Ben-DutkaOkay, so it seems Sony is talking about the "Orbis" with developers, which is evidently their new console (commonly referred to as the PS4).
And according to VG24/7 , a source claims that four versions of the Orbis development kit will eventually exist; an earlier version consisted of just a graphics card and the version shipping now is a "modified PC." The third iteration is set to go out in January and the fourth and final version will be handed to game makers "next summer."
It seems some US developers already attended a "disclosure meeting" and Sony will host another meeting in a few weeks time, when they will add more details about the console. As for capability, it appears Orbis will be based on the AMD's A10 APU series, and the ultimate goal is to have a console that can run 1080p games in 3D with no issues. It should also keep the optical Blu-Ray drive. Last but certainly not least, price- Sony wants Orbis to be "very affordable" but at the same time, they desire a machine that "isn't a slouch."
So when might this thing receive an official unveiling? We know some gamers would prefer sooner rather than later but me, I'm still interested in what the PS3 has to offer.
Blu-Ray drive = BC I hope.
if it's an A10 you'd better believe it…. WONT!
Yeah, having blu-ray won't matter. Unless Sony has a super premium model that will sport a cell emulator chip in it, bye bye BC hope.
Damn…
Daus, if they put a SPURS chip in the thing, it would provide the SPEs, but they'd still have to emulate the rest of the Cell on the main CPU and somehow get the high data transfer rates from the EIB in the Cell achievable over a regular system bus (which is really not very likely).
What a pile of crap.
That is where the cloud gaming will come in (Gaikai)
Okay I am clueless, what in the world is a BC? I tried googling it, but came up with nothing.
BC=Backwards Compatibility, I'm pretty sure.
x86 NOOoooooooo!!
Sorry, Highlander, better hope this rumor comes up false 😉
Can you explain to me what does it mean? (If.the rumor is true)
I dont think it's true because it doesnt jive well with other rumors.
As a point of comparison, AMD's website has their fastest A10 AMU (CPU and GPU on one chip) clocking in at 700 gflops. The fastest single gpu graphics card on the consumer PC market right now is over 3000 gflops. In other words, 3 Tflops. And that's JUST gpu.
TIm Sweeney said he wanted no less than 2.5tflops from the next-gen.
THis A10 falls less than a third of that.
Last edited by Temjin001 on 11/1/2012 11:52:08 PM
oh, and btw, a search on google tells me the PS3's Cell, just Cell, can preform at a theortical maximum (assuming all cylinders are firing) at about 230 gflops (low precision). Add in the RSX's performance to that and we're looking at a relatively meager next-gen boost 😉
I hope so too Temjin, otherwise my PS3 and Vita are the end of my association with Sony.
but where will you go for your games, Highlander?
not sure Temjin, I think learning Japanese and getting a Vita for JPN games might work
Yeah but some other rumors said it would run the built-in card + a separate card. So that A10 would only be there for support. no?
That's basically what Sony and MS are trying to achieve. Produce a powerful machine that is also affordable.
Since with how things are in the current market (competition coming from all sides) and how fickle the mainstream audience is, it just makes sense that they go about it that way.
I know core gamers will hate to read this, but whoever wins that mainstream/casual audience, will win the next gen war – that how the PS2*, Wii and the 360 with its huge dudebro base (8 year olds galore), were able to sell so many consoles.
Therefore, the PS4 needs to be affordable for that crowd but also powerful enough to satisfy the hardcore gamer.
In Sony we trust.
* The PS2 had a large hardcore user base, but it also had a much larger mainstream base as well. The hardcore software sales numbers pretty much illustrate that. Not a single (as in 1, uno, one) hardcore game ever came close to being bought by even half of the PS2's total user base. Who knows what they were playing instead of hc games. But it doesn't matter. They helped the PS2 to become the top console of its generation. The PS4 will need that help as well.
Last edited by Bonampak on 11/1/2012 10:58:54 PM
I just hope we get games like Socom that aren't aimed at the casuals.
The fact that the PS2 had a casuals in its user base didn't prevent any of the core games from being made.
Even on the Wii, hardcore Nintendo gamers had their fill (Metroid, Zelda, Smash Bros, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Sin and Punishment 2, Xenoblade, The Last Story, No More Heroes 1, 2 – etc.)
The PS4 needs to be inclusive not exclusive if it is to become king of the living-room in most households (screw the basement :p ).
Last edited by Bonampak on 11/1/2012 11:46:12 PM
That's some well reflected posts you did there, Bonampak. Good point about the PS2 user base too.
In Sony We Trust! 🙂
Last edited by Beamboom on 11/2/2012 2:29:53 AM
Yeah… Working at a Gamestop… I can tell you what the rest of those PS2 sales were… C. R. A. P.
Look at any Under $4.99 PS2 bin (where they still exist) and you'll see how PS2 had such high sales. Casual gamers buying utter drivel.
We just have to make sure that we buy the hardcore games we want. I've learned to buy certain games new, no matter HOW BAD I wish I could just wait for a pre-owned price a year later, just cause I know I may NEVER SEE that game again…
I NEVER trade my games in. As a hardcore gamer myself, I refuse to part with my collection! Likewise, it leaves a big void. Fewer hardcore games for sale, even used. Often times, we may only ever get a SINGLE shipment of new ATLUS games, and then, we may only ever get 1-5 copies… EVER! That's depressing. There's a reason I have no issue pre-ordering games like that. I don't wanna be the hardcore gamer left out.
So yeah… I bought a LOT of my hardcore titles new. Some I still haven't gotten around to playing (SO MANY GAMES IT HURTS MY WALLET AND TIME). Still, I do want to support certain games. I hate much of the kind of crap that get sold, but I know it's GOOD for the devs and the console makers. It's money in the bank, but it DOES feel like it's taking a bite out of the GOOD stuff.
I really shouldn't complain. I have such a backlog, I should truly wish for MORE time invested in FEWER titles. I'd be OK with that, but it only works if devs are willing to fund hardcore gaming by riding the coattails of casual gaming profits. I have a hard time believing this would ever actually happen
Imagine if Skyrim had working PS3 code! /)O_O(
Quick Bethesda! Release a bunch of drag racing games as DLC and use the profits to pay for a new team of PS3 coders! XD
Last edited by richfiles on 11/4/2012 2:27:12 PM
That's terrifying, no PS3 BC and no cell? Maybe PS1 and PS2 BC?
I've already got 4 consoles hooked up, I can't handle more!
Can't handle more? Are you, like, insane?
You can NEVER have enough consoles! If you're running out of HDMI / ports on your TV, then BUY another TV. (and preferably more cables, unless you intend on switching them out manually, like we used to do back in the old days of gaming)
Well, here's my first post of the year / month / week. See you all again after the PS4 releases. 🙂
Wiiplay, you, my friend have one, cool, avatar =)
If there's not going to be any more B/C, then this is very depressing news.
No BC, no buy. Personally I can;t see me buying an x86 PlayStation at all, whether it has BC or not. But no BC will just kill the PS brand for a lot of people. Hell, maybe I will even buy into the WiiU at this rate?
Honestly, we're purchasing next generation consoles to play and engage ourselves in next generation games. Although having backwards compatibility with the PlayStation 4 would certainly be a welcomed feature, buying next gen to play current gen just doesn't make much sense.
I mean, you've already got a PS3 for that.
Never quite understood the whole backwards compatibility deal. If you want to play a PS2 game, hook up your PS2 and play it. If the PS4 doesn't have backwards compatibility with PS3 games, then I'll just keep my PS3, and play them whenever I have the urge.
Honestly, is being able to play old games on new consoles really that important?
wonder when sony plans to use gakai or whatever
Well, maybe gabe was right, the cell was not worth it. Probably developers are more than happy with this specs, they wouldn't have that much trouble to develop games for it, It will be basically a PC under the hood. I hope it gets those 16G of ram, maybe there won't be such a big difference with PC games later on, since that's the limit on 64 bits Windows.
If Gabe was right, he would not have 180'd and started producing better versions of games on PS3 than on 360.
valve's engineers took the initiative, not gabe. No doubt valve can do wonders when they feel like, they even got a better version of left for dead on linux than on windows!
Current PCs can easily go upto 32GB RAM. There's no way a console can battle the PC in a specs war anyway.
Last edited by iwillbetheone on 11/2/2012 1:21:46 AM
… And speaking of Valve and Linux; with the current and remarkably sudden momentum Linux has gained as a new gaming platform I am getting more and more convinced that there must be a Linux based gaming console in the making over at a major player somewhere. It just makes no sense otherwise, all this can't happen only cause developers don't like the Windows 8 closed market scheme.
And that Linux based console I further suspect to come from Gabes men themselves. Yup, a Valvebox.
Last edited by Beamboom on 11/2/2012 2:26:43 AM
Consoles have the advantage of being a closed system that is more affordable and can benefit from consistent engineering. They make a little more cosmetic sense for a living room, too. I know that's merely an aesthetic, but to people who entertain guests, it matters.
Totally agree, Underdawg. That's how it is.
If Sony puts out a piece of crap based on x86, the PS3 will be my last home console with the brand Sony or the model PlayStation
If I wanted a crappy x86 system to play games on I would have upgraded my PC already. Tell me though, how in the hell does this piece of crap design differ from the original Xbox? It's nothing more than a closed box PC with an optical drive and HDD.
If this is indeed true, and not misdirection, then it shows what a sad state of affairs Sony has come to. What a total betrayal of everything the PlayStation brand has stood for since it's inception.
In a word. Pathetic.
Of course now I think about it, if you look at the game news over the last year or two, even the PS3 is increasingly a home to shooters, action games survival horrors and just about anything else that achieves an M rating though wearing, graphic violence and gore. Not my kind of game at all. Then again the kiddy crap that Nintendo pushes isn't my thing either. So I am stranded between consoles and between genre. I guess I better learn japanese and buy another Vita…
Last edited by TheHighlander on 11/2/2012 12:29:47 AM
Oh, one other thing, it sounds like some moron in Sony decided that very affordable was more important than excellence. Sony has always prided itself on the excellence of it's products, not their affordability. This is a true betrayal of Sony's own ideals, and the very ideals their own executives have espoused about PS3 and even PS4.
Morons.
Idc if its $600. I just want awesome games!!!
right! It'll be better than the ps3, x86 based or not.
Can I just point out it's technically a rumour… Jumping the gun a bit to accuse Sony of favouring affordability over quality.
Though in the end I couldn't really blame them if that's the case. They have received constant criticism from EVERYONE that the ps3 had a price problem initially.
I wish it WAS home to lots of survival horror games.
All the rumors (except maybe one) suggest that Sony is indeed using an AMD processor. Good luck learning Japanese 🙂
I gave up when I found out I have to memorize at least 1000 kanji characters.
I am relieved to see that the reactions about this hardware change is not *too* pessimistic among many of you veteran PS folks. I expected more doomsday reactions now that we got this practically confirmed.
I'm excited. My view is that for Sony and Playstation to go the more standardized route has a a well of positive consequences: Broader developer appeal, shorter development time, lesser cost to develop for the PS means potentially more games also in smaller/niche genres, companies with traditional developer competence might now include our platform in their portfolio, lesser production costs for Sony, less hassle and bugs… We simply get to fully enjoy our hardware sooner.
Yup – I dig this. I don't know about you guys but I bought me a console cause I wanted something hazzle free, something that just works, with minimum involvement from my part. I don't *really* care about what's inside the box as long as it behaves like any other box on my livingroom; It's there, it works, no hazzle. Period.
That's the *real* beauty of a console, isn't it?
Last edited by Beamboom on 11/2/2012 12:34:33 PM
here;s a doomsday reaction, an x86 based PlayStation is a steaming pile of dog crap that should never be allowed to see the light of day. It essentially guarantees zero BC with PS3, and is nothing more than a souped up Xbox – remember the original CXbox was x86 with PC GPU, which is all this piece of crap will be. Why should I buy a closed box PC when I can make one of my own with a completely free hand on component selection. x86 PlayStation is one of the most stupid ideas in gaming in 2 decades. If you had suggested an x86 design to anyone during previous generations you'd have been laughed from the room – as you still should be.
I knew you were an exception Highlander. We've been down this road before. I've already heard your groans. 🙂
I'm just happy not everyone sees things like you do.
Last edited by Beamboom on 11/2/2012 4:33:35 AM
Not half so happy as I am that so few people see things your way.
Why would that be so bad?
Do you *wish* for Sony to fail hard with the next PS and be met with a wall of hate? You must be out of your mind happy about how the Vita turned out then.
You're one weird guy. Still luv ya though. 😉
Last edited by Beamboom on 11/2/2012 5:50:28 AM
Beamboom, you god damn genius!
I'm streaming with joy because of your comment! OW!
If only companies could base their decisions on those ideals and expectations. Damn, we'd have one beautifully satisfied gaming community.
It'd be like the Canada of gaming xDDD
I'm entirely with highlander on this topic. If this rumour is true, it'll be a sad day for this Sony fan. This hardly constitutes and upgrade, nevermind a generational leap.
I've always been a Sony fan because they don't make the most affordable stuff, yet the higher pricetag makes sense to the quality of the product. They've always been the leader in cutting edge home technology. Remember the Walk-man? Sony. Same thing with the discman. Best cam-corders, Bravias, home theatres… etc. It's always never been the cheapest, but you guarantee quality if you can afford it.
I'd prefer Sony maintain that committment to being the best quality. It may have had scrutiny at the start of the PS3's life (just as the PS1, PS2, PSP, and I'm sure the Vita will be the same). In the end of the consoles life… it is known… the PS brand is king. PS3 is halfway there, now edging ever so close to XBOX sales. And in the end, it will have sold far more.
I want sony to continue that trend. I don't care about fan wars. I'm prefectly happy to silently know I have the best even if others don't realize it.