So you may have heard earlier this week that the PS4 was going to reserve nearly half its RAM for the O.S. Well, some of the companies that are working on PS4 games have come out to tell us that that rumor is wrong.
Namely, Brian Provinciano, head of Vblank Entertainment (the guys that made Retro City Rampage), has said that the rumors are “absolutely false. Absolutely ridiculous.” He wrote an editorial about the whole fiasco here, noting especially that even though the original story was wrong, several people blew it out of proportions with “sensationalist headlines.” It is also notable that he doesn’t actually drop any numbers on how much RAM the PS4 does allow for games.
We do get a bit of number dropping from a different source, however. NeoGAF user Thruway, who has given out a few leaks in the past that turned out to be true, posted that there are some games in development that use 6GB of RAM. He also told people to remember that the RAM situation will change. The firmware will be updated to use less RAM, games will be better optimized, new hardware will be released.
Of course, we don’t know anything for sure until Sony speaks up, and they aren’t talking. Perhaps they’re making a few last minute changes to further change this situation or they’re waiting to make this announcement at a later date, perhaps at the same time they announce a release date. Considering the PS4 is scheduled to release holiday season 2013, a formal release date announcement should be in the pipelines soon, I expect within a month, MAYBE two, but I’ve been wrong before.
My take on the RAM debate is that it’s mostly just a bunch of people getting mad because they havn’t been properly informed. They’re comparing modern consoles to gaming PCs when they are entirely different machines, albeit with similar parts and functions. Gaming PCs need more RAM for several reasons, manly the fact that graphics can up or downscale to fit the machine. This is something consoles don’t do, and more importantly don’t need to do because all PS4’s will be created equal (until they release a slim model a couple years down the line).
What do you guys think? Sound off in the comments, and stay tuned to GameSkinny and the Team Timelords Facebook page for more PS4 details.
