Did anyone expect something else?

I thought Sony was pretty clear that the console would rely on tricks and whatnot to achieve higher resolutions (checkerboard tech or whatever).

What surprised me negatively were the games that were running slower on the PS4 Pro than the PS4 at 1080p. Apparently they were downsampled down to 1080p or some silliness that resulted in slower fps. I'm sure that's something that can be patched back to normal.

Still, I'm looking forward to hearing more about XBox Scorpio. Just got the wife a Xbone S and was super impressed by its build quality. Made my original PS4 feel like a toy.
 
The problem is all the TV sets they sell are for 4k not aimed at the gaming market for consoles....
while 2K is where it's at currently even for PC gaming.
 
I think this was the perfect time for Sony to have pretty much all current games running at full 1080p/60. No more dynamic res/30 fps/low res textures bull** and do 4k via upscaling.
 
This has everything to do with the developers not optimizing for PS4 Pro. Bottom line. These are not PCs and just because the Pro is way more powerful than the PS4 doesn't mean the same thing that if you put a non-optimized PS4 pro game in there that is should automatically perform and look better. The perfect case is that Digital Foundry are incredibly dumb especially when they tested Watchdogs 2. The day after they pointed out that Watchdogs 2 is sinking to 25 FPS on the Pro, Ubisoft patched it right away and now it runs beautifully. Which by the way, the only DF was able to get the game to go to 25 FPS was when doing donuts and all the smoke from the tires cause the FPS dip which has happened to me on countless PC games as well, but all comes back to the same issue which is optimization and not indicative of a console that isn't powerful enough. I know because I own a Pro and Watchdogs 2. I also noticed that NBA 2K17 runs at a native 4K along with HDR as does Ratchet and Clank (maybe not @ 4K but pretty close). I just bought a HDR 4K TV 3 days ago and let me tell you that Ratchet and Clank looks absolutely phenomenal. Like playing a Pixar movie with absolutely no frame-rate issues or anything.

This article is clickbait and they are trying to find problems where there aren't any. The fact is that for $399 the PS4 Pro does a tremendous job of up-scaling/rendering much better graphics than the PS4 and for only a $100 difference between it and the OG PS4 the Pro is an absolute no-brainer. I am super happy I upgraded to it and what Sony has done is commendable compared to what I had to spend on my comp in my sig the PS4's abilities are commendable. Instead of focusing on the shortcomings which are being ironed out with every game release, the author couldn't even give some credit which in-of-itself proves bias to me. As someone who games on my PC in native 4K I can say that the PS4 Pro is not only a huge upgrade from the PS4 from the few patched games I have played look phenomenal and perform great.

You also have to remember that all the games on PS4 Pro that are "enhanced" are merely patched games. With talk of Mass Effect Andromeda being native 4K with HDR on PS4 Pro, now that developers have their hands on the Pro hardware, unreleased games and newly developing ones will get the full treatment with the Pro. First-hand accounts of Horizon Zero Dawn among others on the Pro have been very positive so I am really excited.

Gameplay vid of Mass Effect Andromeda on PS4 Pro:





Titanfall 2 enhancements: http://wccftech.com/titanfall-2-ps4-pro-1080p-screenshots-show-massive-improvements-original-ps4/


The games i have that are updated with impressions;

  • Uncharted 4: Officially runs at a native 2560x1440. With HDR turned on it looks incredible and there is zero performance issues at any time.
  • Ratchet and Clank: "Higher resolution" + HDR = near-Pixar level of quality. Rock-solid performance in all areas I have played through which thus-far is at about 6 planets.
  • Shadow of Mordor: "High resolution" This game I think has seen the most noticeable change to me. The textures everywhere and even on the characters has seen a definite bump up and the frame-rate is rock solid as well as inclusion of super-sampling.
  • Watchdogs 2: Native 2560x1800 resolution. HUGE increase in draw distance with minimal pop-in if any. Recent patch fixed all stability issues (which I didn't personally notice before) and the game looks and performs great. I will provide some screenshots below. Unfortunately the game doesn't have a great in-game picture mode unless you manually go into settings and turn off all HUD elements individually which I didn't feel like doing. The screenshots themselves are taken in 4K so the 1800p native picture is definitely being upscaled to 4K using checker boarding.
  • The Last of Us Remastered: 2 in-game modes; "Favor Resolution," or "Favor Performance." Resolution mode outputs in native 4K @ 30fps with HDR and Performance Mode runs at 3200x1800 @ 60fps with HDR. Personally both modes look good to me and perform well. Have noticed no frame-rate drops.
  • Infamous: Second Son. Has Better performance and better resolution options. I played Second Son a LOT on my OG and I have to say even at the high resolution the performance is way way better and more stable. I instantly noticed it when destroying towers which the OG PS4 would always slow down on. The game looks phenomenal with the improvements they've made but I have no specifics as to resolution.
  • Titanfall 2: I am actually getting this game in the mail today, but judging by the article I linked above it's quite an improvement.

Here is a dump of a couple Watchdogs 2 screenshots;

http://imgur.com/a/m3cxz
 
If anything, Digital Foundry has been rather bullish on PS4 pro; the arkham city comparison was just to note that performance increases can be had without any particular optimization by just letting the game go "unlocked." Richard Ledbetter (DF head honcho) constantly praises the PS4 pro and the 4K results it gets, definitely not a hater. However, these guys make it their job to drill down to detail and let you know what's going on with framerate, which I appreciate.
 
What I can't figure out why is X-Box releasing the scorpion over a year later?
 
Comixbooks said:
What I can't figure out why is X-Box releasing the scorpion over a year later?
Click to expand...
They specifically said that that want to make their console the first "native" 4K console. Where the PS4 Pro is capable of native 4K in some games but most as of now are upscale.

The reason they are waiting and what makes the most sense is to wait for hardware costs to go down so they can release their powerful native 4K console at an affordable price in this case $399 like the PS4 Pro. Many developers have said that a native 4K gaming console is far off because of the enormous power that you would need to render the graphics at that resolution. The raw gpu power necessary for that on the console is insane and Microsoft is playing it safe by waiting for hardware costs to come down to really deliver.

I think Microsoft is going to hit a homerun with the Scorpio. Especially because the rumor is that you'll be able to use the Oculus Rift with it. During that video clip that Microsoft released of different game developers talking about the Scorpio there was a Bethesda dev talking about how the Scorpio will be able to bring VR to console. We know that Bethesda is making fallout 4 for VR and I think that is a very likely game to come out on the Scorpio.
 
zamardii12 said:
This has everything to do with the developers not optimizing for PS4 Pro. Bottom line. These are not PCs and just because the Pro is way more powerful than the PS4 doesn't mean the same thing that if you put a non-optimized PS4 pro game in there that is should automatically perform and look better. The perfect case is that Digital Foundry are incredibly dumb especially when they tested Watchdogs 2. The day after they pointed out that Watchdogs 2 is sinking to 25 FPS on the Pro, Ubisoft patched it right away and now it runs beautifully. Which by the way, the only DF was able to get the game to go to 25 FPS was when doing donuts and all the smoke from the tires cause the FPS dip which has happened to me on countless PC games as well, but all comes back to the same issue which is optimization and not indicative of a console that isn't powerful enough. I know because I own a Pro and Watchdogs 2. I also noticed that NBA 2K17 runs at a native 4K along with HDR as does Ratchet and Clank (maybe not @ 4K but pretty close). I just bought a HDR 4K TV 3 days ago and let me tell you that Ratchet and Clank looks absolutely phenomenal. Like playing a Pixar movie with absolutely no frame-rate issues or anything.

This article is clickbait and they are trying to find problems where there aren't any. The fact is that for $399 the PS4 Pro does a tremendous job of up-scaling/rendering much better graphics than the PS4 and for only a $100 difference between it and the OG PS4 the Pro is an absolute no-brainer. I am super happy I upgraded to it and what Sony has done is commendable compared to what I had to spend on my comp in my sig the PS4's abilities are commendable. Instead of focusing on the shortcomings which are being ironed out with every game release, the author couldn't even give some credit which in-of-itself proves bias to me. As someone who games on my PC in native 4K I can say that the PS4 Pro is not only a huge upgrade from the PS4 from the few patched games I have played look phenomenal and perform great.

You also have to remember that all the games on PS4 Pro that are "enhanced" are merely patched games. With talk of Mass Effect Andromeda being native 4K with HDR on PS4 Pro, now that developers have their hands on the Pro hardware, unreleased games and newly developing ones will get the full treatment with the Pro. First-hand accounts of Horizon Zero Dawn among others on the Pro have been very positive so I am really excited.

Gameplay vid of Mass Effect Andromeda on PS4 Pro:





Titanfall 2 enhancements: http://wccftech.com/titanfall-2-ps4-pro-1080p-screenshots-show-massive-improvements-original-ps4/


The games i have that are updated with impressions;

  • Uncharted 4: Officially runs at a native 2560x1440. With HDR turned on it looks incredible and there is zero performance issues at any time.
  • Ratchet and Clank: "Higher resolution" + HDR = near-Pixar level of quality. Rock-solid performance in all areas I have played through which thus-far is at about 6 planets.
  • Shadow of Mordor: "High resolution" This game I think has seen the most noticeable change to me. The textures everywhere and even on the characters has seen a definite bump up and the frame-rate is rock solid as well as inclusion of super-sampling.
  • Watchdogs 2: Native 2560x1800 resolution. HUGE increase in draw distance with minimal pop-in if any. Recent patch fixed all stability issues (which I didn't personally notice before) and the game looks and performs great. I will provide some screenshots below. Unfortunately the game doesn't have a great in-game picture mode unless you manually go into settings and turn off all HUD elements individually which I didn't feel like doing. The screenshots themselves are taken in 4K so the 1800p native picture is definitely being upscaled to 4K using checker boarding.
  • The Last of Us Remastered: 2 in-game modes; "Favor Resolution," or "Favor Performance." Resolution mode outputs in native 4K @ 30fps with HDR and Performance Mode runs at 3200x1800 @ 60fps with HDR. Personally both modes look good to me and perform well. Have noticed no frame-rate drops.
  • Infamous: Second Son. Has Better performance and better resolution options. I played Second Son a LOT on my OG and I have to say even at the high resolution the performance is way way better and more stable. I instantly noticed it when destroying towers which the OG PS4 would always slow down on. The game looks phenomenal with the improvements they've made but I have no specifics as to resolution.
  • Titanfall 2: I am actually getting this game in the mail today, but judging by the article I linked above it's quite an improvement.

Here is a dump of a couple Watchdogs 2 screenshots;

http://imgur.com/a/m3cxz
Click to expand...



Thank you for spending the time writing this up. Although I do not own a ps4 or xbone it is cool to see things from the perspective of an actual user.
I do prefer 4k gaming on PC but those screens are pretty solid!
 
I mean if a 480 RX cant do, why would people think a lowered clock custom 480 would be able to do it? lol
 
The main issue with Consoles and 4K is that to run native 4K and 60FPS, they don't have the power. Because of the lower precision of the gamepad, 30FPS on a console is still very playable, so that halves the amount of power you need. On top of that, a lot of games are running 30FPS running 1800p and up scaling. So that requires 25% less power. So, yeah, I can beleive the PS4 PRO is able to run games at ~4K for console standards.

On PC, however, the higher precision of a mouse begs for higher framerates, and there aren't many PC gamers who would be happy with 30 FPS. Non-Native scaling on PC is also behind consoles, so Native resolution rendering is what PC gamers aim for.
 
I still don't see Scorpio running most games at 60 fps. GTX 1080 can't even guarantee that level of performance and it has a higher compute throughput than the Scorpio's announced numbers. I think as we start seeing more games come out that support the Pro's increased horsepower, it will start making more sense. Right now, there's just really nothing exciting about it, save for maybe Rise of the Tomb Raider...
 
KazeoHin said:
The main issue with Consoles and 4K is that to run native 4K and 60FPS, they don't have the power. Because of the lower precision of the gamepad, 30FPS on a console is still very playable, so that halves the amount of power you need. On top of that, a lot of games are running 30FPS running 1800p and up scaling. So that requires 25% less power. So, yeah, I can beleive the PS4 PRO is able to run games at ~4K for console standards.

On PC, however, the higher precision of a mouse begs for higher framerates, and there aren't many PC gamers who would be happy with 30 FPS. Non-Native scaling on PC is also behind consoles, so Native resolution rendering is what PC gamers aim for.
Click to expand...

Bringing up the fact that consoles can't run 4K @ 60FPS is a moot point b/c many PCs can't run 4K @ 60FPS games natively on single video-card configurations. My system can barely do it. Even if a console pulls off 4K at 30FPS that's still fantastic. The improvements around the PS4 Pro are already striking and the fact they could do that at the price-point they did is commendable.
 
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Rise of the Tomb Raider illustrates what the PS4 Pro is capable of if the devs truly focus on it. It looks fantastic and the 1080/60 version is nearly on par with the PC version. If you don't care about 60fps, the 4K version looks/runs pretty close to most PC 4K setups, too.
The catch is that I kinda doubt most devs will bother without some heavy incentives from Sony.
 
There's just not time enough for most devs to do any real optimizations. Game development is a business, and if you want to truly optimize, you need a lot of time and a lot of money. The risk vs rewards don't match up. That's where a company which focuses primarily on engines can shine.
 
It was what I was expecting and does deliver something reasonably close to 4K gaming.
 
I wonder what it would take for NVidia or AMD to release something similar on the desktop platform. What I mean is something that could do upscaling. It wouldn't look quite as good, but it would be better than just a raw 1080p image with minimal performance hit.
 
Nytegard said:
I wonder what it would take for NVidia or AMD to release something similar on the desktop platform. What I mean is something that could do upscaling. It wouldn't look quite as good, but it would be better than just a raw 1080p image with minimal performance hit.
Click to expand...

You can do hardware upscaling with both AMD and nvidia. Its just not what PC gamers want to do.
 
Nytegard said:
I wonder what it would take for NVidia or AMD to release something similar on the desktop platform. What I mean is something that could do upscaling. It wouldn't look quite as good, but it would be better than just a raw 1080p image with minimal performance hit.
Click to expand...
It's called FSAA and has been a feature in video card hardware for a couple decades. The process has just improved over the years.
 
1080p and 1440p @ 144Hz is where the best PC gaming is at. I don't enjoy gaming on my PC @ 4k/60Hz... at all. I ended up moving my 4k monitor over to my websurfing/music server pc.

1080p@60Hz is fine for a console though. Using an analog controller is the limiting factor there so the 60Hz doesn't feel like it's holding me back. Problem is, the consoles will likely never support more than 60Hz due to them being geared for TVs and not monitors. Although, my PS4 Pro is connected to my BenQ monitor. I like it for what it is and the online capabilities. I sure as heck didn't buy it thinking it could possibly compete with my PC.
 
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