The PlayStation 4 is about to (technically) get even more powerful, as Sony has issued a "stealth update" unlocking more of the console's computer power for developers.
The PS4 houses an eight-core CPU in its sleek, angular chassis, but anyone trying to make games for the machine only has access to six of them. Until now, those other two CPU cores were reserved for running the operating system, with utilising the GPU being emphasised over placing more demands on the main chip.
Eurogamer reports that an update pushed out over the weekend has provided access to Core 6 (somewhat confusingly to non-programmers, that is the seventh core, which are numbered 0-7). For comparison, Microsoft unlocked the Xbox One's seventh core early in 2015, seeing significant improvements.
Using Razor, a debugging and analysis tool for the PS4, developers have confirmed that Core 6 can now be divided between system management and game use, as the update "splits the activity on that core between user and system".
Exactly how much of a boost that translates to in real terms remains to be seen. Hopefully, users won't see any downturn in system navigation though - if background processes took a tumble from the unlocked core's resources being used elsewhere, for instance.
So what's the takeaway for players, rather than developers? In the short term, nothing much. Existing games probably won't benefit, unless updates patch in compatibility and allow them to utilise the extra power. More likely, future releases will be able to take better advantage of the power boost, giving them a performance joly over what would be possible on just the standard six cores.
The PS4 has plenty of big-name games coming in 2016 -- including the long-awaited The Last Guardian, the expansive Horizon: Zero Dawn, and universal exploration opus No Man's Sky -- all of which could conceivably benefit from more power being on hand.
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