Speaking to developers on site, several aspects of the checkerboard technology came into focus. Up until now, we've seen it as a software post-process upscale, but in actual fact, it's one of a number of new custom features backed into the PS4 Pro's GPU and as such comes with zero cost to game developers. We also understand that while it is a hardware feature, game-makers do seem to have a certain level of control - which may perhaps explain why different games exhibit varying levels of artefacting.
But the key takeaway is this - while the PlayStation 4 Pro GPU lacks the horsepower to render out challenging content at native 4K, the presentation we've seen on a number of titles clearly shows a worthwhile, highly desirable increase in fidelity over 1080p - one that does put a 4K screen to good use. Switching between full HD and checkerboard 4K, the increase in detail is simply stunning.
To its credit, Sony understands that a certain level of scepticism will persist here and to that end, several Sony developers on site told us that lead architect Mark Cerny will be going into the specifics of the custom hardware features in the next few weeks. Enticingly, we were also told that there was more to the GPU enhancements mentioned than just the checkerboard upscaler, so the details there should be fascinating.




