Written By: Fermbiz

**Scroll below for the lastest update**

A couple of days ago, the internet was buzzing with news and speculation of the Playstation 4.  Down below are rumors that are circulating around the world wide web.

The Console Wars Begins:

Something big is brewing over at Sony and they plan to give us the full details on February 20, 2013.  It first started off as speculation on what is to be revealed but it has been confirmed by different sources that it is indeed the next generation of Sony consoles to be shown.

Rumored Specs:

VGLeaks.com:

LIVERPOOL SOC

• Custom implementation of AMD Fusion APU Arquitecture (Accelerated Processing Unit)
• Provides good performance with low power consumtion
• Integrated CPU and GPU
• Considerably bigger and more powerful than AMD’s other APUs

CPU:

• Orbis contains eight Jaguar cores at 1.6 Ghz, arranged as two “clusters”
• Each cluster contains 4 cores and a shared 2MB L2 cache
• 256-bit SIMD operations, 128-bit SIMD ALU
• SSE up to SSE4, as well as Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX)
• One hardware thread per core
• Decodes, executes and retires at up to two intructions/cycle
• Out of order execution
• Per-core dedicated L1-I and L1-D cache (32Kb each)
• Two pipes per core yield 12,8 GFlops performance
• 102.4 GFlops for system

GPU:

• GPU is based on AMD’s “R10XX” (Southern Islands) architecture
• DirectX 11.1+ feature set
• Liverpool is an enhanced version of the architecture
• 18 Compute Units (CUs)
• Hardware balanced at 14 CUs
• Shared 512 KB of read/write L2 cache
• 800 Mhz
• 1.843 Tflops, 922 GigaOps/s
• Dual shader engines
• 18 texture units
• 8 Render backends

Memory:

• 4 GB unified system memory, 176 GB/s
• 3.5 available to games (estimate)

Storage:

- High speed Blu-ray drive

• single layer (25 GB) or dual layer (50 GB) discs
• Partial constant angular velocity (PCAV)
• Outer half of disc 6x (27 MB/s)
• Inner half varies, 3.3x to 6x

- Internal mass storage

• One SKU at launch: 500 GB HDD
• There may also be a Flash drive SKU in the future

Networking:

• 1 Gb/s Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n WIFI, and Bluetooth

Peripherals:

• Evolved Dualshock controller
• Dual Camera
• Move controller

Extra:

• Audio Processor (ACP)
• Video encode and decode (VCE/UVD) units
• Display ScanOut Engine (DCE)
• Zlib Decompression Hardware

UPDATE: some people is confused about the GPU, here you have more info about it:

Each CU contains dedicated:

- ALU (32 64-bit operations per cycle)

- Texture Unit

- L1 data cache

- Local data share (LDS)

About  14 + 4 balance:

- 4 additional CUs (410 Gflops) “extra” ALU as resource for compute

- Minor boost if used for rendering

Dual Shader Engines:

- 1.6 billion triangles/s, 1.6 billion vertices/s

18 Texture units

- 56 billion bilinear texture reads/s

- Can utilize full memory bandwith

8 Render backends:

- 32 color ops/cycle

- 128 depth ops/cycle

- Can utilize full memory bandwith

Controller Redesign And New Features!:

Edge Magazine:

Sources close to the hardware have revealed to us that PS4 will ship with a redesigned controller which is the same size as an existing DualShock but features a small touchpad in place of the existing Select, Start and PS buttons. The tech is based on Vita’s rear touchpad, and is similarly responsive in use.

A new Share button on the controller will, when pressed, launch a new feature that will allow screenshots and video to be distributed online. The PS4 hardware will continually record the most recent 15 minutes of onscreen action (with no processing penalty, claims our source), which users will then be able to edit and broadcast via the Internet.

Launch Date:

Edge Magazine:

We’re told that PlayStation 4 will launch in Japan and the US by Christmas, with a Euro rollout following in early 2014, the delay attributed to the complexities involved in European distribution.

UPDATE 2/16

First Look Of The PS4 Controller:

Destrucdoid:

This image looks like a PlayStation-style controller plugged into something that looks like a development kit. It does look like a touchscreen has been worked into the middle of the controller.

IGN:

The directional pad (d-pad) on the left seems to feature meatier, bulkier buttons that are put closer together than on DualShock 3.

The analog sticks look to be a bit further apart, though they remain level, unlike the Xbox 360 controller’s unevenly placed sticks. However, the sticks themselves are concave, like the Xbox 360’s. PlayStation 3’s controller includes convex analog sticks.

The much-rumored touch pad – a la the back of PlayStation Vita – appears at the center of the controller. There’s a small, mystery button to the left of the pad, above and to the right of the d-pad. Is this the rumored share button?

Above the PlayStation button appears to be a speaker, and what looks to be an audio jack is underneath the controller, perhaps used to plug in a headset.

Another source has told IGN that the mysterious space in the middle of the controller can be pressed like a button, something Kotaku‘s source has also stated. Our separate source also indicates that the R2 and L2 buttons may actually be more in line with spring-loaded Xbox 360-like triggers and that the light atop the controller is indeed a PlayStation Move sensor.

A trusted source has told IGN that this controller is real. However, our source notes that it’s an early prototype. The controller, in other words, is likely to change between now and when the console launches.

VGLeaks:

ORBIS Controller Features:

- Digital Buttons:

• Directional buttons
• Triangle, Circle, Cross and Square
• L1, L2 and L3
• R1, R2 and R3
• OPTIONS
• SHARE (reserved for the system and cannot be accesed by the application)
• Touchpad clicks
• PS (reserved for the system and cannot be accesed by the application)

- Analog Buttons:

• L2 and R2

- Sticks:

• Left and Right

- Touchpad:

• Two-point multi-touch (with mechanical click)

ORBIS/PS4 Controller has an electrical capacitance touchpad where the position at wich the user’s finger is touching the pad can be detected. At most, two points can be detected at the same time.

- Motion sensors:

• 3-axes gyro sensor and 3-axes velocity sensor

- Vibration feature:

• Large motor and small motor

- Light bar:

• RGB LED (reserved for the system and cannot be accesed by the application)

Streamed Gaming???

Wall Street Journal:

Sony Corp. 6758.TO -1.87% is planning to offer technology to stream games to its next videogame console, people familiar with the company’s plans say, alongside other enhancements to bolster its position in the market.

The new technology, to be unveiled Wednesday along with the new console, will allow users to play games delivered over the Internet, these people said. The streaming service, they added, is designed to use current PlayStation 3 titles on the new console; the new device is also expected to play new games stored on optical discs.

The Verge:

Previous generations of PlayStation have offered backward compatibility with games built for previous systems — you could put a PS1 disk in a PS2, for instance, and PS2 games worked in some PS3s — but the next PlayStation is expected to use AMD x86 chips, which wouldn’t be compatible with the architecture used in previous systems. By hosting earlier generations of games on servers and streaming them instead, this could be a way to ensure some form of backwards compatibility despite the AMD chips.

Keep your eyes open as February 20th approaches, it’s safe to assume more information will come out.