You guys should check out my thread: Why PS4 won't be cutting edge, and neither will x3ox - a lot of interesting things have shown up in the discussion between me and Tachikoma: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=147821&page=1#

Like: Power wise i'm going to be blunt with power/capability:

PS2
So there you go folks, PS720 will be quite the leap over Wii U, and I'll probably hate Nintendo the whole next gen since this means I'll have to rely a bit too much on my PC for 3rd party titles...

I thought we already pegged Wii U at 2-2.5x the theoretical power of PS3 or 360.

Check out the thread I linked; I've had a discussion with Tachikoma, whom apparently is a developer...

WiiU's GPU is something around 1.5-2x of 360.

The 3.2ghz 3 core PPC Xenon offers more raw power than the 1.24ghz 3 core PPC 'Espresso', despite the newer architecture in the 'Epresso' processor, and the performance outlay of the two 500mhz ATI gpus used in both isn't all that different, either, the WiiU's gpu is 50mhz faster but in being strapped to the cpu with much slower clock speed the overall result is that on a power to power scale, despite the technological advancements in the hardware used, the 360 still scrapes just ahead in power but benefits greatly by the much more unified and extensively documented graphical platform, and much more advanced functionality offered by it's SDK.

Earlier comment that the GPU is 1.5-2x more powerful is just wrong.

Oh, don't talk with me about it... I know nothing about that at all! She also said:

That's basically it, if anyone wants to argue the fact, or any PS3 fans get butthurt about it being behind the WiiU, which itself is behind the 360, it's because Sony decided to force us developers to use Cell for graphical computation then throw it through RSX, because of this design choice while the console is capable of great visuals, in the right hands the WiiU can do more - just behind the 360 in raw power - if Microsoft killed the dashboard and freed up the memory and cpu cycles it uses, the WiiU wouldn't stand a chance.

SHe seems pretty knowledgeable, and thought you guys might find the discussion interesting...

@Tachikoma: Don't worry, I was just joking.

But if they plan to launch this year, both for Sony and Msoft, they will have to press that button soon.

From what i know, plastics manufacturing firms in asia are currently already producing certain components for one of the machines. (keeping that gem as vauge as possible, i don't want to be the source of a new batch of rumors across the net).

But i'll say here my own personal predictions based on my experience with the SDK's for both.

Pre-E3
Sony do a partial reveal of the platform with a sneak peek at software, putting the pressure on Microsoft

E3 2013 :
Microsoft reveal X720
Sony Officially Reveal PS4 @ Secondary project that involves the Vita and PS4 (SHHHHHH, sorry, did you think the Vita was already dead? oh well, no.)
Either neither company will reveal pricing or, if Microsoft's show is first, they'll announce speculative pricing and Sony will not

TGS 2013:
Sony announce pricing (if they chose not to at E3)

November 2013
Either just the Xbox 720 or both machines will be on store shelves.

December 2013
If it doesn't release at the same time as the 720, the PS4 will release now.

Seems pretty accurate I'd say ^^

16 chips? 256MB is the small chip of GDDR5... there is 512MB and 1GB too (I guess the 2GB too)... so 16 x 512MB is 8GB.

Anyway 16 x 32 bits = 512bits bus width... it's almost twice the rumored bandwidth for GDDR5... I think they are using 8x512MB for 4GB = 256bits bus width... 160-190GB/s depending of the final memory clock.

16 chips (~380 GB/s) I think is out of question... 8 chips is what Sony will use.