The Sony Playstation Orbis, or PS4 Orbis as it is rumored to be called, will hit the shops in winter 2013 according to US gaming magazines.
The greatly anticipated new console will be able to work with Playstation’s Vita, but it is thought that players will not be able to share the games with other consoles, or sell them second-hand, mainly because the new games will be ‘locked’ to one PlayStation account. Gamers also will not be able to play PS3 games on it because it is rumored to not be “backwards-compatible”.
Sony has not confirmed what functionality the new console will feature, but the rumours have been picked up by the official PlayStation magazine too, which might suggest there’s an element of truth about them.
These changes could take some of the fun out of gaming, as introducing new games to friends -freely and cheaply- could become impossible. Beginners would not be able to buy older games cheaply on the second-hand market as a low-cost way of introducing themselves to gaming. Novices and intermediate level gamers would not be able to explore older titles cheaply. Experienced gamers would not be able to hook friends with no experience in gaming by giving them games to try out.
The rumored limitations of the PS4, if actualized, could also cut off the expansion of new or emerging markets in gaming before they’ve fully developed and matured.