Playstation 4?

ITT we talk about the PS4. Here's what we know:

The RAM is most likely going to be XDR2-RAM. As a background, XDR (first iteration) is used in the PS3 (and RD-RAM in the PS2) which is made by Rambus. They are mostly owned by Sony, so it makes a lot of sense for them use their tech again.

The CPU is most likely some more intense version of the Cell chip. A roadmap of the cell shows the second "major" revision of the cell coming out in 2011, or so, with 2 PPU's (the main coordinators of the cell chip) and 32 SPU's. This Cell could effectively process at a speed of 1TFLOP. Also, the Cell being used again would mean 100% backward compatibility on the CPU side with no programming necessary. Hell, games would run even better because of this.. (and Heavenly Sword might have a FRAMERATE!! :O)

The GPU is rumored to be Larrabee. Larrabee is a GPU (video card) that is designed to be fully programmable. It's produced by Intel and is comprised of what can be defined as (around) 32 Pentium Pro's (or something like it) running and working together at a fast enough speed to render modern games as would a video card while retaining the programmability that makes it unique. API's such as Direct X and OpenGL could be used on it as well, meaning the PS3 backward compatibility should be possible out of the box innately.

Though these parts would be high-end when they debut in the PS4, their costs would be a lot more controllable than the PS3, allowing for a much lower price at launch. They might even be able to swing a deal with Intel for a discount on massive shipments of SSD as storage. With Moore's Curves (more apt title than "law") taken into account then SSD storage will be extremely cheap in high-capacity units by the debut of the PS4.

Also, stereo-vision technology seems like something that Sony would be into (note CES 2009). So..lower price the next time, with some stereo-vision tech and (hopefully) full backwards compatibility that not only plays but improves the prior-gen's games. That's the conclusion I'm coming too. If you want to research these things yourself Wikipedia and Google any of it.




Your thoughts?

So far I've passed on Sony this gen (although I do still love my PS2), but I would be all over any sort of stereoscopy, as long as it could be done at a somewhat reasonable price. Poor college student and all that. Other than that, sounds exciting. Then again, I'm never taking system advice from you again, Dan, because last time I did that I ended up buying a PSP,

Also, that emoticon creeps the hell out of me.

stark wrote:Then again, I'm never taking system advice from you again, Dan, because last time I did that I ended up buying a PSP,

There are good games out for it..I'd like to note some but my PSP is dead..so I haven't played any of them. ;_;

But yea, I understand passing on Sony this gen. I, personally, wanted the PS3 for LBP, MGS4, and the downloadable titles. Twisted Metal will also be nice..hopefully....

The only thing I've seen so far for the PS3 that I really wish I could play was LBP, and I can't justify spending that much money just for the one game. Not to mention the fact that most of the people I know own 360s, and the choice was clear enough. Not that it matters too much to me, honestly -- I just enjoy what I have. If I had a PS3, I'd probably find just as many good games to enjoy as I did with the piece of shit.

As far as the PSP/DS thing goes, in the end it didn't really matter -- I have both and play neither anymore, so oh well.

Okay, I take that back. Larrabee isn't a worth-while endeavor unless Nvidia is uberfucking Sony on royalties. Staying with Nvidia would provide free backward compatibility.

Also, this would be the first time in PlayStation history where the successor to a console plays it's game significantly better. Improved Cell is BC and a better video card would be too..and both would (most likely) inherently improve framerates. Hooray!!

Still wondering why Sony would go with that company that they allegedly did for the graphics chip on the PSP2.

They'd better not make different versions that either can or cannot play games from the previous platforms. They've done it with the PS3, and in a sense with most models, if not all, of the PS2, where you can play a PSONE game but you can't save on a PS2. If they fail to make a new system that allows us to still use games from earlier systems then I'm not buying one until they make good games for it.

I just can't stand that the PS2 can't save on PS One games and that some versions of the PS3 can't even play PS2 games!