Watch Dogs delayed until Spring 2014

[futurefields]

So according to you the choices were

A) ultra low power 8 core 1.6 ghz mobile cpu
B) 500-1000 watt behemoth

So there is no middle ground? What about a third option?

C) quad core amd cpu clocked at 3 - 3.5 ghz desktop cores, raising power draw in real world conditions by what, 20-40 watts? And get a much better cpu.

Games do not like lots of cores they like high single thread performance.

 

[jetset]

THat's a big delay. I don't think it's to do with AC. THey would have known about the clash a long time ago, and even so, why delay it by so much? One month would be enough to stop them damaging sales of AC.

I'm more inclined to think it's a technical reason. Major bugs, frame-rates, etc.

This is my hope as well. If the wait is worth it the delay stings a lot less. However, they now have to come out with an amazing game. If it is super buggy at release it is going to be a PR nightmare for them.

 

[Carfax83]

Games do not like lots of cores they like high single thread performance.

Using the old engine model that was true, but it won't be true anymore.

Threading is the future, whether you or game developers like it or not. Single thread performance has been stagnant for years, while Intel and AMD keep adding more cores to the die..

 

[VulgarDisplay]

So according to you the choices were

A) ultra low power 8 core 1.6 ghz mobile cpu
B) 500-1000 watt behemoth

So there is no middle ground? What about a third option?

C) quad core amd cpu clocked at 3 - 3.5 ghz desktop cores, raising power draw in real world conditions by what, 20-40 watts? And get a much better cpu.

Games do not like lots of cores they like high single thread performance.

Maybe it will make more sense this way.

a.) You can have a $400 console with 8 threads that are much faster than the previous generation and a good GPU.

b.)You can have a $400 console with a decent quad core, and what would amount to an iGPU.

c.) Spend more than $400 and have a hair dryer under your TV.

There are trade offs that had to be made in order to avoid all the pitfalls of last generation. Microsoft and Sony will likely never sell a console at a loss ever again. They will also not sell a power hungry console because hot power hogs in console form factors are prone to failure due to heat and lack of cooling because of the small enclosure size.

Games like IPC because developers have not learned how to make good multithreaded games.

 

[futurefields]

From what I hear from devs it is an extremely complicated process, to the point where it might not even be viable.

 

[BrightCandle]

I have been concerned about to consoles 8 cores. Writing multithreaded game engines is far from simple and it will increase time to market and costs. It is also likely to introduce inconsistent performance as well. These are problems that I have been working with for a decade with multi threaded software and its just not easy to fix.

To some extent we are seeing this with bf4 as well. It had major periodic stuttering problems and inconsistent frame rates on a lot of rigs (including mine). The next gen of games are going to have problems with multi threading for a long time, many games will release with frame rate issues.

But UbiSoft didn't say this was the problem, it might be the issue and if it is and they really need to massively redesign their game that would explain the big delay. Its not until earlier this year the devs even got anything closely resembling the real performance of the console itself and everyone has been using high end PCs for their dev work (as they kind of do anyway, its done on a PC then cross compiled to the console).

 

[frozentundra123456]

I have been concerned about to consoles 8 cores. Writing multithreaded game engines is far from simple and it will increase time to market and costs. It is also likely to introduce inconsistent performance as well. These are problems that I have been working with for a decade with multi threaded software and its just not easy to fix.

To some extent we are seeing this with bf4 as well. It had major periodic stuttering problems and inconsistent frame rates on a lot of rigs (including mine). The next gen of games are going to have problems with multi threading for a long time, many games will release with frame rate issues.

But UbiSoft didn't say this was the problem, it might be the issue and if it is and they really need to massively redesign their game that would explain the big delay. Its not until earlier this year the devs even got anything closely resembling the real performance of the console itself and everyone has been using high end PCs for their dev work (as they kind of do anyway, its done on a PC then cross compiled to the console).

Agreed. And BF4 should be about the best case. An engine that was already highly multithreaded, and closely developed with AMD, and there were (are??) still serious issues. I would think the problem would be worse for developers going from less well theaded engines, and with less close support from AMD.

 

[Carfax83]

I have been concerned about to consoles 8 cores. Writing multithreaded game engines is far from simple and it will increase time to market and costs. It is also likely to introduce inconsistent performance as well. These are problems that I have been working with for a decade with multi threaded software and its just not easy to fix.

But it CAN be done. CryEngine 3 is a great example of a excellently performing multithreaded engine that runs smooth and uses the CPU as much as possible to keep the GPUs fed.

Out of the all games on my system, Crysis 3 is the only game that has consistently high GPU utilization. So while it may be very difficult to do, it's not impossible.

Anyway, developers don't really have much of a choice if they wish to stay in business..

But UbiSoft didn't say this was the problem, it might be the issue and if it is and they really need to massively redesign their game that would explain the big delay. Its not until earlier this year the devs even got anything closely resembling the real performance of the console itself and everyone has been using high end PCs for their dev work (as they kind of do anyway, its done on a PC then cross compiled to the console).

It's possible I suppose, but Assassin's Creed IV is coming to PS4 and Xbox One as well, and from some of the interviews that I've read, the upgraded AnvilNext engine will use as many threads as it requires.....more than what it could do in Assassin's Creed 3.

So it doesn't seem as though a big, experienced developer like Ubisoft has problems making multithreaded engines.