All big rumors about PS4 ‘Orbis’ so far [UPDATED]

We’ve come close to the expected announcement date of the highly anticipated PlayStation 4, codenamed ‘Orbis’. There were so many “leaked” details about the upcoming console just before its announcement that it seemed like Sony had been leaking them to tease us. Here are the details regarding these rumors:

Specifications:

There had been many rumors about the specs of Sony’s PS4, most of which were leaked from current development kits that had been sent out to various developers. The most recent rumors suggest the following:

• Processor: 8-core AMD CPU @ 1.6GHz
• Graphics: AMD R10XX
• RAM: 4GB GDDR5 @ 176GB/Sec

The previous development kits were rumored to have the following specs:

• Processor: 4x Dual Core AMD64 ‘Bulldozer’
• Graphics: AMD R10xx (2.2 GB video memory)
• RAM: 8GB
• Optical Drive: Blu-Ray drive (faster than the PS3 drive)
• Storage: 160GB HDD
• USB: 4x USB 3.0
• Sound: Surround 5.1 and 7.1

It’s been said that in terms of teraflops, the PS4 will provide 1.84TF, whereas the next Xbox (Xbox 720) was rumored at 1.23TF.

That’s it for the hardware. As for the resolution, it has been rumored that the PS4 will support up to 4K resolution.

Controller:

It seems like the Dualshock(4) will be replaced with a similar looking yet more advanced controller. The leaked imaged of the “prototype” controller show a headphone jack, a speaker/microphone and a glowing bar similar to the PlayStation Move.

Sony ‘EyePad’ tablet patent:

A recent patent figure (right) shows a new tablet possibly being developed by Sony, most likely for use with the PlayStation 4.

Dual Camera PlayStation Eye:

Rumor has it that the PS4 will be shipped with a more advanced, dual camera PlayStation Eye. This just might explain the glowing controller.

Backward Compatibility:

Since the PS4 won’t feature a cell processor, backward compatibility with PS3 games seems improbable. However, recent rumors suggest that Sony will provide backward-compatibility by streaming games via the cloud since they had bought Gaikai for $380m.

Blocking Used Games:

It has been said that both PS4 and Xbox 720 will block used games, which is quite a bummer for most of us, if not all.

Games:

The Last Guardian:

Kenny Linder, a former Sony employee, said that the game had been in development for the PS4 for a long time after the various restarts in development.

Little Big Planet 3:

Rumor has it that LBP3 is currently in development at Sumo Digital for the PS4, possibly as a launch title.

Killzone 4:

Guerrilla Games are most likely going to announce Killzone 4 as a PS4 launch title, rumors suggest.

Thief 4:

Rumor has it that Eidos Montreal will be bringing Thief 4 to the next-gen PlayStation and Xbox.

Singularity:

Even though Beyond: Two Souls is still in development, David Cage of Quantic Dreams said that he’s working on another project, most likely for the PS4.

Price:

Recent rumors suggest that both up-coming next-gen consoles will be priced around $400.

Launch Date:

Mr. Kaz Hirai suggested that the PS4 will be launched after Microsoft’s Xbox 720. However, most rumors suggest a late 2013 release for both consoles.

UPDATE: a recent report suggests a November 2013 release with price tags of $429 and $529. If Mr. Hirai was right, does that mean we’re going to see Xbox 720 before november? hmm..

Lastly, get a dose of nostalgia as you watch this video published by PlayStation about “the evolution.”

UPDATE 1: second video is live. Check out “The Next Big Thing.”

Looks like tomorrow we will be seeing a PS3 video, so stay tuned!

UPDATE 2: third video is here. Sony reminds us of the “Next-Gen.”

Are we going to see a “what’s the future going to be like?” kind of video tomorrow? Well, stay tuned to find out.

UPDATE 3: Nope! This time it’s all about “Gaming on the Go.”

UPDATE 4: Fourth and most likely last video before the announcement is here. PlayStation talks “Changing the Definition of Game.:

We most certainly cannot wait for the event on the 20th of February. Let us know what you think would be revealed in the comments. Cheers!