September means IFA in the world of tech and, while plenty of companies have taken advantage of the trade show to make some major announcements, it was two gaming giants that caught our attention as our winner and loser this week.
Nvidia unveiled its exciting new range of GPUs this week, while Ubisoft let slip some disappointing news regarding the next-generation PlayStation console – to Sony’s delight, we’re sure.
Related: Best PC Games
Winner: Nvidia
Nvidia kicked off September with a massive update to its GeForce range of graphics cards. According to the company, the Ampere line is the biggest generational leap the series has ever seen, and it’s no wonder gamers are so excited about this announcement – this week marked the launch of the world’s first 8K-capable gaming GPU.
The company announced three new graphics cards coming to the GeForce line-up in 2020: The RTX 3070, the RTX 3080 and the 8K-capable RTX 3090. While the latter isn’t the most affordable GPU on the market – it’ll cost you £1399 to get your hands on the powerful graphics card – it is a pretty exciting sign of what is to come in the gaming industry.
The RTX 3090 will support 8K gameplay at 60fps, pushing it well beyond the demands of 4K. These specs might seem unnecessarily flashy at first glance. After all, many games aren’t ready to perform at such a high resolution and not everyone has a display at home capable of supporting it. That said, 8K is on it’s way and the RTX 3090 gives gamers an (admittedly pricey) option to future proof their PCs.
For those who can’t defend an 8K GPU just yet, the 4K-capable RTX 3080 costs £649, while the £469 RTX 3070 provides a more affordable alternative for anyone content with 1440p gaming for now. That isn’t even to mention the RTX 3060 rumoured to be emerging later on this year.
Regardless of which GPU fans opt for, Nvidia’s announcement gives us a good peak at what the future of gaming will look like.
Related: Best PS5 Games
Loser: Sony
While Nvidia gave us a glimpse at what’s in store for the future of gaming, Ubisoft accidentally confirmed that Sony will be shutting out some of its past – it’s PS1, PS2 and PS3 games, to be more specific. The third-party developer revealed that Sony’s next PlayStation console will not feature backwards compatibility for PS1, PS2 and PS3 games.
The news came to light through a now-deleted post on the Ubisoft support site. According to the studio, the PS5 will include backwards compatibility for “supported PlayStation 4 titles” but that it would “not be possible for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 or PlayStation games”. This blunder on Ubisoft’s part told us something that wasn’t a huge surprise, but could affect the PS5’s appeal.
While PS5 players will be stuck relying on PlayStation Now’s limited library of PS3 and PS2 games, Microsoft recently revealed that the Xbox Series X will be compatible with thousands of Xbox One, Xbox 360 and original Xbox games. Some of the latter are even set to receive a well-deserved HDR boost, despite being developed well before the existence of HDR.
The latest PS5 news doesn’t bode well for our nostalgia. Hopefully, it will provide some consolidation that the next-gen console will retain compatibility with over 4000 PS4 games, including almost all of the 100 top-ranked titles.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
