The Man Behind the PS4: Mark Cerny

Mark Cerny. The man's name may not resonate in certain portions of social circles, but the name most presumably resonates in the lion's share of other social circles. Predominantly ones involving the video games industry. HEY! You're not sensational enough to know the man -- don't take it personal now! Because he most likely knows you -- yes; and your more clandestine gaming habits, just like your wife does. Don't let his boy-ish charms fool you however.

So with all this hoopla and hyperbole surrounding the PS4 prior to its announcement, how could Sony address the tone, and come out swinging like George Foreman did in his historical bout against Joe Fraizer, to contrast? Well, for starters by placing the PlayStation 4's development in the not-too-shabby and capable hands of a "Modern-day Da Vinci." Ahem -- MARK CERNY. The night was January 22, 1973; Joe Fraizer was stunned -- dazed, and in a wavering state of consciousness. George Foreman was just a spry, young-buck; and he was entangled in an upset against Fraizer -- his ragged opponent; with his victorious knockout of the heavyweight champion of the world. Which enthralled sports fans. Fraizer being the same man whom previously fought and defeated the greatest-of-all-time, Muhammad Ali. Foreman was a competitor who had not been written off just yet in their heavyweight championship bout in Kingston, Jamaica. He would retire at the meager age of only 28, only to step out of retirement and fight for ten more years. Read more.




You can find Sony's website for the PlayStation 4 ---> here: [http://us.playstation.com/ps4/] along with full specs galore for the 8th generation PlayStation console. The PS4 includes unified memory -- 8 FREAKING GIGABYTES of it! Slow Blu-Ray speeds are like scratched records, and are a pain in the ass on the PlayStation 3 -- CHOP-CHOP. Gamers across the board can applaud Sony for implementing these features: the PS4 includes a speedier Blu-ray Disc drive for assimilating the massive amount of data on these discs. Ever wanted an App? Not just any 'ol App, mind you. A PlayStation App. Sounds like a marriage made in heaven. Why wouldn't I want to turn my smart phone or tablet into a totally awesome second screen that Ping-pongs with my TV -- extending my game play experience? I don't know; maybe you're weird. You wouldn't be surprised if the PS4 was a more versatile and Social oriented PlayStation, now would you? Marky-boy assures you of this.

But -- hey! I'm not here to talk about the PlayStation all day. BORING -- MARK CERNY. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKxns90v_qs] < -- You can watch a Gamespot interview featuring Marky-boy here. You can watch Mark Cerny's announcement of the PlayStation 4 here -- > here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLWc9Klkl

His elongated, white pale face drooped, as he nodded; and his pale
green eyes sharply and attentively gaze at you. Mark Cerny's
feverishly gesturing to the audience attending Sony's "PlayStation
Day" event in New York City. Where Sony would announce the PS4, as
well as acquaint us with the enigma behind the PS4: Mark Cerny, the
lead architect. Mark Cerny is also developing a next generation video
game called Knack for the PS4. In conjunction with Sony's SCEJ
studios, Mark Cerny is the creative force behind Knack, which puts you
in the flesh of an experimental, substance-abusing, environmental-morphing savior -- his "Knack" allowing him to morph into anything from ice to metal; practically any substance, from level-to-level. You can find the trailer for Knack -- > here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q59tHyhDMkI] You can also find the trailer for another upcoming PS4 game: Drive Club -- >
here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INNS-zhmFZI] As well as the
trailer for Infamous Second Sun -- > here:
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHSeyPl--Fw]

Mark Cerny happens to be an established producer, programmer,
developer, industry professional, and now turned consultant. He is
well renowned, and his skills to bring popular games to the market is
legendary. Cerny is also no stranger to awards and accolades. HE
is the single man responsible for the creative force that goes into
his style of developing video games. Here is a man that worked hard in myriad fields and utilized his
knowledge to be THAT creative energy that is going into his work. As
well as all the above, he is also a technologist; and the
foremost source on the Japanese Games Industry. He actually knows
the language. This is no ordinary man. His insights into video games have led to his role at Sony. Speaking of Sony, they -- themselves transition from rigid thinking and difficult
hardware to improve upon and move forward in an exciting and fresh way.
SETTING the tone for the 8th generation of consoles.

The new home screen on the PS4 will aspire for more social oriented personalized content from friends. You can take a glimpse at the new PS4 interface -- > here: (DEMO) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrNkhxKkxf8] Online monikers will still exist in the realm of perverted monikers, however this time around the usage of real names will also feature on the PS4's new interface. Ever wanted to record your game play footage in real time, or maybe share game play tips and tricks so you can share it with your friends? Ustream has been apparently incorporated in a way on the PS4 that other users can watch your game play footage and comment on it as well.

Gameplay footage of Gurilla's Game's latest installment  Killzone franchise with Killzone Shadow Fall for the PS4 can be seen here -- > here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuRwp6aCWRw] Media Molocue's PS4 Tech Demo can be seen here -- > here: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYY-J3ckeSI] The maximum bandwidth of 176 GB/s provides the PS4's 8GB of GDDR5 unified memory breathing room meaning that data can be transferred throughout a wide spectrum on the ram. To contrast, this is 16x more ram than o the PS3. "The read-only optical drive will read Blu-ray discs at 6x CAV for a maximum read speed of 27 MB/s – a significant upgrade from the PS3's 2x speeds that were capped at 9MB/s.[ The PlayStation 4 will feature 802.11 b/g/n wireless network connectivity, Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.1, and an unspecified number of USB 3.0 ports.The PlayStation Vita can be used for streaming video directly from the console to the handheld, allowing supported games to be played remotely." [http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4]

Some would argue that Foreman had nothing to lose; and, Fraizer had
everything to lose. The distinguishable factor was Foreman's pedigree
of competition. He was no ordinary fighter, as his record was near
flawless with 37 wins -- 34 coming from knock outs, at the time. He
had won gold medals; although, Joe Fraizer was a time-tested, and
fighter with unflappable will. And maybe the competition wasn't as
stiff because of Fraizer's previous bout with Ali, which he was still
recovering from -- albeit, half-hardheartedly. Whatever the scenario may
be, George Foreman clearly had the advantage from the get-go, as
evident by his superior size and strength. He had what we call the
killer instinct. Like Foreman, Sony faced also  insurmountable odds
when the PS3 launched, but not necessarily so with the announcement of
the PS4. There are less critical eyes and undertones. However, the PS4
still faces uncertainty, but it does fare a better chance with Mark
Cerny on its side.

If development of the PS4 began back in 2008, what do developers think about Sony's new direction? Gearbox Software's Nick Peterson had this to say about the PS4: "It all depends on their development tools. If they get anywhere near as good as Microsoft's development tools were for the Xbox 360, they'll be sitting pretty. The device looks like it's going to be very fast with that GDDR5 memory. I do wonder where the next Microsoft console will fall in the performance category. Ultimately, you have to sort of cater to the lowest common denominator. Indie for PS4, now that would be interesting. I wonder how much of the hardware they would open up for indies? My guess is it would be something akin to what Microsoft did with XNA for the Xbox 360. It would be neat though." [http://www.develop-online.net/features/1826/PS4-26-developers-speak]

-- AND DOWN GOES FRAIZER! Fraizer repeatedly attempted to regain his
footing in the square arena The first round was as riveting as the
first knock down of Fraizer, all with time still remaining on the
clock. Fraizer's time as the heavyweight champion would be just as
minute Foreman beat into Fraizer with some crucial blows; a flurry of
left hooks would seal Fraizer's fate -- THEN THE RIGHT; the decisive
final blow.

Marble Madness hit your cabinets in good fashion and in due time
captured your hearts and imagination -- well, imagination up until the
point your marbles fall out. Cerny's development team spent ten months
developing the game and it was a success! how could you pull that off?
Mark Cerny's little project propelled him into an industry he would
have staying power in. Giving his diverse talents and mastery of
myriad fields. Published by Atari the project was programmed in the C
programming language with its pluses and negatives; being programmed
in the C programming language led to a reduced framerate -- 30Hz.
Which could have been disastrous because other Arcade cabinet games
outputted at 60Hz. As well as utilizing stereo sound, whereas other
games didn't utilize Stereo Sound. You're a Marble. And throughout six
courses, you attempt to navigate and maneuver through obstacles.
Remember. You're a Marble. Mark Cerny wanted to implement more levels,
but with little funds allotted to the budget, the games development cycle was relatively short. development concluded after ten months. The sucess of Marble madness was attributed to its high
difficulty level, however Mark Cerny attributed the short lifespan of
the Arcade cabinet to lack of longevity and short amount of levels.

What's "Cerny method?" For example, he advocates: "that if the first
level produced does not excite customers, then the game idea should be
set aside before too much effort is put into it. The International
Game Developers Association awarded Cerny with the Lifetime
Achievement Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards (IGDA) in 2004.
"Master Collaborator." In 2010, at the 13th Annual Interactive
Achievement Awards, Mark Cerny was inducted into the Academy of
Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. Renaissance man. He is a
diversely accomplished game designer, producer, programmer and
technologist, fluent in Japanese and one of the foremost Western
experts on the Japanese game market."

Some games Mark Cerny helped bring to the market include Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Spyro the Dragon, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy Ratchet and Clank, Resistance:
Fall of Man, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, God of War III, and Killzone. If you liked this article, subscribe to our email newsletter -- >