Sony preps refreshed PS3 and talks down PS4
Weight loss while you wait
The PlayStation is slimming down again, after Sony made further tweaks to the console's innards, while insisting a PS3 successor is still a long way off.
According to a report on Andriasang, the updated PS3 gobbles 30W less power at 200W, and weighs 400g less at 2.6kg. There have also been changes to the power and eject buttons, as well as the removal of some LED illumination.
Does my Rom look big in this?
These new 320GB models – the CECH-3000 – will cost the same as the present set and will roll out as soon as retailers' current stock runs dry.
Microsoft recently gave its Xbox 360s some organ doctoring too, also making them less weighty and power hungry.
Meanwhile, SCEA CEO Jack Tretton has refuted claims that the Nintendo Wii U will prompt Sony to launch a PS4 sooner than expected. In an interview with Forbes, Tretton said:
"PlayStation 3 is really just hitting its stride... technologically, I don’t think it’s possible to provide any advancement beyond what we have.
"What we’ve seen from the competition is trying to add features that already exist in PlayStation 3. We invested heavily in that, we rolled a very heavy rock up a steep hill, through the launch period. But now I think that all pays off, and we’ve got a long run way behind it.
"So, I wouldn’t look for any discussion of a next generation PlayStation for quite some time."
Reports suggest the company is already working on a PlayStation 3 successor, although next-gen R&D will always be going on, so unless we officially hear otherwise, we'll assume Tretton is bang on the money. Either way, it certainly appears the PS4 will launch after Microsoft's Xbox 720, rumoured to be revealed at next year's E3.
Crysis developer Crytek - reportedly creating games for Microsoft's next-gen console already - has come forth today insisting it doesn't have access to future Xbox hardware as yet. ®
COMMENTS
@Anon Coward : Controller-less input - some myths exploded
You might want to grab your security blanket, this could be uncomfortable....
1) The PS3 Six-Axis controller had motion detection from the get-go, tho not many games exploited it very effectively. But I think it's true to say that the Wii *followed* that, certainly the two systems were launched at more or less the same time, but I think the PS3 actually just edged the Wii if you want to be picky (and your type usually does)
And the Six-Axis controller when not being waved about in the air still functions as one of, if not THE, best console controller out there. Unlike the Wii-mote.
Besides, PS Move goes WAY beyond what the Wii-mote can do. If you don't see/know how, then you simply have no business making comparative comments about the two technologies.
2) Controller-less input, a la "Kinnect" is shit. No seriously... watch someone playing a game with Kinnect *carefully* - don't allow the "OOOOH COOOL IT'S SO LIKE Minority Report" factor blind you to the fact that what the "player" is actually doing has little to no relation to what is going on in the game. The games essentially play themselves and take the mo-cap input from the player as a rough guide to what they should be doing, but in so real sense can the player be said to be "controlling" anything.
Shit, you only have to watch the desperate, vague waving of hands in the air to try to hit control points in the frikking game menus and the lack of definite response from the control system to understand this. If simply recognising hitting a big frikking "button" or hotspot on the "screen" is so hard, how the hell can a game be expected to control a virtual steering wheel/tennis racket/sword/what-e-v-e-r accurately ?!!
And even if it did work - you do realise that sitting there pretending to hold an invisible steering wheel and changing gear with an invisible gear stick makes you look like a 4 year old, right ? But if going BRRRRM BRRRRM while playing Need For Speed enhances the experience for you, go for it.
At which point someone will bring up some of the other stuff people have done with Kinnect that has given them techno hard-ons. I guess some people get a kick out of watching pointless demos of doing things on the cheap/with hackology that can be done better and more easily with kit that is actually DESIGNED FOR THE PURPOSE. Duh!
Can't advance the technology any further?
"PlayStation 3 is really just hitting its stride... technologically, I don’t think it’s possible to provide any advancement beyond what we have."
Perhaps if you opened it to the home brew hacker community they could make it do things you never thought it could, plus it would extend the useful life of the PS3 a bit more.
After all, the original T-Mobile G1 was supposed not to be able to run Android 2 and on due to hardware constrains. That didn't stop those clever people on the XDA forums making it happen.
Oh wait, what you would rather take them to court?
Easy advancement..
Would be to put back the "Other OS" option and put in PS2 emulation.
@Anonymous Coward
Hilarious that someone who doesn't even have the balls to put their name to their views has to resort to pointing out a simple typo in the absence of any stronger argument.
As for sales figures, perhaps the fact that Sony didn't force people to buy PS Move in order to get their hands on an PS3 had something to do with the difference between PS Move units shifted and the number of Kinect's "sold" ? And I wonder if the figures you are referencing are actual retail sales or units merely shipped to retailers.
The people who bought Move made a clear decision to, you know - buy a Move.
Many people who bought Kinect likely did so because it was bundled with the XBox they wanted.
It is also hilarious is that you think I'm excited by Move. I'm not. And I don't think I ever said that I was. I think you are projecting your own Kinect hard-on onto anyone who expresses doubt on your particular choice of controller porn and points out some uncomfortable truths about your choice compared to the alternatives. I didn't buy a Move and don't intend to. I have no dog in this fight.
But I have watched people playing games with Move and I have watched people playing games with Kinect. And like I say, watch someone playing Kinect and you'll see how ludicrous the system is.
Those actually playing it of course FEEL like the system is working - they are having fun and the game seems to be responding to them, but to an objective observer it really is very apparent just how little real control is going on. IF that observer is and can be truly objective.
Of course, if the observer has blown their hard earned on a Kinect already, then they aren't likely to want to have to face the fact that they were conned by the faked demo videos, strong arm sales techniques and marketing might of Microsoft. Are they?
Just for you - I was very careful to spell Kinect properly this time. Thus proving that I know and understand the technology fully. Sheesh.
the real next gen
wont begin until Sony tells us?
Sorry, nobody is going to fall for that again.
