Sony studios 'begin PlayStation 4 projects'

[Mavrick]

Sony said to be working on game concepts, although the console's tech has yet to be finalised

But PS3, Vita and Move games will remain the major focus for years

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.

Few in the games business expect a new PlayStation to launch before 2014 – the next few Christmases will likely see Sony marketing software for PS3, Move and its new Vita handheld.

A Sony spokesperson has declined to comment.

The discovery comes as rival platform holder Microsoft continues work on its next-generation system. Develop has published data from various sources that points to a Christmas 2013 release for the so-called ‘Xbox Next’.

It is a company convention at Sony to remain constantly engaged in R&D work on future platforms – in fact PS Vita development began soon after the release of the PSP in 2005. 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.

Many developers believe PlayStation 3, which first launched five years ago and has gone on to sell more than fifty million units, remains a high-end machine.

In a new interview with Develop, Epic president Mike Capps said it would be a “very tall order” to build commercial hardware that is a generational leap forward.

“I mean, PS3 is still very bad-ass,” he said.

What is clear is that Sony is some distance from finalising the technology behind its next generation console, and any early input from internal game studios will be a relief to the development industry.

Last year, Worldwide Studios (WWS) boss Shuhei Yoshida said Sony has learnt from past mistakes and is now asking game developers to help shape future technology.

“We wanted developers in meetings at the very beginning of concepting new hardware,” he told Develop.

In February, SCE chairman Kaz Hirai said Sony was “not deliberating on PS4”.

The company has built a strategy to support consoles with new games for about ten years, and the experienced executive pointed out that PS3 has not even reached its fifth year yet.

In May, Sony's chief financial officer Masaru Kato explained to investors that "future platform" development work has caused a spike in R&D costs.

Develop

[Wingman1977]

We still have a ways to go before that console will be on store shelves.

[hellmonkey]

Hmm, Id think Sony is aiming for xmas 2013. Time to start saving.

[Monkey]

I hope they aim to be the class leader again with the absolute best tech. But not coming in first in sales this gen might make them go with a different strategy.

[Musashi]

Originally Posted by Monkey

I hope they aim to be the class leader again with the absolute best tech. But not coming in first in sales this gen might make them go with a different strategy.

I'm figuring it will quite powerful, but not absurdly so, and not with expensive new tech. Way I figure it: more RAM (with more bandwidth) , an excellent GPU card, an 8-12X blu-ray drive, and a CPU that "easy to program", either in and of itself or by being compatible with PS3 middleware dev tools. For launch price, I'd say $350, absolute tops.

[silversnake]

Originally Posted by Musashi

I'm figuring it will quite powerful, but not absurdly so, and not with expensive new tech. Way I figure it: more RAM (with more bandwidth) , an excellent GPU card, an 8-12X blu-ray drive, and a CPU that "easy to program", either in and of itself or by being compatible with PS3 middleware dev tools. For launch price, I'd say $350, absolute tops.

I can see it as 399$. I still think they will use the cell but maybe add a faster version of it but add more RAM and a better GPU. Cell processor is really powerful and you can see the results in the Uncharted series.

If you make it faster or more accessible why not keep it so companies don't have to rethink completely the architecture of the console

[Mavrick]

I really don't think Sony will be aiming for a xmas 2013 release. icrosoft on the other hand can, as they are 6 years into the 10 year life cycle where as Sony are only 5 years in.I would expect a reveal at E3 2013 from Microsoft if they intend on releasing in time for christmas.

The trouble with Sony being the more powerfull console again is that xbox will be holding it back! You're only as strong as you're weakest link. And when it comes to consoles Multiplatform games are king for publishers/developers and they will always be limited to the specs of the least powerfull console. (remember Nintendo are the exception they aren't even spoken of in the console war as they are pretty much in their own seperate market)

So no matter how powerfull PS4 is it will be limited by its competitor, just like the PS3 is this gen.

[Maximus]

2013, $399.

Cell based processor, possibly an Nvidia GPU but maybe PowerVR if they get their act together. Definitely XDR2. BD-ROM 12x for superior bandwidth and streaming quality.

Those are my predictions.

[TheWildWhelk]

Originally Posted by Maximus

2013, $399.

Cell based processor, possibly an Nvidia GPU but maybe PowerVR if they get their act together. Definitely XDR2. BD-ROM 12x for superior bandwidth and streaming quality.

Those are my predictions.

What's your thoughts on system ram and graphics card? Devs want more memory across the board. XDR2 is expensive.

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by SonOfTorah

What's your thoughts on system ram and graphics card? Devs want more memory across the board. XDR2 is expensive.

XDR2 gives terabits worth of bandwidth with just 2GB. GPU is going to be equal to Nvidia's Kepler, or maybe with Maxwell features just like Microsoft launched with Xenos which had features from DX10 and a unified shader before ATi launched their card with shader model 4.0

[Elandyll]

Yeah, I can see a reveal at E3 2013 and release for end of 2013 (with leaks of photos and details as early as mid/end of 2012).

If Sony was to release a console in 2014, they would leave the competition at least a whole year to do their thing and lock-in the player base (and we know that with online MP, the lock-in does happen, contrarily to previous gens that had no online).

Heck, if MS decides to hurry up (doubtful, but who knows), they might decide to release their new Xbox at the end of 2012, in which case imo Sony should get in gears (pun intended) and try to release no later than Spring 2013 imo.

[KB24SD]

I don't think we will see PS4 until 2014 or 2015 at the earliest.

Hopefully Sony learns from their mistakes with PS3 and don't make PS4 a new console with a bunch of new tech that causes the launch price to be $599 again.

What most people don't understand when it comes to the $599 launch price tag for the 60GB PS3 was that the Cell Processor and Blu-Ray were the main reasons what made the console so expensive. Both the cell processor and Blu-Ray drive & media where brand new back in 2006.

[Mavrick]

Do you think they will go with a proprietary 25gb disc like Nintendo have with Wii U to avoid BD licensing fees?

[Classical gas]

Originally Posted by Maximus

2013, $399.

Uncharted 4 for the Playstation 4!

Cell based processor, possibly an Nvidia GPU but maybe PowerVR if they get their act together. Definitely XDR2. BD-ROM 12x for superior bandwidth and streaming quality.

Those are my predictions.

What about 3D?

In the console wars, Sony has a huge advantage over its competitors. They make both the console and the displays. Yet, they never seem to exploit this advantage. They seem to treat the consoles and the displays as separate products instead of part of a system, sold separately.

Sony has already announced that they are making a huge push in 3D media. I've always thought that Sony's reasoning for releasing a new console might have more to do with 3D than gaming capability. After all, 3D is basically an afterthought on the Playstation 3.

I'm assuming that the Playstation 4 will have the latest in 3D technology. I wonder if anything will be done to better integrate it with their displays?

[Bageara]

Originally Posted by Classical gas

Uncharted 4 for the Playstation 4!

That would be sweet. PS3 line up for release was very weak, Hopefully the PS4 will have a better

[Mavrick]

The way things are between xbox and PS3 right now is pretty muh head to head, and xbox had a years headstart over PS3, so I think Sony will have confidence to release after Microsoft for a second time. The only thing that really hurt PS3 sales was it's pretty big price tag for the first few years.

But Sony obviously wanted to make sure they won the formart war and that in my opinion was the only reasson BD Drive was included in the PS3. They took one look at how PS2 brought DVD to millions and knew that they could kill two birds with one stone by including BD in PS3.

They had to take the risk this gen, because as a company they had so much invested in BD.

With the Next Gen we won't have that issue. BD is pretty buch 100% going to be in PS4 and prices of BD Drives by then will be nothing. I just hope that they use some tweaked off the shelf chip sets to keep the R&D costs down, I think that was the biggest expense when it came to PS3. The development of the bloody Cell Processor!

There's no reasson why Both next gen consoles could launch at the £300-£350 price range.

[Mavrick]

Originally Posted by Bageara

That would be sweet. PS3 line up for release was very weak, Hopefully the PS4 will have a better

If the Vita can get a brand new Uncharted for release then I damn wel hope PS4 does!

[Blu-ray Fanatic]

So who's gonna camp out in front of their retail store the day/week before it releases?

[Mavrick]

Originally Posted by Blu-ray Fanatic

So who's gonna camp out in front of their retail store the day/week before it releases?

Haha why do that when you can pre order and just strole in and pick it up at a time that suits you

[AikonEnt]

Whatever the release date, whatever the price, I'll be buying it day one, even if it was £1000 I wouldn't give it a second thought, that's what credit cards are for