Sony unlocked the 7th core in its 8-core processor for developers. So what does this all mean?

PlayStation 4 games already look and play great, but they're going to get even better pretty soon.

That's because Sony last week quietly rolled out a new software development kit (SDK) for developers that lets game makers access the 7th core in the console's 8-core AMD processor,according to GameSpot.

This news might sound a bit confusing and technical, so let's back up a bit.

When Sony and Microsoft first unveiled their respective gaming consoles a few years ago, both consoles boasted near-identical 8-core processors, but two of those eight cores were previously reserved to help the consoles function better and perform background operations. The other six cores were used to process the games you play.

But computing chips aside, the PlayStation 4 had afew notable advantages over the Xbox One: The PS4's graphics chip was roughly 50% more powerful than the Xbox One, and the difference in RAM led to a huge bandwidth advantage for Sony's console as well.

Since then, Microsoft has made some changes to try and close the performance gap. Last year, the company unlocked more graphics bandwidth for developers, as well as the 7th core in its 8-core processor. But Microsoft was forced to make trade-offs in order for that to happen: The company disabled Kinect functionality for several games, which meant turning off voice commands and other useful features exclusive to that console accessory.  

Even with those improvements, the frame rate and resolution of many Xbox One games doesn't quite match the quality on the PlayStation 4. Many popular titles, like "Star Wars: Battlefront" and "Metal Gear Solid 5," look better and play smoother on the PlayStation 4, according to GameSpot. 

And that was before Sony unlocked the 7th core in its 8-core processor for developers.

So what does this all mean?

Basically, it means PlayStation 4 games will start looking and performing better. Developers will be able to pack in more details into games, and get better performance out of those games, especially in terms of frame rate. But don't expect these changes to happen immediately, and don't expect this upgrade to affect many of the games you've already purchased. Unless a developer optimizes a game for the 7th core, which might be difficult if a game is already released, don't expect your game library to suddenly upgrade by itself.

Unlocking the 7th core will certainly help the performance of future PlayStation 4 games, but to what extent? That's uncertain. It's totally possible you won't notice the graphical or performance differences. And it might take awhile until the differences are actually noticeable: It takes a long time to create, build and release a video game, so we might not see significant changes in quality until this time next year. But in general, this is good news for the makers and players of PlayStation 4 games. Everyone wants a smooth, beautiful game-playing experience, and this move certainly helps that cause.

Source : Tech Insider