Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

[Flawless]

Re: Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

PlayStation 4: Sony “confident” of pre-Xbox 720 release

The design goalposts for PS4, including specs, were in place at least two years ago, we were told. Our source said that Sony is “confident” it will have the console at market ahead of the next generation Xbox next Christmas.

“Top line publishers already know about it,” our source said. “Developers working with publishers – like Ubisoft, for example – already know what’s going on. They’re already working on it.”

While “most developers” will be fully briefed “by the end of this year,” some have been invited to events in May and June in the US.

Another source has told us more information is going to be issued about PS4 to developers under NDA in May.

We were told today that Crytek was scaling its tech on the assumption that PS4 was going to be using a 24-core Cell processor as opposed to the eight-core unit in PS3. The studio was forced to halt development and start afresh when it was informed PlayStation 4 won’t be using Cell at all.

Indications are that PlayStation 4 will provide a development environment similar to that of the Xbox consoles and PC.

In addition VG247 has been told that elements of Vita’s launch hardware were changed to ensure that PS4 and Vita will be able to connect in a similar style to Nintendo’s Wii U and its controller – due for release this year – with Vita’s being used to control PS4 games with both twin sticks and touch.

[LambertandHam]

Re: Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

Xbox 720: Blu-ray inside, always-on netcon required

So is Microsoft going to pay Sony for Blu Ray?

Noticed this bit as well

Xbox 720 will require an always-on internet connection as an anti-piracy measure.

[Flawless]

Re: Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

There's no other viable alternative and practically every company is paying royalties to somebody for something. Microsoft wouldn't be just paying Sony, but many companies in the BDA for every disc and obviously the drives.

[mestevo]

Sony isn't the only company in the Blu-ray consortium and the patents are actually held by Mitsubishi, Thomson, Toshiba and Warner Bros.

Its likely Sony and Microsoft with their participation in a variety of industries already pay royalties to each other in some form. This isn't Steve Jobs "nuclear war" vs Android here.

That being said, Sony probably can't afford another PS3 and needs the 4 to be successful from the start. Admitting defeat with the Cell, moving to a common architecture, releasing first... all keys to that strategy.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

[EnigmaNemesis]

MSFT using BluRay is akin to Vaio using Windows.

[mestevo]

Re: Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

MSFT using BluRay is akin to Vaio using Windows.

Yeah, dealing with significantly more revenue in licensing there than anything a Blu-Ray Xbox would be sending Sony's way. At best a few cents per disc and a couple dollars per drive, and that's not all going to Sony either.

[DaveDQ]

Re: Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

Did I read that right in that the Kinect will be a part of the system? As in the hardware? Then the BluRay player...sounds like it could get pricey.

[mestevo]

Re: Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

Did I read that right in that the Kinect will be a part of the system? As in the hardware? Then the BluRay player...sounds like it could get pricey.

I don't think BD players have near the markup anymore to be all that significant, we are quite a ways removed from the $500+ PS3 being the cheapest BD player. Either way, MS can easily afford to eat losses on hardware for a while to sell the console at a competitive price and make them up in the long run and on licensing for games.

There will certainly be multiple SKUs, even a rumored Roku/AppleTV-ish competitor it seems. Would be interesting to have an upgraded version of Kinect with every console, establishing it as a lowest common denominator.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

There is supposed to be a stripped down 360 released this fall or early winter 2013 as a stop gap to the new system. It won't have a disc drive and will be targeted towards those that want digital and streaming......so I wonder if it will have more than 4gb.

[Cabke]

Re: Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

It surprises me that they would alienate a group of people with the the always on internet feature. Granted, internet is becoming cheaper, but I'd bet that there are parents who want to restrict their kids' access to the internet, much like mine did when I was much younger. To me, I've always seen the 360 as a console for 8 years and up, while the PS3 has always seemed more 16ish and up, based on the people who buy games and who I've played against online. It seems weird, especially since piracy isn't near as rampant on consoles as it is on PC, that they would take these kinds of measures.

[CaptainZombie]

Re: Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

It surprises me that they would alienate a group of people with the the always on internet feature. Granted, internet is becoming cheaper, but I'd bet that there are parents who want to restrict their kids' access to the internet, much like mine did when I was much younger. To me, I've always seen the 360 as a console for 8 years and up, while the PS3 has always seemed more 16ish and up, based on the people who buy games and who I've played against online. It seems weird, especially since piracy isn't near as rampant on consoles as it is on PC, that they would take these kinds of measures.

I think some of this too is being done to also combat used game sales in conjunction with the piracy. One of my concerns though is that Sony is changing their architecture to the PS4, which means that everything we bought on the PS3 digitally might not properly work on the PS4 or could be added in with emulation.

[bkfount]

Re: Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

Xbox 720: Blu-ray inside, always-on netcon required

2 gpu's, lolol...most likely a dev kit setup. The Xbox 360 devkits had two until they put the final parts in.

Always on internet connection required?


Good luck with that MS.

I eagerly await the future where every game is a $60 digital release, people hit bandwidth caps, publishers shut even more servers down a year after release, and devs still whine about how games still don't sell enough.

[Cabke]

Re: Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

I think some of this too is being done to also combat used game sales in conjunction with the piracy. One of my concerns though is that Sony is changing their architecture to the PS4, which means that everything we bought on the PS3 digitally might not properly work on the PS4 or could be added in with emulation.

The thing about used games is I just can't see companies like GameStop or even Best Buy at this point getting behind that. I also can't imagine them not allowing backwards compatibility in some form. I could be wrong, but unless the technology is so different they can't in anyway have it in there, they're making a huge mistake.

If they do essentially ban used games, I'd totally get behind digital downloads if the prices are lower than physical media. There is no reason for them not to be without any materials cost, no distribution, and no overhead to pay the retailers that sell them. A $60 game should cost at most $50.

[mestevo]

Re: Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

If they were willing to dump backward compatibility from one of the most popular consoles ever (PS2) to their new one (in an effort to make them buy more PS3 games, not even as a cost cutting measure), then it is not surprising at all Sony would again abandon backwards compatibility.

If what's posted is true, they'd have to do what Microsoft did, and that's adjust their emulator on a per-game basis for it to work on the new architecture. Something Sony could have done once they removed all of the emotion engine parts from the PS3, but said it wasn't worth the effort (and instead republished some titles with enhancements to get consumers to purchase them again).

The history of digital distribution on both consoles (PSPGo, pricing on PSN, MS's Games on Demand) has me not looking forward to digital distribution one bit. I love the concept, but without retailer competition markdowns will be less frequent than what you'd see in a store.

As for support, none of the console manufacturers need Gamestop. It's the other way around. If Gamestop doesn't support a console, people will go elsewhere.

Here's an ironic relevant quote from Sony, before the release of the PS3 before it nearly bled the company dry:

"Backwards compatibility, as you know from PlayStation One and PlayStation 2, is a core value of what we believe we should offer. And access to the library of content people have created, bought for themselves, and accumulated over the years is necessary to create a format. PlayStation is a format meaning that it transcends many devices -- PSOne, PS2, and now PS3."

[Flawless]

Re: Both PS4 and XBOX3 to be shown at E3

2 gpu's, lolol...most likely a dev kit setup. The Xbox 360 devkits had two until they put the final parts in.

Possibly, or it could be APU + discrete GPU. The APU would handle GPGPU tasks (think of it like how Cell's SPUs are used), while the GPU handles the bulk of the actual rendering.