Pre-E3 News: Playstation 4 is on the way!

[Pikminister]

Despite Kaz Hirai claiming that the PS3 wasn't even at the half-point, and that said console had at least a 10 year life-cycle, it was revealed today that Sony just started working on the PS4.

This all went down because Sony's investors wanted to know why there was a sudden jump in research and development (R&D) costs. Sony's executive vice president and chief financial officer Masaru Kato was forced to explain that the reason for that was that they started work on a future console (the PS4).

No mention at all if work on the PS4 was due to the upcoming Wii 2/Wii HD or because of those rumors of MS releasing Xbox 3 tool kits to the devs. Neither do they mention when this new console will come out.

UPDATE - MAY 27, 2011:

It seems that Sony is considering including fewer custom parts in the PS4, in order to save money in it's development and production.

This comes after they admitted that including such custom elements on the PS3 (Blu-Ray, Cell Processor) made it impossible for them to actually make a profit out of the PS3, until recently. In fact, Sony's games business only turned profitable this year. This after massive initial expenditures for the PlayStation 3 lead to years of losses for Sony. Well, they want to avoid that with the PS4.

Their investors and shareholders apparently liked the idea.




Source: http://www.mcvuk.com/news/44514/Sony...-PlayStation-4

[rewak]

I'd be surprised if they just started work on it, most likely they've been working on it for a while.

[Scream]

ps4

"i cant believe"

i wonder who said that.. Barry Burton perhaps?

[riderkid]

ok lets ballpark the price on this monster

900 dollars, maybe 1000 dollars? american? christ i'd hate to see the price in pounds or euros.

[Wrathborne]

Fuck Sony and their over priced rushed merchandise.

[RetroRain]

The game industry really has become pathetic. Quality and quantity of games, nah. Hardware and peripherals, no problem.

[Vector]

Topic title is extremely sensationalistic...they "just started" working on it, meaning it's at the earliest, still a year and a half away, probably more. Same thing with Microsoft's new console. Nintendo's "Project Cafe" will come some time in 2012 so expect Sony and MS to follow suit soon after, but this 'news' isn't really all that surprising, is it?

[Humor Tumor]

I'm not surprised they are making a new console so soon. If it comes out in 2013 it would mean the PS3 had what? A 7 year run by then, not too bad.

Now I just hope they don't rush anything just to keep up with Nintendo.

[Agent_Wong]

I understand the whole "We have to keep up with the competition.", but the ps3 hasn't reached it's physical limits yet has it? I don't see the need to intro this thing already.

[riderkid]

sony conference to be 5 hours long...5 fucking hours...they better be paying for lunch!

[killer7ITA]

I understand the whole "We have to keep up with the competition.", but the ps3 hasn't reached it's physical limits yet has it? I don't see the need to intro this thing already.

LOL or Rotfl? Xbox360 and Ps3 is OLDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.

I want Xbox3 and PS4 for 2012, THANKS.

[Darkmoon]

Eh, I'm just as happy with the current generation of toys. They look good and they seem to have finally gotten to a point where they can develop games at a semi decent pace and cost, so some games are getting bigger.

Don't really want the expense of new games, nor the increase in cost of development and time to make them. Unless the new consoles are capable of virtual reality I can't really see them being a huge improvement over this lot. The new Nintendo thing is basically just a Wii that's a bit more powerful than the PS360, from what I can tell, so I dunno what the other two are gonna do.

Still, technology marches along...

[Humor Tumor]

I think we reached the point where graphics are just going to get marginally better. Now it seems like the only thing they can truly improve on is function/speed.

[Mr. Spencer]

I'm happy with the PS3, it's still got quite a few years left in it. Same with the 360. However, the DVD format is very dated now and I think Microsoft will need to introduce a new format if they're going to keep up with Blu-ray.

[Pikminister]

It seems that Sony is considering including fewer custom parts in the PS4, in order to save money in it's development and production.

This comes after they admitted that including such custom elements on the PS3 (Blu-Ray, Cell Processor) made it impossible for them to actually make a profit out of the PS3, until recently. In fact, Sony's games business only turned profitable this year. This after massive initial expenditures for the PlayStation 3 lead to years of losses for Sony. Well, they want to avoid that with the PS4.

This next part is my take on this news bit:

Basically, Sony is kinda taking up Nintendo's strategy. That of using off-the-shelf parts to save costs and lower the price of their upcoming gamig system. This strategy has so far worked fine for the big N. Considering that they generally make a profit out of every console they sell.

However, MS is not likely to cut costs in such a manner. And if the Xbox 720 makes use of custom/exclusive/unique technology, Sony might be forced to bite the bullet and throw cash at their R&D deparment all over again. Hoping to keep up with Bill Gates's deep pockets.