Presumed PS4 Development Kits Surface

[Foxi4]

The return of "Orbis" - early PS4 Development Kit sightings?

According to an account of VG247's anonymous source, PS4 development kits are on the prowl and they're currently being distributed to video game developers, followed by a series of meetings which explain how to make the best of what they have to offer. The kits are based on AMD's A10 APU with up to 16GB or RAM, and for all intents and purposes appear to be simply modified PC computers... with a catch. They have what appears to be a pre-installed PlayStation dashboard, showing off what the PS4's menu could look like in the future.

Sony refuses to comment on the story, however the source claims that the final version of the Orbis Development Kit should be distributed among the developers as soon as next year. This of course goes againts the earlier rumours according to which Sony was to opt out of the next generation home console race.

First Durango, now Orbis yet again - it would appear that both Microsoft and Sony are on Nintendo's tail. Are you excited for what those two have in-store for the next generation? What are your expectations? Discuss!

Source: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/11/01/report-ps4-dev-kits-surface-details-inside

 

[Deleted_171835]

If the PS4 devkits have 8-16GB of RAM, that means the final system will have 4-8. Devkits generally have double the amount of RAM.

But I'm not really excited for the PS4/720. Only home consoles that really appeal to me are Nintendo's for their exclusives while I do the rest of my gaming on the PC.

 

[Foxi4]

That's a fair assesment, the final machine will likely have about 8GB RAM.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

PS4 master race represent.

But rumors are rumors. Take them at that.

 

[shoyrumaster11]

Whoa! Looked at the video thumbnail in the link and this dev kit looks like a top-loader DVD player, hope the final system doesn't look like that!

 

[Foxi4]

Whoa! Looked at the video thumbnail in the link and this dev kit looks like a top-loader DVD player, hope the final system doesn't look like that!

Pretty sure that's just Fan Art - the kit hasn't been photographed yet.

 

[Valwin]

Well look like yet again they are going the route of powerful machine lacking software

 

[Maxternal]

The only "problem" as I see it (possibly good news for us?) is that if it's based so closely on a normal PC it might not be that hard for someone to make an emulator for it (or just run it in a virtual machine for that matter) once somebody rips the dashboard software out of it and leaks in on the Internet.

On the other hand, that still hasn't really happened with the original XBox so who knows.

EDIT : Also, just throwing up a link to the first thing I found on Google about the A10. How excited should we really be about this? (I must continue my research.)

Spoiler

http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/AMD-A-Series-Trinity-APU-Specs-Unveiled-Top-at-3-8GHz-3.jpg/

 

[Disorarara]

We should be very excited the next Playstation console might be based on commodity PC hardware and not some space-age technology nobody knows how to use - At least now we'll get some launch titles on time

And now I wonder how they'll try to handle backwards compatibility with the Playstation 3

 

[Foxi4]

People seem to be confusing some things, this is not the console and it reflects the console specs in a very limited spectrum. It's a development kit - an environment for programming for the platform. These usually come in two parts nowadays - a PC-like coding station and a Console-like testing station, this is the coding station. There's currently no reason to speculate that the console will be x86 or x86-64-based.

 

[Disorarara]

I thought just any old workstation would work as a development station if you had the proper proprietary utilities to compile for consoles. Right now the only thing that makes this different from regular computers is that pre-installed dashboard which we know nothing about.

 

[nachoscool]

Speaking of Devkits, what ever happened to the 720 devkit sold on eBay?

 

[Foxi4]

Speaking of Devkits, what ever happened to the 720 devkit sold on eBay?

It's in the hands of a filthy-rich collector, what else?

 

[Hyro-Sama]

It will mean nothing if the games are shit.

 

[The Milkman]

Booorriinng. Not that the news is pointless or anything, its just that its a shitload of speculation that probably wont see a 2013 release. I mean, we dont know if the kit is real, and on top of that kits dont say much.

 

[Gahars]

I can't wait for Sony to show off the PS4. I couldn't care less about the system, I just want an end to all this specs-ulating!

 

[Qtis]

It will mean nothing if the games are shit.

Opinions much? If you're referring to the PS3 with that comment, you could just as well refer it to any console released to date. Most games for all consoles are shit to someone..

OT: At least Sony is trying to go the route that the hardware would not be the first thing to limit the console. Hopefully we'll be able to see better games for a longer time on the console once it's released :3

 

[PolloDiablo]

I couldn't care less about specs

we all know that the ps4 wont hit stores next year
so.... a whole year (maybe 1,5 or 2) for devs to experiment with the devkits before the actual release = good launch lineup

 

[AlanJohn]

Can't wait for the P S quadruple.

 

[raulpica]

People seem to be confusing some things, this is not the console and it reflects the console specs in a very limited spectrum. It's a development kit - an environment for programming for the platform. These usually come in two parts nowadays - a PC-like coding station and a Console-like testing station, this is the coding station. There's currently no reason to speculate that the console will be x86 or x86-64-based.

Huh, actually the "PC" part of the devkit is just a bog standard PC. They only give you DVD/CDs with the Devkit on it, and a connection cable.

We're talking about ACTUAL hardware here. It's highly probable (if not even sure) that PS4 will be x86 based, at this point. Looks like Sony is going for teh cheap.