Continuing on from yesterday’s report about the PS4.5 (aka PS4K aka Neo), Digital Foundry has provided further details about the potential new PlayStation 4 model, based on information from documents Sony is giving to developers.
While the PS4.5 will offer improved frame-rates and graphics, Sony is telling developers that PS4 games played in Neo Mode must run at 1080p or higher, and the frame-rate must meet or exceed its performance on the original PS4 model.
Since Sony wants the PS4 and PS4.5 to co-exist, there won’t be a new controller with the new PS4 model and the DualShock 4 will remain as the primary controller. Additionally, Sony has said that all existing peripherals should be supported between both consoles.
As for save data (games, back-ups), it’s interchangeable between both systems by default, but Sony is leaving save-swapping between the two models through USB or cloud storage up to developers.
For your PlayStation Network ID, it can be used on both the PS4 and PS4.5. However, you can only have one Primary Console activated at a time, and the same PSN ID can’t be logged in on more than one PS4 model at a time.
Looking at games, Sony will allow developers to add Neo features to older games through updates, while games released after October 2016 won’t be allowed to patch in new Neo features. Also, not only will there be no PS4.5-exclusive games, but developers aren’t allowed to add exclusive content to either model. However, developers are allowed to enhanced certain features, with an example being that a two-player split-screen mode on PS4 could support four-player split-screen on PS4.5.
Other pieces of information from the documents include: themes and avatars work on both models; Trophies and unlock rules must be identical for both models; PlayStation Store game pages and physical retail packaging for games are expected to list PS4.5-specific features; Sony is considering 1080p gameplay streaming and recording on PS4.5; and PS4.5 can run unenhanced PS4 titles.
Of course, all of the information from these documents is subject to change. We’ll have to wait for an official announcement from Sony before truly knowing what’s included with the PS4.5.
[Source: Eurogamer]
