PS4 is codenamed Orbis, launching late 2013 - report

by Ben Salter Featured 25 Comments 21 Votes 1374 Views 29/03/2012 Back to News

A new report suggests the successor to the PlayStation 3 is codenamed "Orbis" and will launch in late 2013.

That's from a "reliable source" who told Kotaku the new console will include an AMD x64 CPU and an AMD Southern Islands GPU.

It is also said to be capable of displaying resolutions up to 4096x2160 to support 3D gaming in full 1080P.

Furthermore, Sony doesn't intend to make it backwards compatible with PS3 games and will even take measures to stop it playing pre-owned games with users paying an unlocking fee to access all content.

Those games are expected to be released on both a Blu-Ray disc and digitally on the PSN Store, following the Vita's lead of supporting both options simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Sony continue to deny reports of a new console and insist that the PS3 will have a 10 year life, taking it until at least 2016.

By Ben Salter - Tweet @Ben_Salter

Link to us http://pc.mmgn.com/News/PS4-is-codenamed-Orbis-launching-late-20

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PS4 is codenamed Orbis, launching late 2013 - report Comments

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Kudos: 28,423

chucky110

Even though it will have a 10 year life. Nothing is stopping them from releasing a new one. They did it with ps2.

29/03/2012

Melbourne Australia so deal with it

Kudos: 15,548

stygiaN_

even take measures to stop it playing pre-owned games with users paying an unlocking fee to access all content

WTF. So I can't even borrow games off my mate without having to pay an Unlocking Fee? Surely this is the same as buying a 'pre-owned' as neither of them were technically yours first.

29/03/2012

Kudos: 281,247

Gryllis

chucky110 said: Even though it will have a 10 year life. Nothing is stopping them from releasing a new one. They did it with ps2.

Exactly. So Sony's comments are irrelevant.

29/03/2012

The member formerly formerly known as ICC_06, formerly known as Ben.

Kudos: 297,579

Tano

Sony is irrelevant.

PS2 had a ten-year lifespan, and they are still struggling to meet demand for it in Europe and US, so it's STILL selling, and games are still being made for it (mostly just the yearly sports games though).

29/03/2012

"Niko! Cousin!"

Kudos: 281,247

Gryllis

stygiaN_ said:
even take measures to stop it playing pre-owned games with users paying an unlocking fee to access all content

WTF. So I can't even borrow games off my mate without having to pay an Unlocking Fee? Surely this is the same as buying a 'pre-owned' as neither of them were technically yours first.

Sounds like it.

29/03/2012

The member formerly formerly known as ICC_06, formerly known as Ben.

Kudos: 206,541

M@ndyz

Damn. The problem with that is that if you are lucky enough to own 2 it would cost money to share the games which is shit.. I had 2 xboxs at one time and my son and I shared games all the time.. Now we still share the one console but we have a few profiles on the one..bit unfair to keep charging for the game you have all ready bought in my case..

29/03/2012

Add me on steam........... bootie [mmgn] Or raptr.......... bootie101 Or wiiu. Also bootie101

Kudos: 352,724

Guyver

Well at least Orbis sounds better than project Cafe [Facepalm]

29/03/2012

I'm a level 5 Laser Lotus

Kudos: 5,363

Naruto-Sage

1 it should be ps3 compatible
2 if game shops sell pre-owned we buy and obviously play not pay extra thats just sheer hey i'll rip you off
3 it's starting to sound good but untill i see a spec sheet i'm not going to reach my wallet anytime soon

29/03/2012

Leaf Village

Kudos: 70,159

Kerosanak

Might bring down the price of pre-owned games for Sony if there's an unlocking fee.

Probably not, but you can hope right?

29/03/2012

I'm still kind of a big deal in the Capital Wasteland.

Kudos: 33,787

Blob

If both the Xbox 3 and PS4 can't play preowned I'll be Wii U only next gen.
Sick of the crap the industry does these days, I'm not supporting it.

29/03/2012

Your mums bed

Kudos: 21,753

Froggy

why does it need to be ps3 compatible
of all things that will just hold it back / make it more expensive
and il still have my ps3 anyway

side note, i have the 60gb console and i have only played one ps2 game on it in the last 2 years.

backwards compatibility is just not necessary

29/03/2012

Isla Nublar

Kudos: 1,485

Gaminggirl

@ Froggy agree totally. I lined to get my fat ps3 which still works very well thinking in was going to play ps2 games on it. Guess what as soon as i put heavenly sword in the machine i never went back to any ps2 games.

Late 2013 means probably feb march 2014 Australia im Excited hehe. Bring it on

29/03/2012

Adelaide Crows

Kudos: 28,342

W84NO1

Meh*
Am still very happy with my PS3 and so are many others ;)

Its still going strong and has more yrs to come before people start to feal its time for an upgrade.

Any all this info about PS4 that people are pasing about is all bollux and speculation/rumors and untill SONY confirm these details it isnt really worth getting all happy in the pants about :P

29/03/2012

It's not the destination, but the journey you take to get there that matters.

Kudos: 7,057

byrnezy

stygiaN_ said:

even take measures to stop it playing pre-owned games with users paying an unlocking fee to access all content

WTF. So I can't even borrow games off my mate without having to pay an Unlocking Fee? Surely this is the same as buying a 'pre-owned' as neither of them were technically yours first.

They said this in the build process when making the PS3, it is a load of crap

29/03/2012

RADelaide South Australia

Kudos: 4,807

gammaray13

sounds good but i will belive it when i see it

29/03/2012

Booker : Elizabeth why do you still have a dress on ? : Elizabeth : cos i have a tear in my stockings

Kudos: 27,730

stublu

Locking games to accounts, the end of the EB rent.

29/03/2012

Perth

Kudos: 28,423

chucky110

Beta said: Sony is irrelevant.
PS2 had a ten-year lifespan, and they are still struggling to meet demand for it in Europe and US, so it's STILL selling, and games are still being made for it (mostly just the yearly sports games though).

That's my exact point, them saying ps4 is not coming out yet because of the ps3 10 year life span means jack all

29/03/2012

Melbourne Australia so deal with it

Kudos: 1,237

Dino

You cant forget these are still rumours though.

29/03/2012

Melbourne, Victoria

Kudos: 14,239

abujaffer

I'm saying false. Not because I have some evidence supporting my claim (which I do, but nothing that 100% refutes it), but because It'll cause some major disappointment that might be completely unnecessary if this rumor turns out to be untrue. I'd rather wait until an official announcement rather than get worked up over crap like this.

If it does turn out to be true then... :'@

29/03/2012

3D world... where everything, even flat stuff, are in 3D.

Kudos: 10,254

punk

borrowing

stygiaN_ said:
even take measures to stop it playing pre-owned games with users paying an unlocking fee to access all content

WTF. So I can't even borrow games off my mate without having to pay an Unlocking Fee? Surely this is the same as buying a 'pre-owned' as neither of them were technically yours first.

not that will matter in the future to some as the future is physical media free which I'm sure they'll find a way to lock to one machine just to take the piss before realise that the 10gb of data you downloaded was useless.

29/03/2012

Kudos: 5

paddyf34

Well I'll beleive that when i see it

30/03/2012

Kudos: 28,626

stonecold

chucky110 said: Even though it will have a 10 year life. Nothing is stopping them from releasing a new one. They did it with ps2.

So true.

I tend to agree with this speculation. It can't be too behind Nintendo & M$ next-gen consoles. Think of market share. I would have guessed the resolution to be standard with the next SHD Tv's anyway.

stygiaN_ said:
even take measures to stop it playing pre-owned games with users paying an unlocking fee to access all content

WTF. So I can't even borrow games off my mate without having to pay an Unlocking Fee? Surely this is the same as buying a 'pre-owned' as neither of them were technically yours first.

Sony is thinking ways to make more money that is all.
Really its just forcing dgital distribution. (It's the future)
We will see PS3 HD classic's scaled to the new resolution, just as PS2 classics are now. It's making money from it right?

30/03/2012

Kudos: 14,371

Foetoid

"The PS4's GPU in particular, we're told, will be capable of displaying Orbis games at a resolution of up to 4096x2160, which is far in excess of the needs of most current HDTV sets"

This flys straight in the face of most other rumors, suggesting that next gen will be all about rendering and displaying in 1080p. 99.9% of current-gen HD games on consoles render at 720p. 640p, 620p or 480p, then upscale to 720p/1080p. Several developers have hinted that the Playstation 4 will be a definite increase in power over the Ps3, but only enough to run everything in 1080p native next-gen. 4K is still years away from being viable.

This would also mean Sony are gearing up to show off the Ps4 this year. According to Kotaku’s anonymous source, ‘select’ developers have already been issued development kits. If Sony does not announce the console in June, it’s clear this rumour has been made up, for giving developers a year with a new system is a pretty dumb move for any company worried about trade secrets. Nintendo only released the Wii U development kits about three months before E3, so the timing is probably right for a Ps4 reveal at E3.

All games have to be registered through 'PlayStation Network?' according to the source, which has actually been renamed Sony Entertainment Network; interesting that this was overlooked by the source *cough*.

I definitely call shenanigans on this. The specs sound right, a Southern Islands GPU and AMD X64 cpu to counter the 6000 series card in the '720' and the 4800 series Gpu in the WiiU, but the power difference between them all isn't significant enough to say the WiiU will do 1080p native (confirmed) but the Ps4 with a gpu thats maybe 50% faster, is suddenly capable of a 4K resolution? It makes no sense.

As for the "used game" information, i actually support it tbh. The used games sales industry is ruining the games industry. If the game doesn't sell well during its first few weeks, then its a flop, because all sales afterwards are usually used sales, and the developer and publisher gets nothing for that. Its slowly killing the games industry. THQ has had mass layoffs recently and will likely be the next big publisher to go belly up. And besides, this won't actually kill used game sales, but it will give the publishers more money for used sales. As Kotaku said:

"If you then decide to trade that disc in, the pre-owned customer picking it up will be limited in what they can do. While our sources were unclear on how exactly the pre-owned customer side of things would work, it's believed used games will be limited to a trial mode or some other form of content restriction, with consumers having to pay a fee to unlock/register the full game."

This is a fantastic move. It will give the publishers a way to make some money off used game sales which is a big deal. It'll likely lower the price of used games, but also in-turn, lower how much you get for trading in said games.

30/03/2012

Sunshine Coast

Kudos: 71,309

Silence

WiiU supports native 1080p.

PS4 will allegedly support native 1080p 3D. Even though the resolution says 2160, it's because the image has to be rendered twice simultaneously - side-by-side and then overlapped. So yeah, it's still only for 1080p TVs.

Whether or not the GPU(s?) will be powerful enough to support it, I have no idea.

30/03/2012

I'm from the Internet. Nothing I say is original.

Kudos: 14,371

Foetoid

Silence said: WiiU supports native 1080p.
PS4 will allegedly support native 1080p 3D. Even though the resolution says 2160, it's because the image has to be rendered twice simultaneously - side-by-side and then overlapped. So yeah, it's still only for 1080p TVs.
Whether or not the GPU(s?) will be powerful enough to support it, I have no idea.

According to the article, games will be able to support 2160p for non-3d games and 1080p for 3D games. Seems plausable the source got this wrong and simply means 1080p for both 3D and non-3D games.

30/03/2012

Sunshine Coast