Rumoured PS3 AMD GPU a generation ahead of the reported Xbox 720 chipset.

Sony's successor to the PlayStation 3 will launch during the 2013 holiday season, be called Orbis and feature an AMD CPU together with an AMD Southern Islands GPU - the 7000 series.

This information comes from a "reliable" Kotaku source who is not authorised to talk publicly about the next PlayStation and has shared accurate details with the gaming blog before.

Kotaku says that the name Orbis links in with PlayStation Vita, stating that Orbis Vita (or Orbis Vitae) means the circle of life. This indicates a possible close relationship between the two platforms.

Kotaku also attempts to validate the Orbis name by using Sony's development portal, revealing that a sub-domain for Orbis exists, but PS4 does not.

While we've heard rumours about the CPU before - with Sony abandoning Cell for AMD - news of the AMD GPU is interesting. The 7000 series part is also a generation ahead of therumoured 6000 part said to form the heart of the next Xbox. A generation gap doesn't necessarily mean a huge increase in performance, however, with a low end 7000 part likely to pail in comparison to a higher end 6000 part.

Kotaku says that the Orbis will support game resolutions of up to 4096x2160, whilst 3D in full 1080p is also supported.

Selected developers are said to have been receiving dev kits since the start of 2012, with revised versions distributed around GDC time. More final kits will appear late this year.

Sony won't provide backwards compatibility support for PS3 games, which can't be seen a huge surprise given how such functionality was phased out of the PS3.

And most controversial of all is talk of locking games to a PSN account in an attempt to strengthen new game sales. You'll need to be connected to a PSN account in order to play too. Trades will be allowed, but anyone buying that pre-owned copy will be offered a limited version - similar to a trial - which can then be unlocked for a fee.

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"Sony won't provide backwards compatibility support for PS3 games. . ."

" And most controversial of all is talk of locking games to a PSN account in an attempt to strengthen new game sales. You'll need to be connected to a PSN account in order to play too."

Yeah... well... fuck you, Sony

Yeah we've been talking about this in the other thread, interesting to see Kotaku's reporting on it.

But as far as being a gen ahead of next-box we have no idea what chipset that one is using, I don't buy the rumors for the graphics card on it.

But PS4 IS using Southern Islands which is impressive as hell.

Hope the always online rumors are false. Southern Islands GPU sounds good though.

Why they not use te new GTX 680 generation... faster, powerfull, cooler and cheaper than any other GPU on the market.

ethomaz said: Why they not use te new GTX 680 generation... faster, powerfull, cooler and cheaper than any other GPU on the market.

Eh Souther Islands series is plenty good enough, not to mention we don't know PS4 could very well be using a modified custom version of it.  I'm not too worried about it to be honest.

"Sony won't provide backwards compatibility support for PS3 games, which can't be seen a huge surprise given how such functionality was phased out of the PS3.

And most controversial of all is talk of locking games to a PSN account in an attempt to strengthen new game sales. You'll need to be connected to a PSN account in order to play too. Trades will be allowed, but anyone buying that pre-owned copy will be offered a limited version - similar to a trial - which can then be unlocked for a fee."


Sounds like they are planning not to shoot their selves in the foot this time around. Both knees sounds more accurate.

Let's hope this rumor ends up false.

While I would be plenty happy with this rumoured GPU, I doubt in the end it'll be a gen ahead of the Next-Box, but more importantly: Sony, I'm just letting you know right now, no BC is one PS4 less you'll sell!

So, here's hoping that part at least is false.

Sounds like a whole lot of hot air to me. Especially supporting such crazy resolution, there's absolutely no need for that. Throw in a decent GPU and CPU but, for gods sake, amp up the RAM by a lot!
Abandoning the cell could be a prudent choice if this is true, it would give them a lot more ease of use and less 3rd party problems in the development. Pair this with engine outsourcing from the likes of ND and you have yourself a fairly attractive developer environment compared to the PS3.
Nintendo with their silly formats and Sony with their clunky architecture, I hope they both learn soon.

I'm so glad that the PS3 will be my last Sony home console for a very long time.