PS4 Pro

[Sheikah]

Sounds good. I can give impressions for several games once it arrives... There screens now popping up elsewhere. Kind of amazing how reviewers could not be arsed to do pictures. But were happy making compressed youtube vids and asking for donations.

 

Not sure if Blizzard will? Certainly not hard i imagine give that its 1080p 60fps on PS4 and it runs well on pc's. COD is amazing looking as it is on PS4 right now too and that has one of the best 4K modes.

 

Amazon gave a £7.99 refund. As if that helps. If it does not arrive by 6pm the order will be cancelled. I can live without Prime anyhow if they do not deliver items as promised.

In the 3 or so times Prime have not delivered an item to me in a day I have complained to them and got 30 days extra Prime membership each time, and even got them to send replacement items right away by priority mail. Just badger them til you get your way.

[killthenet]

It's a bit disappointing to hear about the lack of options for rendering on some titles. The fact that 'The Last Of Us' runs more sluggishly when playing on a 1080p display than it does on a base PS4 is pretty poor. Hopefully it's something they sort out soon as TLOU is one of the first games I'll be playing through, having held off on playing it on PS3 because of the promise of a smoother experience on Pro.

[Nolan]

I'm downloading TLOU currently to give it a replay. The PS4 base version played beautifully (I went for the unlocked framerate). Hoping it's an exaggeration of how it runs on the Pro. I suspect people may just be overestimating the capabilities of the machine. 4K is an incredibly demanding resolution. Which is why to my knowledge most 4K games are 30fps. If you're coming from base TLOU with mostly 60fps, 4K@30 is going to feel and look sluggish comparatively.

[V. Amoleo]

I played through The Last of Us on the PS3, which I'm guessing was running at 30fps anyway, so I've not noticed it being any more sluggish in 4k.

 

Just played a bit of Infamous First Light and it looks amazing.

 

The machine is a little bit noisier than the old one. But it is having to work hard, so that's understandable.

 

---

 

Ah so Batman VR hasn't been updated. Well I gave it a go anyway, must be the placebo effect because the edges of the screen didn't seem as blurry.

 

I wasn't going mad, it seems there is a difference for Batman VR without any additional patch.

Edited November 12, 2016 by V. Amoleo

[killthenet]

I'm downloading TLOU currently to give it a replay. The PS4 base version played beautifully (I went for the unlocked framerate). Hoping it's an exaggeration of how it runs on the Pro. I suspect people may just be overestimating the capabilities of the machine. 4K is an incredibly demanding resolution. Which is why to my knowledge most 4K games are 30fps. If you're coming from base TLOU with mostly 60fps, 4K@30 is going to feel and look sluggish comparatively.

 

It's especially a problem for someone like me who doesn't already have a PS4 and doesn't have a 4K TV, but is getting the Pro so that they are future proofed. So for the foreseeable future i'll be playing my PS4 games on a 1080p TV so won't care too much about super sampling so would definitely choose to render the game at 1080p if given the choice. The lack of choice for the end user is pretty disappointing considering what they have said in the past, every game rendering at 4K or 1800p and down sampling to 1080p just seems silly.

[Nolan]

I was just playing it a little bit (couple small firefights) with the unlocked frame rate. Didn't seem like anything was wrong with the performance. Though it was a pretty short stint.

[Choze]

Got it. Had to cancel Amazon as they were clearly not going to deliver. Argos had a few bundles and a 10 pound voucher.

 

Tested out Uncharted and COD:IW mostly. I also have the FFXV judgement demo from the JP store.

 

Quick and short impressions:

As I only have a 1080p tv for now (will get a 4K at some point soon) I can see that super sampling helps quite abit. Picture quality is pristine and free from almost any imperfections much like PR game screen shots. Uncharted and COD for example just look flawless at 1080p. Nice for 1080p owners. Mind you they already had some of the best image quality already. The 4k screens are even nicer but i only have a macbook pro retina to look closely at the screens.

 

Also interesting to hear how games run and at what resolution. COD:IW uses a checkerboard technique to get full 4K at 60 fps for example. FIFA 17 on the other hand is native 4K at 60 fps. Interesting that this checkerboard technique thats people seem to highlight a lot seems highly effective! I cant notice any artifacting or anything in screens at least...

 

Remote play is superb and I will share some screen grabs of the quality but yeah its awesome playing in 1080p on another screen! Its amazing in 1080p :awesome:

 

On the whole I can safely say the Pro aimed at 4K TV owners, VR and gamers who are more serious/hardcore//streamers etc. Its the same exact same PS4 otherwise just with the ability to render at higher resolution and better video streaming/recording etc. Videos take much more space. Remote play takes up more bandwidth too. All in all I am quite happy with it.

 

Will post more later.

Edited November 13, 2016 by Choze

[dazzybee]

Been reading a lot about this, particularly about PSVR and it seems pretty mild as an upgrade so that's good news for me. Makes me think it's even more of a bizarre decision, but I guess for new console owners it's attractive. I wonder how long they'll hold back developers by forcing PS4 usage for; feels like the machine won't be unleashed until it's allowed to have its own software.

[Daft]

The upgrade was definitely worth it for my 4K TV. Tomb Raider and Deus Ex both look superb. Noticeably sharper on 55" and – a minor miracle – the frame rate on Deus Ex is so much better (which isn't hard, tbf).

 

Honestly, if the keep targeting the OG PS4 with what they think is an acceptable frame rate and then have a Pro patch that locks it so it actually runs smoothly, I'd say it was worth it.

 

Also, I save a lot off captures, so it's nice to have those saved at a higher resolution.

[Choze]

Been reading a lot about this, particularly about PSVR and it seems pretty mild as an upgrade so that's good news for me. Makes me think it's even more of a bizarre decision, but I guess for new console owners it's attractive. I wonder how long they'll hold back developers by forcing PS4 usage for; feels like the machine won't be unleashed until it's allowed to have its own software.

 

Its still aligned to the PS4 and Sony's strategy is that this is for 4K. Both Scorpio and Pro will need to use 'tricks' to get to 4k for the same level of graphics as a PS4 at 1080p for the record. So graphics will mainly target PS4 for the foreseeable future. Never mind the 50m sales advantage soon which is more important than any tech.

 

Obviously devs can target enhanced 1080p if they like but from what i can tell people seem to like 4k modes the most. I also imagine higher res is less complicated than new textures/models etc.

 

Will post more stuff soon. Though i do need a media hosting recommendation. I would say the 'Pro' name designation for this console is a good choice.

[dazzybee]

Yeah i think if I had a huge 4k tv (just waiting to move house to upgrade) and with PSVR I'd definitely do it; completely makes sense, I just wonder how Microsoft's much bigger jump (it is a bigger jump in power isn't it) will go, can developers make Scorpio exclusive games? It's all quite new for home consoles, so interesting to see how the approaches will go.

[Daft]

I feel like the timing for the Pro is better than for the Scorpio. I have little doubt that the Scorpio will be better but at that point we're probably only going to be a couple years away from the PS5 (giving the PS4 a 6-year lifespan).

 

By which time the PS5 (and the post-Scorpio Xbox) shouldn't need any tricks to reach 4K.

 

I'm fully open to picking up a Scorpio. I've circled around an Xbox One for a while now but my problem is, with a PS4 there isn't that much to differentiate the Xbox for me. And with the Pro already kind of hitting 4K already, I feel the wind might betaken out of the Scorpio's sails, too.

[Choze]

Initial sales results (UK):

 

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2016-11-14-110-000-ps4-and-xbox-one-machines-sold-in-the-uk-last-week

 

The launch of PS4 Pro was a solid one. The machine shifted over 40,000 units in the UK last week (GfK figures shown to Gamesindustry.biz). Sony has positioned the machine as a future proofing product ahead of an expected increase in 4K TV sales, so its first week performance won't prove particularly significant just yet. Combined with normal PS4 console sales, Sony sold over 65,000 machines and generated nearly £20m in revenue.

 

Xbox One also had a good week, despite not launching a new machine. Microsoft severely cut the price of its console last week, with older models being sold for as low as £170 from the likes of Microsoft's store, GAME and Currys. As a result, Xbox One shifted 45,000 devices, which will help continue the machine's momentum. As a result of the discounting, revenue was just over £9m

 

Xbox One has been the best-selling console in the UK during both September and October.

• PS4 Pro : 40,000
  
• PS4 Total: 65,000 (25,000 normal) Revenue: 20m (higher prices).
   
  
• XBox One Total: 45,000 Revenue: 9m
  

 

Looking at this. 4K is still young and both new consoles are 4K focused.

 

I also approve that PS4 Pro is not a true replacement (at 1080p your PS4 is more than just ok, its excellent). Fact is 4K tv will take time to proliferate. Also 1080p super sampling whilst nice, is clearly not a feature thats attracts the mainstream much. The PS4 eco system, platform and games are more important at this stage than any specs ever will be.

 

Scorpio? I dont know. Its really late that is for sure. So wont change the outcome of the generation. Specs are the highest for any console(year 4 console mind you). We have had more powerful consoles in the past and they tend to not be top when it comes to sales. Especially late ones. Its worth pointing out that Worldwide Xbox revenue and units are both down according to MS, despite monthly unit sales wins in the UK and US.

 

It is also worth taking into account the weakness of the pc market as of late. All the high spec games now come from the console side and go on to perform poorly. There no games like Half Life 2 or Crysis anymore.

Edited November 15, 2016 by Choze

[Choze]

The new Watch Dogs 2 Pc version with Nvidia features showcases better shadowing and LOD.

 

May be a good indicator of where the extra power over a Pro can go in the short term before next gen.

[Choze]

Horizon Zero Dawn will support a native 4K resolution via checkerboarding on the pro.

 

From what I can gather each pixel is native in checkerboarding but changes are made before the final frame is rendered. Partial pixel data is already supplied and the incomplete data is calculated using what's there saving gpu resources. The con is it requires a lot more dev time. It seems like there is a lot of confusion with some Horizon reviews just saying it's post processing technique(it's not).

 

Checkerboarding will also be a feature in the Scorpio and select pc games With slightly different names and implementations.