A new developer kit from Sony called Orbis is rumoured to be for the PlayStation 4, and specifications leaked confirm Sony is moving away from the Cell architecture developed with Toshiba and IBM to an AMD-based chip.

A source speaking to VG247, says the Orbis kit is based on AMD’s A10 accelerated processing unit (APU) series and features a reworked user interface that allows users to jump to anywhere in the system by pressing the PlayStation button.

This would allow gamers to pause to pick up downloadable content from the PlayStation Store mid-game. This fits with Sony’s rumoured shift towards a free-to-play model with PlayStation games, where the game is free but additional content can be purchased by users as they go, such as the recently released free download of SingStar that requires users to pay for songs.

The Orbis kit is also said to have a Blu-ray drive, 256GB storage as standard, variants with either 8GB or 16GB of RAM, Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity, and the same input and output as the PlayStation 3.

VG247’s source claims the aim of the PlayStation 4 is to be powerful enough run 1080p60 games (ie, 1080p at 60fps) in 3D with no bother. The system is apparently designed to be ‘always on’, accepting updates in the background.

This is the second version of the developer kit to be released, with a third version expected in January and a final version by next summer. It is predicted that the PlayStation 4 will be announced ahead of the E3 expo in June next year.

Posted: Nov 06, 2012 12:25 pm
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: http://www.siliconrepublic.com/digital-life/item/30075-new-dev-kit-from-sony-hints/