Even as speculations on the release date of PlayStation 4 (Sony PS4) is doing the rounds, popular game designer and lead architect of Sony PS4 console, Mark Cerny, said that the next-generation gaming console was developed architecture is being designed to address hardware problems.
Speaking to Gamasutra, Cerny said that "PlayStation 3 was very powerful, but its unfamiliar CELL processor stymied developers," which led to the PS4's design philosophy.
"The hope with PlayStation 4 was to have a powerful architecture, but also an architecture that would be a very familiar architecture in many ways," he told Gamasutra. "We want to make sure that the hardware is easy to use. And so having the familiar CPU and the familiar GPU definitely makes it easier to use."
"The vision is using the GPU for graphics and compute simultaneously," Cerny told Gamasutra. "Our belief is that by the middle of the PlayStation 4 console lifetime, asynchronous compute is a very large and important part of games technology."
He went on to say that communication between the CPU, GPU, and RAM has constraints in a traditional PC hardware but Sony PS4 architecture is being designed to address that problem.
Several sections of the media have reported that Sony PS4 would be unveiled at the upcoming E3, the world's premier trade show for computer and video games which will be held from 11-13 June at the Los Angeles Convention Center. It is also rumoured that the console would be available in October in the US.
There are also reports that the Sony's next generation gaming console would be released in April last week or May ahead of the E3 event.
However, Sony Worldwide Studios' vice president Michael Denny was tight-lipped about about the Sony PS4 release date in spite of being repeatedly asked at an interview with a magazine.
"...we know our launch date, and we think it's very important that gamers receive that new console experience. With that in mind, we just thought it was the right time to set the vision and set the agenda in New York," Denny told Edge magazine.
Michael Hogan, executive vice president of strategy business and brand development at Gamestop, reportedly told investors that the device would be released this year.
Newtechnology.co.in had earlier reported that Sony PS4 would be available in India in the first quarter of 2014 and would be priced around ₹25,000.
Sony had earlier revealed some specifications of the new console at an event in February, followed by revelation of the 'mock-up' designs of the PlayStation 4 (Sony PS4) controller and eye at the recently concluded Games Developers Conference (GDC) 2013 in San Francisco, California.
Here are specifications of Sony PS4:
CPU: single-chip custom processor, x86-64 AMD "Jaguar" 8 Cores
GPU: 18 "compute units" capable of cranking out 1.84 TFLOPS, AMD next generation Radeon based graphics engine
Memory: 8GB GDDR5 RAM capable of 176GB/sec of bandwidth
Connectivity: 802.11n WiFi, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 2.1, Auxillary ports, Analog AV, and digital optical outputs and HDMI
It is reported that Sony PS4 DualShock 4 controller has been remodeled and cloud gaming technology would be introduced. It is expected to be priced between $400 and $500 upon release.
