Just bought a PlayStation 3 console when I read the rumors of a PlayStation 4 coming out soon and all the mind blowing possibilities of the theoretically new console.
I could barely afford the PS3 much less worry about what its going to cost for a PS4. But, based on what Paul Holman (Sony Vice President of Technology) told TechEBlog in 2006, the PS4 will not be out until at least 2010.
Then there’s the rumor that the future PS4 will use the same existing cell processor that the current PS3 uses, according to a Japanese tech news site PC Watch. I’m not sure about that because if this rumor does prove to be true, I’d be sorely disappointed.
For the most part, why invest in all these upgra... More »
It’s just something that I have noticed occurring behind the scenes over the last year that I think is worthy of bringing up, as it indicates a growing faith in the PlayStation 3 console from developers and publishers across the globe. It does not mean that the Xbox 360 is any less important, just that the PS3 is definitely starting to get equal-footing on multi-format games.
Go back six months and more, almost every game that was multi-format was given to journalists on Xbox 360. Code came in for Xbox 360 debuggers (the devices on which we play unfinished games), promo copies were for the Xbox 360 and almost always games were demoed to us on Microsoft’s console when out at junkets across the world. It’s just the way it was.
Obviously being a multi-format publication, we actively chased PS3 versions of these games but they were rarely forthcoming, and if they did make it in, it could be months later. I sit alongside both the editor of Australian 360 Mag... More »
Goto Hiroshige has received PSX4 spec info from Japanese developer sources who received preliminary spec from SCEI for developer feedback (whom Goto refuses to name due to NDA).
- SCEI has sent rough PSX4 spec to 3rd party developers for feed back. Based on the description, PSX4 is a Wii-tized PSX3, no more than 2X as powerful.
- SCEI wants to beat Xbox 3 to launch. 2011 is the deadline, or sooner.
- SCEI pulled all its engineers from IBM Texas, and there is no new CELL architecture being developed. PSX4 will use same CELL architecture with improvements.
- SCEI will dump XDR and use s... More »
Some interestng speculation on ps3fanboy about the potential target date of the PS4 and cell processing. To quote:
Perhaps the PS3 was a bit too ahead of its time. The console was almost absurdly expensive when it launched -- and not just for consumers. In spite of an initial $600 price tag, Sony lost hundreds of dollars on every system manufactured.
The combination of Blu-ray drive and Cell processor made the PS3 a bit too bleeding edge, perhaps. A report from respectable Japanese site PC Watch suggests that Sony may be considering a cheaper alternative for the next-generation PS4.
Nintendo found great success (and profitability) with Wii by releasing hardware that was only marginally more powerful than the Gamecube. Sony may mimic that trend by having PS4 hardware based on the same Cell architecture as the PS3. Keeping the same architecture will help developers, many which h... More »
Sam Protagonist, a Sony Dev from the LittleBigPlanet forums, has opened a thread (linked above) to deal with any new information about LittleBigPlanet BETA keys with any Web site key giveaways to be posted. Here is what was posted by Sam:
Hi all, I'll be updating this thread regularly today with information about the beta and where keys can be applied for in this thread only. I won't be responding to any others, simply because there are so many of them.
LittleBigPlanet Beta FAQs
How do I join the beta?
Several thousand invitations are in the process of being sent out today by email. If you do not receive an email from SCE today, you will also be able to sign up over the next 5 days on a variety of popular gaming sites. I cannot name the sites here, however the LittleBigPlanet News Site will be giving out more details tomorrow. If any further places to sign up are mad... More »
Spare a thought for AMD and NVIDIA. They have been happily smacking each other upside the head for a decade. But at least they have been doing so safe in the knowledge that their GPUs are distinct from – and inherently superior in graphics processing terms – to CPUs.
At least, that used to be the case. Intel has now unveiled Larrabee, a co-processor based on an entirely new approach to graphics processing. If Intel has done its sums correctly, not only will the very definition of the GPU be unceremoniously defenestrated, but also AMD and NVIDIA's graphics chips could even be pummelled to the very brink of existence.
If that sounds like hubris, try this for size. Larrabee could also tear up the rulebook for CPUs, too. That's right, a single new architecture might just take over as ultimate all-round processor, eventually cannibalising sales of Intel's own conventional CPUs.
What exactly is this deathly destroyer, this harbinger of doom made ma... More »
When any totally new gaming platform reaches developers for the first time they are at the bottom of a learning curve. Not only that, they are usually in a big hurry to get a game out as soon as possible after the platform launches. So early games on a new platform are usually little better than the best games on the previous generation platform.
As time passes the developer climbs up the learning curve. How fast this happens depends a lot on the complexity of the platform’s architecture and the availability of good engines, tools and libraries. The Microsoft Xbox 360 has a relatively straightforward system architecture and has had very good development tools from very early in the availability of dev kits.
So we would expect developers to be getting close to optimum performance out of it fairly quickly. And this has been borne out by it delivering superior performance in virtually every cross platform game so far. But has the top of the learning curve been... More »
March 23rd 2007. This was the date that many Europeans had been anxiously awaiting, counting down to the day that they would get their shiny piece of the future. Expecting to find graphics that blew away the competition, and features that left all before it in the dust, many early adopters fired up the latest iteration of the Playstation only to be met with a system that lacked support, and had only a handful of exclusive features.
It is true that on launch day the PS3 did not seem to be the powerhouse, or gamer’s choice machine that it promised to be. Despite having great launch titles such as Motorstorm and Resistance, the PS3 was a victim of its own hype, delivering nothing more than a standard console launch with only a handful of killer titles. This was to continue, as time went on the entry 20GB system was axed, leaving the 60GB as the only option for those who wanted to enter the next gen... More »
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