Fresh rumblings on a successor to the PlayStation 3 have surfaced on Kotaku, claiming Sony’s next-generation machine is codenamed Orbis and on track for a holiday 2013 launch.
According to sources close to the website, PlayStation 4 will likely feature an AMD x64 CPU and an AMD Southern Islands GPU, and boasts a resolution output of up to 4096×2160. Furthermore, 3D games can be played in 1080p.
As for the codename, Orbis is Latin for circle, or ring, which is quite interesting when you consider the fact Vita (as in PlayStation Vita) is the Latin for life – could both formats link up to form some sort of circle of life? It wouldn’t be out of the question.
Elsewhere, Sony isn’t apparently looking to include PS3 backwards compatibility out of the box, and Orbis will feature anti-pre-owned measures by forcing new games – either on Blu-ray or download – to be tied to a single PSN account.
Second hand titles will be offered on a trial basis only, and you’ll have to pay a fee in order to gain access to the full game.
Sony, of course, has been keeping mum on the subject of PS4, and has publicly announced that it has no plans on unveiling the platform at E3 as previously speculated.
The hardware manufacturer has reiterated on numerous occasions it has a 10-year lifecycle in mind for PS3, though at the same time SCEE boss Jim Ryan has said it would be “undesirable” for Sony’s rivals to beat them to the punch next round.
In addition, various sources have also reported that first-party developers are already busy beavering away on PS4 games, with one unnamed studio apparently involved in making the graphics technology for the new machine.
Stay tuned to PSU.com for more details.