With the Wii U already signaling that the first wave of the next generation of consoles will be here on November 18, Sony has made their move—PlayStation 4 developer kits are being sent to developers worldwide. Although Sony has been very tight-lipped about its next-generation console, there are some rumors that have been leaked.
PlayStation 4 (PS4), codenamed “Orbis” by Sony (Sony is going as far as to not even using the term “PlayStation 4” in meetings) is rumored to be using a variation of an AMD A10 accelerated processing unit (APU). An accelerated processing unit is a combination of both a central processing unit (CPU) and a graphics processing unit (GPU). Other specs that were rumored for the PS4 is that it will have either 8 to 16 GB of RAM and a standard 256 GB hard drive, although it was not stated whether it would be a regular hard drive or a solid state drive (SSD).
In addition, there will also be the standard connectivity options, such as HDMI, WiFi and Ethernet, but one of the more compelling statements was that the PS4’s “ultimate goal” is the ability to run in 1080p in 3D at 60 fps, which is a huge step forward for consoles considering that they have always been seen as inferior to their PC counterparts.
According to VG247, “We were also told that the machine will be designed to accept system and product updates in the background, and that it’ll ‘always be in standby mode’. When you set the console up, we were told, you’ll be asked if you want to allow background downloads. You can, of course, disallow them.” This will be part of a revamped user interface (UI) that will make for a more pleasant gaming experience. “They’re trying to make it as fluid as possible.” An example that was given was buying downloadable content (DLC) from the PlayStation Store and then returning to the game without having to exit the game.
Sony is expected to announce the PS4, or “Orbis”, closer to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) next year.