PS4 may never happen!

[Goldberg]

For all of those bored with the PS3 at the moment and therefore cannot wait for the PS4 with Blueray_2 and 2k Ready games(not HD), then I'm sorry... it may never happen:

Sony's move to promote Kaz Hirai, yesterday head of the US wing of the company's Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) division but now President and COO of the global SCE operation, means the consumer electronics giant may never produce a PlayStation 4 console.

So claimed Nomura analyst Yuta Sakurai in a Financial Times report today. Sakurai believes Sony's move, which sees former SCE head Ken 'Father of the PlayStation' Kutaragi made Chairman of the division, marks a fundamental shift in Sony's approach.

"The appointment of Hirai could be the start of a shift from hardware to software," Sakurai told the paper.

"I cannot now imagine a PlayStation 4."

That's undoubtedly an extreme view. Certainly, other analysts cited by the paper indicated a less drastic outcome from the SCE management reshuffle. Hirai's promotion, said one, centres on his "superior communications skills", which he'll use to strengthen SCE's ties with third-party software developers, said to have been strained by the numerous delays made to the next-generation console's release schedule and subsequent launch numbers. ®

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/12...fle_kills_ps4/

[Mario87]

Gutted!! Hope this isn't the end of the Gran Turismo series (well after the PS3 that is!), as long as all the great games that exclusive to PlayStation keep on coming, then I'm more than happy!

[Mule]

Hardly conclusive is it? Might as well say it might never happen because of the earth could be destroyed by nuclear war.

[Mario87]

Hardly conclusive is it? Might as well say it might never happen because of the earth could be destroyed by nuclear war.

True, very true!

[BBK]

More media sensationalisation.

If the PS3 sells by the bucketload and makes a hue profit for Sony then of course there will be a PS4. It doesn't matter who is in charge, its a matter of economics.

[Goldberg]

Yeah I agree it's all just publicity. Sony are good at this shit!

[addictive1]

Whether is does or not, it isn't going to happen for at least 5 years. Sony have a huge amount of money invested in R&D for the PS3 that they need to claw back, especially since it will be some time before they stop losing money on every PS3 sale (they sell at a loss to retail).

It is also worth bearing in mind that any plans for PS4, XBOX720 or Wii2 are on the drawing board right now. It takes years, and years for these things to come to fruition.

I remember getting my hands on an early PS2 dev kit (let alone hearing about it), a couple years before release.

[Goldberg]

Granted, thats why I think people are saying PS4 may not happen and could miss the next, next gen battle. The re-shuffle means the top guys who dish out the busgets may see more money being made in MP3 players, TV's etc... than PS4 etc...

[hxbro]

Hardly conclusive is it? Might as well say it might never happen because of the earth could be destroyed by nuclear war.

or attacked by giant crabs...

[Goldberg]

Giant Crabs are real. I've seen one

[SgtBilko]

Whether is does or not, it isn't going to happen for at least 5 years. Sony have a huge amount of money invested in R&D for the PS3 that they need to claw back, especially since it will be some time before they stop losing money on every PS3 sale (they sell at a loss to retail).

It is also worth bearing in mind that any plans for PS4, XBOX720 or Wii2 are on the drawing board right now. It takes years, and years for these things to come to fruition.

Wii 2? Games in HD, Blue Ray or HD Support, Zelda, Mario, Metroid etc, etc. That's something to look forward to - in 2011.

[Goldberg]

I've got one on pre order a wii 2 that is

[SgtBilko]

Giant Crabs are real. I've seen one

We don't need to know about your sex life mate

[Goldberg]

Warts and all

[{{909}}]

personally i think we are more likely to not see an successor to the 360, sales of the 360 are terrible, even with the release of some good games their target of 10 mill before xmas seems distant.
Its worth noting that the xbox was regarded as a very slow starter and it was a few mill ahead of the 360 it the same stage in its life.

The PS4 is a definate as far as im concerned, as long as sony dont go bust first, which i think it more likely than the topic!

[Mario87]

Sony going bust really depends on how well the PS3 does, they really have put all their eggs into one basket this time, but I'm sure they will do well, maybe not right away, but after about a year or so (xmas next year), they will probably be doing pretty well, not to mention that the cost of developing the hardware will have dropped, and the price of the console may have dropped too!

[SgtBilko]

personally i think we are more likely to not see an successor to the 360, sales of the 360 are terrible, even with the release of some good games their target of 10 mill before xmas seems distant.
Its worth noting that the xbox was regarded as a very slow starter and it was a few mill ahead of the 360 it the same stage in its life.

The Xbox sold 24 million units in just over 3 years. The 360 sold 6 million since launch in December 2005 - September 2006 and that's taking into account the shortages they had at launch. I don't think that's terrible and they may well hit the 10 million mark by the end of the year.

[Mario87]

According to this site, 360 has sold approx 7.9 million, PS3 has sold approx 360,000, and Wii has sold approx 1.1 million units!

So M$ may well hit the 10 million mark by the end of the year, but they only have one month to sell about 2.1 million consoles! And thats not going to be easy!

I think they'll be close to the 10 million mark, but they wont reach it!

[cronus71]

Paul Holman (Sony’s VP of Technology) claims that “a PS4 will be launched by Sony but not until at least 2010.” Reason being, “Sony will introduce a series of firmware upgrades that will give the PS3 more media centre capability while allowing for the introduction of third party applications and hardware ’such as interactive controllers’ similar to the Nintendo Wii he said.”

“The PS3 has an awful lot of processing power and we will harness this power with firmware upgrades and new features. He also admitted that the PS3 will become as much a media centre for the home as it is a gaming machine and the introduction of new capabilities such as the ability to download third party operating systems to the PS3 will see several new capabilities added to the system. We have already seen one European Linux application running on the PS3 and over the next few months we know of several others that plan to launch a product for the PS3″

Source & Full article: http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Games_A...nsole/W2D5W7X5

[Goldberg]

The unit has so much power on paper, this makes sense.

It will fuck the modders up though. It could deter people getting theres modded (eventually)