While we lament the addition of another seemingly needless PlayStation 3 firmware update, Mark Cerny – the mastermind behind both the PlayStation 4 and arcade classic Marble Madness – has discussed in detail the feature inside Sony’s next generation console that will get you playing faster than ever before.
Irritatingly dubbed ‘PlayGo’, the technology will allow you to hop into a game before it has even finished downloading. "The concept is that you download just a portion of the overall data and start your play session, and you continue your play session as the rest downloads in the background," he told Gamasutra, no doubt with a satisfied smile plastered across his face.
The console will also be able to install retail games without making you wait. “So, what we do as the game accesses the Blu-ray disc, is we take any data that was accessed, and we put it on the hard drive,” he explained. "And if then there is idle time, we go ahead and copy the remaining data to the hard drive. And what that means is after an hour or two, the game is on the hard drive, and you have access, [and] you have dramatically quicker loading.”
In addition, the PS4 will include a custom chip designed for background activity, meaning that pesky firmware updates will soon become a thing of the past. However, this, according to Cerny, will be environmentally friendly, too. "To make it a more green hardware, which is very important for us, we have the ability to turn off the main power in the system and just have power to that secondary custom chip, system memory, and I/O – hard drive, Ethernet,” he said. “So, that allows background downloads to happen in a very low power scenario.”
There’s plenty more from Cerny through here. We’re just delighted that we’re not going to have to read through a slew of complaints on Twitter every time that there’s a new system update. What's tickling your fancy about the PS4? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source gamasutra.com]
Comments 17
That's bad ass. The coolest thing I have heard about the PS4 yet.
I love the ablity to make the system sleep and donwloead stuuf in the backround while you use it. The PS4 is just getting rid of all of the little inconviences that are in gaming now. The interview was a little confusing since I don't much about that stuff lol. Now if they could just annonce the ablity to customize controlls like you can with PC. That alone could make the touch pad really useful.
I think Cerny is probably the best thing that could have happened to the PS4. Or at least among the best things. Guy is - as the kids say - a nightmare beast.
Thank you, Mr. Cerny.
That's a big step ahead from the MGS4 days.
After playing 200+ hours of Skyrim I in fact stopped to consider how many of them I wasted just looking at the loading screen. Perhaps 10%? Anything that improves loading times is a win.
Still why the PS3 never offered the option to download to disk (like the XBox) in the first place is beyond me.
@Ginkgo the Ps3 does in a way, it installs game data to the hard drive. some games do over 4GB (most ive seen is 4.8GB)
@Ginkgo I'm curious, how how does that work? It seems like someone could download the disc then sell it.
@Jaz007 - I'm sure you'll still need to have the disc in the PS4 but the game will run faster off the HDD than off the disc. The big improvement is not having to wait and watch Snake smoke a cigarette or 20 minutes before you start playing.
@Alpha - MLB The Show 2012 gave me the option of 5 or 10GB.
I hope they fix the stupid 20 - 30mb update every single demo I DL. Why is there a Day 1 20 - 30 mb patch every time? I'm assuming it's something to do w/ the constant firmware updates and checking the # since they are always the same small size but they really need to roll these into the GB sized DLs.
I also hate checking in for FREE DL. I DL a demo from Tokyo - Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen (at least I think it was a demo) - and it didn't aask for any ID, it just started DLing. DLing God Mode from the US I had to go thru all those check in screens. It's really annoying.
@Jaz007 : Link below shows how it is done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7klx_hQsqek
Not sure I understand your point about selling it. How would it be different to any game purchased over PSN that installs on your HDD?
Personally, I think this is one of the best features that XBox had that the PS3 missed.
It's got two heads?! It really is a monster
@ShogunRok Wholly crap whats up other gundam fan lol XD, but seriously I totally agree with your statement 100 percent, I have been reading up on Mr. Cernys development of the PS4! His experience in combonation with his asking developers and paying attention to consumer complaints and wishes is truly going to make this next Gen console shine!!!
Mr. Cerny once again I am obliged to thank you...u are Sonys miracle man for PS4!!!
@DoublezZ01 Exactly - Cerny has the experience and the attitude needed for this role. He's also got the enthusiasm of a man who seems to love doing what he does. I honestly can't think of many people better for the job.
Also, Gundam - yay! Nice avatar!
Dude u took the words right out of my head. ..I noticed his passion and confidence in the system the first time I watched the announcement I was glad to see he was really trying to put maximum effort into the systems architecture! Gundam fan since I got my first PS2 and s still going strong. .. can't wait to see what gundam games they make for PS4! !!
most def, ps4 will b a helluva machine
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