Playstation 4 Named Orbis Release Date Christmas 2013

Can you believe it has been six years since Sony last released a PlayStation console?  The PlayStation enthusiasts have been longing for the next generation.  According to sources that spoke to the Wall Street Journal, the rumors has it that Sony could be releasing the next generation in 2013, but perhaps later in the year in Q4 2013, which would be in time for Christmas shopping season.  The 2013 release date will be tricky since Microsoft is also rumored to be releasing their Xbox 720 in 4Q 2013 as well for the holiday season.
Indications are that the model would be called the “Orbis” instead of continuing the series to “PlayStation 4″.  But the casual fans of the PlayStation would likely still call it the PS4 until they get used to the new name.  Orbis sounds very close to the English word Orbit and actually means what it sounds like, Orbis in Latin means ring or circular object.  The name itself could fuel some speculations about the device or the design itself.  Renderings of the Playstation 4 (or Orbis) can be found on the internet that tend to gravitate toward a sleek oval and futuristic shape for the console itself.

Sony has contemplated a drastic change to change its games from it’s traditional discs to a cloud based download for the games.  The concept was even tested on the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, which is an Android phone is currently able to play Playstation games.  But ultimately citing the download speeds around the world as an issue, Sony decided to keep it’s disc format for now.  It’s an interesting concept that I’m sure Sony or other gaming providers will revisit again in the future.

Indications are the Playstation 4 will run on AMD x64 processor, graphics by AMD Southern Islands GPU, which would be capable at handling a whopping 4096 x 2160 (4k2k) resolution. Talk about high-def!  Guess we’ll be ale to see Mario’s nose hair while driving his go-cart.
One big bummer about the Playstation 4 is that it’s reportedly NOT backward compatible with the older version of the Playstation games.  This wouldn’t be too big of a problem since gamers tend to buy the latest and greatest games that’s currently out in the market, but I’m sure that will shun some casual gamers.