What are your expectations for PlayStation 4? Do you believe it will be a quantum leap from its predecessor? Here is what we know so far – the PlayStation 4’s controller will use a faceplate similar to the PlayStation Vita. Other reports indicate that Sony’s acquisition of Gaikai will allow games like Angry Birds to be streamed to the console.
These options are impressive, but what about the technology? While the PS3’s Cell processor was powerful, developers wide and abroad had a difficult time programming on it. If Sony does use AMD processor technology in the PS4 (like the rumors claim), gamers can forget about PlayStation 3 backward compatibility. Since both processors are like night and day, the probability of a true workaround may not happen.
Sony has struggled with backward compatibility ever since it launched the original PlayStation 3. After the system launched, gamers complained that certain PlayStation 2 titles would crash on their systems. Instead of writing a patch to accommodate gamers, Sony re-released the PlayStation 3 without backward compatibility. Ironically, these ‘new’ systems could still play PSOne games.
This brings us to today’s PlayStation Meeting. It may seem trivial to some gamers, but Playstation 3 backward compatibility is one expectation that I have for Sony’s new console. Like so many gamers, I was disappointed by the backward compatibility issue that earlier PS3 models had. And if the PlayStation 4 does use AMD processor technology, any expectations I had will be diminished. I champion the idea of Sony using a more versatile processor to make game development easier for developers. The biggest complaint made by developers was the PS3’s Cell processor after all.
Using an AMD processor could easily alienate the consumer on launch day. And while information has leaked from Sony stating the possibility of a ‘download and play’ option for PlayStation 3 titles, it doesn’t remedy the issue. While I have many expectations for Sony’s next generation console, backward compatibility is high on my list.
What are your expectations? What are your concerns – if you have any – regarding all the information that has flooded the media in the past couple of months? There’s no question that Sony’s new console will be an incredible system. But what will Sony have to sacrifice to make that next leap into the next generation? We’ll know soon enough.
Watch Sony’s Meeting Live on Wednesday 20th Feburary 2013 6pm EST or 11pm GMT:
