High Definition Gaming with Playstation 4

Though we have lot of gaming console developing companies running successfully in the market, Sony had setup a standard through its console, the PlayStation. PlayStation has excelled throughout the history of gaming consoles, and it has reached the level of replacing desktop computers. Yes, already PlayStation 3 has various extraordinary features compared to that of its co-competitive gaming console manufacturers like Microsoft, Nintendo, etc.

PS3 has a High Definition blue ray optical drive reader which gives option for users to play High definition Blu-Ray discs, which is only one of the unique features PlayStation has over the competitors. In general, PlayStation has a built in internal memory of several volumes of GB, which gives access to downloadable games directly from PSN to console. Rumors say that the PlayStation 4 will implement Cloud drives to avoid usage of internal memory for game downloads, so the cloud network will need expansive storage space.

PlayStation 4 is expected to have Blu-Ray writer features, which is possible on PCs at a high cost. It supports high definition video output and it provides support to connect to all latest high definition televisions. Almost all the latest gadgets support HDMI, but not all the devices provide a quality resolution. PlayStation 4 may have a resolution improvement up to 4096X2160 with 1080p full high definition picture clarity output. Most desktop computers are not even close to this resolution. PlayStation 4 also will continue supporting high definition 5.1 Dolby digital surround sound experience. PS4 will also of course provide support for both wireless and Bluetooth devices, allowing easy connection to a wireless keyboard, mouse, and headset, and supports other wireless devices to provide wider access and great experience with the device. In PlayStation 3 only premium version has access to wireless but it’s is assumed to be integrated with the basic version of PlayStation 4 itself.

PlayStation 4 should provide quick access to USB devices, SD & Flash memory cards, allowing users to play games and medias through external devices via the USB port and memory card slots. The PS4 has the high end power of PC processors and a GPU which provides ultra-fast processing and supports multitasking which enable us to use multiple processes at a same time. The high resolution graphics of this console will pull any PC gamer towards console gaming.

In PlayStation 3, users were allowed to install a custom operating system but later which lead to lot of security threats to the console. So Sony has closed this loophole through a firmware patch upgrade and it has become a huge setback in the Sony’s innovations. PlayStation 4 is believed to be shipped with a pre-installed Linux OS and it is rumored to have ability to support more custom operating systems as per the customer need–and we’re hoping this may be true.

Possible Playstation 4 users may be allowed to install new operating systems but sources say Sony might limit this to a particular security standard to avoid misusing the device. PlayStation 4 is believed to be the first independent gaming console which provides multiple operating system support. PlayStation 4 is more than a Power PC at the price of a modernized desktop computer. If any of this is true, prepare to let your PC collect some dust while you play the Sony PlayStation 4.

PS4 drastic hardware & design changes?

We already know the PS4 will have drastic hardware change, but what about design and aesthetics?

Sony’s PlayStation 4 is expected to have a drastic hardware change with more improvement in the speed and performance. It’s more expected that PlayStation 4 may use AMD x64 CPU and AMD Southern Island GPU. Though these PS4 processor specs configuration are believed to be rumors, the future gaming generation expects more realistic game experience.

Sony’s Co-competitor Microsoft is also believed to drastically improve their next-gen console, the Xbox 720. The cutting edge gaming technology has a top performance notch with the Southern Island GPU, as it’s very fast and powerful. Southern Island GPU is been in market for almost two years and most of the gaming console producers are following the performance of Radeon GPU family. It supports x86 addressing with a unified address space for CPU and GPU. It has a wide range of support to enable virtual memory through DirectX and OpenGL. It has a capability to adjust the performance during an overheat situation.

The cooling technology of this GPU gives a new energy for the console manufacturers. The Hard disc space of PS3 is proven to be inevitably increased after the success of 320GB slim model. It’s believed that Sony doesn’t produce any models less than 120 GB. The starting model of Sony PlayStation 4 will have 120 GB and it may increase to 160, 250, 320, 500 GBs and the maximum hard disc space model is expected to be 640 GB. Though Sony concentrates on increasing the disc space they are intended to stick towards the slim models as the recent introduction of slim PS3 models were all success.

Since PS4 games will be such high resolution, the memory in the console needs to be capable of dealing and storing this data. That’s why we know the PS4 will have high end hardware chips to provide huge disc space, but it’s expected to be slim and sleek design with a variety of colors. Now Sony concentrates more on the design aspects, as we saw with the PS3. Even though it was originally released in regular black, the PS3 eventually released in Classic White, chrome trim, Ceramic white, stain silver, Gunmetal gray, Cloud black, Charcoal black, Titanium blue, white and pink combo, Splash blue and scarlet red.

So, in light of Sony changing the PS3 colors, we wonder if the PS4 will be the standard black or if it will vary the colors and design to stimulate a more digitally evolved world.

PS4 Backwards Compatibility Issues?

If you look back the history of Sony, that have a consistency of allowing backwards compatibility in the Playstation consoles. All the PSX games were made available to play in PS2 through the PS1 hardware chip. But there were a few PS1 games which raised an incompatibility flag for the PS2. Later in the PS3, the PS2 hardware chip was embedded and which gave an adverse support for PS2 games, and it supported few of the PS1 games too. Also, only  the 20GB, 60 GB and older 80 GB consoles had this backward compatibility to play PS2 & PS1 games.

The newer versions of the PS3, like the 40/80/120GB consoles, didn’t support the backward compatibility of playing PS1 & PS3 games. Whereas the Sony’s next generation gaming console, which is codenamed Orbis, is believed to stop the backward compatibility. This is not just a rumor, but surmised due to the high definition resolution of PS4 games, since PS1-3 games lack the same quality of graphics. When compared to the other PlayStation consoles, this next generation console seems to stand alone on the processing speed and graphic display. As only PS3 games could reach 1080p, and the PS4 will be beyond that, it would be pointless to waste time and money by placing the chips inside of the console. However, the PS4 console may support few of the PS3 games. Hopefully, these will include our favorite titles, like Uncharted and MW3.

The PS2 & PS1 games are already out of sight, and the introduction of PS4 will erase the traces of PS3 games too. The inability of backward compatibility may be a huge hit to the console marketing but the changes in hardware creates a new generation of gaming experience which may win this race of next-gen consoles, despite the flaw of older games. The new generation gamers won’t bother about the old games when they get a life like gaming experience.

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