Sony will wait for Microsoft before unveiling PlayStation 4

Looks like there's still some time before Sony will show off the PlayStation 4. According to fan site PS4PlayStation 4, Sony won't be unveiling its next-gen gaming console this year. Sony Computer Entertainment Head Andy House said that all the on-going rumours about the PS4 were not true. This was backed by Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai during CES. According to Hirai, "It's a ten-year life cycle."

He went on to say, "There is no reason to go away from that." This basically means that the PS3 will still be a viable platform as late as 2015. Keep in mind that the PS2 is still an important platform for Sony, especially in countries like India where the console sells a lot. It may be possible that Sony will be going for a similar strategy with the PS4, releasing it in the next year or so while still supporting the PS3 until at least 2015.

A concept of what the PlayStation 4 may look like

It is also possible that all of this is just an elaborate red herring by Sony. It would be foolish to assume that the company hasn't started work on the PS4 in some respect, as according to earlier reports, developers have gotten their hands on the dev kit for the next-gen console. Sony may be trying to keep the progress of the console under wraps, if for no other reason than to build up hype.

Sony may also be waiting for Microsoft to make its move first. Recently, CEO of PlayStation France Phillipe Cardone had said that Sony would probably be the last of the companies to announce a new console. On the flip side of the coin, Microsoft France’s Cedrick Delmas said, “The Xbox 360’s cycle is not over at all.”  This may very well cause a stalemate between the two companies, with Nintendo reaping profits thanks to its recent launch of the Wii U.

Back in November, developers had started getting their hands on the new version of the PS4 dev kit, codenamed the Orbis. There are set to be four versions of the Orbis kit being shipped to developers. A previous version was essentially a graphics card. The newest version is a “modified PC”, and the third version will be the closest to the final specifications and will be sent to developers this month.

The Orbis is based on the AMD A10 APU series. An APU – which stands for Accelerated Processing Unit – is a combination of a GPU and a CPU. The PS4’s hardware is “based on A10 system and base platform”.

One of the biggest changes coming to the system is in the form of the interface. According to the source, the new interface will allow you to go anywhere while playing a game. This is not possible in the PlayStation 3 as some options require you to exit the game before using them. An example given was buying DLC from the PlayStation Store in the middle of playing a game and then seamlessly returning to play.