We don't know much about the PS5 and Xbox Scarlett, but what Microsoft and Sony have said so far about the next-gen consoles makes it sound like they will be more powerful, slightly more feature packed versions of the PS4 and Xbox One. And this is just where console gaming is at. The same could be said of the previous generation leap from Xbox 360 and PS3 to Xbox One and PS4. That said, just because the consoles aren't radically innovating the way we play games doesn't mean there won't be some substantial hardware improvements that will be impact and change the games we play.

For example, both systems have a Solid State Drive (SSD). In short, this allows faster loading times, but it also will be a game changer for certain genres, like open-world games. With an SSD, pop-in shouldn't plague densely populated open-world games as much. This also means more realized worlds with greater attention to detail. The inclusion of a SSD isn't the most glamorous feature, but it's a pretty big one. And thus it should come as no surprise that Crytek -- a developer with a track-record for pushing the industry forward from a technical perspective -- believes SSDs will be an absolute game changer for the next-gen systems.

“If visual quality will most likely continue to increase in the same large steps as is expected with any new generation of consoles, the real game changer will certainly be the new fast storage that has been promised," said the developer to Wccftech. "Apart from the obvious advantage of crushing loading times, it will open up quite a lot of possibilities for games to be designed for it with regards to streaming. That’s also a front on which game engines will need to evolve
quite drastically, but it’s definitely exciting.”

As you can see, the inclusion of a SSD won't magically improve games; developers will need to tweak game engines to really tap into the potential of what a SSD offers. That said, it's something to be excited for as we wait for Sony and Microsoft to reveal more about their consoles.



Posted: Aug 25, 2019 9:34 am
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/2019/08/18/ps5-playstation-xbox-scarlett-feature/