Details Of New PlayStation 4 Surface; Will Be Known As PlayStation Neo

Details of the rumoured upgraded PlayStation 4 have surfaced, along with a supposed name for the console. Known as the PlayStation Neo, the console will exist alongside the current PlayStation 4 and all PlayStation games from October onwards must support both consoles

The PlayStation Neo will indeed have substantially upgraded hardware over its precessor – although this is mainly concentrated in the GPU. The eight CPU cores will see a bump in clockspeed; going from 1.6GHz to 2.1GHz. Similarly, the amount of RAM remains the same – albeit with more bandwidth. On the other hand, the AMD GPU will go from 16 compute units clocked at 800MHz to 32 compute units clocked at 912MHz. This represents a massive jump in power, which is in line with what earlier rumours were saying about improved graphics.

Of course, Sony doesn’t want people with older consoles to be left behind. The company has directed developers to build two modes into their games. A “base mode” that will run on the current PS4 and a “Neo mode” for the PS Neo. Ideally, Neo mode will be the game running at 4K resolution with the same framerates.

Sony is also stressing equality between the two versions of the PS4. Internal documents apparently direct developers to build equally for both consoles; and that no content should be exclusive to one or the other. It looks like Sony really wants both machines to be on equal footing; with the only difference being how the game looks on the newer model. Of course, older games will be unable to take advantage of Neo mode unless the developer decides to issue a patch and will therefore function identically on both PlayStations.

No price for the PS Neo has been shared, although it is believed that the console will be priced at $399 (about RM1550). Which means that it could possibly be introduced at the price of the current PS4, while the older console receives a discount. If this is really the case, Sony could be on to something.