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[IN&OUT]

Nah!
16 ROPs are more balanced than 32 ROPs !!

yknow what.. AMD said that they discovered that GPUs with only 762 shader cores are the strongest and most efficient ever created especially when you couple that whit a badass ESRAM...my God, most balanced shit ever!!

That's why they are declaring HD7770 as the most powerful GPU to ever grace earth.

Titan got nothing on this man, its all about balance, and fellows.

 

[nib95]

Well with some concessions obviously which for all intents and purposes will go unnoticed.

People still underestimating the efficiency of the design over the brute force... that's fine

Don't buy in to the PR, by most accounts the PS4 comes off as the far more efficient, balanced and better designed machine. From customisations, unified ram, hardware, ram bandwidth, SoC design, size and design of the console etc.

 

[Odrion]

I'm also led to believe that although XBO is less powerful, in real world programming games can be made to look and play very very similarly to ps4 games to most people and will not be a wide divide.

So what you're saying is that if a developer is talented enough, they can make a Xbone game look almost as good as a PS4 game?

 

[CoG]

All I know is, Microsoft the last few weeks has clearly had the task of downplaying the differences in power between the PS4 and 360 at the very forefront of their PR campaign. Through Penello, Major Nelson, the random Microsoft (PR) dev on Reddit and so on. It's been one of their main focuses as far as discussion has been concerned. During which they've spouted all sorts of misinformation, and now that's failed they're doubling down on the games will show it all thing, which is the complete opposite of what we've been hearing from several other devs and insiders, so it's plausible they may have a hand in at least ensuring some level of parity between certain releases.

The fact that they had to up the clock on their GPU and CPU speaks volumes. Back at the the reveal and E3 they reveled in the fact that their console would run cool and quiet. Now they are pushing the boundaries of their thermal footprint. There's a reason for that.

 

[Spongebob]

And according to the article, some developers think the PS4 is powerful enough that if they do take advantage of the PS4's power for their multiplatform titles, they would look better enough to piss off Microsoft and their chances as making a deal with them.

True, if the graphical gap produced between the two by taking advantage of the PS4s hardware was insignificant, MS wouldn't care.

 

[SlickShoesRUCrazy]

The tools are currently more mature on ps4 yes and the ps4 is obviously more straight forward

Listening to the engineers in the ms architect talk, in the original reveal, the posts of several engineers and developers on b3d including one who worked on ps4 game, reading various articles over these many months.

According to all of them yes the esram and system with dedicated hardware chips (all debunked here every day as nothing special like the move engines and sound processor) all combine to lead me to believe that it HAS THE POTENTIAL TO POSSIBLY be more efficient than many are expecting. For those of you reaching for the reply button before finishing reading notice "I never said equal to or greater than ps4" I'm not blind.

I'm also led to believe that although XBO is less powerful, in real world programming games can be made to look and play very very similarly to ps4 games to most people and will not be a wide divide. As the games we have seen so far prove by and large.


The real key is if that continues over the next year or two or if a gap starts to show.

Also no need for everyone to try to convince me how all those helper chips and esram are crappy substitutes for the real deal...I have been reading here since 2005 and have heard it all from the best of them including when they all told me ps3 would dominate the 360 like a ragdoll.

I'll wait for the games, trust that my hunch based on all the facts I've read may be correct and will gladly concede if it turns out to be completely wrong in about a year or two

good luck my friend, good luck.

 

[Spongebob]

yknow what.. AMD said that they discovered that GPUs with only 762 shader cores are the strongest and most efficient ever created especially when you couple that whit a badass ESRAM...my God, most balanced shit ever!!

That's why they are declaring HD7770 as the most powerful GPU to ever grace earth.

Titan got nothing on this man, its all about balance, and fellows.

Don't forget the booleans!

 

[Orca]

So let me get this straight, people are now arguing that Microsoft is paying publishers millions of dollars to gimp their ps4 versions of games in an attempt to please the tiny percentage of people who can notice and care about the difference between 1080p and 900p with a less taxing form of AA?

Spending millions every year for the life of the console to avoid spending millions early on to subsidize faster hardware... Yeah, no holes in that theory.

 

[benny_a]

People still underestimating the efficiency of the design over the brute force... that's fine
[...]
A lot of that power will be mitigated

Worth quoting one more time.

 

[jayu26]

The tools are currently more mature on ps4 yes and the ps4 is obviously more straight forward

Listening to the engineers in the ms architect talk, in the original reveal, the posts of several engineers and developers on b3d including one who worked on ps4 game, reading various articles over these many months.

According to all of them yes the esram and system with dedicated hardware chips (all debunked here every day as nothing special like the move engines and sound processor) all combine to lead me to believe that it HAS THE POTENTIAL TO POSSIBLY be more efficient than many are expecting. For those of you reaching for the reply button before finishing reading notice "I never said equal to or greater than ps4" I'm not blind.

We did not take issue with Xbox being efficient. We took issue with the implication that PS4 is not as efficient (in terms of hardware).

I'm also led to believe that although XBO is less powerful, in real world programming games can be made to look and play very very similarly to ps4 games to most people and will not be a wide divide. As the games we have seen so far prove by and large.


The real key is if that continues over the next year or two or if a gap starts to show.

Also no need for everyone to try to convince me how all those helper chips and esram are crappy substitutes for the real deal...I have been reading here since 2005 and have heard it all from the best of them including when they all told me ps3 would dominate the 360 like a ragdoll.

I'll wait for the games, trust that my hunch based on all the facts I've read may be correct and will gladly concede if it turns out to be completely wrong in about a year or two

Now I want to know if you think there was substantial difference between PS3 and 360 mulitplatforms.

 

[kaching]

According to all of them yes the esram and system with dedicated hardware chips (all debunked here every day as nothing special like the move engines and sound processor) all combine to lead me to believe that it HAS THE POTENTIAL TO POSSIBLY be more efficient than many are expecting.

When you have to write such an overwrought sentence like this to justify the relative efficiency of a device and don't see the irony inherent, I can only say good luck with that.

 

[nib95]

Spending millions every year for the life of the console to avoid spending millions early on to subsidize faster hardware... Yeah, no holes in that theory.

It won't be for the life of the entire console if at all. Like I said, launch is barely going to be indicative of anything. Post launch we'll start to get a clearer picture.

Heck, a DICE/Enlighten developer even said as much...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=653159

- You won't really start to see differences between the PS4 and Xbox One till later on
- As it will take time for people to extract more from the hardware of both
- Architecture of the two consoles similar
- Won't make too much sense to put effort in to making one version much better than the other

 

[Codeblew]

HAS THE POTENTIAL TO POSSIBLY

You are putting a lot of faith in the "POTENTIAL TO POSSIBLY".

 

[Hurf]

So two years from now when PS4 multi-plats are running a train on the Xbone versions what's the excuse going to be? Developers just need more time to figure out the intricacies of a tiny eSRAM buffer?

 

[daman824]

yep, very tiny.

And yet still, MS cares enough to give a PR statement about the power difference regarding all the dev speaking power difference, yet still braging about cloud power , 5 million transistor and PR mouth here in GAF going point by point.

XB1 is 25% more expensive . They can't afford the perception of being a weak console that is 25% more expensive . especially initial years when hardcore buys at premium price instead of casual that wait for price drop.

Then following that logic, wouldn't Microsoft pay for devs to make the xbox one version of games look better? If they are at parity, people will still buy the significantly cheaper console.

I feel that multiplatform games that are 1080p on the ps4 will be 900p on the xbox one. The xbox one version will also have a less demanding form of AA. I feel that's not a big enough difference for Microsoft to start paying off devs.

And the Microsoft pr seems to mainly be doing damage control. Penello might be flinging some FUD. But how the power difference will translate into games has been overstated here and elsewhere. The similarity in architecture between the two systems should make slight graphical sacrifices easy to do.

 

[Deleted member 80556]

It's not true. There is nothing known that indicates this is true.

The unified RAM alone compared to the eSRAM solution that MS has implies that the PS4 is simpler to develop.

People say that the tools from the XB1 might improve over the PS4's, but then I will ask them: Is Sony just going to sit on their laurels and not do anything to their dev tools? I would really like if people stop talking in 'ifs' as if everything happened in a vacuum.

 

[roMonster]

tell me technical reason why ps4 game would perform worse than XB1? because there isn't any. it will be purely due to politics or dev decision.

exactly the same way if PS4 version would perform better than PC.

Both case it would be political or dev decision . not hardware related

MS has some of the best business people in the tech world. They invented shady back door dealings, moneyhats and restrictions on software.

 

[kaching]

Spending millions every year for the life of the console to avoid spending millions early on to subsidize faster hardware... Yeah, no holes in that theory.

It's hardly a conspiracy theory that companies often throw good money after bad. And sometimes not just to the tune of millions.

 

[Klocker]

The unified RAM alone compared to the eSRAM solution that MS has implies that the PS4 is simpler to develop.

People say that the tools from the XB1 might improve over the PS4's, but then I will ask them: Is Sony just going to sit on their laurels and not do anything to their dev tools? I would really like if people stop talking in 'ifs' as if everything happened in a vacuum.

the supposition in the statement is that the reason the devs are lagging on XBO is that xbo tools were woefully behind what they were capable of being when compared to ps4 tools at that time.

Hence, more room for improvement.

 

[SwiftDeath]

Man this is the never-ending thread

 

[jayu26]

Man this is the never-ending thread

100 pages...Believe.

 

[daman824]

It's hardly a conspiracy theory that companies often throw good money after bad. And sometimes not just to the tune of millions.

Just how many devs do you think Microsoft would have to pay off to prevent anyone from thinking that the ps4 is stronger?

 

[nib95]

The unified RAM alone compared to the eSRAM solution that MS has implies that the PS4 is simpler to develop.

I should also add, from Leadbetter/Digital Foundry themselves (Microsoft's favourite PR..err tech news site) it has been mentioned that real world bandwidth numbers for the PS4 so far have hovered around 170 GB/s (out of 176 GB/s max) whilst Esram numbers are supposedly closer to 133 GB/s (way shy of Microsoft's dubious 204 Gb/s figure).

 

[SwiftDeath]

Just how many devs do you think Microsoft would have to pay off to prevent anyone from thinking that the ps4 is stronger?

 

[KMS]

Which console is the most balanced or efficient is the one that can get closest to its theoretical maximum flops and bandwidth. Probably won't get that one answered for a while if ever. But ESRAM at first is a big hinderance in feeding the APU allowing it to maximize its use but in the future they might find ways of moving stuff around that help maximize performance closer to max than even PS4. That said a chip can't exceed its Flop rating so it's useless to talk about balance or efficiency unless PS4 has a big problem causing it to run at a way below its theoretical max. Though rumors out there suggest people are reaching 165+GB/sec numbers in the bandwidth department nearly reaching its max so doubt it personally.

-edit a word

 

[Spongebob]

Since when did more complex design = more efficient?

 

[benny_a]

Just how many devs do you think Microsoft would have to pay off to prevent anyone from thinking that the ps4 is stronger?

Naughty Dog doesn't go third party because they can damage the reputation of the PS4 much better by being a first-party and being paid by Microsoft.

 

[daman824]

Exactly, and that would cost way too much money. It's alot easier to believe that Microsoft is just going to let the games look slightly better on the ps4 and downplay it.

 

[SwiftDeath]

Naughty Dog doesn't go third party because they can damage the reputation of the PS4 much better by being a first-party and being paid by Microsoft.

That's the best conspiracy theory I've heard in a long time

kudos

#Naughtydogception

 

[GopherD]

Third party devs will develop their IP to look similar to protect their own interests, not the platform holders, and to make sure they dont alienate one side or other. Differences will be slight, mostly resolution stretches, framerate locks or other subjectives. This is done at design/preprod to develop your scenes with this is mind and use graphical effects to maximise its look/impact. Think GOW3.
The MOST important aspect is the time taken to produce your basic complete - Faster complete means more time to polish, add extras etc. Will MS have direct control? Unlikely, even at the most pro-MS studios. There are too many tech-savvy fans out there and studios need all the goodwill they can get.

 

[nib95]

Since when did more complex design = more efficient?

You know the joke, Microsoft Math? Well, it's kind of like that, but now it's spread to general tech talk as well. I'd imagine that was the main purpose of their PR, to obfuscate, and to make the hardware situation between the consoles more confusing or open to creative deconstruction.

 

[Jackel7406]

Long time reader, first time poster...I'm going to preface this post by saying that I am not pulling for either platform to be a clear winner, I am going to purchase both because gaming is my hobby and both will have exclusives worth playing.
This forth coming console 'war' won't be decided on stats alone, Microsoft, for better or worse has much more they can gamble on their console winning. One of their chips that they have played which I haven't seen discussed here is the fact that Windows 8.1 and the X1 will have exclusive rights to future (directx 11.2 and beyond). I see the first few years of this cycle going like this: developers make ps3/xbox 360 versions, they make a PC version which gets ported to next gen. Here is a quote from DICE:

Frostbite 3 Supports DirectX 11.1 API – Faster GPU/CPU Performance on PCs and Xbox One

Now this is the interesting bit, DICE confirms that the Frostbite 3 engine supports DirectX 11.1 API as revealed by DSOGaming.
“We use DX11.1, there are some optimizations in it (constant buffer offsets, dynamic buffers as SRVs) that we got in to the the API that improves CPU performance in our rendering when one runs with DX11.1. This will be in BF4.”
This means that PC and Xbox One versions of Battlefield 4 would be more optimized than PlayStation 4.

The API's in the beginning will be a huge player in early next gen content regardless of power...even though there has been comments of SONY's libraries being better developed these are the same software engineers who couldn't make cross game chat in their last OS. Developers have been programming next gen(beyond ps3/360 capability) content on PC's for the last 6 years and they have been doing it with directX as the primary library.

They both have their strengths and they both have their weaknesses, they both will have gems that will most likely be titles developed exclusively for their respective console.

 

[beast786]

Then following that logic, wouldn't Microsoft pay for devs to make the xbox one version of games look better? If they are at parity, people will still buy the significantly cheaper console.

I feel that multiplatform games that are 1080p on the ps4 will be 900p on the xbox one. The xbox one version will also have a less demanding form of AA. I feel that's not a big enough difference for Microsoft to start paying off devs.

And the Microsoft pr seems to mainly be doing damage control. Penello might be flinging some FUD. But how the power difference will translate into games has been overstated here and elsewhere. The similarity in architecture between the two systems should make slight graphical sacrifices easy to do.

hey, I agree with all your points.

My difference with your statement is that perception is worth a lot for MS in early years when more informed core gamers buys console.

that is why the most crazy statements like cloud power and 5 Millions transistors were thrown around. unfortunately for them it didn't work. MS toughest challenge is to make people realize 25% more expensive is justified. Not just casual people but core that are much more in pulse with the game industry and are also willing to pay premium money at console launch.

MS has one advantage. the perception that XBL is betters than PSN. if Sony somehow can over come that message than I truly believe MS will be in big trouble with core gamers. that is why I also believe even more than power , they talked about social features of PSN during reveal and Yosp starting Gamescom with sitting on chair, live tweeting , spectating and joining killzone on the fly. Showling how improve PSN will be in PS4.

 

[beast786]

Third party devs will develop their IP to look similar to protect their own interests, not the platform holders, and to make sure they dont alienate one side or other. Differences will be slight, mostly resolution stretches, framerate locks or other subjectives. This is done at design/preprod to develop your scenes with this is mind and use graphical effects to maximise its look/impact. Think GOW3.
The MOST important aspect is the time taken to produce your basic complete - Faster complete means more time to polish, add extras etc. Will MS have direct control? Unlikely, even at the most pro-MS studios. There are too many tech-savvy fans out there and studios need all the goodwill they can get.

thanks Gopher. appreciate your inside

 

[Klocker]

Now I want to know if you think there was substantial difference between PS3 and 360 mulitplatforms.

If you buy both machines and run them side by side or compare online screenies of games before buying (just like gta v shows today in screenshots) or read df articles then sure you will be aware of the finer details.

But most people just don't bother to do any of those things and therefore out of 200 million customers possibly for next gen the vast majority will see both machines running at best buy and think they both look amazing


Just like we used to go into toys R Us and compare Snes to genesis running games or gamestop and compare ps2 and dreamcast and thought yea they both look great

 

[nib95]

Long time reader, first time poster...I'm going to preface this post by saying that I am not pulling for either platform to be a clear winner, I am going to purchase both because gaming is my hobby and both will have exclusives worth playing.
This forth coming console 'war' won't be decided on stats alone, Microsoft, for better or worse has much more they can gamble on their console winning. One of their chips that they have played which I haven't seen discussed here is the fact that Windows 8.1 and the X1 will have exclusive rights to future (directx 11.2 and beyond). I see the first few years of this cycle going like this: developers make ps3/xbox 360 versions, they make a PC version which gets ported to next gen. Here is a quote from DICE:

Frostbite 3 Supports DirectX 11.1 API – Faster GPU/CPU Performance on PCs and Xbox One

Now this is the interesting bit, DICE confirms that the Frostbite 3 engine supports DirectX 11.1 API as revealed by DSOGaming.
“We use DX11.1, there are some optimizations in it (constant buffer offsets, dynamic buffers as SRVs) that we got in to the the API that improves CPU performance in our rendering when one runs with DX11.1. This will be in BF4.”
This means that PC and Xbox One versions of Battlefield 4 would be more optimized than PlayStation 4.

The API's in the beginning will be a huge player in early next gen content regardless of power...even though there has been comments of SONY's libraries being better developed these are the same software engineers who couldn't make cross game chat in their last OS. Developers have been programming next gen(beyond ps3/360 capability) content on PC's for the last 6 years and they have been doing it with directX as the primary library.

They both have their strengths and they both have their weaknesses, they both will have gems that will most likely be titles developed exclusively for their respective console.

Firstly, welcome.

Secondly, post a source when you post direct quotes. Thirdly, your justification in diminishing the credibility of those devs that have stated the PS4's tools are currently more mature than the Xbox One's is that they couldn't make cross game chat in their last game? Really? Sony themselves couldn't get cross game chat to work on their system properly (stated reason being a lack of available ram), and they have some of the best talent in the industry.

 

[beast786]

I should also add, from Leadbetter/Digital Foundry themselves (Microsoft's favourite PR..err tech news site) it has been mentioned that real world bandwidth numbers for the PS4 so far have hovered around 170 GB/s (out of 176 GB/s max) whilst Esram numbers are supposedly closer to 133 GB/s (way shy of Microsoft's dubious 204 Gb/s figure).

well according to Albert it's 218 and been verified by people in his office.And that 204 is wrong.

 

[SwiftDeath]

Long time reader, first time poster...I'm going to preface this post by saying that I am not pulling for either platform to be a clear winner, I am going to purchase both because gaming is my hobby and both will have exclusives worth playing.
This forth coming console 'war' won't be decided on stats alone, Microsoft, for better or worse has much more they can gamble on their console winning. One of their chips that they have played which I haven't seen discussed here is the fact that Windows 8.1 and the X1 will have exclusive rights to future (directx 11.2 and beyond). I see the first few years of this cycle going like this: developers make ps3/xbox 360 versions, they make a PC version which gets ported to next gen. Here is a quote from DICE:

Frostbite 3 Supports DirectX 11.1 API – Faster GPU/CPU Performance on PCs and Xbox One

Now this is the interesting bit, DICE confirms that the Frostbite 3 engine supports DirectX 11.1 API as revealed by DSOGaming.
“We use DX11.1, there are some optimizations in it (constant buffer offsets, dynamic buffers as SRVs) that we got in to the the API that improves CPU performance in our rendering when one runs with DX11.1. This will be in BF4.”
This means that PC and Xbox One versions of Battlefield 4 would be more optimized than PlayStation 4.

The API's in the beginning will be a huge player in early next gen content regardless of power...even though there has been comments of SONY's libraries being better developed these are the same software engineers who couldn't make cross game chat in their last OS. Developers have been programming next gen(beyond ps3/360 capability) content on PC's for the last 6 years and they have been doing it with directX as the primary library.

They both have their strengths and they both have their weaknesses, they both will have gems that will most likely be titles developed exclusively for their respective console.

I was under the impression there was a PS4 tech slide deck that showed PS4 supported DX11.2?

Edit: Perhaps I was thinking of DX11.1

 

[Tabular]

Its hard to say without seeing a detailed spec sheet. This could be more cache, less texture units. It literally could mean anything, I've personally not really looked into the subject before. What VGLeaks implies is that there is something different architectural about those 4 cores which means they're for the ALU purpose.

EDIT: The whole point of this discussion is whether these 18 cores will be dedicated to the physical rendering of the game, everything graphical. Personally, I sorely don't believe they will be. Hence why Sony opted for the larger GPU. It wasn't just "Rawr more powah".

Except we know that the PS4 has 50% more texture units to match the 50% more CU's

 

[rjinaz]

Third party devs will develop their IP to look similar to protect their own interests, not the platform holders, and to make sure they dont alienate one side or other. Differences will be slight, mostly resolution stretches, framerate locks or other subjectives. This is done at design/preprod to develop your scenes with this is mind and use graphical effects to maximise its look/impact. Think GOW3.
The MOST important aspect is the time taken to produce your basic complete - Faster complete means more time to polish, add extras etc. Will MS have direct control? Unlikely, even at the most pro-MS studios. There are too many tech-savvy fans out there and studios need all the goodwill they can get.

Thanks for sharing. I feel better about it now. Makes sense.

 

[kaching]

Just how many devs do you think Microsoft would have to pay off to prevent anyone from thinking that the ps4 is stronger?

Missing my point entirely. Companies are prone to bad judgment from time to time, no need for conspiracy theories. Considering how Microsoft has handled the XBO pre-launch so far, would it really be a surprise?

 

[nib95]

Third party devs will develop their IP to look similar to protect their own interests, not the platform holders, and to make sure they dont alienate one side or other. Differences will be slight, mostly resolution stretches, framerate locks or other subjectives. This is done at design/preprod to develop your scenes with this is mind and use graphical effects to maximise its look/impact. Think GOW3.
The MOST important aspect is the time taken to produce your basic complete - Faster complete means more time to polish, add extras etc. Will MS have direct control? Unlikely, even at the most pro-MS studios. There are too many tech-savvy fans out there and studios need all the goodwill they can get.

Well there you have it. Listen to this man.

In any case, makes sense.

 

[Klocker]

Third party devs will develop their IP to look similar to protect their own interests, not the platform holders, and to make sure they dont alienate one side or other. Differences will be slight, mostly resolution stretches, framerate locks or other subjectives. This is done at design/preprod to develop your scenes with this is mind and use graphical effects to maximise its look/impact. Think GOW3.
The MOST important aspect is the time taken to produce your basic complete - Faster complete means more time to polish, add extras etc. Will MS have direct control? Unlikely, even at the most pro-MS studios. There are too many tech-savvy fans out there and studios need all the goodwill they can get.

Thanks

 

[nib95]

On a side note, this thread has nearly half a million views....WTH.

 

[HORRORSHØW]

On a side note, this thread has nearly half a million views....WTH.

I'm just a techno-fetishist voyeur. Don't mind me.

 

[daman824]

Missing my point entirely. Companies are prone to bad judgment from time to time, no need for conspiracy theories. Considering how Microsoft has handled the XBO pre-launch so far, would it really be a surprise?

Yeah, it would be.

In order for Microsoft to trick people into thinking that the consoles are equal in power they would have to bribe almost every AAA publisher. Only bribing EA and Activision while Ubisoft, 2K games, Bethesda, Square Enix, and Capcom are consistently releasing better looking ps4 versions won't trick anyone. Not only that, but the power difference will become easily apparent when Sony first party developers start getting used to the hardware.

It would be much easier and cheaper for Microsoft to let the ps4 versions of games have better AA and a higher resolution and then try to downplay that difference with broad PR statements when questioned about it. And then talk about gameplay, blockbuster experiences, and Halo when questioned about first party differences.

 

[beast786]

On a side note, this thread has nearly half a million views....WTH.

we need hall of shame list of post count ;p

 

[onQ123]

I was under the impression there was a PS4 tech slide deck that showed PS4 supported DX11.2?

Edit: Perhaps I was thinking of DX11.1

No the PS4 GPU is a GPU with a DX 11.2+ feature set & about PC & XBOX One being able to use DX 11.1 as a advantage over PS4 that's not completely true because PS4 PSSL will be able to import DX shaders & run them in PSSL.

 

[Deleted member 80556]

the supposition in the statement is that the reason the devs are lagging on XBO is that xbo tools were woefully behind what they were capable of being when compared to ps4 tools at that time.

Hence, more room for improvement.

And there's no room for improvement on the PS4 dev tools?

Long time reader, first time poster...I'm going to preface this post by saying that I am not pulling for either platform to be a clear winner, I am going to purchase both because gaming is my hobby and both will have exclusives worth playing.
This forth coming console 'war' won't be decided on stats alone, Microsoft, for better or worse has much more they can gamble on their console winning. One of their chips that they have played which I haven't seen discussed here is the fact that Windows 8.1 and the X1 will have exclusive rights to future (directx 11.2 and beyond). I see the first few years of this cycle going like this: developers make ps3/xbox 360 versions, they make a PC version which gets ported to next gen. Here is a quote from DICE:

Frostbite 3 Supports DirectX 11.1 API – Faster GPU/CPU Performance on PCs and Xbox One

Now this is the interesting bit, DICE confirms that the Frostbite 3 engine supports DirectX 11.1 API as revealed by DSOGaming.
“We use DX11.1, there are some optimizations in it (constant buffer offsets, dynamic buffers as SRVs) that we got in to the the API that improves CPU performance in our rendering when one runs with DX11.1. This will be in BF4.”
This means that PC and Xbox One versions of Battlefield 4 would be more optimized than PlayStation 4.

The API's in the beginning will be a huge player in early next gen content regardless of power...even though there has been comments of SONY's libraries being better developed these are the same software engineers who couldn't make cross game chat in their last OS. Developers have been programming next gen(beyond ps3/360 capability) content on PC's for the last 6 years and they have been doing it with directX as the primary library.

They both have their strengths and they both have their weaknesses, they both will have gems that will most likely be titles developed exclusively for their respective console.

I really want to see a source for this.

 

[IN&OUT]

Third party devs will develop their IP to look similar to protect their own interests, not the platform holders, and to make sure they dont alienate one side or other. Differences will be slight, mostly resolution stretches, framerate locks or other subjectives. This is done at design/preprod to develop your scenes with this is mind and use graphical effects to maximise its look/impact. Think GOW3.
The MOST important aspect is the time taken to produce your basic complete - Faster complete means more time to polish, add extras etc. Will MS have direct control? Unlikely, even at the most pro-MS studios. There are too many tech-savvy fans out there and studios need all the goodwill they can get.

Thank you very much, soothing comment