PlayStation 4 to Simply be PlayStation 3 Plus Gaikai?

There are persistent rumours regarding the next generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft. Things such as what kind of specs will they have? How will they compare to current consoles and gaming PCs and finally how will cloud computing fit into this picture?

At the moment, none of these questions have clear answers. However, one thing that is clear is that Sony have bought online gaming outfit Gaikai. At the moment, Gaikai have around 30 games available to play online, including such A-listers as Saints Row The Third, Mass Effect 3 and The Witcher 2. However, now that Sony owns them, we can expect this list to expand dramatically. Like the OnLive service, the games are rendered in the Gaikai cloud on servers with high-powered graphics cards and streamed to a device of your choosing, which doesn’t need any special rendering powers. Therefore a mobile phone would work just as well as a tablet, a games console or a high powered gaming PC – which would now be made redundant. I can hear the wail of PC gaming enthusiasts now! Hence the ‘PS4’ might be nothing more than the current PS3 using Gaikai’s streaming service.

So, is this financial suicide? Quite likely not, since the world is in a bit of a depression right now, with the biggest recession since the end of World War 1, making a $500-$600 (300-400) console a tough sell in such a market and likely won’t do well. Therefore, Sony can continue to sell what is becoming an ever cheaper console to make and therefore sell at an ever reducing price, then simply have it render the pictures streamed to it over the internet. This could look like a much more attractive option to cash-strapped gamers than a next gen ‘Xbox 720’ from the competition at that $600 price.

The graphics quality is on par with current consoles already and will likely be improved on by Sony to make it more attractive for potential customers. Of course, what this will do to the broadband bills for those without an unlimited service remains to be seen. Will we see special “gaming” tariffs for example? We will have to wait and see.