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John Carmack on PS4 vs. Xbox One Specs: They're 'Very Close'

F

fluffydelusions

Member
Also talks about VIta and Wii U. Video at the link

At the start of his QuakeCon keynote, legendary tech-whiz John Carmack offered some observations about the biggest two contenders in the coming console wars.

You can watch the clip from Carmack's keynote above. While he says he hasn't done enough benchmarking to be able to do a straight-up comparison between the PS4 and Xbox One, Carmack says that they're "very close" and that "they're both very good."

Carmack then discussed why he's not quite sold on the Kinect motion controller, even while he thinks it's a technology that's set to grow and improve. He summed up Kinect thusly: Saying that he's given Apple grief for its one-button mouse, Carmack describes Kinect as "kind of like a zero-button mouse with a lot of latency on it."
Click to expand...

http://kotaku.com/john-carmack-on-p...m_source=Kotaku_Twitter&utm_medium=Socialflow
 
D

dallow_bg

nods at old men
I just want to know which one will give me better grass in game A, and which will have missing reflections in game B.
 
V

VanWinkle

Member
I don't know why everybody is do adamant about wanting the PS4 to be more powerful than the Xbox One. Even if they do end up having similar graphical output, it's still going to be great for us gamers and a huge step up. And if PS4 games end up having better graphical output than Xbox One, then great for us PS4 owners.
 
G

GamerTime

Banned
Nice Safe observation by Carmack there. Being Politically Correct is he? Well at least he tells it like it is about Kinect. The joke is that not many 3rd party developers seem to talk about, or show any excitement for.
 
D

dr3upmushroom

Banned
Reg said:
He's become a very kind man as he's gotten older.
Click to expand...
Did he used to be an asshole? I think the general opinion is that he's really nice, for example whenever he does panels at conventions and stuff he'll keep answering questions until the audience stops asking.
 
godhandiscen

godhandiscen

There are millions of whiny 5-year olds on Earth, and I AM THEIR KING.
GamerTime said:
Nice Safe observation by Carmack there. Being Politically Correct is he? Well at least he tells it like it is about Kinect. The joke is that not many 3rd party developers seem to talk about, or show any excitement for.
Click to expand...
So he politically correct when you don't agree with him, but tells it like it is when you do?


Edit: Holy shit, now Carmack is nice?
 
O

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
not unexpected, but good to hear. also, 1st page and no MS shill comments? kudos.
 
O

orioto

Good Art™
Let's see it coming guys. This "ps4 is more powerful" concept, regardless how true it is, will be nicely put to rest before the two machines are out. Except if there are some big differences in multi titles.

Would be as much of a problem for PS4 as it was for PS3, if the price situation wasn't inversed. This is still two equivalent machine for 500 and 400$ for people.
 
I

imtehman

Banned
GamerTime said:
Nice Safe observation by Carmack there. Being Politically Correct is he? Well at least he tells it like it is about Kinect. The joke is that not many 3rd party developers seem to talk about, or show any excitement for.
Click to expand...

i can't wrap my head around how you came up with this conclusion.
 
N

Nafai1123

Banned
VanWinkle said:
I don't know why everybody is do adamant about wanting the PS4 to be more powerful than the Xbox One. Even if they do end up having similar graphical output, it's still going to be great for us gamers and a huge step up. And if PS4 games end up having better graphical output than Xbox One, then great for us PS4 owners.
Click to expand...

It's not about wanting the PS4 to be more powerful, it's about wanting developers to take full advantage of what the PS4 and XB1 have. I want both systems to be pushed to the max. If the PS4 is indeed the more powerful system then I want that extra power to be utilized by 1st and 3rd parties.
 
F

family_guy

Member
They very well may be close, but I have more faith in what Sony's developers can produce with that power than Microsoft's. In spite of PS3's technical limitations we got some amazing games like Last of Us, Uncharted, God of War, and Infamous. Third party games will probably be a wash because it's not to their benefit to make one game look better than another.
 
A

AyaisMUsikWhore

Member
At this point, is anyone expecting them to be different.

I think this gen it's going to come down to

Software (Games/Exclusives) vs. Services

I don't think hardware is the problem. Obviously, the systems are mostly identical in someways but what it's really going to be about is what people care about when they buy each system.

If you want a services dominate system (Apps). Of course the Xbox is a no brainer
If you want a software all about gaming social experience. The PS4.

Though MS also has a head start robust social experience from the 360, now that the playing field is even its now down to what extra's they can bring outside what they have already mastered and they are bringing it, however is it innovative enough if games are evolving to fit those features? I think the Kinect is the answer to that. I like it and it isn't underwhelming, however I feel it's usage will be system based, than gaming based.
 
GameSeeker

GameSeeker

Member
Since Carmack is a PC guy from way, way, back, his opinion sense.

From a PC perspective the two systems look similar:
1) Identical CPU's (8 AMD Jaguar cores)
2) 8 GB of RAM
3) Both use AMD GCN graphics achitecture

We know that there are differences:
1) GDDR5 vs. DDR3 + ESRAM
2) 18 CU GPU vs. 12 CU GPU
3) 32 ROP's vs. 16 ROP's

Once Carmack gets a chance to do actual benchmarking, the differences (or lack there of) will be apparent to him.

His opinion on Kinect though, doesn't bode well for Microsoft's long term plan to bring Kinect to PC's.
 
N

NIGHT-

Member
He's not the first 3rd party developer to say they were pretty close either. I just don't think there will be a significant difference between the two, everybody wins!
 
M

merrick97

Banned
dr3upmushroom said:
Did he used to be an asshole? I think the general opinion is that he's really nice, for example whenever he does panels at conventions and stuff he'll keep answering questions until the audience stops asking.
Click to expand...

If you read Masters of Doom he does come across as a stubborn control freak at times. It doesn't present him the best possible light methinks.

Those book does paint him as rather cold hearted at times.
 
P

Pistolero

Member
The tow ideas some people seem to want to oppose : 1- The machines are close in power; 2- One is more capable, are not antinomic.
 
M

Macho Madness

Member
Nafai1123 said:
It's not about wanting the PS4 to be more powerful, it's about wanting developers to take full advantage of what the PS4 and XB1 have. I want both systems to be pushed to the max. If the PS4 is indeed the more powerful system then I want that extra power to be utilized by 1st and 3rd parties.
Click to expand...

It'll happen with exclusives and first party games, good enough for me.
 
M

Minions

Member
So basically he is saying he has not tested either console, but they are basically the same. What kind of comment is that? They both use the same architecture..... Honestly, how anyone can make comments and compare the consoles without benchmarking anything blows my mind.
 
mhayze

mhayze

Member
Surprised that nobody commented on his assertion that the 360 is (was) more powerful than the PS3.

Edit - also, Carmack is as awesome as he always has been. I may not agree with all of his conclusions but he is a thoughtful person who doesn't unnecessarily self-censor for the sake of being PC (heh) but neither does he sound like a pompous jackass who doesn't know what he's talking about, unlike some other public-facing developer spokespersons I can think of.
 
B

BRocknRolla

Member
Ha! A one button mouse with a lot of latency? Sounds about right to me. That's a good jab, Carmack. As for the power, let's continue to keep in mind that 3rd party studios would be silly to be calling either platform preferable at this point. I'm relatively sure that most 3rd parties won't be taking advantage of a power gulf anyway, so in practice, those games will probably be about the same in most cases.
 
J

JABEE

Member
I don't understand how they have essentially the same raw power, when Xbox One and PS4 have the same CPU, PS4 has a significantly better GPU, and PS4 uses much faster RAM.

Is this one of those instances where he is just guessing based on hearing about the architecture. I remember last gen everyone saying to not worry about the platform of the game you purchase only to find out Madden runs at a worse framerate on PS3.

I know they are using the same architecture, but I'm not sure how he came to the conclusion he did with what is on paper.
 
G

GamerTime

Banned
imtehman said:
if he was being politically correct, he wouldn't even criticize the kinect.
Click to expand...

Politically correct towards the console specs, because he hasn't tested them yet, so he doesn't really give an opinion.

Not so with Kinect, he gives his opinion, so not politically correct towards that particular part.

Get it now?
 
I

imtehman

Banned
mhayze said:
Surprised that nobody commented on his assertion that the 360 is (was) more powerful than the PS3.
Click to expand...

He said it in 2005-2006 that the xbox360 was more powerful thatn the ps3, 8 years later he has been proven right, see multiplatform games
 
cyberheater

cyberheater

PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 PS4 Xbone PS4 PS4
It's just an impression but even though he said that both platforms are very close. He's favouring the PS4 because of the development tool set.
 
R

Rat Salad

Banned
godhandiscen said:
So he politically correct when you don't agree with him, but tells it like it is when you do?


Edit: Holy shit, now Carmack is nice?
Click to expand...

Yeah I noticed that too. Best to just let him drown in his own warped logic. Maybe pat him on the head and feed him a peanut.
 
V

VGChampion

Member
That's pretty much what I figured. Even if the PS4 was decently more powerful the multiplatform games wouldn't look much different. Plus, I still don't see the fun in Kinect so a console without is better for me (I do like Move).
 
S

Suairyu

Banned
Anybody who thinks he's just being "politically correct" because he's making games for both: he just admitted on stage where he and his company are behind the curve compared to other companies. He's just being genuine in his statements.
 
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