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PS4 speculation

 
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Yuri



Joined: 28 Aug 2007
Posts: 162

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 1:01 am    Post subject: PS4 speculation Reply with quote

With recurring rumors that PlayStation 4 would be introduced to the world at the 2012 E3, even if it’s not true (surely it will arrive at some point) it could be interesting to speculate on its features. Such as: will it have an integrated optical drive, like all three earlier generations? My guess is it will.

Of course, by the time PS4 launches online delivery will be essential but an ODD need not be an expensive one like Blu-ray Disc was at the time PS3 launched. There is no real next-generation optical disc standard after BD anyway, and BD drives will be dirt-cheap by then. Optical discs are simply a cheap and convenient solution for distributing gigabytes.

So my guess is PS4 will feature a BD drive – likely a slightly more advanced format like the current BDXL (read-only of course – most BDXL drives right now are probably writers). It may of course be some proprietary Sony variant. Something analogous to Sony’s Double-Density CD format which sat between CD and DVD. Or perhaps a more appropriate analogy: Sega’s 1.2-GB GD-ROM format for Dreamcast.

Then: will PS4 support SACD? I doubt that after the disappointment of finding so little overlap between audiophiles and gamers with PS3 SCE will go that way, although the same logic may still apply.
Will DSD Disc format be supported? That probably depends on whether the architecture of PS4 is similar to PS3. If so, they may be able to re-use/port the software for that.

Hopefully PS4 will have better support for downloadable high-resolution/multi-channel audio than PS3, although there’s no reason why PS3 couldn’t. It’s only a matter of software – and support with content on PSN of course. If it can play such content from disc then why not from disk?
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Brandon B



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 392

PostPosted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 2:47 am    Post subject: Re: PS4 speculation Reply with quote

Yuri wrote:
Then: will PS4 support SACD? I doubt that after the disappointment of finding so little overlap between audiophiles and gamers with PS3 SCE will go that way, although the same logic may still apply.


I agree it will almost certainly not support SACD. But I also know I personally saw at least 15 or 20 people (mostly blu-ray fans but a few gamers) online who became interested in SACD after seeing their PS3 supported it.
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The Seventh Taylor



Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 401

PostPosted: Sun Feb 12, 2012 12:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

On the topic of next-generation console speculation: I understand Blu-ray Disc has been confirmed for the next Xbox.

By the way, I think they'd better call it Xbox 1080 (3x360) than ~720 because 1080 lines is more likely to be the native resolution than 720 (though it might find itself competing with a PlayStation 4K :-)
Perhaps they could bundle it with a copy of 1080°, the snowboarding game...

But more interesting questions about the 8th generation of consoles: Why assume that the three (main) players will be the same as in the current generation? Sure, the 7th generation had the same three companies as the 6th -- Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft -- but that was the first time ever. Is this perhaps the strongest sign that the videogames business is maturing?

For years I’ve been expecting Apple to enter this business, because the closed model and the focus on advanced graphics plays so well to theirs strengths, but now I think they're too much caught up in iPhone & iPad and creating a gaming universe on them, plus Apple TV for the (near?) future. Unless of course that's going to be a powerful set-top box that runs lots of things including games, making it effectively a console contender.

But what about Samsung? They've beating Sony in TVs and in mobiles and are working hard to beat the current #1 CE manufacturer, Apple. When are they going to claim their stake in this field?
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Brandon B



Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 392

PostPosted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 5:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I guarantee you there will be a rev to the existing appleTV in the next 12 months that will:

Have a new processor similar to the iphone and ipad
Play apps that those devices will play
and allow you play games on your device (ipad or iphone) using the device as a controller and your appleTV connected to your TV as the display.

All the pieces are in place except that rev of the Apple hardware.

Samsung is late to this game (if they are coming).
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The Seventh Taylor



Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 401

PostPosted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 8:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Brandon B wrote:
Samsung is late to this game (if they are coming).

Haha, of course. But Sony was considered late to this game when it announced it would join the fray where Nintendo and Sega were established, and obviously Microsoft was even later.

The funny thing is that until the 6th generation when PS2 won again, until then basically every cycle had brought a new winner. Ok, Sega didn't beat Nintendo by numbers with the Genesis/MegaDrive but they made such a splash that they could be regarded winners of the 16-bit generation.
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Yuri



Joined: 28 Aug 2007
Posts: 162

PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 6:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, here we have it: Codename 'Orbis', due Q4 2013, details here:

http://kotaku.com/5896996/the-next-playstation-is-called-orbis-sources-say-here-are-the-details

I still expect to see a PS3 Ultra Slim well before that time, as I predicted in this other thread.
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The Seventh Taylor



Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 401

PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 8:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Let's not forget to mention Microsoft is also working on a Lite version of their current console, (code?)named Xbox Loop.

http://www.reghardware.com/2012/03/26/microsoft_set_to_launch_xbox_lite_in_2013/
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Yuri



Joined: 28 Aug 2007
Posts: 162

PostPosted: Thu Mar 29, 2012 11:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Right, but what I don't understand: Is this just a cheaper, more compact version of Xbox 360 that's 100% compatible with all titles out there, or is it some kind of dressed-down console that plays only a subset of games? They're changing CPU to ARM. That sounds like a very risky gamble to take with an established game platform.
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The Seventh Taylor



Joined: 17 Aug 2007
Posts: 401

PostPosted: Fri Mar 30, 2012 1:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In this discussion, 'MS Nerd' writes:
Quote:
My understanding is that we'll see a Xbox device in late 2013 which does Arcade-style games & all the current & future media apps with Kinect (with near-mode). It will be an ARM-based platform price-competitive with the Apple TV (if you own a Kinect already).

What an interesting switch to see Sony switch to x86 architecture, like the 1st-generation Xbox used, and MS to switch to ARM, like PSP and other portables use.

Also interesting that IBM appears to be losing its near-monopoly in this industry with their Power architecture, only partly in the way predicted by Semicast.

Also, I had expected that if any of the platform owners were to switch to AMD they'd be using a Fusion processor as CPU+GPU.
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Yuri



Joined: 28 Aug 2007
Posts: 162

PostPosted: Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This article seems to affirm my prediction about PS4's ODD:

http://www.reghardware.com/2012/05/31/sony_playstation_4_will_not_be_download_only/

Quote:
Sony PlayStation 4 will not be download only

Disc not slipped


By Tony Smith • 31st May 2012 09:05 GMT

Sony's next PlayStation will feature an optical drive - Blu-ray, presumably - after all. Plans to drop disc and go download only have been seemingly shelved.

The change of mind was signalled by the inevitably anonymous moles claimed to be familiar with what the Japanese giant is up to.

They also told the Wall Street Journal that the current thinking at Sony is that the 'PS4' will be out in time for the 2013 Christmas sales season, though whether that's a global launch point or, as before, Japan first, isn't clear.

Games are increasingly being acquired through downloads rather than physical media, with Valve's Steam service leading the way, albeit in the computer rather than console arena.

But Sony, it seems, feels that too many punters either want physical media - which they can, of course, sell when they've finished with the game - or lack sufficiently broad broadband to cope with multi-gigabyte downloads.

Fitting an optical drive to a console adds about $20 (£13) to the Bill of Materials (BoM), worth dropping in these margin-obsessed times. So it's perhaps not hard to imagine Sony - Microsoft too, for that matter, since it has been struggling with the notion of dropping optical drives - offering a disc-less console alongside a premium model to see where the punters stand on the matter.

Earlier this year, it was claimed that Microsoft was considering getting rid of the next Xbox's optical disc, though it now looks that that will not be the case. ®
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