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Scorn dev talks about Xbox Series X console exclusivity, says CPU is more important than SSD for next gen

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!

“Microsoft had some messaging problems,” Peklar told us. “People expected multi-million AAA production games to show off next-gen visuals and, most importantly, gameplay showcases.”
Despite this, Ebb Software’s Scorn immediately captured the intrigue of Inside Xbox viewers. It may not be a AAA title from a big name studio, but that’s what was so impressive about Microsoft’s showcase: indie devs and AA studios are able to create titles that rival even the biggest budget games with next-gen technology.
Scorn’s Xbox Series X exclusivity deal is a very recent development, Peklar tells us. “We’ve been talking to Microsoft for some time now, sending them various builds, etc. The actual deal happened quite recently and it was realized in a timely manner.”
...
“We didn’t [want to bring Scorn to current-gen consoles] because we want our game to be played at 60FPS. That would be close to impossible without big sacrifices. Next-gen is about responsiveness, smoothness and a lot less time wasting. The problem with these features is that they are not easy to sell in videos or screenshots.”
With so much focus on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 revolving around the move from mechanical hard drives to solid state storage, Peklar believes that the biggest change between this generation and the next is on the pure power afforded by the CPU at the heart of Series X.
“Everyone is touting the SSD as the next big thing, and yes SSDs will help a lot with loading and moving assets, but the biggest culprit that is creating problems in the current generation is the CPU,” Peklar explained to us. “That’s where the biggest difference compared to current generation will come from.”
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
Updated
So, far what I have gathered on what devs think of Xbox Series X
Colin Penty, Technical Art Director at Coalition
Having dedicated ray tracing hardware is huge.
Daniele Galante and David Garcia, Ninja Theory Audio Team, Ninja Theory
Series X’s dedicated audio chip will mean they no longer have to sacrifice sound in order to facilitate other parts of their projects.
Erwan LeCun, co-founder of Ape Tribe Games
Joel Baker, Technical Director at Hinterland Games
Ray-Tracing is one of the most potent features, with big benefits for weather effects and immersion on the horizon. NVMe SSD tech and the custom hardware surrounding it to help get data into memory faster.
Gennadiy Korol, Director of Technology at Moon Studios
Playing games at a high refresh rate, at those crazy resolutions, is the next big thing in gaming.
Kevin Floyer-Lea, Chief Technology Officer at Rebellion
Excited to be able to hit 4K 60 FPS as standard. Hardware-accelerated ray tracing is also a very welcome feature. SSD storage takes beautiful realistic environments and make them load in a flash
Mike Rayner, Studio Technical Director at The Coalition
SSD speeds improve load times without any code changes. DirectStorage APIs and hardware decompression on the Xbox Series X are also key factors in further improving loading speeds. Sampler Feedback tech, which is part of the Xbox Velocity Architecture, loads textures more efficiently based on what the scene needs, further reducing the load on memory.
Alexandre Sabourin, Team Lead at Snowed In Studios
Hardware-accelerated ray-tracing, improved processing power, and SSD boosts will help the Xbox Series X.
Grant Kot, working on a Real-Time Particle Physics based game for Xbox Series X and high end PC's
Xbox Series X is more powerful than his 8700K RTX 2080 PC.
Richard Geldreich, worked at Space X, Valve and Ensemble
Xbox Series X's BCPack Compression technique is better than PS5's Kraken
Chris Grannel, ex-Sony first party dev who worked on Formula One Series, Wipeout HD:Fury and Killzone 2 for Playstation.
Xbox Series X caught Sony off-guard. Microsoft has been working a little bit closer with AMD on some of the technologies that they have been working on. Xbox Series X can do better real time Ray Tracing because of the higher 52 CU count compared to Playstation 5's 36. Microsoft has got some pluses like Xbox Series X's 320 bus compared to Playstation 5's 256 bus. As a developer he would rather work on fixed performance deltas.
Wojciech Piejko, Lead Game Designer at Bloober Team
Being able to work with the latest hardware in the form of the Xbox Series X – with 4K resolution, ray-tracing technology and SSD for a single, seamless cinematic experience without loading screens – has finally enabled then to do their vision justice.
Johannes Kuhlmann, head of core technology at FishLabs
It's easier to develop for Xbox Series X than any other console.
Ljubomir Peklar, designer at Ebb Software
Biggest change between this generation and the next is on the pure power afforded by the CPU at the heart of Series X.
Scorn is console exclusive to Xbox Series X because it enables parity with the PC version.
Difference between Xbox Series X SSD and PS5 SSD is effectively not going to be as big as seen on paper
Tor Frick and Arcade Berg, co-founders of Neon Giant
They are doing 4K 60 fps which is blazingly fast. Faster load speeds – it just comes out, magically, you just click, and there you go, it loads way faster. They have more detail than you can actually see at lower resolutions. Draw distances will be as long as they can make them. When the camera changes position following a vicious gunfight, you should be able to count the bullet-holes in the walls. Everything is ludicrously detailed, so when you bring down the camera, it just works.
Microsoft is very open and approachable, they know what it takes to be able to make a game for their machines, so they’re prepared – the tools are there. Series X represents a leap in video game development, it’s becoming easier and easier to develop. So it’s easier and easier to actually use all that power, and to spend more time on the creative bits, because ideally, you just want everything to work, to realise your creations. An 11-person indie studio could not have done what they are doing 20 years ago.
Edge Magazine, July 2020 Issue 346, Page 54-65
Update :
For those questioning the Xbox Series X exclusivity
Its not just the the XSX CPU at is 10-15% faster than PS5 CPU clock at max clock. A game's performance is a product of many factors like CPU, GPU, RAM speed etc. They are somehow able to hit 60 fps on Xbox Series X
The Xbox Series X exclusive Scorn may be a visual powerhouse for next-gen gaming, but the hardware-intensive ray-tracing lighting will only be included if it doesn’t sacrifice the game’s 60fps performance target.
Scorn game director Ljubomir Peklar told us that, while the developer is currently experimenting internally with ray-tracing for ambient occlusion and shadows on Xbox Series X, the next-gen lighting setup will not be included if it botches performance.
It probably wont be able to hit 60 fps on PS5.

Dev quote -

On XsX version

"It was about bringing it in line with the PC version", says game director Ljubomir Peklar when I ask what the thinking was behind releasing Scorn for the new Xbox. "We don't want to make any compromises and Series X certainly enables us to do just that."

I ask what, specifically, Series X offers the team that current-gen consoles couldn't: "It's mostly evolutionary improvements that are going to make the biggest difference. The most important one is elimination of the CPU bottleneck that exists in the current-gen consoles and much faster loading of assets thanks to the SSD. It's all about responsiveness and not having to wait on things."
On Unreal Engine

Scorn is being built in Unreal Engine 4, and appears to be an exercise in pushing those tools as far as they'll go - Peklar doesn't say it outright, but Ebb appears to be aiming for high resolution and framerates as much as it is shiny (or should that be slimy?) new looks: "If developers decided to opt for lower resolutions and 30fps they could get more spectacular results, like in the new Unreal 5 showcase few days ago. What you have to remember is that responsiveness and motion clarity are also part of the overall presentation, so you would still be losing detail in a sense."
On Exclusivity

What remains less clear is whether Series X is the only console platform on which Scorn will arrive. When I ask if this is a Series X exclusive, or if it could hit PS5 sometime after launch, Peklar says he can't discuss that information. We still don't know if the game will come to Steam and Windows Store simultaneously with Xbox Series X, either.
 
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Stuart360

Member
7jLRqGY.gif
 
Well he agreed that the showcase was not marketed properly, so right off the bat I respect that

To perfectly recreate the feeling entrancing of Giger’s visceral style, creating an immersive experience was imperative. Immersion is key to Scorn; from its narrative to its gameplay to its full-body presentation, Peklar and crew want players to be fully engrossed into their ornate nightmares. For console players, this requires high-end visuals and perfect performance that just wasn’t feasible with Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

The next-gen CPUs will undoubtedly be another generational leap on both sides, along with the SSDs. I guess we will see how well each component gets utilized dev-to-dev
 
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Pallas

Member
He’s not wrong, these CPU’s are more than a generational leap, like several generational leaps compared to the obsolete Jaguars. Fast SSD’s are great and important but I think all of this super crazy fast SSD madness has kind of made everyone forget how crazy and good these CPU’s will be next gen and how they will improve our gaming experience and give developers a lot more stuff to play with.
 

Andodalf

Banned
At peak, what is the difference between the two CPUs? 300mhz, right? Is that enough to make a huge difference? When I OC my CPU from 3.5 ghz to 4.5 ghz I got a boost but it wasn't life changing in games

It could make a minor difference, particularly in the titles that target 120fps, but should be negligible. CPU matters most for high FPS and heavy sim games, and Console doesn't really get heavy sim games too often. In games that utilize smartshift heavily on PS5 it could be an issue, but if it actually impacted framerate devs would just cut back the smartshift to get it stable anyway.
 

Codes 208

Member
At peak, what is the difference between the two CPUs? 300mhz, right? Is that enough to make a huge difference? When I OC my CPU from 3.5 ghz to 4.5 ghz I got a boost but it wasn't life changing in games
Fair point, though taking it as a whole package I would still argue that the faster cpu, gpu, higher ram count and larger ssd is still the better alternative to just a faster ssd.

though sony could prove me wrong on that front, and I’d be fine with that.
 

Stuart360

Member
At peak, what is the difference between the two CPUs? 300mhz, right? Is that enough to make a huge difference? When I OC my CPU from 3.5 ghz to 4.5 ghz I got a boost but it wasn't life changing in games
It really depends what cpu and gpu you have. If you have a top end gpu and say a 8 core cpu, 300Mhz would be a sizeable difference.
 
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DeepEnigma

Gold Member
It really depends what cpu and gpu you have. If you have a top end gpu and say a 8 core cpu, 300ghz would be a sizeable difference.

It's only 300 on 8 cores single thread, but if it uses 16 threads, it goes down to only 100Mhz difference. 3.5 vs 3.6. Software is going to be heavy threaded with all the streaming stacks next gen as time goes on.
 

Stuart360

Member
It's only 300 on 8 cores single thread, but if it uses 16 threads, it goes down to only 100Mhz difference. 3.5 vs 3.6. Software is going to be heavy threaded with all the streaming stacks next gen as time goes on.
Thats when the PS5 cpu is going full speed, which it wont be when its having to switch power between the gpu and cpu constantly. Plus i was talking about on PC.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Thats when the PS5 cpu is going full speed, which it wont be when its having to switch power between the gpu and cpu constantly. Plus i was talking about on PC.

I thought this thread was about the consoles, my bad. That swapping is not going to be as detrimental as you think either.
 
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Hendrick's

If only my penis was as big as my GamerScore!
There is also the issue of potentially the PS5 reducing the CPU further to keep the GPU at full frequency.
How much it drops, and how often we dont really know yet.
It's got to do a lot of throttling because that darn SSD is just too fast.
 

Droxcy

Member
CPU is needed for these upcoming open worlds we are going to be getting in the next 5 years so bring it on
 

quest

Not Banned from OT
There is also the issue of potentially the PS5 reducing the CPU further to keep the GPU at full frequency.
How much it drops, and how often we dont really know yet.
I doubt we ever will know. It is obvious Sony is trying to sweep it under the rug by mentioning it once with some marketing speak and never again but happy to discuss tempest and SSD. Looks like the media let them off the hook unlike 2013 were they rightfully grilled Microsoft and the bullshit DRM. Every interview should lead with asking for hard numbers on the variable clocks to hold Sony to.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I doubt we ever will know. It is obvious Sony is trying to sweep it under the rug by mentioning it once with some marketing speak and never again but happy to discuss tempest and SSD. Looks like the media let them off the hook unlike 2013 were they rightfully grilled Microsoft and the bullshit DRM. Every interview should lead with asking for hard numbers on the variable clocks to hold Sony to.

The time will come at teardown interviews.

This is nothing like the DRM, like at all. Come on.
 
It’s the usual sort of news that happens pre new console...the only difference is that ms have been dictating the next gen news and the counter to this is we are getting all these ssd type threads

I’m patiently waiting to see the actual design of the ps5 and the arguments if them using flathead screws instead of Phillips head aids in the cooling dissipation and adds more flops.

I really wish Sony would just hurry up and drop all that info as you can bet there’s gonna be some arguments
 

Neo_game

Member
I think people will notice SSD difference the most. Especially early on once they realize that game loads in a sec. It will be big change coming from current gen or even PC. Very excited about CPU as well. These two are the most important upgrades for next gen.
 
At peak, what is the difference between the two CPUs? 300mhz, right? Is that enough to make a huge difference? When I OC my CPU from 3.5 ghz to 4.5 ghz I got a boost but it wasn't life changing in games

I think the dude was simply stating that Jaguar x86 was really bottle necking the development of many games and causing major technical hurdles and issues. He is right that the quantum CPU leap will play a massive role in next gen games and so will the SSD as well.
 

Shin

Banned
Is destruction (physics) still being done by the CPU or did it move sometime in the last decade to GPU?
Either way 300MHz* is quite drastic over your competition IMO, we shall see though because if you don't have the games or the backing of the industry then you still only have A box.
 

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Is destruction (physics) still being done by the CPU or did it move sometime in the last decade to GPU?
Either way 300MHz* is quite drastic over your competition IMO, we shall see though because if you don't have the games or the backing of the industry then you still only have A box.

Usually CPU based but it depends on the engine.

300mhz might be drastic but it really just depends on the efficiency of the chip. Could mean not much.

But the architecture over the Jaguar cannot be understated.
 
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