If PS5 is X86 couldn't it theoretically play PS4 games natively?

Its actually not, its what i think Nintendo is planning with N3DS and Wii U, and i think others will do about the same.

Yes, and cows will finally be able to play UC4 in 1080p in 2025. :P

@mesome713: really really dumb

@bobrossperm: It works though mate. I still rock an Iphone 4S and a Video Card i bought 5 years ago and still play a bunch of the latest games on them. If i couldnt, i wouldnt be helping their awesome sales numbers much and helping to build hype for them. GTA 5 did it, MGS5 did it, its smart.

If i could get some NX games on my Wii U and N3DS, would be sweet until i am ready to make a purchase of NX. Nobody would hold anybody back.

Oh trust me. Sony will find a way to not have BC. There is too much money in remasters, ports, and PSNow to do something smart like have BC

It's not, though- Nintendo has been using this exact model for their handhelds since 1996, and it has worked wonderfully there. It also works for the PC market and the mobile market. The console market is really the only outlier here.

Funny how Sony has a negative reputation when it comes to BC because back before 2007, they were the single biggest proponent of BC in consoles out there. The PS2 was BC at a time when no other console was, and the PS3 on launch was the only multigenerational BC console I can think of supporting both PS1 and PS2 discs. I don't think Sony is an actively anti-BC company, nor am I convinced like many that they want to force PS Now and cloud gaming down people's throats. Good business means finding a way to sell a product to a consumer, especially digital BC which Sony did incorporate into the Vita. The more ways you have to sell those products the better (as the Xbox One is demonstrating with its own 360 BC plans.)

that's what I'm hoping for TC. No excuses now.

Sure, altough they rather have you pay mutiple times for the same game.

yeah but i have a feeling it will take it 2 years to acquire BC abilities. You know after Sony milked everyone with UHD remakes

but it's already 1080p..... 0_O

I think he meant both 60 FPS and 1080p in any mode you choose ;).

Most powerful and elegant system *smacks into cliff*.

He didn't specify and I didn't either.

But how is the PS4 not the most elegant and powerful system though?

Can't wait for the loops you'll have to jump to answer that one.

possibly. there are a lot of variables.

the PC has exceptional BC (though not perfect) because hardware and the software stack that supports it is developed to a set standard (dirext X and/or openGL or vulkan for example) and the overall architecture of the PC hasnt changed in a long long time. games are also developed for the PC to be hardware agnostic (as much as possible).

the processor is only one side of the equation. the GPU would also need to fully support the instruction set of the PS4 (again on the hardware and software sides). the ram pools and performance needs to be as good as or better than but done in such a way that it doesnt mess up a PS4 games timing.

chances are the PS5 will be a linear advancement of the PS4 (same architecture just with faster and more cores, more and faster ram and a bumped up GPU with more grunt and features) but sony may decide to go down some odd route again with a new, custom built from the ground up, OS and brand new APIs.

could PS4 games benefit from the extra horsepower? depends on how they are deveoped but i think the benefit would be limited. optimisation comes at a price and console games are still developed to a fixed spec. e.g. a recent vita firmware update released about 30% extra ram for developers. do existing games benefit from the extra ram? no. now there are thing that could probably be done on a post process level perhaps to improve things a bit but PS4 games wont magically get better textures, enhanced lighting or even a higher framerate (a higher framerate for a console game could also have a lot of unintended knock on effects).

so its not just a question of "oh it has x86, bc is done and dusted". the hardware has to be accomodating, the software stack has to be in place and so on.

it would certainly make things easier though.

PS1 BC is not important in this day and age. BC is more important when you're transitioning from one generation to the next. It would be a nice feature to promote when they eventually announce the PS5.

Cool, just knowing it might be possible is good enough for me.

Sony is not that dumb. They know Microsoft is gonna come out swinging next generation and you can bet they will be offering BC as a selling point for the next Xbox. Sony would not let Microsoft one up them out of the gate like that.

Then I must have dreamed about it running 900p in MP.

@charizard1605: aka pc ? no thanks

Sure it can do BC, will it? probably not, because how else is sony going to sell you Bloodborne remastered, and The Last Guardian remastered, and Uncharted 4 remastered, and Until Dawn Definitive Edition.

Like some people have said. Yup you can but these are mega-companies and they like money not people's good will and admiration so don't get your hopes up.

One would think this would be an almost mandatory and simple solution. However, who knows. BC isn't a necessity, but if the PS5 includes it stock and DOESN'T ever do away with it then they will win next gen as well. They have seen how much hype Xbox has stirred up, and that isn't even BC. Installing entire gams to your hard drive and calling it BC... lol... ughhh. That's the way the cookie crumbles though. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they DID go that route to see something similar. Which isn't BC at all. Whatever makes people happy though.

@Chozofication:

It just need an amd cpu and gpu and it will run then fine withtout problems.

the xbox one can play some 360 games already and its not even the same cpu. So im sure it could be done for the next playstation. Thing is, Sony is greedy as ****... and want to resell their old games to you, so making backwards compatible is the last thing on their mind.

M$ is equally greedy, but i think the only reason they did backwards compatibility on their console is to stick it to Sony and make them look bad. The fact they can do backwards compatibility on an inferior console like the xbox one shows the level of skill microsoft has over Sony.

Yes. If they keep the architecture of the GPU, CPU, and RAM the same in the PS4 as it is in the PS5, PS4 games would be compatible on a hardware level.

It's a little more complicated than that, but there is no reason to believe Sony will radically change up low level software of the OS to the point where old games can't be run. Sony also created a new graphical API similar to DX11/12 that they'll most likely keep using for the next console. This too should help with compatibility.

The above picture is Xbox One's APU chip at 28 nm process tech with 365 mm^2 chip area size.

Nintendo only has to avoid Xbox One's mistakes and deliver two 14 CUs with a total of 28 CUs which is similar to Radeon HD R9-285 "Tonga". Microsoft wasted it's chip budget for 32MB ESRAM blocks.

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The above picture is PS4's APU chip at 28 nm process tech with 348 mm^2 chip area size which is smaller than Xbox One's APU.

If you combine PS4's maximising CU count approach with Xbox One's APU size, the machine deliver about 2.8-to-3 TFLOPS.

Switching to year 2016 14 nm process technology would yield 3.5X to 4X CU count at the same chip area space.

Remember, both Sony and Microsoft has leveraged AMD's 28 nm IP blocks from the PC business.

Year 2016 14 nm process tech AMD FX-8800 APU replacement with the same chip area size would yield 32 CUs and four Excavator size X86 modules (8 threads).

AMD FX-8800 APU's chip area size is 244.62mm^2 with 8 CU and 2 Excavator X86 modules (4 threads) with 28 nm process tech.

AMD ZEN CPU design replaces AMD Jaguar (IP block used in XBO and PS4).

@ronvalencia:

I wonder if Nintendo will consider bumping up the TDP compared to the Wii U.