PS4 is coming this year. Mark my words.

PS4 only in 2014, according to Kaz statement, considering the release of 720 in november-december this year.

Most importantly what that 12 months did along with the fact that when the PS3 landed it came with a high price that virtually gave them even more of a head start, it helped them consolidate LIVE , so they ended up with a large number of gamers who felt invested with the network not just the console and this in turn meant with on line booming and  connectivity the next big thing , a lot of people in homes and campus dorms across the country who where deciding on a console went with the one their mates where on , and with the price of the PS3 and Sony playing catch up with a fledgling PSN that meant LIVE and the 360 .

As to the future of PS3 and 720 and what  it would mean in terms of advantage to launch first is to me up in the air , we had the rise of networked systems this gen that gave launching early an added advantage that wasn't there before ,  with the next gen you now have a lot of people who have invested a lot of time and energy into LIVE/ PSN  , how they use this fact to try to not to just move their existing customers over to next gen but also gain new sales will be interesting  , i feel the % of people who change systems from one gen to the next will drop next gen , what do you think .

If it looks like a purple lunchbox and has no online and limited 3rd party support, then yeah it will probably sell like the GameCube.

These comments read like a justification for a delaying tactic, and they provide the company with a plausible cover story. Which is also being presented in the best possible light. Arguing for a positional advantage, doesn't disqualify the possibility that there is a competitive disadvantage. It is better to say that we will delay to be better, and to keep others from copying our ideas. Then it is to say we can't match the competition by launching at the same time.

It is entirely possible that Sony has come to the realization that Microsoft has been lulling them into a false sense of security about their own console design. In which case this commentary may be pointing to a reactive posture rather then any kind of a proactive posture. Sony may well have intended to launch a console this year, but what they might not have counted on was that Microsoft was going to employ the same strategy that they intended to use, and Sony knows that they would come out unfavorable in that match up. Sales lost due to a delay can be recouped through the fullness of time. What can't be redressed are concrete disparities.

My point is that Sony might have caught wind of what Microsoft is really up to, and they aren't liking their design as much as they have been. This isn't even a unheard of idea. There were rumors prior to the previous generation. That Sony actually scrapped a earlier design of the PS3, because it was far too underpowered against Microsoft's Xbox 360 for their liking. It was often cited as a reason as to why the PS3 came to the market so much later.

Then again it could just be proof that the rumors about a imminent unveil, or a launch in this year of the PS4. Were just so much bullshit. Just like last years rumors were complete bullshit. Anyway we really should talk about strategy more on all of these forums.

Every day I come on here and there's a new rumour. If someone doesn't announce something soon the rumours are going to go full retard just to outdo the last.

Not really part was to do with the Cell a CPU made not just for PS3 but with it's design  focus being  for it to be used in a variety of connected  products each being able to use the cell's unique features to offload work to each  other  and the PS3 was to be one off those products that  and also on the PS3 side it was envisioned  it would be coupled with another customised cell acting as the gpu ,when this didn't eventuate whether  through  time  or other obstacles I don't know maybe both , they then had to rush to nvidia to get  a gpu .

The other thing is most consoles have lengthy lead in times , sure the R&D cycle is an ongoing one but sooner or later a fairly concrete image emerges of what a company wants out of their next console just like Sony mentioning what they are aiming at as far as a minimum standard goes for their console next gen , so does MS , and once you start to act on making that particular console the harder it is to stop and reboot , any way by then you most likely have in the case of both Sony and MS two companies shooting for the same minimum standard and just trying to get above it by as much as they can for each console knowing it really isn't feasible with a customer base that isn't prepared to pay a premium ( unless it's a PC) for the extra power that may or may not deliver you a comprehensive win  , so both company's will try to deliver the best gaming they can and no doubt will also be looking at other newer ways to own the living room .

Just an aside I would really like developers  next gen to focus on problems that continue to raise there ugly heads no matter how much more powerful the consoles have become of the years sure graphics improve poly count goes up but I still see the same old issues like pop up etc .

and then it is usually what they can add to that minimum and what other differences we might see that

Whatever Kaz. Just dont ruin the Ps4 like you did with PsV

Xbox 360 only sold like 6 million units for the PS3 launch. And I think they had to replace many of those. Why does everybody think that is such a big deal? It's like a minor 8.3%

I think price and competition we also big factors.

If they really want to make a more powerful console, delaying a year helps you do just that.

@mjk45

I personally don't place any faith in rumors, but in the case of the rumor I eluded too. I think it is a purely a reasoned response to the fact that Sony unveiled a console that was basically a pre alpha mock up. Sony didn't have any prototypes, or working hardware for that matter for about a year, and when the final model was shown to the public it had quite obviously been heavily modified from what was first shown. So it is easy to see where someone thought that Sony had restarted from scratch. Especially when compared to Microsoft which showed a finished console all of six months away from launch.

My personal opinion is that it was probably a little of both. I think Sony rushed to show a console to convince some consumers to hold off on making a next gen purchase, and they were in fact earlier in the design phase then they let on. I also think they probably did up the ante on their current working design, but I don't think they ever intended to come to market at any other time then they did. Of coarse the manufacturing woes wouldn't have even allowed them to rush deployment even if they had wanted to.

While the design phase of a console can take years. A consoles initial production run takes about six months for a holiday launch. So it isn't like Sony is up against a wall here. They still have a few months to weight their own options. They can prolong their design phase if they so choose without total cataclysm, because the chain of events hasn't been sent into motion.

I don't think they can go back into a major redesign at this point, and make it to market this year. Not without cutting some major corners, and Microsoft has shown us what that can cost. That doesn't however mean they are anywhere near obliged to launch this year. I think they may have been thinking that they would have a real edge in hardware, and more recent information may have them rethinking that idea. They may have thought they had a comparable product, and their strategy may have hinged upon that idea.