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The new and more powerful PlayStation 4 Pro will support 4K HDR gaming

By Koh Wanzi - on 8 Sep 2016, 10:36am

The new and more powerful PlayStation 4 Pro will support 4K HDR gaming

The PlayStation 4 Pro comes with a faster processor and GPU. (Image Source: Sony)

It’s finally official, boys. Sony has announced the PlayStation 4 Pro, a souped-up console that supports things like 4K gaming and high-dynamic range (HDR). Gamers have known of the PS4 Pro for months as the PlayStation Neo, and it is intended more as a complement to the existing PS4 instead of an outright successor.

According to Mark Cerny, the chief architect for the PS4, the PS4 Pro isn’t intended to “blur the line between console generations”. Instead, Sony wants it to “take the PS4 experience to extraordinary new levels”, which explains why the company tacked on the “Pro” moniker instead of calling it the PS5.

The PS4 is already three years old, and Sony has upgraded the PS4 Pro with a higher clocked processor, a beefier GPU based on AMD’s new Polaris architecture, and a 1TB HDD. In order to take better advantage of its new capabilities, certain PS4 games like Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, For Honor, and the new Spider-Man from Insomniac Games will even be updated to support 4K resolutions.

In addition, upcoming games like Modern Warfare: Remastered and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will support the PS4 Pro’s more powerful hardware at launch. Other titles are also slated to add support, including Battlefield 1 and FIFA 16 later this year, and Mass Effect: Andromeda next year.

With that said, Sony isn’t leaving current PS4 owners out in the cold either, and they will also get to enjoy the HDR feature in the form of a firmware updated slated for next week. And even if you don’t have a 4K TV, some games will still look prettier. For instance, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor can utilize super sampling anti-aliasing on the PS4 Pro.

Naturally, the PS4 Pro will enhance the PlayStation VR experience as well as developers will reportedly be able to make improvements to overall visual fidelity with higher rendered pixel counts.

It’s not all just gaming however, and video platforms like Netflix and YouTube are developing new apps for the PS4 Pro as well. However, strangely enough, the new console does not support 4K Blu-ray playback unlike Microsoft's Xbox One S.

On top of that, Sony also announced a slimmer version of the PS4, to nobody’s surprise. But other than the sleeker design and slightly tweaked DualShock 4 controller, the new console is identical to the current PS4.

The slimmer PS4 is functionally identical to the existing PS4. (Image Source: Sony)

Sony’s reveal now puts it on a similar footing as Microsoft, which beat it to the punch with the Xbox One S, a slimmer Xbox that can playback 4K content (4K games aren’t supported) and HDR as well. Microsoft has a still more powerful console waiting in the wings however, having announced Project Scorpio at E3 this year.

The PS4 Pro will be available on 10 November for S$599, while the slimmed-down PS4 will arrive earlier on 17 September at S$449 for the 500GB version and S$499 for the 1TB one.

Source: Sony

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