Rumor:Sony studios begin PS4 projects

[maxy]

first official confirmation,some "rumors" talk about dev kits in the wild

Eurogamer

Sony is working on PlayStation 4


Sony has confirmed that work on a "future platform" to follow the PS3 "is already under way".

Sony's executive vice president and chief financial officer Masaru Kato made the revelation on a conference call to investors today. He was asked to explain increased research and development (R&D) costs.

"For the home equipment the PS3 still has a product life," he said, "but this is a platform business, so for the future platform - when we'll be introducing what product I cannot discuss that - but our development work is already under way, so the costs are incurred there."

And it begins,MS is the only one left to join the party officially.

bring on next gen


  last gen

[Trent Dole]

Work on next gen consoles starts pretty much right after current ones have shipped anyway...

[maxy]

Yes,but they will never admit that publicly or even talk about it...for various reasons

Once they start talking,game over

[Trent Dole]

True enough, I wonder what they'll launch their new shit at price wise.

[maxy]

They would have to be crazy to do that again,it will be a much tighter ship next gen.

Speaking of that

Sony's massive initial expenditures for the PlayStation 3 lead to years of losses. This is something that apparently won't be repeated for future platforms.

During an investors briefing today (via Nikkei), Chief Financial Officer Masaru Kato was asked if Sony expects its games division to continue to maintain its recent profitability. Different from the major losses of Sony Group as a whole, the company's games business turned profitable over the fiscal year.

Kato noted that the main factor in the losses for the past few years has been the big difference in sales price and cost for the PS3 system. Sony even spent billions to create its own semi conductor facilities.

This is something that won't happen in the future. The semiconductor business is changing, said Kato. "It is no longer thinkable to have a huge initial financial investment like that of the PS3."

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/05/27/sony_earnings/




I'm totally sure in one thing,Nintendo Cafe will suffer some FUD from competition...in terms of specs at least

[Van Cruncheon]

o the sights i have seen

[Eel O'Brian]

$399 is probably gonna be the new norm as far as launch prices for consoles go

[cool breeze]

I'm more interested to see how they'd differentiate the system other than MORE POWER.  I think online defined this gen with all the stores, friends lists, and superior multiplayer.   

Not to say I don't want more power. GRAPHICS  :munch

it would be hilarious if Sony and Microsoft launched next gen consoles when Nintendo rolls out their current gen one.  Another gen of multiplat games made for the main two.  Unless microsoft does something lame like launch the next console around kinect 2.

[maxy]

o the sights i have seen

 

Nintendo should launch Cafe as soon as possible if they don't want to repeat 3DS situation.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

is it still inconceivable that the PS3 and 360 successor will end up being more like PS3.5 and 520, and if so, is it that unlikely that there will be some degree of parity between Ninty's next system and the big boy consoles?

Just askin.

[Van Cruncheon]

[pilonv1]

Prole is doing more to ignite interest in e3 than the companies themselves

[maxy]

Intel board/cpu combo that i can't even remember the name of

Larrabee

[pilonv1]

not sure where that would leave BC but hey.

oh the tears that would cause

[pilonv1]

"We can't have BC for PS4 as it would leave us at risk of another attack on user information"

"Thankyou Sony for thinking of everything again"

[maxy]

I wonder if they will ditch Cell?

I think that PSP2 will be "portable PS4" not PS3.It would make sense,they already mumbled something about single submission for PS3/PSP2 games and there is this whole PSP ports thing,shared saves.

Play the game on one device and continue playing on another.Realistically,you would still need to buy two copies,but they could make some deal--buy one get another one cheaper,devs that go on that route can be rewarded with marketing help,etc
At least they could test the market on some games were it makes sense.

It would make sense to go with ARM like in PSP2 case--put multiple cores,clock them high,boost them a little and find some decent gpu=win


 

[maxy]

Yes,that is a good idea.Nothing wrong in exploiting hardcore needs,they have the money,just give them some reasonable discount-people that care will bite

 

[maxy]

More fuel for the fire

http://www.industrygamers.com/news/playstation-4-unveiling-next-year-rumor/

IndustryGamers has now heard from industry sources (at a top developer) who wished not to be quoted that Sony is looking to unveil a PlayStation 4 sometime next year as well.

[Cormacaroni]

rushing to get in on this generation, more like

[pilonv1]

sun: is warm

[Rman]

Prole, do consoles still have the inside track on securing top notch hardware?  It's just doesn't seem like the PS2 launch days anymore, when console hardware was leaps over what was offered on PC.  Meaning, it's harder to get excited about specs, when iterative PC hardware just keeps getting better.

Furthermore, Japanese is development has been shifting to portables, so I'm not even sure about being impressed by the exclusives.

[naff]

PCs outpaced PS2 a lot faster than they've outpaced the current generation of consoles. Even in 2000 the PS2 hardware wasn't leaps ahead of consumer level PC hardware, just people bought into the Sony hype a little easier. In 2000 around $2500 NZD would've got me a 1ghz P3, a 64MB geforce card and 128MB of ram (along with an HDD, mobo and all the other stuff needed), PS2's raw specs weren't all that great but it def had some tricks up its sleeve and of course without Windows and all it's layers required for PC games to function across varying hardware meant with the optimisation consoles afford devs you still got some pretty great effects for the time with PS2.

[Third]

Day 1

[Phoenix Dark]

Just what we need, $600-700 consoles

[maxy]

Just what we need, $600-700 consoles

Weeeoooo is the future!

Nintendo

[Howard Alan Treesong]

is it still inconceivable that the PS3 and 360 successor will end up being more like PS3.5 and 520, and if so, is it that unlikely that there will be some degree of parity between Ninty's next system and the big boy consoles?

Just askin.

a ha ha ha ha ha

Weeoo = Xbox 330

real next gen is just around the corner, courtesy Sony and Microsoft

flow your tears, the xfe said

[BlueTsunami]

Announcing the PS4 and 720 next year should quell whatever (at this point nonexistent) hype in the Weeoo. Hopefully the Nintendo hubris remains in tact and they announce the Weeoo at an inconceivable price point for what they're offering.

[pilonv1]

who really wants new consoles right now?

buy a pc

[Lerkaboi]

who really wants new consoles right now?

buy a pc

im sorry i dont have 3 trillion dollars

[maxy]

It begins!

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20110704PD202.html

Sony will have Taiwan-based partners begin production of PlayStation 4 (PS4) featuring body movement-based control like Kinect at the end of 2011 for launch in 2012, according to Taiwan-based component makers.

Foxconn and Pegatron Technology, assemblers of PS3, will undertake assembly of PS4 as well, the sources pointed out. The planned shipment volume of PS4 in 2012 is at least 20 million units, the sources indicated.

20 mill is too much but i bet that Natal stuff is true


sfags :'( :'(
hehehe

Sony Kinect is given,Sony likes to copy but not without improvements...virtual reality

EG

Speaking in a video interview to promote next month's b.tween 3D event in London, SCE Studios exec Mike Hocking explained that Sony's recently announced HMD device could represent the future of 3D gaming by allowing users access to a full 'virtual' world.

"Another thing that's coming back which I'm very excited is the notion of virtual reality," he explained.

"So we have our new HMD – or head-mounted display - which was announced at CES earlier this year, and you can see that we can now get back to where we really wanted to get with virtual reality in the '80s.

"We've now got the power to do it, we've got the screen resolution to do it, we've got the processing power to update fast enough so we can have very immersive experiences on head-mounted displays in gaming in the not too distant future.

"Being in a virtual world where I can see my virtual hands or a virtual gun with all the things we can do in the gaming world is going to be absolutely amazing," he added.

 

one step closer to real holodeck

[naff]

Sony will have Taiwan-based partners begin production of PlayStation 4 (PS4) featuring body movement-based control like Kinect....

sfags :'( :'(
hehehe

Sony Kinect is given,Sony likes to copy-paste but not without improvements...virtual reality

Not copy-paste. PS Eye is reeeally similar to Kinect in every way, nevermind Kinect being a massive upgrade.

[maxy]

Sony will have Taiwan-based partners begin production of PlayStation 4 (PS4) featuring body movement-based control like Kinect....

sfags :'( :'(
hehehe

Sony Kinect is given,Sony likes to copy-paste but not without improvements...virtual reality

Not copy-paste. PS Eye is reeeally similar to Kinect in every way, nevermind Kinect being a massive upgrade.

I agree,mistake corrected.

[BlueTsunami]

Virtual Reality via Head Mounted Displays sounds great,  I really want this type of gaming to take root but the native Move shit sounds awful. Hopefully it'll be relegated to Six Axis auxiliary controls. It would be useful for the Virtual Reality aspect though.

Edit: Apparently Digitimes likes to post bullshit, so I won't hold my breath for any of that.

[Phoenix Dark]

The WiiU could trounce the next gen consoles depending on their initial prices. This technological escalation has a glass ceiling financially. Nintendo will capitalize on it until the prices drop and developers move on, but by that time Nintendo will have already won: huge profits and a solid userbase for cheap shovelware for years.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

The glass ceiling was already hit this generation.  Barring crazy inflation, no console is ever going to hit $599 again for at least another generation (this one will probably be $299-399).

As disappointing as this news sounds, Sony took a huge assraping this generation with the PS3.  The PS4 is going to be one of the safest consoles around.  Not in terms of security but I mean in terms of the risks Sony is willing to take on it.  They're going to be analyzing the competition and making sure that they have a PlayStation alternative.  A PS4 Kinect type control system would only make sense, given how successful Kinect is on the 360.

Regarding motion controls, I suspect that I might have to become a PC + Vita gamer.  Maybe a Wii U gamer as well, depending on what there is for software.  I just don't like waggling and gesticulating in my video games, which are often rare pockets of time for me to relax.

[BlueTsunami]

Dudebox 720 is gonna be the console to get nextgen

[Himu]

that is assuming MS doesn't make it a kinect fest.

[Cerveza mas fina]

I agree with Tsunami

They can keep the Kinect for casuals and make Kinect titles work on both platforms under the brand Kinect.

360 kinect will lure casuals, hardcore upgrades to 720. Wii u wii u is stranded in between...

[Himu]

I don't think console generations are every guaranteed. We all thought PS3 was going to clean up shop, everyone was excited for it in 2005, and...look happened.

[cool breeze]

Microsoft isn't so stupid to abandon the 30 billion people buying Call of Duty or Halo or Gears or whatever.  The Kinect stuff is to get a new audience.  Most xbros already gots a 360, now some old people and pregnant women will pick one up and seizure up to play tae bo or whatever.

'core' gaming is still super hot.  nintendo's problem (the one that made them rich) was abandoning all that and releasing a gamecube with waggle.  Microsoft and Sony will hopefully go tech crazy, keep the hardcore games rolling, and have motion controls to make easy money.

personally, I'm all for controller/remote-less interfacing with my machines.  I just don't want it in my games.  So far, Kinect isn't intrusive in video games the same way the Wii remote was.  There are distinct games for each audience, with optional features like talking to yourself in Mass Effect.  Same for Move.

Maybe if it becomes the default interface on the next system.  I don't know.  At this point I'm hoping Sony steals he controller screen from Nintendo and makes it more functional.

[BlueTsunami]

I agree with that. When I say "console to get" I mean the console that will be developed as a beefy system that'll interest me instead of anemic console to garner profits (WiiU) or a completely average console due to the initial high price point and needlessly exotic former console (the PS4).

[Trent Dole]

Either way this last generation was just a clusterfuck.

Indeed, fuckin' weird gen with the best selling machine having the least worthwhile software.

[naff]

Dudebox 720 is gonna be the console to get nextgen

Bubububu Sony first party  Serious though fuck 720, PS4 + PC next gen for me... Unless MS create something unique

[Diunx]

Pretty much, I doubt the ps4 is gonna have some crazy architecture again so multiplat games should be the same next gen and ms first party is complete shit so I don't see a reason to go 720box next gen unless ms gets their shit together.

[naff]

I doubt the ps4 is gonna have some crazy architecture again

Yeah, Cell is definitely dead. The only reason any cell processors are being manufactured still is because of the PS3.

edit: ok so I thought the Cell BE architecture was discontinued for further development by IBM. But apparently that's not the case? I haven't read up on this stuff in a while... Would be cool if they stay with a Cell architecture

[Sho Nuff]

I hate saying it but HMDs with today's technology would give me a raging stiffy the size of a Buick

[Mrbob]

Playstation 4!

HMD sounds awesome, and expensive!  I don't think we'll see it in PS4.   :'(

[maxy]

http://www.develop-online.net/news/38916/Sony-studios-begin-PlayStation-4-projects

Preliminary work on PlayStation 4 games has begun at several internal Sony studios, Develop understands.

A trusted source connected to the matter has told Develop that various game projects are at very early stages, though didn’t reveal which of Sony’s sixteen first-party studios had been delegated the work.

But Develop has been told that several SCE studios now have teams working on PS4 game concepts that could jump into full production if given the green light.

There is more

http://www.develop-online.net/news/38917/Sources-point-to-2013-launch-for-Xbox-Next

Microsoft and industry partners are working towards a 2013 launch of the next generation Xbox, Develop understands.

Multiple sources across the industry, from processor chip manufacturers to middleware firms, have told Develop they expect the console to be fully unveiled at E3 2013, months before its release. The collection of data points to a 2013 launch for the system across all main regions, though early 2014 remains a possibility.

Few in the games business expect Xbox Next to be in stores before the holiday side of 2013 – this Christmas and the next will likely see Microsoft marketing software for Xbox 360, Windows Phone and its Kinect motion controller.

Microsoft has declined to comment.

In further developments:

* Develop understands that Lionhead is working on a project internally named ‘Fable Next’, which will launch on the new console.

* Epic Games’ new Unreal Engine would likely be available sooner than the 2014 date recently given by studio founder Tim Sweeney.

* One source still insists that an EA studio already has rudimentary Xbox console technology on desks. EA has flatly denied the claim.

Looks like Weeeooooo will have one year headstart

[cool breeze]

I'd say the Wii U would be Nintendo's Dreamcast, but it would need good games first.

[maxy]

Dreamcast?
Not likely

Next gen Gamecube at worst.

[cool breeze]

or the Nintendo 64, because the 3DS is Nintendo's virtual boy.

sony can copy and improve upon the control gimmick again.  instead of one touch point, PU will have dualtouch.

[MyNameIsMethodis]

Sony gun own everyone again

thank you sony you are the best i teared up reading this. I can't wait for your products.

[Brehvolution]

I'm not nearly ready for another console at this point. Unless Sony comes out with Christ-ray discs or something that is a big step up, I'm not day 1.

[cool breeze]

I kind of agree.  I'll probably get stupider when they're announced because shiny stuff are shiny, and whatever games are lined up matter more.  I don't think I'll end up buying all three again at launch.  My Wii is plugged in maybe 60 hours a year, and that's generous.

[BlueTsunami]

I didn't even buy a Wii and I had a Gamecube back in the day.

I'm not sure what I'll do next gen. I think Sony may have an interesting vision with what should happen with the head mounted display they're releasing in November. If the PS4 is released with a supped up version (not together but as separate products) of what we're getting this year and with interesting integration I may buy a PS4 no matter what. With that said, I think the games I'll end up wanting will be on the Xbox 720.

[tiesto]

I didn't even buy a Wii and I had a Gamecube back in the day.

I'm not sure what I'll do next gen. I think Sony may have an interesting vision with what should happen with the head mounted display they're releasing in November. If the PS4 is released with a supped up version (not together but as separate products) of what we're getting this year and with interesting integration I may buy a PS4 no matter what. With that said, I think the games I'll end up wanting will be on the Xbox 720.

I think next gen I'm gonna get a 3DS (and maybe a Vita) to play Japanese games, and have my PC with Steam to play western indie games.

[Raban]

I'm with you. Aside from picking up a 3DS around this time next year, I'm not making the same mistake I did this gen. Just gonna wait for the games to pile up and the prices to drop and then I'll make my sweep.

I've built up an incredible backlog, so I think I'll be fine.

[Himu]

i hope to god ms doesn't name it xbox 720.

such a dreadful name.

[maxy]

It won't.

Xbox 720 = Xbox 720p

[maxy]

Speaking of devil,this was posted on gaf
http://msnerd.tumblr.com/post/11725284513/rhythm

This is a little something about Microsoft’s 2012 through 2014 platform plan. As always Microsoft and I are equally unreliable.

CES 2012
Win8 + WinStore beta
<ONM> CTP
Tango1 launch

MWC 2012
Tango2 SDK

MIX 2012
Win8 RC
<ONM> beta
Tango2 launch + Apollo announce
Kinect commercial SDK

E3 2012
Xbox SDK, 3G Kinect games announce
Apollo SDK
Win8 RTM

Aug 2012
Win8, <ONM>, WP8, Xbox Store launch

Build 2012
XAML+XDE platform
Win8 PU DP
<OSN> announce

CES 2013
Win8 PU Beta

MWC 2013
Apollo+1 teaser

MIX 2013
HTML platform (IE11)
Win8 PU RC
<OSN> Beta
Apollo+1 SDK

E3 2013
Xbox”loop” announce
Win8 PU RTM

Build 2013
Win9 DP
<OSN> RTM
Xbox”loop” launch

CES 2014
Win9 Beta

MWC 2014
WPN teaser

MIX 2014
Win9 RC
WPN SDK
Kinect SDK update

E3 2014
Kinect HP2 announce
Xbox PU announce

Build 2014
Win9 RTM (IE12)
Win9M RTM
<OSN+1> CTP
Xbox PU preview

Nov 2014
Win9, Win9M, Kinect HP2 launch
Xbox PU RTW