The PlayStation Meeting finally came and went and it was… underwhelming. The new PS4 and PS4 Pro have been revealed, but Sony made a mistake by presenting their latest hardware innovations to a room full of sober, sedated press. It was a bit of a bore, really. What’s worse, the majority of Sony’s target audience were watching a livestream of the event on their 1080p monitors. The true wonder of 4K and high dynamic rage was completely lost on those of us who couldn’t be there in person to see these games running on Sony’s enormous $60,000 panels. Since Sony did such a poor job explaining to the average gamer why it’s worth upgrading to PS4 Pro, it looks like it’s up to me to explain why this fugly black box is actually worth your money.
4K / HDR
PS4 Pro is the perfect choice for gamers looking for a 4K console gaming solution. The new GPU may be more than twice as powerful as its predecessor, but it’s not such a brute that it can crank out current-gen games at native 4K. The vast majority of games will be utilizing a really clever checkerboard rendering technique to upscale your games to dazzling 4K. That may sound like a cheap parlor trick, but the results are amazing, especially if you have 4K TV with high dynamic range. PS4 Pro will be the console to own next year, especially as the initial wave of affordable 4K, HDR panels starts to break. True, native 4K gaming with reliable performance is still years away, guys. The PS4 Pro is as future proof as a console is going to get for now.
1080p Boost
Hey, don’t worry: those of us still playing in 1080p like peasants are going to see benefits and upgrades thanks to PS4 Pro as well. Advanced anti-aliasing, higher quality effects, enhanced textures, improved frame rates… you name it. There’s a long list of previously released games that have been confirmed for upgrades, including: Black Ops 3, The Witness, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Middle Earth: Shadows of Mordor, and more. Expect your favorite games to look brand new and play better than ever. Exactly what kinds of improvements we’ll be seeing is up to the developers, which brings me to my next point.
Dev Friendly Upgrades
Until now we’ve only ever seen 4K upscaling as a software post-processing technique, which is taxing on performance. The PS4 Pro’s 4K checkerboard rendering tech is baked into the new GPU, along with some other hitherto mysterious features. No one knows these games better than their developers, and devs are being given free rein over the PS4 Pro’s extra horsepower. They can use it however they’d like. Or, if they can’t decide on a single upgrade, they can offer a few – as is the case with this next game.
Rise of the Tomb Raider However You Like It
To say that Rise of the Tomb Raider’s definitive version will be on PS4 Pro is an understatement. Along with tons of free DLC and a new side story playable in VR, we’re actually looking at three definitive versions of the game. On PS4 Pro players will have three options when deciding on presentation. You can play in brilliant 4K, of course, but you may decide you want to play in 1080p with an unlocked frame rate. Alternatively, you can leave the game in 1080p, locked at 30 FPS, but with all the graphical bells and whistles thrown in. Enhanced textures, smoother shadows, rendering passes, and better lighting will bring PS4 Pro owners closer to the high-end PC gaming experience than they previously thought possible.
Forward Compatibility
If you’re worried about having to leave some of your older PS4 games behind, don’t be. Sony has emphasized that the PS4 and PS4 pro constitute a single platform, and all PS4 games will be forward compatible with PS4 Pro even if they aren’t receiving an upgrade. The latest firmware update will make transferring all of your data, games, and saves a breeze. Just connect the two consoles via ethernet cable and you’re good to go.
PS VR Boost
I had a sneaking suspicion that PlayStation VR would benefit from the PS4 Pro’s extra horsepower. If you haven’t tried it yet, PlayStation VR is amazing, but on a standard PS4 you’re going to notice a lot of jaggies and blurriness. With this newer, Polaris-based GPU we’re going to see huge improvements thanks to super sampling. Mark Cerny suggested that we could see framerate boosts as well, and in VR framerate is king. I don’t think that the standard PS4 will be worthless when it comes to VR, but if you’re an enthusiast, you’re definitely going to get the more immersive experience with PS4 Pro.
First-Party Studio Magic
The Last of Us in 4K. Uncharted 4 running smoother than ever with a transformative facelift. For many of you, those are the only words you needed to hear in order to decide PS4 Pro is what you’ve been waiting for. Sony’s in-house studios are going to do incredible things with this technology. We can’t wait to see what this holiday and 2017 have in store for us. Now bring on an enhanced Bloodborne running at a solid, unbreakable 30 FPS and you can have all of my money, Sony.