14 DAY TRIAL // Mark Cerny, the lead systems architect for the upcoming PlayStation 4, says that Sony has specifically created the new PlayGo system for the home console in order to give players faster access to their games and content.
He tells Gamasutra that, “what we do as the game accesses the Blu-ray disc, is we take any data that was accessed and we put it on the hard drive. And if then if there is idle time, we go ahead and copy the remaining data to the hard drive.”
He adds, “And what that means is after an hour or two, the game is on the hard drive, and you have access, you have dramatically quicker loading… And you have the ability to do some truly high-speed streaming.”
The PlayGo system is also designed to support zlib decompression, which means that all game creators can rely on the PlayStation 4 to automatically unpack data once a title is launched.
At the reveal event for the new Sony console, the company emphasized how easy it would be for users to access content, decide what they were interested in playing and then quickly launch the game or the movie without having to wait.
The PlayStation 4 will use streaming technology that Sony picked up once it bought Gaikai.
The ability to quickly access content will be complemented by its social focus, which gives any user the chance to show other players what he is currently doing via a dedicated button on the controller.
Cerny also talks about the background download ability of the PlayStation 4, which is linked to a second custom-made chip that handles low-power mode operations.
The new Sony console will also be able to turn off all internal components except for the RAM in order to allow gamers to suspend their sessions and return to them once they are ready.
The PS4 will be launched before Christmas of this year.