All of the Sony Playstations, including the PSP (Playstation Portable) have optical dics, with the PS1 supporting CD’s, PS2 with DVD’s, PS3 with Blu-Ray and PSP with Sony’s own format named the UMD. Will the Playstation 4 follow suit? I doubt it.
Almost a year ago, a 75 year old lady from Sweden became the fastest home internet connection owner in the world. Her 40Gbps (Yes, Gbps and not Mbps) connection was run as a test to see if it was possible to run these kind of speeds in to a home. 40Gbps would be capable of downloading a HD disc in just 2 seconds. This leads to the possibility that much faster internet will be readily available for the “estimated 2011 – 2012″ release date for the Playstation 4.
If far greater download speeds are available then could this mean that the optical disc is dropped finally and games are only available for download. Maybe just a few $ for a months rental which can be downloaded in seconds or just a few minutes.
It’s something worth thinking about and by 2012 should be easily possible given the advances we see month by month in technology.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’d say that expecting anything close to those download speed being available in the average home by 2011 is probably unlikely, so i’d expect the PS4 to still have a Blu-Ray drive (by that time the 200GB Blu-Rays should be in common use)
There’s also the herdle of getting people to be happy with a download system, there are still lots of people still wanting to own a physicle item.
Plus the required disk size would be an issue your going to need a terrabite drive to be able to hold enough games.
Those are some valid points. Although download speeds have increased over the last few years, they haven’t increase enough to show that by 2011 downloads will be quick enough for blue-ray data.
I think people may almost be ready for downloads as iPod’s and other MP3 players have gotten rid of the “physical” product so to speak, but with games it could be a different hurdle.
One mighty drive will be needed!