PS4 Megathread

shuffles03

A few sites are speculating that Sony will be announcing the successor to the PS3 at the press event 'Destination Playstation' on February 25.

http://www.neurope.eu/article/playstation-4-way

http://www.slashgear.com/playstation-4-release-tipped-by-sony-event-invite-01262742/

http://gadgets.ndtv.com/games/news/could-sonys-playstation-4-debut-at-destination-playstation-312378

I figure it's probably a long shot but didn't they do something similar with the announcement of the Vita at a separate event? Personally, I think it would make perfect sense to get excitement going now about their new console so that when E3 rolls around they can spend the entire show promoting upcoming games.

shuffles03

Plus if the rumours are true that the next Playstation might be released after the next Xbox, getting the jump (yeah I know, I said it) on the competition by announcing first would be a wise move.

MitchKoobski

I think an announcement is likely soon. Someone pointed out that the main PS3 exclusive releases are pretty much empty after Last of Us, the assumption being that the companies like Naughty Dog and Evolution etc are working on PS4 games.

nocoverart

Once they keep implementing Playstation Plus I'm happy.

Otacon

Sony VP teases 'a big secret' announcement for E3 or earlier, calls out PlayStation brand

Sony's been mum on any new PlayStation (read: PlayStation 4) news since ... well, ever (okay, there is that one exception). But Sony Electronics VP of Home Entertainment Hiroshi Sakamoto may be the first to break that silence. He told Emol (translated by Engadget Spanish) in response to a question about "a new announcement related to the new PlayStation," that while the news is "still a big secret," the PlayStation side of Sony, "are getting ready for it." He of course doesn't directly refer to a "PlayStation 4" or the rumored "Orbis" internal project name. Sakamoto adds that the PlayStation team are "focused on E3," but, "the announcement could take place at that time, or maybe even before, in May."

While these articles are usually just hit-fodder, there is an actual quote from Sony Electronics VP of Home Entertainment Hiroshi Sakamoto in this, which may give it some credence.

Still, an announcement in May with E3 used to reveal the games in June sounds about right.

CastorTroy

Yeah IGN had a piece where it said that if they announce before E3, it allows third parties to then show off games they have lined up for Next Gen.

If they were to announce anything in February, I would suggest a Vita price cut/new model. Look how it turned out for 3DS.

Richard Dower

Dailytech notes the APU+GPU....seems a crossfire setup, comments are saying its like an old PC and could barely run Crysis: http://www.dailytech.com/Quick+Note+PlayStation+4+Unveil+Could+Come+May+2013+or+Sooner/article29673.htm

I think its unfair to compare a console to a high end nVidia GPU and an iCore7 etc. - but alas i am sure fans reviwers will compare the specs to current tech and will get an overall meh.

Captain Chaos

Richard Dower wrote: »

Dailytech notes the APU+GPU....seems a crossfire setup, comments are saying its like an old PC and could barely run Crysis: http://www.dailytech.com/Quick+Note+PlayStation+4+Unveil+Could+Come+May+2013+or+Sooner/article29673.htm

I think its unfair to compare a console to a high end nVidia GPU and an iCore7 etc. - but alas i am sure fans reviwers will compare the specs to current tech and will get an overall meh.

And the game developers have scaled Crysis 1 that it runs fine on the 360. I don't know if got released for the PS3.

Besides can't compare PC and console spces like for like. Consoles are optomized as are the games by the developers to run on them.

PCs will always be better and faster with better looking versions of the same game.

Notorioux

I'm really hoping there's gonna be backward compatibility as I would still wanna play some of the games this gen.

Penn

Notorioux wrote: »

I'm really hoping there's gonna be backward compatibility as I would still wanna play some of the games this gen.

I think they'd be crazy not to. Or at the very least, have some way you can download games you own for free

MarkY91

i read tons of articles about this over the past few weeks. some say it will be announced at E3 and may be out by christmas. i doubt that because we would have had official news about it like months ago surely?

i bet they do mention PS4 at E3 but i doubt it will be out until spring 2014 or later.



but then again..it is getting me excited lol

Varik

Penn wrote: »

I think they'd be crazy not to. Or at the very least, have some way you can download games you own for free

Don't think it will be BC, it would likely have to be mostly hardware with minimal emulation for it to work as the PS3 is so different to what the rumours suggest and from what they did with the Vita. It's cost prohibitive.

shuffles03

My guess is a pre E3 event. They'll want to showcase it all on it's own like Apple do with their product announcements. The problem with E3 is that they'd be battling it out for headlines amongst Microsoft and Nintendo. It's best to have an entire event to yourself. E3 could then be used to showcase games, features, hands on etc.

In terms of b/c, as much as I'd like it, it's not going to happen. Sony will be looking to keep the cost lower this time. Gaikai could be an answer to that riddle although I doubt servers/ Internet speeds would be up to the task.

Penn

Varik wrote: »

Don't think it will be BC, it would likely have to be mostly hardware with minimal emulation for it to work as the PS3 is so different to what the rumours suggest and from what they did with the Vita. It's cost prohibitive.

I suppose you're right. Some PS2 games were dodgy at best when played on the PS3 (I could only play Garabaldi on SSX Tricky and Devil May Cry 3 stopped and stalled a few times). Haven't heard any of the rumours about what's going into it (as I wouldn't understand half of it anyway) either.

And actually now that I think about it, they'd probably wait a while before allowing downloads of PS3 games on their next gen so as not to take away from sales of new games.

Shame, but I'd just keep the PS3 up anyway. Always a year or so before games which really take advantage of the new hardware get released

Varik

I don't think i was clear about the Vita as i was not speaking about UMDs, I was referring to the cost of the console and the fact that they sold it at a smaller loss than the PS3 and it's report 200-300 loss per console. Even Nintendo who have always profited on a per console bases were force to sell at a loss with the Wii U, so i don't think Sony will be adding such a large cost to the PS4.

They hardware could probably be powerful enough to get PS2 game running well, but emulation even with an abundance of power some does not always work.


Also AMD are suing Nvidia about some employees who left for Nvidia and have reportedly "stolen" information on the next gen consoles when they left.

aindriu80

yeah it does look like Sony is going ahead with PS4 announcement in the next few months. There has been so many articles online lately that I think it will be announced before E3. One technical detail was that the PS4 will have 4GB of DDR5. Nice to see its super fast but its not a lot in this day in age.

I will probably get the PS4 once its released but will keep my PS3 for a bit.

shuffles03

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-orbis-unmasked-what-to-expect-from-next-gen-console

Captain Chaos

aindriu80 wrote: »

One technical detail was that the PS4 will have 4GB of DDR5. Nice to see its super fast but its not a lot in this day in age.

The PS3 came with 512Mb of RAM in 2006. That wasn't a lot back then compared to PCs either. The average gaming PC back then having 2Gb of RAM.

PS4 with 4Gb RAM with the average gaming PC now having 8Gb is not bad at all.

What kills the PS3 compared to the 360 in cross platform games was how that RAM was divided up. The PS3 had 256 for the system and 256 for the graphics and that could not be changed. The 360 had 512 that could be managed how the game developers seen fit for their game.

The Xbox 720 is reported to have 6Gb of RAM.

What will be important will be the GPUs. It is a little known fact that the 360 GPU is more powerful than the one in the PS3. The PS3 is always touted as being more powerful than the 360, and it is in pure number crunching thanks the PS3s Cell CPU. That's why the USAF use them in supercomputer tests with a load of PS3 dasychained together and then the Folding at Home programe. But in alot of cross platform games the 360 tends to edge out the PS3 in graphics and frame rate.

Right now the media leaks are saying that the PS4 is more powerful than the 720. But is this CPU or the GPU they are talking about. You can't say one is more powerful than the other overall without taking the CPU, GPU and RAM into consideration. That's how the PS3 and 360 are on par with each other in real word performance even though the media say the PS3 is the most powerful and it is on paper. One has a more power CPU but the other has a more powerful GPU, both have the same amount of RAM but it's used differently in each console.

I can't wait for this years E3 and see what the games look like.

Varik

Captain Chaos wrote: »

The Xbox 720 is reported to have 6Gb of RAM.

Heard 8GB as well, but a common rumour is that it'll have a large amount of memory dedicated to the OS.

aindriu80

The present gen of consoles did a decent enough job indeed.

I read 8GB as well. Of course the more the better (and the type is important) but price does come into it. The trade off for me is the actual games experience. I would rather pay extra and get a console that controls & interacts fabulously than one that doesn't. I think they will all roughly make the 1080p and 60fps standard.

I guess the current logic is to keep the consoles in a ball park area as to what you see on a PC games screen while keeping the price down.

Games are better on a console (and don't mess up your PC) but the PS4 controller has to be way better. Its still the most important aspect of the games experience. I have played too many games where I can't proceed due to controller problems.

Richard Dower

I wonder if they'll have NAND flash or an SSD for the hard drive?....or maybe the hyrid route?

Western Digital have some hybrids coming soon with 32GB SSD + 1TB HDD......

DUBLINHITMAN

I got the ps3 and xbox 360 when they were first released ill be doing the exact same when the ps4 and new xbox are released , not a fan boy
Just a gamer

Otacon

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-01-21-sony-why-go-first-when-your-competitors-can-look-at-your-specifications-and-come-up-with-something-better

It sounds like Sony will let Microsoft make the first move (excluding Nintendo) in the next-gen battle.

Speaking to The Times (via IGN), Sony overlord Kaz Hirai said: "Why go first, when your competitors can look at your specifications and come up with something better?"

Looks like Microsoft will announce first with Sony ready to steal their thunder as soon as they do.

Richard Dower

I think the specs, if they are real, look pretty good. It's basically a HTPC - a mid range one. Those AMD APU are pretty darn good and quite beefy for the TDP. 8GB of RAM is about what you'd expect also....RAM is pretty cheap, you can get 8GB for like 30 quid now.

I'm rather interested in the Blu-Ray drive though....i think the move to 6x will be a must, the PS3 has a rather sh*tte 2x and the new 6x will support dual layer 50GB discs.....more future proofing there.......but why not 100GB?, firmware update maybe?

USB 3.0 is cool....i expect 2 ports and two USB 2.0. I'd love if they had a memory card reader as well like the PS3 fat. HDMI 1.4a...expected. I also think Sony will release Move 2.0 kits with updated camera akin to Kinect.

I'd say the basic model no frills will be 350 and premium kits 500 or even 550. The big thing for Sony in terms of cost would be a die shrink.

I assume the 8 core APU will be 28nm but i sure they try to move to 22nm as fast as TSMC will allow. I have a feeling though Microsfy will win on the OS side, i'll bet it'll look fantastic and packed with features.

M$ has always been better from a community/social side of gaming. My real hope though are these new consoles are TRUE media playback devices!....ergo .mkv playback...FLAC, ogg etc. - it *needs* to playback every possible container and format going.

A huge minus of the PS3 is lack of .mkv :-(

Varik

Richard Dower wrote: »

I think the specs, if they are real, look pretty good. It's basically a HTPC - a mid range one. Those AMD APU are pretty darn good and quite beefy for the TDP. 8GB of RAM is about what you'd expect also....RAM is pretty cheap, you can get 8GB for like 30 quid now.

That's only 8GB for the Xbox, with a lot of it dedicated to the OS/Kinect/surface/whatever. The PS3 is meant to be 4GB, with a lot less set aside for a more bare OS. A close system and compared to a PC OS far more limited setup does not need as much ram.

Richard Dower wrote: »

I'm rather interested in the Blu-Ray drive though....i think the move to 6x will be a must, the PS3 has a rather sh*tte 2x and the new 6x will support dual layer 50GB discs.....more future proofing there.......but why not 100GB?, firmware update maybe?

Sony filled the odd Blu ray but mostly with uncompressed audio, if MS don't plan on doing that then they could work with up to 50 easily.

I say Sony will include Blu-ray XL (100-128GB) compatibility, but having games like that doesn't make the move to digital any easier.

Richard Dower wrote: »

I'd say the basic model no frills will be 350 and premium kits 500 or even 550. The big thing for Sony in terms of cost would be a die shrink.

I'd say that would be on the high side, I'd guess 350-400.

Richard Dower wrote: »

My real hope though are these new consoles are TRUE media playback devices!....ergo .mkv playback...FLAC, ogg etc. - it *needs* to playback every possible container and format going.

A huge minus of the PS3 is lack of .mkv :-(

Many Sony blu ray players do play mkvs but there's a lot more to it than simply supporting the container and codec.

CiDeRmAn

Hooray!
The PS4!
Another chance to run out this Autumn/Winter, buy and over priced console and be stuck with the 2 launch games that don't suck completely until the next game in the "Launch Window" sometime in April 2014!
And, by that time, the console will be cheaper!
Fantastic!
Sign me up!
Same with the new Xbox, where can I get a device that'll be technically flawed and won't see out the first 2 years before trying to microwave it's own innards??

Seriously though, we have been expected to accept the fact that games publishers now release Beta's to the public, patching them into playability over the following months.
Now we get the same from console manufacturers, with untested designs being launched and all the flaws ironed out over the following years, it's happened with the PS3, 360 and, to a lesser extent, the Wii, all of which have self destructed on me over the years since 2005 when they all started appearing.
My retro consoles, on the other hand, all still motor along, with only minimal servicing needed on the likes of the Nes, the rest are fine, dandy and, in some cases, over 30 years old!

AtomicHorror

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Now we get the same from console manufacturers, with untested designs being launched and all the flaws ironed out over the following years, it's happened with the PS3, 360 and, to a lesser extent, the Wii, all of which have self destructed on me over the years since 2005 when they all started appearing.

I don't recall any particular systematic issues with the first run of Playstations- was there anything that compared to the RROD? I still have my launch day 60GB and aside from a dusty BluRay lens which I fixed for myself, no issues in 6 years.

Professey Chin

Kotaku dev kit details from today

System Memory: 8GB
Video Memory: 2.2 GB
CPU: 4x Dual-Core AMD64 "Bulldozer" (so, 8x cores)
GPU: AMD R10xx
Ports: 4x USB 3.0, 2x Ethernet
Drive: Blu-Ray
HDD: 160GB
Audio Output: HDMI & Optical, 2.0, 5.1 & 7.1 channels

http://kotaku.com/5977849/the-playstation-4-has-a-new-controller-fancy-user-accounts-and-impressive-specs-so-far

Otacon

Chinpool wrote: »

Kotaku dev kit details from today

http://kotaku.com/5977849/the-playstation-4-has-a-new-controller-fancy-user-accounts-and-impressive-specs-so-far

If they are correct, I have a few questions:

1. Why is the HDD so small? 250GB minimum, 500GB preferable.
2. What speed is the Blu Ray drive?
3. Why two Ethernet ports?

EDIT: Should have read the article first! D'OH!

If you think the HDD is small, remember, these are the specs for a machine that developers are using to make games on, not the console you'll own and be storing media on. And don't worry about having two ethernet ports; as this is a dev kit, one is there for local sharing/testing purposes.

Professey Chin

Otacon wrote: »

If they are correct, I have a few questions:

1. Why is the HDD so small? 250GB minimum, 500GB preferable.
2. What speed is the Blu Ray drive?
3. Why two Ethernet ports?

Dev kit. Doesn't need a large hd and the 2nd port would be for networking & debugging. No idea about the drive

aindriu80

I think the Dev kit would take care with any of the strange technical specs listed, you don't need a massive HD to dev and maybe could do with the extra ethernet connection.

I'm happy enough with the 8gb and 2.2gb of ram for memory and video... get a well made controller and games that do what the controller says and I will purchase one the minute it comes on the market.

Varik

aindriu80 wrote: »

I'm happy enough with the 8gb and 2.2gb of ram for memory and video

That won't make it to retail, it'll likely be shared memory and the rumours say 4GB but it'll not be over 8GB in any case.

aindriu80

Varik wrote: »

That won't make it to retail, it'll likely be shared memory and the rumours say 4GB but it'll not be over 8GB in any case.

If Xbox goes 8gb I would expect the PS would have to follow, even if there is separate graphics memory.

RoverZT

Richard Dower wrote: »

I think the specs, if they are real, look pretty good. It's basically a HTPC - a mid range one. Those AMD APU are pretty darn good and quite beefy for the TDP. 8GB of RAM is about what you'd expect also.

I'd say the basic model no frills will be 350 and premium kits 500 or even 550. The big thing for Sony in terms of cost would be a die shrink.

I think it's kinda of a let down.

Amd 8 core 1.6ghz cpu.
4gb ram
Ati 7850.
Blu Ray
250gb hdd.

A normal guy like me can build a machine like that for 500.

They must be making big margins on a mediocre system like that?

With them buying the design and getting materials in obscene bulks, I was expecting mid to high range pc power for 400 - 500 euro console.

I was thinking

FX 8 3.4ghz, 8gb ram ( mix of ddr3/gddr5 ), 8950 ( future generation, not available to public, something like GTX 670 performance with tdp).

tok9

Everyone seems to mention how you could build a pc for that etc which i think is a bit pointless really.

I'd be far more interested in finding out how much more powerful would these specs be in comparison to a PS3? Does anyone know?

Surely that'd be far more important a comparison as you are comparing consoles.

Otacon

PlayStation 4:
System Memory: 4GB
Video Memory: 1GB
CPU: 4x Dual-Core AMD64 "Bulldozer"
GPU: AMD R10xx
Ports: USB 3.0
Drive: Blu-Ray x6

PlayStation 3:
System Memory: 256MB
Video Memory: 256MB
CPU: Cell [1 3.2GHz PowerPC-based "Power Processing Element" (PPE) and 8 Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs)]
GPU: NVIDIA RSX 'Reality Synthesizer'
Ports: USB 2.0
Drive: Blu-Ray x2

*I think those specs are correct for the PS3 and likely for the PS4.

Richard Dower

tok9 wrote: »

Everyone seems to mention how you could build a pc for that etc which i think is a bit pointless really.

I'd be far more interested in finding out how much more powerful would these specs be in comparison to a PS3? Does anyone know?

Surely that'd be far more important a comparison as you are comparing consoles.

+1 ...tis unfair to compare the modern PCs....but its gonna happen!, fans and reviewers will do it sadly. The thing is....Sony *needs* this system to last five years, so there needs to be some built in future proofing!

The PS3 has held up very well over the years, and graphically the games have got better. Lets hope the PS4 does the same!

jones

Isnt that always the way with a console though? Dev's get use to harnessing the power of the console so graphics usually get better as the system ages? I hope the ps4 has a quicker BR drive because as people have mentioned the 2x speed of the ps3 is very slow...all in all i'm still be getting the PS4 unless they really drop the ball.

I wonder will our PSN accounts be transferable over? i'm assuming they will with people having built up so many trophies on the PS3 (i didnt build up to level 10 for nothing haha)

aindriu80

jones wrote: »

Isnt that always the way with a console though? Dev's get use to harnessing the power of the console so graphics usually get better as the system ages? I hope the ps4 has a quicker BR drive because as people have mentioned the 2x speed of the ps3 is very slow...all in all i'm still be getting the PS4 unless they really drop the ball.

I wonder will our PSN accounts be transferable over? i'm assuming they will with people having built up so many trophies on the PS3 (i didnt build up to level 10 for nothing haha)

Yeah I hope they do put in a faster blu ray drive with higher capacity indeed!

They have to speed up what they currently offer at the moment (one example the browser) in their next gen. For example I would like to purchase a wireless keyboard for the ps3 and make use of it like my laptop but its just too awkward and slow.

The ps3 does have a lot of the functionality that I could wish for but there are several things missing and what it does do is too slow.

New phones have more RAM than the PS3, the next gen can wait a bit but it has to offer something new.

As far as the trophies go the current answer is no transfer. Maybe that will change if some pressure is put on Sony ?

MarkY91

aindriu80 wrote: »

Yeah I hope they do put in a faster blu ray drive with higher capacity indeed!

They have to speed up what they currently offer at the moment (one example the browser) in their next gen. For example I would like to purchase a wireless keyboard for the ps3 and make use of it like my laptop but its just too awkward and slow.

The ps3 does have a lot of the functionality that I could wish for but there are several things missing and what it does do is too slow.

New phones have more RAM than the PS3, the next gen can wait a bit but it has to offer something new.

As far as the trophies go the current answer is no transfer. Maybe that will change if some pressure is put on Sony ?

no tophy transfer? what about PSN usrnames? and friends list?

aindriu80

MarkY91 wrote: »

no tophy transfer? what about PSN usrnames? and friends list?

I read that it was not the case at this stage but then again nothing concrete has come out from Sony regarding the PS4. They poured cold water on backward compatibility.

The console is not like a PC where the entire system is compatible with just about anything. Maybe they will change that next time around.

RedXIV

non-compatibility with PS3 games I could live with, but if the PSN accounts weren't transferable, that would be a deal breaker for me

Varik

RedXIV wrote: »

non-compatibility with PS3 games I could live with, but if the PSN accounts weren't transferable, that would be a deal breaker for me

PSP, PS3, and Vita all have the same account.

tok9

I'd be shocked if the account didn't transfer for 2 main reasons but There is plenty of reasons.

1. PS +. This is what will get the ps4 more users. If they were to get rid of all that content for the ps4 it's be a big fcuk off to the customers.

2. PS vita - the console is less than a year old and still using the same store as the ps3.

Professey Chin

Id say itll absolutely use the same account. The entire Sony Entertainment Network uses the same account

deano546

Hmm...

Klair88

That's a definite PS4 Confirmation date i think. Still wont be available to buy til late 2014, christmas time i reckon, a good 2 years away.

shuffles03

(inserting Batman orchestral music now)

Professey Chin

Wouldn't surprise me if it hit Japan late this year or early next year considering how quiet their 1st party teams are after April

shuffles03

Is it just me or does that sound like a rendition of the PS1 start up music at 11 seconds into the video?

CastorTroy

More games being added to PS+, increasing to 20? Too greedy? :P

I'd say PS4 announcement is likely since that's near the date mentioned by the OP.

Never understood the wait and see statement considering it's not like Microsoft were gonna suddenly change everything in their system after Sony announced the PS4