There have been a number of rumours over the past few days of an upgraded PlayStation 4 model that will be able to play games and movies in 4K resolution. Kotaku and Eurogamer were the first to report the news with multiple sources backing up the claims, and now the Wall Street Journal has also reported that a new PlayStation 4 with “enhanced graphics and power” will be hitting the shelves.
The new console is rumoured to launch before PlayStation VR (read: an E3 reveal) and it is said that “it is likely that the current model and the coming one would share the same software catalogue.” The WSJ also reports the new console is “to capture gamers willing to pay for a richer gaming environment, including a high-end virtual-reality experience.”
If games are to work on both versions of the PS4 then developers are unlikely to make many improvements to the PS4K versions other than resolution and, possibly, frame rates, at least until there is a sizeable install base for the high end console.
Of course you will need a 4K TV to make use of the new console and sales of those are still rather low. There are very few 4K broadcasters, at the moment standard blu-ray is the only HD format you can buy in most shops, and there is the problem of space. You can’t really have a 4K TV smaller than 52″ as the smaller screens means the advantage of having such a pixel dense display starts to diminish.
Sony did tout a 4K video service that “will work with PlayStation 4″ three years ago, but we’ve not heard much of that since, possibly because each move would be 100gb.
With enhanced graphics and a new UHD Blu-ray drive the PS4K, if it exists, is not going to be cheap, and with Sony fans shelling out £350 for PSVR it seems an odd time to be asking them to spend even more cash on upgraded PS4K consoles. Personally I have no interest, my 52” HDTV – which I bought for a a ridiculous sum of money to go with the my launch model PlayStation 3 back in 2006 – is still working perfectly and I have no desire to go to 4K.
Would you be tempted to upgrade? Let us know in the comments.
Source: WSJ
leeroye
I dont know why this rumour is getting so much press, dont journalists learn? Last week we had rumours and pics of the new Nintendo controller everywhere, look how that turned out. Hell Eurogamer are even running a detail article on what the console “could do” and its not even close to being confirmed yet. What a load of nonsense. Think ill wait for some facts before commentating.
Zimsalabim
As I posted earlier, it’s because Sony have an extended 4K business plan. It’s their way of recovering business lost in previous years with failed divisions. PS4’s success is part-bankrolling this plan. There are TVs to sell. Broadcast kit to sell. 4KBlu-Ray players and now ‘PS4K’ to further inflate the bubble.
Its a self-fulfilling prophecy. If they make it, we will come. In dribs and drabs to begin with but we will get there eventually. Especially when, 3 years from now, 4K TVs will be the default purchase option, just as when 1080p overtook 720p. There will be a gentle cost over-run and then it’ll be here. Supply meets demand.
PS4K gives a convenient boost to market share and when PS5 eventually turns up, there’ll be a healthy slice of the PS market already versed in a 4K ecosystem.
Unlike the Ninty controllers which were both an exercise in vapourware wish fulfilment and little else. Nintendo make TOYS. That are robust and BUILT TO LAST. They are ergonomic. Use robust materials. Those controllers looked anything but, because they were based on the patent drawings which are only intended to show proof of concept and never the real design.
Tuffcub
Much like the NX rumour, we held back on reporting this until there were a number of separate sources, we do think carefully about posting “rumours” and do try and verify as much as we can, and -as with the NX controller – point out it’s probably a load of bollocks.
Perhaps you could consider that the writers know a lot more but have signed all sorts of NDAs that prevent them from revealing details.
Zimsalabim
I agree 100% Tuffcub.
Too much smoke here for it not to be real, NDAs or not.
And, yeah, I think your coverage of the NX controller was fairly judged. It was like a Ninty fanboy’s wet dream given flesh..
Temascos
I don’t have a PS4 yet, but I hope this model just relates to 4K media capability and upscaling, no gaming enhancements. It would screw over 40 million or more players if the new God Of War if their model plays at 30 FPS but the PS4K does it at 60 FPS for example, and that in turn would make fans lose at least some trust in Sony which they had to fight tooth and nail over several years to rebuild.
If it’s the best case scenerio and it is just for media enhancements, I can imagine it gradually replacing the old PS4 over the course of 2017/2018 but certainly not in 2016.