PS4K

[soera]

The rumors are true. Neo (as its going to be called) has been confirmed as of this morning.

Now that Sony has officially confirmed the new upgraded 4K-ready PlayStation Neo is indeed coming, it's important to understand what the system is and how it'll affect current PS4 owners. The PS4K marks the first step towards the new iterative console cycle, meaning consoles will release every 2-3 years instead of every 5-7 years.

As such, the 4K-ready PS4 Neo will live alongside the existing PS4 instead of replacing it. This effectively means the PS4K will be an optional upgrade over the existing PS4, offering extra features like 4K Blu-ray playback, upscaling 1080p games to 4K, and more hardware to power the PlayStation VR headset. "[The PS4K] is intended to sit alongside and complement the standard PS4. We will be selling both [consoles] through the life cycle," Sony Interactive Entertainment President Andrew House told Financial Times.

PlayStation 4K Breakdown
Fully backward compatible, plays all existing PS4 games
Won't have exclusive games library
Optional hardware upgrade, won't replace existing PS4s
Natively supports PlayStation VR
Lives alongside existing PS4s
Plays 4K UHD Blu-ray/regular Blu-ray discs
Upscales 1080p to 4K
Will cost more then $350
Improved hardware specs including an AMD Polaris 10 GPU
All forthcoming PS4 games will support PS4K and PS4
PS4K games to run at 1080p minimum

The 4K-ready PS4 Neo won't have its own games library. The PS4K will play all existing PS4 games and unlock exclusive 4K upscaled resolution across certain games. The way it works is that every future PS4 game will need to have two modes: a "Neo Mode" and a "Standard Mode". Normal PS4's will play games in Standard Mode, and the PS4K will use its upgraded hardware to access Neo Mode for improved 4K visuals. PS4Ks can access Standard Mode, and the Neo Mode is optional.

The PS4K's new two format structure puts a burden on developers, as they will now have to essentially make two different versions of their games (a Neo Mode and Standard Mode). Some devs are even calling it a "gigantic pain in the ass."

The Sony president also affirms that developers won't have a hard time optimizing their games with Neo Mode functionality, and that the work will be "small, but manageable".

Original PS4 CPU:
8 Jaguar Cores at 1.6 GHz
GPU: AMD GCN, 18 CUs at 800 MHz (equivalent to Radeon HD 7850)
Memory: 8 GB GDDR5, 176 GB/s

NEO CPU:
8 Jaguar Cores at 2.1 GHz
GPU: Improved AMD GCN, 36 CUs at 911 MHz (possibly built on Polaris10 Ellesmere?)
Memory: 8 GB GDDR5, 218 GB/s

Although the PS4K will live alongside the current best-selling console of this generation, House predicts the PS4K will still stand on its own merit and be a big asset for Sony's future. The "high-end" console will be more than $350, but we don't know how much just yet. "The PS4 Neo will be standalone profitable at the time that we launch it," he said.

So when will we get to see the console? Sony confirmed the PlayStation 4K won't be shown off at E3 2016 because there's just not enough games yet. "We want to ensure we have a full range of the best experiences on the new system that we can showcase in their entirety," House concluded. We could see an official reveal at Gamescom 2016 in August.

So there you have it--Sony officially confirms key leaked details like PS4 Neo game modes, backward compatibility, and 4K upscaling.

PS4.5 would play Ultra HD Blu-ray, as well as 4K gaming and VR

Sony's new PS4 sports 4K upscaling, upgraded CPU, GPU and RAM

Sony's PlayStation Neo won't have exclusive games, shares PS4 library

Sony's new PlayStation Neo is pissing off lots of developers

PlayStation Neo games required to run at native 1080p minimum

[gf78]

Won't whatever Microsoft is cooking up "piss off" developers as well?  Microsoft will either have to take the same road and make games compatible on both versions of the Xbox One.  Or, they will have to divide the market and have two separate versions of each game made.

Interested to see what Microsoft does now.

[rayne315]

wellllllllllll then........ looks like Nintendo is actually poised to take back a chunk of the 3rd party market share if their NX pans out and is as developer friendly as it is rumored to be.

[fighterpilot562]

Well, i still wont be buying the 4K....... i still think its not a great idea, but, oh well.

[gf78]

wellllllllllll then........ looks like Nintendo is actually poised to take back a chunk of the 3rd party market share if their NX pans out and is as developer friendly as it is rumored to be.

Eh....hard to tell.  The problem between Nintendo and 3rd party developers isn't animosity.  It's that ever since the N64, 3rd party games sell like butt on Nintendo systems.  This is as much gamers fault as it is Nintendo's because even when 3rd party games are released simultaneously, they always sell significantly worse on a Nintendo system than PlayStation or Xbox. 

And in reality, while it is without a doubt added complexity to make games that scale on two different PS4 versions and a "pain in the ass" it can't be any worse than making an Xbox and a PlayStation version of the same game.  In fact, I bet it's a whole lot simpler than that.  I don't see developers skipping out on a PlayStation release when it is the unrivaled market leader by a large margin. 

[kamikazekeeg]

As long as games don't become a Hyrule Warriors Legends type of deal, which it doesn't seem to be, this will be something I can easily avoid.  The bonus power would be nice, but I just bought my PS4, but I won't have a TV to take advantage of the 4k for a long time.

[rayne315]

As long as games don't become a Hyrule Warriors Legends type of deal, which it doesn't seem to be, this will be something I can easily avoid.  The bonus power would be nice, but I just bought my PS4, but I won't have a TV to take advantage of the 4k for a long time.

Im going to wait till around black Friday/Christmas and see if anyone returns a open boxed 4k TV. My mom got a 85" 4k LG tv a week after Christmas for $800 when they were probably retailing for somewhere between $3000-5000. Im not a fan of 4k but if I can get it cheaper than a 1080p equivalent then I am going to buy it.

EDIT: if it wasn't clear she got it that cheap because it was already opened.

[soera]

The thought of an 85" TV in my game room has me drooling.