like this up first.

The hype is starting to show:

Xbox One breaks pre-order records at Blockbuster

Same thing's gonna happen with PS4 after its unveil.
amjath
amjath #19
May 29, 2013 at 4:41 PM
So computations like 3d modelling in games, physics , AI and even textures can be moved into cloud servers for processing, offloading a lot of compute resources in the physical console.
I think this was the point why they wanted xbox to be always online. The cloud servers will be built using latest tech hardware.

so is it possible to avoid piracy with these consoles like checking for license every now and then from cloud servers.
vickybat
vickybat #20
May 29, 2013 at 4:57 PM
so is it possible to avoid piracy with these consoles like checking for license every now and then from cloud servers.

Yeah it could be. Information related to piracy protection is a bit vague now. More information on it is likely soon to follow. :)
RCuber
RCuber #21
May 29, 2013 at 5:29 PM
what ever.. consoles can't do this for sure..
*i.ytimg.com/vi/ex_TKO5gWaU/0.jpg
anirbandd
anirbandd #23
May 29, 2013 at 10:20 PM
trolol..
Extreme Gamer
May 29, 2013 at 11:33 PM
The guy is right to some extent actually. Heterogeneous computing hasn't arrived into the desktop scene yet and thus these consoles are indeed a generation ahead.
Add to that, the closed box model of consoles, which has a significant advantage over the abstraction that a desktop OS brings. Low level access is better in consoles.
Even api's are optimized to maximize the fixed hardware performance.

Despite PS3 having a weak and obsolete gpu by today's standards, it still produces titles like "The last of US". That's because the cell cpu's SPE's can do vertex shading which offloads a lot of tasks from the gpu. The better low level access to underlying hardware ( ps3's cell in this case), the better is the end product.

Xbox one sports a windows nt kernel, but heavily optimized for a fixed hardware config. It has all bloatwares and other unwanted services removed. PS4 too sports a UNIX kernel with modified open-gl api's leading into a new version of PSGL.

Apart from that, cloud will also play a significant role in resource allocation for computing. Read these to know more. Sony can follow the same through Gakei if this thing is successful.

Xbox One cloud is 'one area console has advantage over PS4', says Avalanche tech lead
But believes Sony could implement a similar feature in PS4 if Microsoft is successful.


Microsoft says Xbox One games can offload computing to Azure cloud

So computations like 3d modelling in games, physics , AI and even textures can be moved into cloud servers for processing, offloading a lot of compute resources in the physical console.
I think this was the point why they wanted xbox to be always online. The cloud servers will be built using latest tech hardware.

Sony has the same potential with its gakei acquisition. In pc scenario, both nvidia and amd are upto something like this with their respective GRID and RADEON SKY server computing.
But the consoles will beat them to it for implementing something like this up first.

The hype is starting to show:

Xbox One breaks pre-order records at Blockbuster

Same thing's gonna happen with PS4 after its unveil.

Then I would have to ask why would it need to exclusively hog 3GB of RAM, when even a regular "unoptimized" copy of windows takes less space. Right now my copy of windows 7 is using ~2.1 GB RAM according to task manager, when VLC media player and firefox are open in the background.

Surely an OS meant for general use, not just gaming, and with a few more layers of abstraction should hog more memory if the bone's is really stripped down?

I think that the OS is definitely not stripped down. It had to add all the code needed to run all of it's various non-media functions, besides the fact that it has two dynamically switching OSes. Even so, it should not need that much memory- if the PS3 can do 80-85% of the things the Xbone can with only 256MB of RAM, I would expect the bone to not need a whopping 3 gigs. If it is indeed stripped down like you say, then it should take even less space than the ~2GB I would expect it to take.
Nerevarine
May 29, 2013 at 11:45 PM
*sites.google.com/site/aeriplayads/image/nvidia-console-vs-pc.jpg

See this chart, the Xbox 360 was SLIGHTLY ahead of it's time in performance at launch compared to PC..
But this lead melted soon after
The next gen doesnt even have such advantge
vickybat
vickybat #26
May 29, 2013 at 11:53 PM
Then I would have to ask why would it need to exclusively hog 3GB of RAM, when even a regular "unoptimized" copy of windows takes less space. Right now my copy of windows 7 is using ~2.1 GB RAM according to task manager, when VLC media player and firefox are open in the background.

Surely an OS meant for general use, not just gaming, and with a few more layers of abstraction should hog more memory if the bone's is really stripped down?

I think that the OS is definitely not stripped down. It had to add all the code needed to run all of it's various non-media functions, besides the fact that it has two dynamically switching OSes. Even so, it should not need that much memory- if the PS3 can do 80-85% of the things the Xbone can with only 256MB of RAM, I would expect the bone to not need a whopping 3 gigs. If it is indeed stripped down like you say, then it should take even less space than the ~2GB I would expect it to take.

You have one os taking 2 gigs, here there are two including a hypervisor. The combined space is 3gb ( rumored and can be less too).
The windows kernel based OS is meant for handling directx api's only and don't have any other services, unlike what your desktop OS.

The second OS is called "Xbox OS" and that is meant to handle all other services including internet, videos, music, streaming, multitasking and all that.
The windows OS has no connection with these activities. The hypervisor is responsible for the dynamic switching. So its a completely new thing for a console.
Separating services and bloatware is a good idea actually.For each os mode, the either completely goes idle, thus saving unwanted resource allocation to various services.

Now how efficient this method is going to be, only time will tell. Its too early to judge just by looking at mere specifications.

See this chart, the Xbox 360 was SLIGHTLY ahead of it's time in performance at launch compared to PC..
But this lead melted soon after
The next gen doesnt even have such advantge

That's an nvidia slide mate. Don't go by it. You cannot compare titan's desktop performance with PS4 's ( console) closed box architecture.
Coding in windows for a variable set of hardware and on a custom OS with fixed hardware are two different things. The latter is much efficient.

Over time, pc hardware beats consoles by brute force and sheer technological advancements , while consoles are stuck with old hardware.
This time, console performance will shine much longer if you take those cloud processing concepts into account.
Desmond
Desmond #27
May 29, 2013 at 11:56 PM
Ha! You guys believing what EA is saying? Of all companies EA!?

Get a load of this first :

*i.imgur.com/nRbDwAK.jpg
Nerevarine
May 29, 2013 at 11:59 PM
That's an nvidia slide mate. Don't go by it. You cannot compare titan's desktop performance with PS4 's ( console) closed box architecture.
Coding in windows for a variable set of hardware and on a custom OS with fixed hardware are two different things. The latter is much efficient.

hmm you have a point tho.. I never considered this
Desmond
Desmond #29
May 30, 2013 at 12:04 AM
You have one os taking 2 gigs, here there are two including a hypervisor. The combined space is 3gb ( rumored and can be less too).
The windows kernel based OS is meant for handling directx api's only and don't have any other services, unlike what your desktop OS.

The second OS is called "Xbox OS" and that is meant to handle all other services including internet, videos, music, streaming, multitasking and all that.
The windows OS has no connection with these activities. The hypervisor is responsible for the dynamic switching. So its a completely new thing for a console.
Separating services and bloatware is a good idea actually.For each os mode, the either completely goes idle, thus saving unwanted resource allocation to various services.

Now how efficient this method is going to be, only time will tell. Its too early to judge just by looking at mere specifications.



That's an nvidia slide mate. Don't go by it. You cannot compare titan's desktop performance with PS4 's ( console) closed box architecture.
Coding in windows for a variable set of hardware and on a custom OS with fixed hardware are two different things. The latter is much efficient.

Over time, pc hardware beats consoles by brute force and sheer technological advancements , while consoles are stuck with old hardware.
This time, console performance will shine much longer if you take those cloud processing concepts into account.

Yeah, but when Steam goes all in with Linux, I think the scenario would be different. Windows on PC might be bloatware but Linux can be streamlined as much as possible. Also, PC hardware can be upgraded and optimised variably over time.
vickybat
vickybat #30
May 30, 2013 at 12:32 AM
Yeah, but when Steam goes all in with Linux, I think the scenario would be different. Windows on PC might be bloatware but Linux can be streamlined as much as possible. Also, PC hardware can be upgraded and optimised variably over time.

Exactly and it will take time. :)
Thunder
Thunder #31
May 30, 2013 at 2:00 AM
In other words EA will continue to give trash ports to PC so therefore don't waste you're money on expensive components cuz consoles are already 'ahead' of PC. Frick you EA..
gagan_kumar
May 30, 2013 at 12:51 PM
tats it not buying ea games anymore......
R
rakesh_ic #33
May 30, 2013 at 1:46 PM
tats it not buying ea games anymore......

Are you sure?? Hope not buying = not playing as well.. Otherwise you cant complain about EA or any of its subsidiaries later :p