Sony is readying a new set of hardware for PlayStation 3 consoles with custom PS3 OS to better support PlayStation Now’s streaming services, according to a Digital Foundry report.

According to the report, the machines match the power of eight custom built consoles in one, single-server unit but are essentially the same system as what’s on the market now – but only with different ‘innards’.

Digital Foundry, citing “sources who have been briefed on the project,” states that Sony experimented with PS3 systems currently available at retail, but found it worked better when “shrinking the equivalent of eight PS3s onto a single motherboard, housed in a slimline server cabinet.”

The report goes on to state that the hardware manufacturer found that current PS3 units using PlayStation Now would cause more space to be taken up at data centers, would use more electricity. The Cell chip remains inside the newer models to maintain compatibility with PS3 game titles, but a revised network and controller interfaces are expected.

It’s also reported that HDMI could be axed and replaces with hardware video encoder and that the Gaikai team have the advantage of “complete access to the PS3 design and the engineers that created it.”

Unknown measures are also purportedly in the work to reduce latency.

PlayStation Now is currently slated to release during Q3 2014 in the US, and in Asia during Q4. Europe isn’t expected to receive the rumored console until Q1 2015.

Posted: Jan 17, 2014 5:21 pm
Related Forum: PlayStation Forum

Source: http://www.vg247.com/2014/01/17/sony-readying-new-playstation-3-console-to-better-support-playstation-now-report/