http://playstationlifestyle.net/2010/01/11/sony-working-on-new-disc-format-possibly-for-ps4/

In a recent interview with Play3, Sony’s Senior VP of Product Development, Shuhei Yoshida said that the PlayStation 4 will use optical storage discs like Blu-Ray for blockbuster games. This was surprising considering Sony’s digital push with UMD-less PSPgo, and the trend the gaming industry has shown toward digital distribution.

So if the PS4 is to feature an optical disc drive, what will the storage format be? Will we see yet another Blu-Ray equipped console? Or will Sony usher in a new technology much like the PS2 did with DVD and the PS3 did with Blu-Ray? We may have the answer after the jump…

Considering Sony’s track record of innovation and “future proofing” their consoles, it’s hard to believe that Sony will yet again equip their console with a Blu-Ray drive. Blu-Ray is what’s hot currently, and while games still aren’t quite filling Blu-Ray discs’ maximum storage capacity, the format is clearly the “present” and not the “future”. To fully “future proof” the PS4 to withstand the standard PlayStation 10-year lifecycle, Sony is going to need to go above and beyond Blu-Ray.

Sony, not-to-be outdone by anyone, is rumored to be working on a successor to Blu-Ray. According to an article in the current issue of GameInformer magazine (Dead Space Cover; Issue 201) Sony is hard at work on “the next jump”, a disc similar to the previously announced Holographic Versatile Disc. The disc is said to have a capacity of 6TB (terabytes) or 6,000GB (gigabytes), more than enough to support 1080p HD video, 3D imagery, uncompressed loseless HD audio, along with any other AV codec you could throw at it. On top of all that storage, the format can use the massive amount of available space to implicate extra security measures, a major positive when pitching the format to game developers (and movie studios) who don’t want their games pirated.

It’s difficult enough looking into the future to predict such a need, even more so now with digital distribution becoming more and more prevalent. Sony has done it in the past with Blu-Ray and with the help of the PlayStation 3, made the format an everyday, household name. While Blu-Ray is here to stay and certainly has plenty of life left in it, so does the PlayStation 3. When the time arrives for the PlayStation 4 to be released, there could be a need for such a massive capacity storage medium. If Sony sees a need for such a format in the future, they’d likely look to the PlayStation 4 to replicate the success the PS3 had in ushering in Blu-Ray.

Do you see a need for such a technology? Do you think the Sony would take the risk again with another new format debuting on a PlayStation console? Or have they learned a lesson from the PS3’s launch price and initial reception?

What do you think? would it really be necessary for a new disk format?

...fuck

So now a 66.8GB BR is not enough?

Wow.

As long as it doesn't inflate the price too badly, I see no reason not to.

F******* b*** s***!

That is all.

I do believe it is for the psp2 or possibly ps5 but most likely the former.

6,000 gb holy shit

It would keep with the tradition of PlayStation systems always releasing with new disk formats.

Or in other words, Sony: "We didn't learn jack shit from the PS3." A lot of people lambasted them for the high cost of the PS3 at launch, and even to this day, some people still think that the BR disk is unnecessary. (I'm not going to argue for or against the validity of the statement itself.) So rather than trying to keep costs down for the PS4, we're going to introduce yet another media that will keep the price sky high! The PS4 will retail for nine hundred ninety nine US dollars, and all you Sony fanboys will gobble it up even without any games! (Or rather, I can see Kutaragi saying something akin to that, but in more PR-friendly speak.)

No, this much space is not needed. DVDs are getting filled, and becoming a limiting factor, so moving on from that is reasonable. But very few games are filling up a dual-layer BR at the old 50 GB spec, let alone the new 66 GB one. There is no need to rush a new format out for the PS4. Sticking with BR would be a far better choice in my eyes.