Sony unlocks PS4's 7th core for more power

When it comes to consoles, Microsoft and Sony are constantly trying to get a leg up on the competition.(Meanwhile, Nintendo happily just does their own thing.) If one or the other can somehow squeeze a little extra juice out of their console, they might be able to sway consumers into choosing them. Well, today it seems that Sony is giving a little extra power to PS4 developers.

Earlier this year, Microsoft unlocked an extra CPU core for games to access. This allowed developers to plan for this extra bit of power. While it didn't suddenly make the Xbox One a powerhouse, it did help out a bit. Well now it would seem that Sony is taking a page from their playbook, as it appears that they too have unlocked the 7th core for developers.

For those not familiar, both Sony and Microsoft reserved the 7th and 8th cores of their CPUs for the OS. When Microsoft unlocked their 7th core, they still allowed up to 50% of the core's resources to be used for voice commands (which wasn't a big deal for anyone without a Kinect).

We haven't heard any official confirmations from Sony about what kinds of limitations they might impose on the use of the 7th core. Regardless, any extra power that can be squeezed out of the system will definitely be utilized by developers in the future, and that's always good for gamers.

VIA: Eurogamer