EA exec predicts PlayStation 3.5, Xbox 560
Hints at staggered future for console upgrades
An executive at game publisher Electronic Arts has hinted that both Sony and Microsoft will roll out new consoles in stages.
Speculation about an Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 have been around since, well, two days after the Xbox 360 and PS3 were launched.
But Rich Hilleman, Chief Creative Officer at EA, said: “I expect we’ll see a PlayStation 3.5 before we see a PlayStation 4, and an Xbox 560 before we see an Xbox 720.”
Hilleman’s comments – made at a recent gaming event in the US, according to website Venturebeat – suggest that Sony and Microsoft will try to update their consoles in stages, rather than replace existing models with brand new ones.
The incorporation of motion-capture gaming is likely to drive this process. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer recently suggested the company's 'Project Natal' motion-capture system will debut next year in a new Xbox 360. ®
COMMENTS
My Predictions
The next Xbox will be like todays PS3, with Blu-Ray a standard HDD and Wifi, and the PS4 when it arrives will be an evolution of the current design. 32 SPu's a a couple of fast PPE's and the OS being an evolution of the current design too. Will make transitioning from current development to PS4 development a breeze, as all the pain would have been done in the PS2-PS3 transition.
Not an unviable option
The next XBox won't be called the 720, because that's too much like 720p, when it wants to be 1080p. The intermediary would be called the 540, not the 560 as well. Doesn't this man know his snowboard/skateboard degrees of trickery?
And I think the PS4 is exactly what he says is a PS3.5, i.e., a faster, wider (i.e., PowerXCell32 instead of Cell, maybe doubled RSX, 1GB or 2GB), but clearly the same architecture. Vastly reduced cost of development.
Beer, because it's Friday Lunchtime.
The future is clear for Sony but blury for Xbox.
I completely agree with the above to poster.
But the PS4 have got a clear road map out and that anyone with half a brain can tell you the rough specs of it. new version of Xbox360 will be more difficult to predict as many of the core components of the 360 are already in need of upgrade just to make it reliable let along comparable to the ps3 overall spec.
I will be shock if someone have not already got the ps4 hardware map out and ready to launch any time Sony need it, Which is the first sign that Microsoft got a plan for a new console. Sony will probably jump the gun and an beat Microsoft to market.
