It’s surprisingly hard to keep up with the oncoming generation of video games. You’ve probably heard some buzz about game streaming, 8K support, and “ray tracing,” but what’s really going on? What’s the big picture of next-gen gaming?
Game Streaming Will Be King…Eventually
Streaming may be the most revolutionary aspect of next-gen gaming. You’ve probably heard all about Stadia by now, so we’ll keep things short and sweet. With a game streaming service like Stadia, you can theoretically play any game in 4K at any time. And since the games are streamed to your screen, you can technically play resource-heavy AAA games on any device—including your Chromebook, your phone, and your crappy off-brand tablet.
Even if you don’t care about game streaming, you have to acknowledge that it opens a world of possibilities for gamers. Game streaming doesn’t require an expensive console or gaming PC; you just need a decent internet connection. Plus, Microsoft’s xCloud and Sony’s PlayStation Now are a good sign that traditional gaming may cripple under the convenience of game streaming.
That said, game streaming won’t dominate the gaming market out of nowhere. It’s going to be a slow-moving process. For one, the technology is relatively new, and it’s already off to a rocky start. But the real hurdle is internet data caps.
Most Americans have the 35Mbps internet speeds that are required by services like Stadia, and the incoming advent of 5G is sure to increase home internet speeds globally. But most internet plans have data caps. And as it stands right now, game streaming services can blow through 1 TB of data in less than 24 hours.
This isn’t an issue for everyone (services like Google Fiber and Verizon FiOS don’t have caps), but it’s a serious restriction for gamers that are stuck with Comcast or those who can’t afford an unlimited data plan. As time goes on, some of these ISPs are sure to drop their data caps (or risk losing customers). But until then, services like Stadia will be hidden behind an ISP garden wall.
Better Hardware, Better Everything
Game streaming will bring resource-heavy games to low spec machines, like cheap desktop computers and Chromebooks. But console gaming still exists, and the next generation of game consoles will sport some crazy specs.
The new Xbox (Project Scarlett) is rumored to run on a custom AMD Zen 2 processor with an AMD Navi GPU for high-resolution graphics and ray tracing (more on that in a bit). Microsoft claims that the next Xbox will also utilize a super-fast SSD as virtual RAM (alongside GDDR6 RAM), which should increase load times dramatically.
As for the next PlayStation, you can expect some sort of AMD Ryzen 8-core CPU, a GPU that supports high-res graphics and ray tracing, and a super-fast SSD. Sony hasn’t released the console’s spec sheet just yet, but you can watch a load-time comparison between the PS4 Pro and the next-gen PlayStation posted by Takashi Mochizuki on Twitter.
You’ll Have 4K HDR Games at 120 FPS (And Maybe 8K?)
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Source : How the Next Generation of Console Gaming Is Shaping Up
