A lot of heat, buzz and gossip is floating at the digital Internet waves, but it seems pretty certain that Sony is to announce (not launch) the Playstation 4 on February 20. Sony has shown a "See the future" video on their PlayStation Twitter page that teases a new console. The new PlayStation will be x86-based and will use an 1.6 Ghz eight-core AMD Jaguar based SoC with custom AMD Radeon HD graphics solution. The new console is anticipated to be capable of running games in stereoscopic 3D mode in 1920 x 1080 and upscale video content to 4K-class resolutions (3840 x 2160).
"We believe the specs revealed by Digital Foundry on Eurogamer last month are accurate," says Tom Bramwell, Eurogamer's editor. "Eight-core AMD processor at 1.6GHz, Radeon HD hardware with 18 Compute cores, a custom GPU Compute module for handling things like physics, and 4GB DDR5, with 512MB reserved for the OS. Beyond that I'm not sure, but I believe DualShock will return ..."
I've heard interesting things about the joypad. Sony was definitely working on a prototype extension of its iconic controller, possibly featuring either a touchpad between the two analogue sticks, or its own screen – like the Wii U's GamePad. It could be though, that gamers will get the choice to use the Vita as a controller, doing away with the need to manufacture another game pad with a display. Whatever, it will almost certainly have all the extra stuff – rumble (left off the original PS3 controllers), motion sensors, etc.
The screen output wise there have been mutterings of support for the incoming ultra high definition 4K sets. Indeed, Sony showed off 4K televisions and camcorders at the CES event in January, and would surely want PS4 to act as an early cheerleader for the tech, just as PS3 did with Blu-ray.
The games: This is another crucial factor, of course. Sony still commands a decent roster of exclusives and many will be expecting at least one of Gran Turismo 6, Uncharted 4 or Killzone 4 (even though, when PS3 arrived, it only really had Ridge Racer 7 and Resistance: Fall of Man as tent pole titles). The next step would be to work on some timed exclusives – perhaps the next Assassin's Creed, maybe GTA V? Possibly Star Wars 1313 or enhanced versions of Ubisoft's much-heralded Watchdogs or Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. Microsoft and Sony must be fighting for this stuff.
