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Right now none of the major console developers are revealing all that much about their next generation consoles, although Nintendo is probably the most forthcoming about the Wii U. There are also some indications that Microsoft may reveal the Xbox 720 later this year at E3 (although Microsoft doesn’t offer much encouraging commentary on this rumor), but we’re hearing less from Sony than the other developers. We know that the PlayStation 4 is under development right now, but aside from that details are sparse.
There are some things we can glean about the PS4 though from the changing of the guard at Sony. Howard Stringer, President of Sony, is resigning from his position, to be replaced by Mr. Kaz Hirai. Hirai is currently the president of the Sony Computer Entertainment division. Since Hirai is supposed to take over Stringer’s post, it is possible this indicates the growing importance of the PS4 in Sony’s repertoire. PS4 is perhaps going to take front and center position as Sony’s flagship product.
Stringer has also stated that Hirai’s promotion is due in part to his knowledge of cloud technology. This could indicate that Sony intends to utilize the cloud as an important aspect of the PlayStation 4’s operation. This would be in line with the current trend in gaming technology. Sony has also stated that the PS4 will be an “experience” and not just another product—and furthermore, the PlayStation Network has been renamed to the Sony Entertainment Network. All of these changes point toward the next console being more than just a gaming platform. The PlayStation 4 will probably be an all around entertainment center capable of displaying videos and playing music as well as operating console games. We will likely see this trend with the Wii U and the Xbox 720 as well.
If you were looking forward to this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in the hopes that Sony would be unveiling the PlayStation 4 there in June, unfortunately you’ll need to recover from your dashed hopes. Sony has refuted the rumor of a PS4 unveiling at this year’s E3 trade show. Sony has stated bluntly that there are no plans at this point to make any PlayStation 4 related announcements at the convention.
Kaz Hirai, the head of Sony’s gaming and consumer electronics division made the correction during the CES roundtable event. Hirai also said, “I’ve always said a 1-year life cycle for the PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that.”
Does this mean we’ll be waiting until 2016 for the PlayStation 4? Fortunately, there is no direct implication from Hirai’s statement that we’ll have to wait four years for the next console. After all, the PlayStation 3 wasn’t released a full decade after the PlayStation 2. The PS2 was launched in 2000—and even after the PlayStation 3 was launched in 2006; the PS2 continued to sell very well for quite some time. There is a big overlap in the sales cycle. It’s true that the PS3 still has a lot of life left in it. But it’s on that same token that we won’t necessarily see Sony waiting until that life cycle is up to release a new product. Some overlap would make more business sense.
Nonetheless, that doesn’t leave us with much indication as to when the PS4 may actually be released. The rumor is that Microsoft is planning to release the Xbox 720 sometime next year—although Microsoft, like Sony, has been less than encouraging on that front, insisting that the Xbox 360 also has a lot of life left in it and room for more development. One thing is for sure, though. If Microsoft chooses to make an announcement, Sony probably won’t want to be left behind. Whenever we do finally see one of these console giants stepping up to the plate, the other won’t be far behind.
Sony is well known for the exciting lineup for first party gaming content which is exclusive to PlayStation 3. While developing first party games does cost a lot of money, Sony is determined to stay the course with fresh, exclusive content, unlike many of their competitors. Sony believes (as do many gamers) that these first party games are big part of the PlayStation appeal. These games add uniqueness to the PlayStation experience.
In a recent interview with Industry Gamers, Jack Buser said, “We’re not like some other game platforms. We don’t say ‘Put your game out here on the App Store and maybe you’ll be one of these 10 featured apps if we feel like it right now, and then the rest of you guys can all go out of business.’ Or some other platform owners who are saying, ‘Look, we’re gonna make all the great games and if you guys can maybe make a great game on our platform, good luck but we’re not going to help you much.’ Or some other guys who say, ‘Hey, we hand-picked you and we’re gonna shove a bunch of money in your pocket and the rest of you guys can all dial the 800 number and try to dial through to the front desk.’”
We still don’t have a lot of solid news on PlayStation 4 at this point, and it seems like Sony is deliberately holding off on revealing details. We can glean from these comments though that Sony is almost certainly working on developing plenty of fresh first party games for their next generation console (or planning to do so in the near future). For those gamers who chose Sony for their last console for this reason, this is great news and a good reason to stay excited about PlayStation 4.
Recently there has been a lot of speculation that Sony might unveil its next generation console at the E3 convention in June. While we were super excited about the rumor, alas we know now it was only that—just a rumor and not a fact. In fact, Sony has refuted it outright. We now know that there is no way we’re going to see the next generation PlayStation at the convention.
Kaz Hirai, the head of Sony’s gaming and consumer electronic division says, “We’re not making any announcements at E3. I’ve always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that.” The announcement came during a roundtable discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which was hosted this week. The comment is pretty clear, so now we know not to expect anything about PS4 at E3. Sony doesn’t feel a real sense of urgency as far as getting the console out there is concerned. Considering how well the PlayStation 3 is still selling (and performing), we can hardly blame them.
What we still don’t know is when Sony is planning to actually release the next generation console on the market. A 10-year lifecycle for the PlayStation 3 doesn’t preclude the release of the PlayStation 4 in less than that timeframe. When the PS3 hit the market in 2006, it didn’t end the lifecycle of the PS2. The PlayStation 2 continued to perform admirably on the market for some time before the PS3 took over completely.
So while we won’t see the PS4 at the E3 convention, we’re still hoping to be able to buy it before 2016. If there are any more rumors (or better yet, facts) about the PlayStation 3, we’ll be the first to let you know what we’ve discovered.
Recently we’ve heard rumors that the PlayStation 4 will be exhibited at this years E3 trade show in June. The rumors stemmed from MCV magazine, and were attributed to an anonymous but supposedly very reliable source which they called “exemplary, 100% concrete, ultra high level.” Industry analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan Securities begs to differ however. “I think there’s zero chance of a tease from Sony for PlayStation 4,” Pachter told Forbes. He went on to state that an exhibition of the Xbox 720 at E3 is also unlikely, though impossible. Pachter thinks the chances of the Xbox showing up are 1 in 5.
What are his reasons? “Neither console is launching in 2013, so there’s no reason to tease them in 2012.” This is also conjecture at this point, and not a statement of fact. We don’t know when the Xbox 720 or the PlayStation 4 will be released at this point. There are no official statements yet from Microsoft or Sony. So we’ll just have to wait until the E3 later this year to find out more! Of course, if there is any news in the meantime, we’ll be the first to let you know!
MCV, a UK-based tech trade website, has recently put forth an impressive rumor that the PlayStation 4 will be unveiled at this year’s E3 trade show. According to Ben Parfitt on Twitter (an MCV writer), “Obviously we can’t reveal our sources. But you have my personal word on this – the source is exemplary, 100 per cent concrete, ultra high level. Really, really wish I could name him/her/them/it but obviously cannot.”
The same news story by MCV also stated that the next generation of Xbox will be unveiled at E3 as well. We already know the Wii U will be exhibited during the show, which would make this a groundbreaking historical first—three rival consoles all on display for the first time together.
As far as official statements go, we don’t have any—except that Sony insists that its current focus is still on the Vita and the PlayStation 3. In the past Sony also stated that they didn’t plan to release the PS4 for at least a decade after the PS3 came out. On later occasions though Sony contradicted this by saying that they didn’t want to wait too long before showcasing the new console since their competitors were already ready to advance. So will we see the PS4 at E3? There’s no way to be certain, but there seems to be a pretty good chance that we will. If there is any more news about the PS4 or anymore rumors, we’ll be posting them here, so stay tuned for more updates!
It isn’t just the dismayed Vita owners who are annoyed with the buggy release of the new handheld console by Sony who are antsy about what Sony will do next. Sony’s fans are anxious too—even, and perhaps especially, those who feel that the Vita is a good system despite its flaws (which are being fixed). Even though Sony is sending out patches for the Vita and will eventually resolve all the issues with the buggy release, they also have to deal with the reality that what happened with the Vita has put a dent in their sales. While they are probably going to recover, it may not be enough to correct their faltering momentum.
They also need to face the reality that the console war is moving past the stage of targeting only hardcore gamers. These days other console makers are targeting a much wider and more diverse demographic, in particular families. This makes sense; many of the people who can afford to purchase consoles are middle-class families. This being the case, it makes more sense to target the entire family with titles which appeal to both genders and varied age groups.
Microsoft is doing this with Kinect support for the Xbox and titles released for children and also for people who enjoy their consoles but aren’t necessarily hardcore gamers. Indeed, some of the titles coming out now are educational—exercise programs which utilize Kinect for example. Nintendo is also exploring more original possibilities with the Wii U. And up until now, Nintendo has been behind in the console war.
So what’s Sony going to do about it all? That’s our question, and it’s a time sensitive one for sure. We think it’s time for Sony to announce the PlayStation 4—this year. We also think it’s time for Sony to target a wider audience like Microsoft and Nintendo are doing. As of right now, we don’t know a release date for the PS4, but we’re pretty sure it won’t be released until 2013 or 2014. And that’s okay—but Sony needs to say something about the PS4 and what’s coming to get people excited about the future of Sony console gaming. Otherwise they may find themselves in for a tougher year than necessary. The competition is stiff and the market is changing, and now is the time for Sony to seize the moment and turn it to their advantage.
We don’t yet know much about PS4 or Xbox 720, but we can certainly try and shout out our suggestions to Sony and Microsoft. Who knows, maybe some of these suggestions will be implemented and these improvements will come to pass, particularly if we’re vocal about it.
Our first suggestion is an improvement to the Xbox Live voice codec, which is so terrible that it’s basically useless. The sound is atrocious, and it’s actually more sensible to just hop on Skype while playing and talk to Xbox friends that way. Oh wait—Microsoft just bought Skype. So why not integrate Skype’s technology into the next Xbox and provide us with the best possible voice service while we’re gaming?
We’d also like to see an expanded achievement system on Xbox—and we really hope that our points from Xbox 360 games carry over to Xbox 720. Many other systems have implemented ways to spend points to earn in game (and sometimes real-life) rewards. So why can’t we get the same kind of system with Xbox Live? Similarly relevant, we don’t want Microsoft Points anymore. Microsoft Points come in increments which always leave random amounts left over which we can’t use. PSN allows us to deposit exact amounts so that we don’t have unusable currency sitting around.
Backward compatibility would be nice as well. We don’t like having to give up our old games, and there’s really no good reason we shouldn’t be able to play our favorite Xbox 360 and PS3 games on the Xbox 720 and PS4. Also where games are concerned, we’d like private developers to be able to shower us with exciting mods like they can for PC games. We also would like more games which are educational or instructional in nature, along with games which help us work out. With Kinect, this makes more sense than ever. We don’t actually want to sit on our couches all day. In fact, we really want to see motion technology advance. There is a ton of untapped potential here!
We don’t necessarily want a bigger hard drive—cloud storage would be great. On the same token, we would like to have digital availability for streaming downloads of new games on the same date those games are released in the stores. While automatic updates are great, it’d be much better if they didn’t kick us offline like they do at present.
Finally, unified video service would be excellent, and the good news is we’re pretty sure that this is exactly the direction in which PlayStation and Xbox are heading with future generations. Our consoles no longer need to be confined to just gaming—they can also function as full media entertainment centers where we can enjoy streaming video and audio. Only time will tell how many of these suggestions Sony and Microsoft will take into account, but the more we let them know what we’re looking for the more likely we’ll get what we want in a couple of years.