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Originally posted by ScreamPaste
My thoughts: Nintendo scared 'em.

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Sony, who announced a $3 Billion plus loss last, week is pinning their future on a brand new processor which some are speculating will lead to a new Playstation 4.

What we have been told is that Sony is working on a very fast processor which is being developed with IBM, who was the original architect with Sony and Toshiba of the Cell processor, which has been used by both Sony and Microsoft to power their gaming processors for nearly 10 years.

IBM sources claim that the new multi core PowerPC processor, which Big Blue, has spent several years developing is now part of a joint development project with the Japanese company.

Sony recently moved to buy back the Toshiba Cell factory in Nagasaki for $600 million with some tipping that this will be used to manufacture the processor for both Sony Toshiba and IBM devices.

The new 32nm Cell processor is tipped to be capable of up to 16 SPEs which is twice as fast as the current Cell processor according to IBM leaks.

Japanese sources claim that Sony is gearing up to manufacture the Cell processor in bulk with some analysts tipping that the new processor will also appear in Sony notebooks and built into new Sony Bravia TVs.

Intel sources have said that they are also working on a new processor that will be ideal for future gaming consoles as well as for use in devices that are both gaming console and media hubs.

At a recent Sony conference call in Japan the head of the company's Networked Products & Services division – which develops for the PlayStation brand and Sony PCs, hinted that it was working on the PlayStation 4 but would not give any details.

"For the home equipment the PS3 still has a product life," said Sony's Masaru Kato who hinted that development work for the PS4 was currently underway".

He added: "It is no longer thinkable to have a huge initial financial investment like that of the PS3."

"But this is a platform business, so for the future platform – when we'll be introducing what product, I cannot discuss – but our development work is already under way, so the costs are incurred there."

At the recent CES show a senior Sony executive told me that the company had speculated as to whether they needed a new Playstation console. "What we need is a fast processor that delivers content including gaming and 3D movies to a display screen. That processor could be built into a TV a media hub for connection to non-Sony display screen with content delivered over an IP network".

"We will always need a means by which people can access content other than via an IP network, because in many countries there is no fast broadband infrastructure. This is where Blu ray will have a life after markets like Europe and the US have moved onto fibre networks".

As to when the new processor will appear Sony Computer Entertainment UK boss Ray Maguire told Tech Radar recently: "The online side is very interesting and is a big part of our business going forward. But in terms of what sort of technology we'll be using, it's far too early to say yet because we're only half way through the lifecycle of PS3 - there are many years to come on that machine."

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Originally posted by Impediment
In my opinion, Sony screwed up royally by releasing the PS3 while the PS2 had a lot of potential left in it.

Were they to make the same mistake by releasing a PS4 before the PS3 becomes truly "last gen", then it would be utter folly.

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Originally posted by Morridini
The PS3 is still churning out the best console-graphics we've seen so far (Uncharted 2 etc), so I can see no justification for bringing out a new PS console before it starts to look dated. Nintendo are allowed to go to the next console as the Wii is already last-gen when it comes to graphics and online capabilities.

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The stakes couldn't be higher for Sony's PlayStation 4. The original PlayStation set a ballsy precedent, doing away with cartridges; the PS2 threw Sonic and his Dreamcast pals under a truck, forcing Sega out of the console game for good.

But the PS3 and its hardcore gaming attitude wasn't prepared for the family gaming revolution. Its high price led more parents to buy their favourite sprog a Nintendo Wii, and many traditional gamers were enticed by the ever-improving Xbox lineup.

The PS3 lost billions of yen for Sony, and it was only after going to the gym to slim down and offer a lower price tag that its fortunes took a turn.

We think Sony has been given enough of a boot up the rear to make the PS4 a real showstopper, and now we hear several internal Sony studios have begun developing games for the next-gen machine.

So how long until Sony unleashes its new console upon the world, and what will be able to do?

Graphics
Call us shallow, but if there's one big priority on any gamer's mind it's the graphics. The PS3 is capable of outstanding visuals -- witness this year's big hits Uncharted 3 and Modern Warfare 3 -- but some developers are starting to feel the digital squeeze.

Graphics company AMD claims the next generation of consoles will allow for visuals as lush as those in Avatar. If that seems hard to believe, watch this tech demo by developer Epic for a sign of things to come:

If you think that looks swish, you'll wet your kecks when you see what Final Fantasy maker Square Enix has been working on. It's been grinding away at something called the Luminous Engine, which promises photo realistic gaming for the first time.

Try guessing which of the following images are real or computer generated:

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Pretty close, eh? The top one is the original photo, and the bottom one is pure digital wizardry. The trick is to simulate the way surfaces reflect every grain of light, and it looks marvellous. Gamers could finally play in a virtual world that looks better than real life.

Of course, the PS4 will need some serious processing testosterone to offer those photo-quality graphics, as well as 3D. Sony will achieve this by simply expanding the PS3's 8-core Cell processor to as many as 32 cores, Kotaku reckons, rather than spending oodles of boodle inventing another new chip from scratch.

But there's more to a game than fancy graphics, and a beefed-up processor will allow for realism in other ways too. One notable area is in artificial intelligence, where the wits of enemies will be vastly improved. Imagine those non-playable characters in Grand Theft Auto having a mind of their own, each reacting independently rather than running from your grenade launcher all at once like a herd of sheep than a panicked mob.

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Originally posted by Smasandian
That's not the reason they screwed up.

They screwed up because they thought people would automatically buy the PS3 no matter what the cost was because they bought the PS2. They were also pretty damn arrogant too.

The PS2 was old when the PS3 was released. Considering the 360 was out a year before, the release date for the PS3 was perfectly alright. The PS2 was "last gen" by that time.

But I do agree if they release the PS4 before the PS3 is up, I think it would be a bad idea. I believe that the PS3 can still create gorgeous games for the next few years before the need to upgrade. I also think the same with the 360.

The next gen consoles, I don't really see a reason for them right now. Graphics can get better but I don't have any complaints on what games look right now.

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Originally posted by Peach
Ehhh. Those two pictures don't impress me that much; not nearly as awesome as they make it out to be. The bottom one just looks too fake - they still have quite some way to go with making light react with surfaces and create realistic shadows properly.

Also, gameplay > graphics. Every time.