Sony is apparently keen not to repeat the mistakes of the past, with reports suggesting the Japanese company's next console will come with a reasonable price tag.
VG247 cites "multiple sources" who say PlayStation 4 development consoles are being shipped out to developers, and detailing that the PS3-sequel will be powered by an AMD A10 APU chip.
When asked if the PlayStation 4 -- tipped to be called simply 'Orbis' -- would feature a Blu-ray drive, one mysterious tipster is quoted as saying, "Of course it has."
Sony's aim, if the anonymous sources are to be believed, is to make a powerful console that's still "very affordable". That would be a savvy move, as the PlayStation 3 struggled at launch with a wince-inducingly high price tag that put shoppers off.
Other tidbits to be gleaned from the cryptic sources are that Sony's next effort will have a 256GB hard drive, and will feature a revamped user interface. The development kits are said to sport either 8, 16 or 32GB of RAM.
Earlier rumours peg the oddly dubbed Orbis as featuring some kind of tech that targets second-hand games, whereby games on discs are tied to a single PSN account, and will require online authentication before you're able to play.
That sounds horrible, but hey, let's try and keep an open mind. Orbis is likely to be revealed in the summer at the E3 gaming trade show, where we'll probably see Microsoft take the wrapper off the Xbox 360's successor. Nintendo's Wii U console hits shop shelves on 30 November, meanwhile.
Sony's current PS3 console was recently compromised, with an encryption key that could make it permanently easier for hackers to play pirated games leaking online.
What would you like to see from the next PlayStation? Tell me in the comments or on our Facebook wall.
Android App 
RSS Feeds 
iPhone App 
Newsletters 
Comments 6
Add your comment
Meleagru 2 November, 2012 18:36
I wish they would make consoles a little more future-proof. Going by the current hardware and their intended ten year life cycle, about half way in, it will start to bog down the gaming industry. Current games are gimped by hardware limitations. Also, Sony and MS think that you should buy several consoles despite a ten year life cycle, since neither of their products can last even half of that.
anonymous 2 November, 2012 20:50
To be honest, this ps4 sounds terrible if these are the actual specs of it. I'm guessing they mean it will have a disk drive instead of a ssd drive. Blu-ray? Where is 4k? It should have at least 16gb of ram. Games tied to a single account, no second hand games...What a joke.
anonymous 3 November, 2012 11:20
If there are no second hand games playable on it then that'll be the end of Playstation gaming for me, no way can I afford to buy them new. I rent games from Lovefilm - what happens there? What happens to all the smaller high street stores who depend on used game sales? I mean - trying to force people to pay top dollar amidst the biggest global downturn since the Great Depression? It makes no sense at all. Most of the people I know who buy brand new games trade them in after playing them, it's the only way they can afford to buy them new in the first place. Stopping used game sales will result in less new games being sold, not more. People will be a lot more choosy buying games when they know they're going to be stuck with them.
anonymous 3 November, 2012 13:32
People rent games, trade them or lend them to friends, by stopping that from happy the console will suffer. The trouble is very biased games developers and publishers say "if you don't buy it then you are stealing it" ! Also these companies lock some of the game away via disc locked content
If you think all games going digital will lead to cheap games then you are very naive. Expect to pay £50/60 for digital downloads on console
anonymous 5 November, 2012 13:43
@Anon 20:50
The story lists the dev kits as having anywhere between 8 and 32gb of ram so 16 is the middle ground here. As far as 4k goes that is supportable by the blu-ray and HDMI formats they will probably get a version bump but that has always been covered by a firmware update on Sonys side anyway.
There is no point in getting really excited until the later dev kit's go out anyway they often have major differences from the final hardware.
anonymous 24 November, 2012 21:09
im sorry but if you were expecting 4k grpahics your a idiot the game industry is struggling because of the prices and the next gen need to be well priced otherwise people wont see the value in a new console. all i want is 1080p 60fps 3D and great games. all three next gens will be round the same wii u will be the ps2 of this gen worst graphics but it wont be a wii to ps3 gap and the console with the best exculsives will win. :D