Feb. 20 is a big day for Sony, as it is the day of their big, mysterious event discussing the “future of the PlayStation business”. In the last couple of weeks there has been a lot of speculation and rumors regarding the event and the PlayStation 4 (Orbis). While many readers and PlayStation enthusiasts have dug around searching for all the rumors, we decided it would be more convenient to include all current rumors in one article, as a quick reference.
Price
Following the high price tag of it’s predecessor in 2006, there is a ton of speculation surrounding Sony’s next-gen console’s pricing and whether it will be affordable. GameIndustry predicts the next PlayStation will have an MSRP of $350 to $400, with Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun setting the price at (converted from Yen) $400 last week.
Hardware Specs
Hands down, the PlayStation 3 is probably the most powerful console to ever grace living rooms and the like, but due to the hardware it cost $600 at launch. Last April, IGN claimed the new console would have custom chips based on AMD’s A8-3850 APU and Radeons HD 7670 GPU.
The AMD has a quad-core 2.9GHz processor and can work with the HD 7670, a DirectX 11 card clocked at 1GHz with 1GB VRAM. The Radeon chip allows games such as Crysis 2 to be played at high settings at 1080p, with framerates just over 30 frames-per-second. Last month, Kotaku posted a report claiming the PlayStation 4 may have 8GB RAM, 2.2 video memory, a 4x Dual-Core AMD64 processor and AMD R10xx GPU.
Launch Date
Despite the pending announcement, it is believed we’ll see the next PlayStation console sometime this year. According to VG247, Sony will be releasing the next generation console ahead of it’s competitor, Microsoft’s Xbox. Despite many developers being told this, some of them strongly believe it will launch sometime in 2014.
Name
There have been many rumors surrounding the console’s name, and as a result a lot of dispute. Last March, Kotaku reported a story containing alleged information, saying the next PlayStation would be called the “PlayStation Orbis” rather than the PlayStation 4. The details came from “a reliable source who is not authorized to talk publicly about next-gen hardware” who has shared information with Kotaku in the past. The word “Orbis” is Latin for circle, ring, or orbit. The name actually makes sense: the PlayStation Vita’s name is Latin for “Life”. Orbis Vita, respectively, could translate as “Circle of Life”, which would be a clever move on Sony’s Part.
Controller
Unlike Sony’s previous consoles, Sony will allegedly ditch the DualShock controllers we know and love, according to CVG. Their sources claimed the new controllers would have biometric sensors on the grips, along with an LCD touch screen. Another source claimed that engineers were trying to emulate the same user interface used in the PS Vita. An image of the controller (pictured above) was leaked last week by Destructoid and looks to have a touch sensitive pad on the front, where previous DualShock controllers had the Start and Select buttons. A GameTrailers forum member claimed they had access to the new controller, mentioning the triggers are similar to that of the Xbox 360’s. There is also allegedly a headset port, and the touch screen is used for battery levels, friends lists, etc. The controller had been deemed an early prototype, and a secondary image leaked later of the controller confirmed the headset jack on the bottom, similar to that of the Xbox 360’s.
Cloud Gaming
Last July, Sony announced their purchase of Gaikai, a Japanese cloud gaming service similar to OnLive, after buying the company for $380 million.
With the advent of Cloud Gaming, you can play Mass Effect 3 on Facebook and the like on Google Chrome while the audio and video were being processed on servers elsewhere. There is no question as to why Sony would not use that tech to their advantage. Last Week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the next PlayStation will stream PS3 titles. With the ability to stream titles, it is possible that the next PlayStation will be unable to read PS3 blu-ray discs.
None of this information is confirmed at this time, but we hope to learn more Feb. 20 during Sony’s press event in New York City, which is expected to be the big reveal for the console. Check our Twitter for live updates during the conference. We will let you know what happens as information unfolds.
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