Early this year, rumors of a new Playstation 4 model began to surface, with many specualting its release to be in the summer of 2016. These rumors, while unfounded at the time, were echoed across tech based media and has created a sense of anticipation for Sony Playstation fans. Well that anticipation seems to have paid off as early last week, gaming news website GaintBomb unveiled a report that not only affirms the existence of a new Playstation 4 model, but also reported it as being codenamed: NEO. This report expresses the main differences between the new and old PS4 models, stating that the new console will be 4K capable (for bluray movies), will have better processing power, VR support (in time for Sony’s new VR peripheral), and will be able to play the PS4’s already extensive list of games and apps.
The report went into great detail about the specification differences the new model would have, stating that while the hardware inside might not be much different, there will be significant changes to CPU/GPU clock speed, onboard memory bandwidth, and graphical fidelity. The NEO should be a more powerful and reliable console when compared to the baseline Playstation 4, but will according to reports not hold any exclusive games over the normal PS4 itself. In fact, it seems Sony very specifically does not want developers of games to favor the NEO over the normal PS4, and that while devs can create PS4 games with a sort of “NEO mode” (where games will run at a higher framerate or with better graphics) on the PS4 NEO, those games also must also be available for use by regular PS4 users. This Sony backed parity between consoles is admittedly strange, but is ultimately very consumer friendly, as it does not force those in the market to pick one console up over another.
These new developments promise a very interesting Summer season for Playstation owners should the NEO prove to be everything that Giantbomb has reported, and I know I’m certainly pining to get my hands on one.
SOURCE:
http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/sources-the-upgraded-playstation-4-is-codenamed-ne/1100-5437/