Rumors have been swirling for a long while now that both Microsoft and Sony are planning on releasing updated versions of their video game consoles in the very near future. And we're not talking about minor aesthetic changes like making the systems smaller or slimmer. We're talking about actual hardware changes that might make the next versions of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One run games better than the console you might already have in your living room.
Giant Bomb has more or less confirmed that Sony, at least, is moving forward with those plans.
According to their sources, the upgraded model of the PlayStation 4 is code named "NEO." They can't nail down a price or a release date, but there's evidence to suggest that the system will be out this holiday season.
So what is it? The NEO is basically a PS4 with faster RAM, a better CPU and a better GPU, all of which can work together to theoretically make games look and run better than they did before, provided developers put in the work to make them do so.
The NEO is also said to support 4K video, though the sources couldn't give specifics. While 4K TVs are certainly available now and becoming more affordable, there isn't a lot of 4K content out there right now, and the processing power required to make a game run in 4K makes the potential of PS4 games running at that resolution incredibly unlikely.
There's a chance, however, that Sony could make this new PS4 capable of running UHD Blurays, which would likely make it one of the cheapest 4K movie players on the market.
Of course, one of the biggest questions is, "What does this mean for existing PS4 owners?" After all, Sony has sold millions of PS4 worldwide already, and there's an extreme risk in alienating those customers by releasing better hardware so soon after the system's initial debut.
There's hope, though. According to the Giant Bomb report, Sony is laying down strict rules for game developers about what they can and can't do with the extra power in the NEO. Starting in October, every game released on the system will have to ship with two different modes: A standard PS4 mode and a NEO mode. The NEO mode can run at a higher frame rate and resolution, but developers can't make exclusive modes, much less exclusive games, that will only run on NEO hardware.
So if you're worried that Sony is going to start releasing PS4 games that not all PS4 users can actually play, don't. At least not yet. Sony seems dedicated to preventing that problem, which is a good sign for their fans.
Still, there are a lot of unknowns here. For example, will the new hardware offer any benefit for PlayStation VR, which is also launching later this year? Hopefully Sony will start to fill in the gaps at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June.
