Playstation 4 Rumors: Throw Water On The Fire

It seems like forever since the latest video game consoles came out.  The current generation consoles, including the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii, have truly revolutionized gaming by leaps and bounds.  They took graphics, game play, and accessories to a new level.

While the Wii jumped out to an early lead, the Playstation 3 soon picked up steam  – powered by games such as God of War.  The X Box 360 stayed relevant with such titles as Halo.  But now, it’s time to look forward to the next generation of games, which will include updated consoles form all the major manufacturers.

In this article we will focus on the upcoming console release from Playtation.  We will be taking a brief look at the rumored specs of the upcoming console.  But, we will focus on one of the more controversial aspects of the new system, one which has outraged much of the gaming community, and threatens to change gaming forever.

Playstation 4 Rumors

The specs for the PS4 will have to be impressive in order to live up to the expectations.  The Playstation 3 was a huge leap from the Playstation 2.  But, with the PS3 having been launched in November 2006, we should expect to see some serious upgrades by the time the Playsation 4 is finally released sometime in 2013.  The PS4, which has reportedly been code named “Orbis” is expected to pack some serious computing power.  The CPU in the Orbis is expected to triple the current processing power of the PS3 – from 3.2 GHz to 9.66 GHz.

The PS4 is expected to keep the Blu-Ray drive.  If you remember, the PS3 really helped to make the Blu-Ray technology the preferred DVD technology over HD-DVD.  Sony is expected to keep with this technology going forward.  Though there had been rumors that Sony would switch over to the HD DVD format for the Playstation 4, there is really no need to believe the rumor right now.

Another rumor that has been floating around is the idea that the actual CD based gaming model may be going the way of the dodo bird.  Speculation has it that the PS4 may be one of the first major steps, as far as consoles, which would allow users to play, real time, over the internet in what is known as Gaikai Cloud.  Sony bought  a company by that name for $380 million – and it appears they are going to potentially make use of the technology  which Gaikai had developed in order to offer the streaming gaming service.  The service will be able to be delivered wherever there is adequate hardware and and a strong internet connection.  The downside of this technology is that a temporary internet service slowdown could really affect gaming in a negative way.

On very interesting, and troubling, aspect of the rumors regarding the PS4 may not offer backward compatibility with the PS3. This rumor has actually taken on a life of its own within the gaming community.  There are various forms of the rumor, one actually suggesting that the new console will have the ability to prevent the user from playing used games altogether.  The rumors say that the games will be available for purchase through blu-ray disc, or by download to the PS4, but will be locked to a single account.

This is a highly suspicious revelation about the new console.  There has been so much talk about it in forums and chat rooms, that many avid gamers have sworn off the new Sony platform before any announcement is made, or official information released.  The rumors have been so detailed that even the hopes of some to circumvent the restrictions have been dashed.  For all those hoping to simply remain offline in order to get around the restriction, apparently Sony has that covered as well – in order to boot up the machine the user will be forced to be connected to the Playsation Network, which is an online service.

This rumor is curious for various reasons.  Firstly, similar rumors have been bandied about regarding the next installment of the X Box series as well.  The actual source for the rumor seems to usually be an unidentified industry source, but never an official release.  One immediately thinks about such businesses as GameStop, which would supposedly have sold millions of Sony titles over the years, both new and used.  If Sony were to prevent used games from being playable, this could certainly take a huge bite out of the company’s revenue’s.  One would question whether GameStop and similar companies could even survive given the loss of such a significant revenue stream.

Another thing the company would have to take into consideration is the cost of the game.  Would the end user be willing to pay the same price for a game that they would never be able to re-sell or trade?  It would seem that many customers purchase the games with at least the thought in mind that the game will continue to have some value down the line.

Others have asked about the rentals market.  This shows just that these kinds of decisions, to lock out the ability to replay a title, can have wide ranging ripple effects both witin the industry and without.

The arrival of the next generation of video game consoles has created a lot of excitement among gamers.   But where there used to be excitement about what the graphics will look like and what kind of computing power will be brought to bear, now that excitement has been mixed in with a great deal of trepidation.  The fact is that the internet has brought gaming to new heights of interactive connectivity.

But, the future of gaming may be forever changed by the advent of the internet and other recent technologies.  Where gaming used to be something done on a console, and a game used to be something a person owned, it appears that in the near future gaming will be done wherever the user happens to be, and a game will be more like something which is licensed on a limited play basis.

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Comments

  1. Triple processing power does not equal processor speed. Your 9.6 GHz claim is beyond ridiculous unless you know more than Intel or IBM do about physics.

  2. Published on Apr 4, 2012 by playinfinite
    The PlayStation 4, reportedly codenamed Orbis, may utilize custom chips based on AMD’s A8-3850 APU and Radeon HD 7670 GPU, sources have told IGN, offering the combined performance of both integrated and discrete graphics processors.

    According to the official product specs, the A8-3850 packs a quad-core 2.9GHz processor with an integrated graphics chip. The APU will work in tandem with the system’s dedicated GPU, the HD 7670, a DirectX 11-enabled card clocked to 1GHz with up to 1GB of dedicated VRAM.
    Derp. Decimals are significant on this planet.

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