Yesterday’s tech breakdown of Sony’s PS5 may have left most of us a little disappointed, given that it really was just a lecture that was aimed towards developers and not us consumers, but some good has come out it anyway.
The PS5’s oddly-sized SSD is the big thing that developers are talking about right now, and apparently the power differential between the PS5 and Xbox Series X could be mitigated by the design of the PS5’s SSD.
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Developers have taken to Twitter to share what it means for game creators and, ultimately, the people who will end up enjoying their games. Thankfully, there’s very little tech jargon in use and it’s easy enough for us normal folk to understand.
Still tripping about this #PS5 SSD spec. Like, people don’t even know how big of a leap in terms of game design can be made, especially for 1st party that doesn’t have to design to lowest common denominator. By far the biggest leap in my career. Can’t wait.
— Kurt Margenau (@kurtmargenau) March 19, 2020
In theory, the #PS5’s SSD means developers can worry a little less about level streaming and memory micro-management which is a huge time sink late on in the dev cycle and the source of many bugs. This means it might actually help to reduce crunch! ?
— James Cooper (@_James_Cooper) March 19, 2020
Just saw the new @PlayStation #PS5 presentation. Great job @cerny! Since I routinely have to explain to people why I’m excited for an SSD for rendering I thought I’d write a little thread to explain. Case in point: Uncharted 1 to Last of Us transition: pic.twitter.com/4Q75NEuigy
— Andrew Maximov (@_ArtIsAVerb) March 18, 2020
Most crucial part of the @cerny presentation imo. The SSD in the PS5 (and all the associated IO hardware) is going to fundamentally change how we design videogames by removing limitations we’ve been working around the last two gens. https://t.co/XDcj2BJ5gV
— Anthony Newman (@BadData_) March 18, 2020
In short, the PS5’s custom SSD will get the most use by first-party developers who are working exclusively to the PS5 console, and that it means game worlds can be made denser with more graphical effects, and with minimal loading or stuttering. Ultimately, this should mean we see game worlds the likes of which just aren’t possible on current console hardware. It’s weird, isn’t it? Getting so excited about an SSD? Hasn’t stopped me from buying one for my PC today…
via ResetEra
