008
The Big 10
STORIES EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT
Without an SSD, Donnelly explains,
streaming would become a
bottleneck and restrict the content
quality of PlayStation 5’s games. But
with an SSD it won’t be a problem,
and developers’ expectations for
creating more detailed, dynamic
worlds can be met.
“For something like Control that
could translate to an even deeper
destruction system, richer, more
detailed worlds, and simple
quality-of-life improvements like
instant reloading after dying.”SSD-TECTED
Technical director Mika Vehkala
agrees, and says the inclusion of an
SSD will allow Remedy to stream in
“more data at runtime, allowing us to
have much more detail in the game
worlds than before”. But a bonus
aspect of harnessing an SSD is that
games will require smaller install
sizes, “since there is no need to
duplicate data to compensate for
slow seek times that optical drives
and HDDs have”.
Realistically install sizes over time
on PlayStation 5 probably won’t
reduce as developers will be drawn
into creating more high-fidelity
content. “If games would stay the
same in terms of scope and visual
quality it’d make loading times be
almost unnoticeable and restarting a
level could be almost instant,” says
Vehkala, adding: “However, sincemore data can be now used there
can also be cases where production
might be cheaper and faster when
not optimising content, which will
lead into having to load much more
data, leading back into a situation
where you have about the same
loading times as today.”
Basically developers will take the
new toys inside PlayStation 5 and
push them to their limits, nullifying
any real speed in install times or file
size reductions.
“It is almost the same as with CPU
and GPU enhancements,” reflects
Vehkala. “You could do things faster
or you could add more content and
run things the same 30fps as
before; often times it is the latter.”
Where there will an upscale in
performance courtesy of the new
hardware is in the the new console’s
UI and software.
“We tend to forget that it’s not
just about getting better graphicsin
games with a new console, but it’s
that the overall experience of using
and playing on the console will get
significantly better,” says comms
directorThomasPuha.“PlayStation5 is aboutmakinga reallysmooth,
quick-to-loadexperience,anda
hardwarebasethat’seasytouse
forusdevelopers,whichis great,
becauseit allowsustoharnessthe
hardwarepowerquicker.”
Puhaalsoputsthebrakeson
everygamebeing60fps,4K
experiences.“Wegamedevelopers
canmake60fpsgamesevenon
PlayStation1! It’salwaysabout
compromise:areyoufocussingon
visuals,physics,AI,andsuchthings
orpurelyframerate?Thenew
hardwarewillbepowerful,yes,but
alsoexpectationsarethatgraphics
willbeevenmoredetailed,more
destruction,etcandit’salwaysa
compromiseastowherewefocus.”FILMEFFECT
What’sclearfromspeakingwith
Remedyis howthenextgenwillbe
aboutmorethanhardware.Teams
willstillneedtobecreative.
“Technologywilldefinitelyallow
ustocreateevenmorelifelike
experiences,there’snoquestion
aboutthat,”saysControl’sgame
director,MikaelKasurinen,whowill
looktocomplementraytracingwith
othertechniques.“Whenused
correctly,liveactionprovides
delightfulresultsthatwould’venever
happenedwithin-gamesolutions.”THE OVERALL
EXPERIENCE OF PLAYING
ON THE CONSOLE WILLGET
SIGNIFICANTLY BETTER.
Q Light is reflected and coloured
realistically when ray-traced.Q Advances in graphics won’t stop
Remedy from using live action.Turntop54toreadour 50 reasonsto
beexcitedforPlayStation5.SOUNDS GOOD
“The most recent trend seems to
be that game audio is going to be
more dynamic in the future and more
intricate technical solutions and live
effects will be incorporated into
gameplay mechanics.”Subtle things, such as the
real-time reflection of a
character in a screen, add
to the sense of immersion.