Xbox 720, Wii U, PS4 Rumour Review 2012

It’s been a busy couple of weeks with all the rumours floating around about the new consoles. So here at Tech-17 we’ve compiled all of them to make it nice and easy for you to catch up on all the gossip. We’ve also given each rumour an evaluation on how likely we think it it to come true (teacups don’t fail me now!)

I'm betting on the one that looks like the old Sega

Xbox 720

So first up we have the 720, the replacement for the 360. There’s a lot of hype surrounding this, so let’s crack right in:

Rumour – it will be announced this year.

Likelihood – almost certainly

The web is buzzing with the prospect of the 720 formally being announced this year, and with the 360 now into its 7^th year, this will almost certainly be the case. Some have claimed it will be unveiled at the GDC (Games Developer Conference), but don’t be fooled! Except to see this as the highlight of Microsoft’s presentation at E3, and the whole show. Microsoft have confirmed we shall not be seeing a 720 release this year (no surprise given Halo 4).

Rumour – it will have 6 times the power of the 360

Likelihood – probably around that

It’s no surprise that the new console will have much more powerful capabilities than its forbears and that increase being six fold is no surprise. While specifics are under rap, the graphics card is supposed to be the Radeon 6000, decent but not the best.

Rumour – there’ll be Blue Ray

Likelihood – I’d place a modest bet on it.

The 360 famously only had a DVD drive thanks to Microsoft being on the losing end of the last content war (HD DVD vs Blue Ray).  The 720 will probably now feature Blue Ray, but the licensing could be tricky with Sony, mainly for the increase to 50GB disks opposed to 8GB DVDs. If not true, the 720 will have some real trouble keeping pace with the rest.

Rumour – will be cloud enabled

Likelihood – yes!

Not sure whether this’ll be storage, streaming films and games (think OnLive) or something else (maybe file sharing downloads when using your accound on a friend’s console), but the 720 will be cloud enabled – it makes sense. Would imagine that this will also be used for media streaming between various devices and the 720, eg. throwing up a video from your phone onto the tv through the xbox. 

Rumour – won’t support secondhand games

Likelihood – hmm, I suspect not

This is one of the more interesting and stranger rumours floating about. If true, it would change the entire industry in massive ways, and for that I highly doubt it is. How would it even be implemented across all games and people? If this turns out to be correct, I’ll be damed.

The hands come with it.

Wii U

The console with the most credible information due to its earlier release date of Q4 2012.

Rumour – dropping of the name

Likelihood – certainly plausible

I could see this happening as there have been fears the name Wii U is not distinct enough from the original Wii. Of course Nintendo wish to keep the brand identity, but concerns have risen over whether people will think of it as a distinct product or an update. The 3DS is reported to have performed poorly in part because not enough customers realised it was a separate handheld, not an updated version – like the DSlite.

Rumour – it’s not powerful enough

Likelihood – again, probably

There are two rumours here: the first that the U is 20% less powerful than the 720, and secondly that it’s twice as powerful as the 360, which if the 720 rumour is to be believed puts it at 50% (something doesn’t quite seem right here). An apparent insider has confirmed that many developers have had to scale back their ambitions when the hardware became evident.

Can't wait for this bad boy!

PS4

There’s not too much to be said here and only one rumour.

Rumour – it’ll be unveiled at E3

Likelihood – debunked

This is simply false. Sony have announced it’s not happening and anyway, it makes no sense given their 10 year plan for the PS3. Ignore anyone who says differently.