AMD's "Unified Gaming Strategy" Makes Ports Smoother

[Steven Bogos]

AMD's "Unified Gaming Strategy" Makes Ports Smoother

Both the Xbox One and the PS4 are going to contain AMD graphics chips, and the company is looking to make multi-platform releases a much smoother process.

Multi-platform releases this generation have been a mess, with the PS3's "unique" 7-core CPU, both console's 32 bit architecture, and other discrepancies in hardware making cross-platform ports a nightmare for developers (just look at any Bethesda game released on the PS3). This time around, both the Xbox One and the PS4 will be running on AMD graphics chips, and the company has unveiled its "Unified Gaming Strategy" to make PC ports of console games (and vice versa) a much smoother process.

Both consoles will also be packing 64-bit processors, which most respectable PC gamers have been working with for years now. This should theoretically let games run across PCs, consoles, and indeed portable devices, with relative simplicity.

This move, while joyus to PC gamers who can only grumble at the recent Steam survey [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/10366-The-Last-of-Us-Review-A-New-Apocalypse], is only slightly still the majority card for PC gamers.

"It is absolutely the end goal to create a development ecosystem where first-party games will be written to the games consoles first ... but providing the capability to leverage that investment into PC market, into mobile form factors, into cloud. Definitely there's that desire," said AMD's Lisa Su. Su says that AMD's "Heterogeneous System Architecture", a technology where AMD CPUs and GPUs working together can share resources, should help with the process.

What this means for folks using Intel CPUs and Nvidia GPUs is yet to be seen. Will we have to suffer under clumsier ports due to our choice in PC components?

Source: Rock Paper Shotgun [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/06/05/amd-aiming-to-smooth-ports-between-pc-and-console/]

Permalink

 

[Ishigami]

Was a just a manner of time until AMD tries to exploit that fact for marketing. Nvidia I think reacted to it a while ago saying ?we are not worried?. Of course what else would they say about it.
Well my PC boast a CPU from Intel and a GPU from Nvidia.
I tried CPUs from AMD and GPUs from ATI back in the day and... yea I stick with Intel and Nvidia unless something truly magnificent or horrible happens.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

*Looks at AMD 7870 card*


[HEADING=1]Awwwwwww yeeeeeeeah![/HEADING]

Both consoles using AMD architecture is gonna make having one of those cards in a PC a massive boon for cross platform titles.

 

[Beffudled Sheep_v1legacy]

*Looks at AMD 7870 card*


[HEADING=1]Awwwwwww yeeeeeeeah![/HEADING]

Both consoles using AMD architecture is gonna make having one of those cards in a PC a massive boon for cross platform titles.

Your custom title made me laugh so hard I spilled my tea D:
You sure are too humorous for the world.


Wooooo! Now if only their products didn't spontaneously combust when I fiddled with them...

STill this should hopefully cut back on the bullshit "We aren't gonna port because it'd be too haaaarrrrd, mleh" business that gets thrown around.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

STill this should hopefully cut back on the bullshit "We aren't gonna port because it'd be too haaaarrrrd, mleh" business that gets thrown around.

They are just going to use the "we didn't sell enough last time we ported"-argument instead, It has already been used about one of the sports game (it sold circa 200k on the PC and in the millions on consoles).
You know like 3.4 million copies of a game in the first month of release isn't enough to keep a franchise alive...

 

[mechalynx]

*Looks at AMD 7870 card*


[HEADING=1]Awwwwwww yeeeeeeeah![/HEADING]

Both consoles using AMD architecture is gonna make having one of those cards in a PC a massive boon for cross platform titles.

*Looks at my nephew's 7870, which glitched out on the installation date and had to be replaced due to messed up capacitors. Looks back on her GT460s in SLI that've been chugging on for 2+ years, running everything thrown at them on max.*

My husband builds his rigs with AMD/ATI, I stick with Intel/nVIDIA. He's blowing through his CPU/GPUs twice as fast as me.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

*Looks at AMD 7870 card*


[HEADING=1]Awwwwwww yeeeeeeeah![/HEADING]

Both consoles using AMD architecture is gonna make having one of those cards in a PC a massive boon for cross platform titles.

*Looks at my nephew's 7870, which glitched out on the installation date and had to be replaced due to messed up capacitors. Looks back on her GT460s in SLI that've been chugging on for 2+ years, running everything thrown at them on max.*

My husband builds his rigs with AMD/ATI, I stick with Intel/nVIDIA. He's blowing through his CPU/GPUs twice as fast as me.

Dat anecdotal evidence.

It's the best kind of evidence

 

[Strazdas]

So this means we get less crappy ports and ports will come sooner (and maybe wont have Xbox pictures as a tutorial controls, lol). ALso this brings it closer to PC so that will be nice.

Was a just a manner of time until AMD tries to exploit that fact for marketing. Nvidia I think reacted to it a while ago saying ?we are not worried?. Of course what else would they say about it.
Well my PC boast a CPU from Intel and a GPU from Nvidia.
I tried CPUs from AMD and GPUs from ATI back in the day and... yea I stick with Intel and Nvidia unless something truly magnificent or horrible happens.

yeah im sticking with Nvidia too after what Radeon cards made me see.

 

[FFP2]

Now there will be no more PC vs Consoles debates! Right?

Right...

 

[mechalynx]

*Looks at AMD 7870 card*


[HEADING=1]Awwwwwww yeeeeeeeah![/HEADING]

Both consoles using AMD architecture is gonna make having one of those cards in a PC a massive boon for cross platform titles.

*Looks at my nephew's 7870, which glitched out on the installation date and had to be replaced due to messed up capacitors. Looks back on her GT460s in SLI that've been chugging on for 2+ years, running everything thrown at them on max.*

My husband builds his rigs with AMD/ATI, I stick with Intel/nVIDIA. He's blowing through his CPU/GPUs twice as fast as me.

Dat anecdotal evidence.

It's the best kind of evidence

Seeing as English is not even my second language, you'll have to explain what anecdotal means, since I was giving 3 examples from personal experience on why I prefer Intel/Nvidia setup. And that thing with capacitors? If you care, google "Radeon 7870 black screen". That issue was spread over several manufacturers.

 

[hazabaza1]

Cool.
Now I just hope that developers make sure to put in FOV sliders and shit because it's real bad to not have one.

 

[Andy Shandy]

I hope this works just as well for ports going the other way (although I know that isn't huge in number).

I want Football Manager on consoles again, damn it! =P

It's not like it would overwork either system.

 

[Tar Palantir]

i5 3570K + 7950 here!

It's an amazing card NOW, can't wait to see if they'll live up to the marketing.....RED POWER!!! xD

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Nvidia is fucked unless they manage to get the support for some PC exclusives. But I don't see why many PC gamers will get a card from Nvidia if most games are multiplatform.

 

[Smooth Operator]

That said AMD really needs to step up to the plate when it comes to desktop CPUs. Intel's newest offerings basically function as an insult to the enthusiast community. If AMD can steal a march in terms of straight line performance, overclocking and flexibility then they really would be a gaming force to be reckoned with.

Well there are two things you need to consider in this, AMD is 1/1000 the size of Intel so you can imagine what the difference in their R&D budgets are. Also top end processors are only about 5% of these companies income, the bulk is made on server farms and low-mid range desktops your average company or household buys.
So while that top level hardware cockfight is good general marketing they don't have much use for it, nor the money to spend.

OT: I have a preference in AMD but I still hope this doesn't mean even more hardware exclusivity problems Nvidia is vigorously trying to push into the PC market.
Hopefully game engine devs can see the light of day and recognize how vital for progress hardware independence is.

 

[rbstewart7263]

tis my worry also that with my nvidia Ill lose out.

 

[Evil Smurf]

i5 3570K + 7950 here!

It's an amazing card NOW, can't wait to see if they'll live up to the marketing.....RED POWER!!! xD

Are you saying that AMD is for communists? If so i may look into that.