Blog

Microsoft’s Albert Penello has again spoken up to compare the Xbox Scorpio and PS4 Pro. In an interview with Eurogamer, Penello said the PS4 Pro’s 4.2 teraflops of performance is “not enough to do true 4K,” while he overall stated that Sony’s 4K claims comes with a number of asterisks.

“I think there are a lot of caveats they’re giving customers right now around 4K,” he said. “They’re talking about checkerboard rendering and up-scaling and things like that. There are just a lot of asterisks in their marketing around 4K, which is interesting because when we thought about what spec we wanted for Scorpio, we were very clear we wanted developers to take their Xbox One engines and render them in native, true 4K. That was why we picked the number, that’s why we have the memory bandwidth we have, that’s why we have the teraflops we have, because it’s what we heard from game developers was required to achieve native 4K.”

Microsoft Studios general manager Shannon Loftis recently confirmed that Microsoft-made Xbox Scorpio games will be rendered at native 4K. As for Sony, PlayStation president Andrew House stated that the “majority” of PS4 Pro games will be upscaled to 4K as opposed to being rendered natively at that mark.

In the Eurogamer interview, Penello went on to say that, as Sony is doing, it won’t require developers to render their games in native 4K.

“They’re going to be able to decide to take that six teraflops of power and do what they think is best for their game,” he said. “But I know that 4.2 teraflops is not enough to do true 4K. So, I feel like our product aspired a little bit higher, and we will have fewer asterisks around the 4K experiences we deliver on our box.”

This is the message Microsoft has been drumming home for a while now. At E3 this year, where Xbox Scorpio was announced, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said Microsoft could have released a more-powerful Xbox this year, but decided to wait so it could deliver a console that offered true 4K.

Asked by Eurogamer if Sony’s marketing for PS4 Pro is misleading, Penello said, “I’m not accusing them of anything,” adding, “They’ve been very open about the compromises around 4K.”

Regarding what differences there may be between Xbox Scorpio and PS4 Pro games, whether that’s frame rate or resolution, Penello said it’s too soon to say.

“You and I both know there will be people who claim with absolute certainty that the difference between 1080p and 900p is the most significant thing, and anybody who claims otherwise is blind,” he said. “And there will be people who say they can’t see a difference. Both people are right in their own minds. So, predicting how developers will use the power and how different the games are going to look, it’s hard for me to say right now. So it’s probably worth us waiting to see.”

“We’re building a great platform. We’re building the most powerful console ever made. We’re doing a lot of work with developers to allow them to harness that power,” he added. “I feel really good about our plans. Now we just have to see it play out.”

Also in the interview, Penello talked about Microsoft’s social media jabs at Sony over the PS4 Pro’s lack of a 4K Blu-ray player. This is all part of the business of selling consoles and is not meant to disrespect what Sony is doing, he said.

“There’s definitely a certain amount of like, we’ve got a product to sell, they’ve got a product to sell, so we’re going to highlight the things we think make our product advantaged over their product,” Penello explained. “But that to me feels different to the historical Sega does what Nintendon’t kind of head-on jabs that have happened in the past. Clearly, you and I are going to talk about Sony and us and why I think our product is better than their product. But it doesn’t came with a disrespect for what they’re doing.”

The full interview is in-depth and fascinating; read it here.

In a previous interview, Penello said the Xbox Scorpio’s performance advantage over PS4 Pro will be “obvious.” For more on the Xbox Scorpio and PS4 Pro, check out GameSpot’s new feature that compares the specs for each system.

PS4 Pro goes on sale in November, priced at $400, while Xbox Scorpio is due to arrive in holiday 2017. A price point for Xbox Scorpio has not been announced, but Microsoft has referred to it as a “premium” product, so it likely won’t be cheap.

Powered by WPeMatico

The fourth season of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD has arrived. Picking up where Season 3 ended, the show jumped forward six months after the agents fought Grant Ward/Hive. If you missed the last season or need a refresher, you can check out our series recap here. SHIELD has gone through some big changes, and Daisy Johnson is on the run. The appearance of Ghost Rider won’t make life any easier for the agents.

Warning: Spoilers for season 4, episode 1 of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD,”The Ghost,” will be discussed below.

Daisy Johnson’s Gone Rogue

When we last saw Daisy, she was no longer with SHIELD but instead, a fugitive being pursued by Coulson and Mack. It turns out she’s destroying banks and other institutions funding the Watchdogs’ attack against Inhumans. She’s feeling guilt over falling under Hive’s control and the death of Lincoln. As a result, she’s pushing herself, her powers are increasing, but they’re also taking a toll on her body. She doesn’t want to have any attachments anymore and is focused on stopping the Watchdogs.

Big Changes at SHIELD

SHIELD has returned to being an officially sanctioned group. One of the big changes is a new director. Coulson is believed to be dead and can no longer perform the role. During the past six months, Coulson has been partnered with Mack in the pursuit of Daisy. Since she’s been able to elude them, it’s believed Coulson may be purposely allowing her to remain on the run.

Simmons has been given a promotion. She is now the Special Advisor to the Director in Science and Technology. Some of the others don’t fully trust the new director (who remains unseen in this episode). Simmons is required to take daily lie detector tests to prove her loyalty and this has put her on the outs with her former teammates. Simmons now has a higher clearance level than May, who is training agents to kick butt the way she does. Simmons does confess to May that she doesn’t trust the Director either, but she’s trying to keep them together and take advantage of the fact he trusts her.

Fitz Discovers Radcliffe’s LMD Project

Fitz goes to Radcliffe’s to watch a game. Simmons couldn’t make it due to being so busy. While Fitz is there, Aida, the Life Model Decoy seen in last season’s final episode, reveals herself. Fitz is freaking out over Radcliffe’s project because his pardon from working for Hive requires him to obtain approval before conducting any experiments. Radcliffe explains his idea for the LMDs is to use them to protect agents. He points out the deaths of Lincoln, Andrew, and Trip. He understands the dangers that could happen, as with Ultron. His LMDs aren’t meant to be weapons and don’t deal with artificial intelligence. They will be used as decoys when agents are out in the field. Fitz feels they shouldn’t tell the Director just yet because there’s no telling what he’d do. He wants to wait until Aida is perfect.

Ghost Rider Unleashes His Vengeance

Ghost Rider has been killing people. Daisy first sees the carnage when she was in pursuit of some men supplying weapons to the Watchdogs. She’s later able to talk to one of the survivors in the hospitals who tells her, “When the Rider burns you, he burns your soul.” She tries tracking down Ghost Rider to find out what his connection might be to the Watchdogs.

Daisy Fights Ghost Rider

Daisy asks around town, looking for parts for a Dodge Charger, the same car Ghost Rider drives. Her search takes her to Robbie Reyes. Reyes figures out her cover story doesn’t hold up and moves to attack her. When Daisy uses her quake powers, he assume there’s something dark about her as well. As they fight, he explains he only kills those that deserve it. When Daisy asks Reyes what makes him think he has the right to decide, he tells her, “I’m not the one who decides” and transforms into Ghost Rider.

Towards the end of their fight, Daisy tells Ghost Rider to go ahead and put an end to her. Ghost Rider looks at her and then leaves. This could be because there wasn’t any evil inside her.

Daisy later tracks down Reyes again and sees he has a younger brother in a wheelchair.

Thoughts

The season premiere delivers a pretty strong episode. Last season’s six month jump forward gives the show a bit of mystery. We get to catch up on what’s been going on while the story continues to move forward. With a new Director, the team has to adjust to the changes and figure out if he can be trusted.

Agents of SHIELD has a record of shaking things up each season. A new direction is taken, and this season is no different. There are some minor hints of the show taking a slightly darker or mature approach with the move to a new time slot. It’ll be interesting to see if this is something that continues further as the season continues.

The team may have their hands full trying to find Daisy and adjust to the changes made by the new director, but there’s more problems coming. It appears May may be infected by the weapon the Watchdogs were after. Fitz is forced to keep the LMD a secret from Simmons since she has to report everything to the Director. Coulson may be in hot water for making a trip to Los Angeles with Mack where Daisy once again evaded capture. With so much up in the air, the show is holding our attention and breaking new ground rather than simply giving us more of what we’ve already seen for the last three seasons.

Powered by WPeMatico