So according to sources that is Sony's goal for their next console. My question is how do those ambitions compare to current high end PCs? As I don't care for 3D I'm not sure if 3D games run that well on PC.

That requires at least half a grand in video cards alone at this point. There's no way they're going to hit that goal unless they wait another 5-6 years to release the new Playstation.

@mikey87144: Surprised if Sony will continue to focus on 3D with the Orbis, considering how little interest there is today. But maybe they think a 3D TV will be the norm in a few years, who knows.

Just give me a goddamn consistent framerate at any resolution and I'll be happy.

In 2D, sure, that's likely. I just can't see that kind of performance in 3D, though. Not if they want to have an even slightly competitive price.

Maybe they have a card up their sleeve, though.

This is the bare minimum they need to achieve. Anything less and I'll be disappointed. It'll have been eight long years since this generation started, if next-gen consoles are released next year. We need a massive jump in graphical power.

It depends entirely on whether or not that's also Microsoft's goal for the next Xbox. If not, MS will be able to have a similar level of detail in their graphics at a much cheaper price, and average Joe would rather spend $300 on a console that runs pretty games at 30 FPS than $600 on a console that runs pretty games at 60FPS. A fair number of people either won't see or won't much care about the difference, especially when a big difference in price is necessary to keep up that 60 FPS at 1080P.

@AuthenticM said:

This is the bare minimum they need to achieve. Anything less and I'll be disappointed. It'll have been eight long years since this generation started, if next-gen consoles are released next year. We need a massive jump in graphical power.

...in 3D? Can normal gaming PCs even do that?

Sony really has to lose their 3D boner. They continuously tried to make it a selling point for the PS3, and years later it has yet to catch on. They even released a (slightly) affordable 3D monitor using the Playstation brand name, and it ended up getting marked down for liquidation at most retailers. I don't understand - how many hints will Sony ignore before they realize that 3D isn't going to distinguish them in the market?

I also think that the next generation of consoles will have minimal graphical improvements, but much more processing power. If the next generation of consoles have something equivalent to an i5, but dedicated to gaming, then I'll start to get excited.

I believe they will go for 1080p 60 fps and 3D. They can't abandon 3D completely as it's still out there and more and more TVs will just have it inately, meaning in a few years it might just be a standard feature and not supporting it would be bad. However they will probably do the same thing they did this generation and take the resolution hit when going 3D.

@McGhee said:

Just give me a goddamn consistent framerate at any resolution and I'll be happy.

Amen yo.

I'm sure Sony will be doing a lot of talking about the power of their next console but I'll be taking that pre-lease hype with grains and grains salt.

@FluxWaveZ: With a fuckload of hardware. But no single GPU solution can handle it at the moment.

@FluxWaveZ said:

@AuthenticM said:

This is the bare minimum they need to achieve. Anything less and I'll be disappointed. It'll have been eight long years since this generation started, if next-gen consoles are released next year. We need a massive jump in graphical power.

...in 3D? Can normal gaming PCs even do that?

Of course they can. All you need for 3D is double the frames, so in this case 120.

Give me 1080p@60FPS and I'll be happy.

PS3 can do WipEout HD in 3D, 30FPS at 720p.

It's not crazy to hope that after half a decade we could get twice the frames at twice the res.

@AlexW00d said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

@AuthenticM said:

This is the bare minimum they need to achieve. Anything less and I'll be disappointed. It'll have been eight long years since this generation started, if next-gen consoles are released next year. We need a massive jump in graphical power.

...in 3D? Can normal gaming PCs even do that?

Of course they can. All you need for 3D is double the frames, so in this case 120.

And you only need slightly better hardware, since both viewing points are nearly identical.

Likely not. From the hardware, I can't see Sony using a high end video card without the price of the console to be $799 like the original PS3 release.

Developers will also have to get used to developing for the new generation of consoles, It also depends on how well game engine and how well it will support it. How much modifications to engine is required in order to be able to render it. Possibly some games later in this new console's life will have as you say, 60 FPS and 3D.

I'll stick with my pc 2560x1600 @60 fps. I don't need and or want 3D

I thought that sounded too pie in the sky.

@GrantHeaslip: IGN had more concrete statements but I've been seeing stuff about the next playstation the last couple of days.

When will people understand that games later on are going to have to lower that resolution and frame-rate just to get better looking to run?

Rather then get dragged into a "this is what this site said" discussion we can actually just theorize that the answer is, yes. If PS3 can do 3D at a lower res at 30 fps, then the Orbis should be able to do achieve 1080p @ 60 fps in 3D. It might even achieve that so easily that the system will do quite a bit more. Asking for 1080p fast 3D is not really a huge step, so both MS and Sony will probably achieve 1080p @ 60 fps in 3D and might even pipe higher fidelity to screens that can display 2,560 x 1,440 resolution. We won't know real world numbers for a year, but ist seems very likely.

Are you sure the 60 FPS is pertaining to 3D? 1080p60 to me, is exactly that, 1920x1080 at 60 FPS. The 3D will probably be dropped to 30 FPS.

This is to ensure that the console will be able to run 1080p60 games in 3D.

This line sounds like they just want the games they already have running at 60 FPS on 1920x1080 to be playable in 3D.

@mikey87144: It is possible. I think what most people fail to understand is that a current generation console can run a game in 1080p60fps in 3D they just choose to focus on improving graphical fidelity in other ways. You can run Sly 3 HD at those settings right now. The question developers face is whether it is more important to run at a higher resolution and framerate or push more graphical bells and whistles. In the end 1080p won't make much of a difference in a living room setting. As long as they hit 720p for all games they will be fine in most cases. Other aspects of the graphics are much more important than resolution when you are talking about a distance of more than a couple yards. Superior lighting, texture work, alpha effects, animation, and anti-aliasing all are more important to making a good looking game than a 1080p resolution. Running Battlefield 3 on a PC in a living room you will barely notice the difference between 720p and 1080p, but you will sure notice the difference between the Low(console) settings and the Ultra settings. Barely any PC in the world can run a complex DX11 game at highest settings. Crysis 2, Battlefield 3, even Batman Arkham City, require a huge amount of power to run in DX11. Put those settings on a next gen console and running in 1080p will likely be out of the question, at least for a while until developers have really mastered the hardware. Basically, my point is, compare Sly 3 HD to Uncharted 3. One runs at your settings, one runs at 720p at 30 fps. I'd rather a game look as good as Uncharted and run in 720p than have a game look like Sly 3 and run in 1080p.

@WilltheMagicAsian said:

Are you sure the 60 FPS is pertaining to 3D? 1080p60 to me, is exactly that, 1920x1080 at 60 FPS. The 3D will probably be dropped to 30 FPS.

This is to ensure that the console will be able to run 1080p60 games in 3D.

This line sounds like they just want the games they already have running at 60 FPS on 1920x1080 to be playable in 3D.

If the rumors are true, then that is exactly it. It's either 1080p @ 60FPS or 3D @ 30FPS. That makes sense since you have to render the image twice for 3D so the FPS would drop by half right?

Is it weird that I think it's weird that Sony still apparently cares about 3D?

Of course they care about 3D, they are trying to push televisions as well. I picked up the Monitor for $100 and it is now my computer monitor as well. It's really nice.