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This article is from Now Gamer. All credit to Sykowolf for finding this. Rumours surrounding the Xbox 720 and the PS4 are coming thick and fast these days - all part of the exciting build up to next-gen, naturally - but the latest tech specs revealed by an insider could be the most detailed yet. An industry insider - it's not clear if they are a developer or someone else - has revealed a number of specific details about both the PS4 and the Xbox 720. Though these things should always be taken with a pinch of salt until something official is announced, the technicality and sheer wealth of the information certainly makes them sound convincing - especially when they collaborate so many previous rumours.We'll include a technical glossary at the bottom of the page should you need to understand all acronyms. Sony's PS4 won't be capable of native 4K resolution According to the insider, the PS4 (or Omni) won't be capable of the proposed 4K resolution that new TVs are being developed for. "The thing about omni is it will upscale to 4K" claims the insider, adding that the image quality is "very low in regards to Durango [Xbox 720]". PS4 is having problems with overheating Though the insider does not seem to have seen the issues himself, he does mention that he had heard others claim that the "Starsha [dev] kits have very bad heating problems" because the GPU and the SOC aren't specialised enough - as is the case wit the Xbox 720. He then adds that he believes it is because Sony doesn't have enough money to devote to research and development, as it had done with the PS3's Cell processor. The PS4 will be called "Omni" and is in production soon Throughout the reveal the insider refers to Sony's PS4 with two names: Starsha and Omni. Starsha has been revealed as the name of the APU system inside the PS4. However, Omni is now believed to be the final name of the PS4. This was a rumour back in November 2012, and was said to represent Sony's approach to the console - namely, that it is capable of doing everything. The insider claimed that the final SDK for Sony's PS4 - or Omni - has been available since December 2012, adding that Sony is trying to launch its next-gen console ahead of Microsoft.The Starsha chipset is in fabrication process now, and is expected to enter mass production on the 23rd of January. As a point of interest, the insider claimed that Microsoft has only just got the Kryptos (Xbox 720) out to developers at the start of this month. If true, the rumours suggesting that Sony's next-gen console will launch as early as September 2013 could well be true. Along these lines, the insider claimed that Sony could reveal the PS4 on 5 Feb 2013. Xbox 720's "Oban" is a game changer for Microsoft The name Oban was revealed a couple of months back, and was believed to be the name of the chips onboard the Xbox 720. According to this insider, however, Oban is actually the name of the blitter inside the next-gen machine. A blitter is a system built into hardware designed to improve the speed at which data is transferred within the hardware's memory. It is a separate system from the CPU and can run parallel to it, moving large amounts of data relatively quickly. The Xbox 720 will be a 356-bit system - compared to the PS4's 256-bit system - and is capable of 550GB of data per second. The insider claims it is designed for raytracing, and with the Oban and the higher bus speed of the GPU this will put it on top in terms of technical prowess. Xbox 720 is designed for ray tracing technology Ray tracing is a high-end lighting technology that isn't widely used in games today. Unlike the current dynamic lighting system - which recreates the effects of lighting - ray tracing emulates the science of light. In other words, more realistic reflections and refractions can be created to create more realistic looking lighting. The problem is it's a very intensive technology that takes a very long time to render and is primarily used in Pixar films. If the Xbox 720 is as powerful as this suggests, then ray tracing will be more possible with the hardware. The insider claims that Microsoft has designed the Xbox 720 with ray tracing in mind, however admits that "the hardest part will be for studios to work with ray traced graphics enabled engines." For those interested, here's a video of last year's GTC conference where NVidia highlighted some of its ray tracing technology: PS4 Tech Specs An APU with a fast GPU. 4GB of DDR3 RAM. 4GB of GDDR5 RAM. CPU is an x86 system with 256-bit bus. A more off the shelf design than the modded Xbox 720. "We all feel Omni is more of a pc in it design." Capable of 3.2TFlops of data. Xbox 720 Tech Specs Three SOCs in one console. Two "Venus" models, and one "Mars". 8GB RAM, with 1GB devoted to operating system. Audio DSP 2 of Venus SOC - Application SOC GPU AMD 8900 spec GPU clocked at 800mhz with 10000HD series future tech 4 core CPU is clocked @ 2.5GHz 1.5 Gb of GDDR5 ram on each SOC (total 3GB) clocked @ 1.2Ghz Common factors 4GB of DDR4 RAM with 384 bit bus Ray tracing chip High speed blitter with 510 GB/s bandwidth between SOCs EDRAM Power brick is 300 watts, but SDKs are looking at 230 watts used. Capable of 4.2TFlops of data Next-Gen PS4 & Xbox 720 Tech Glossary APU = Accelerated Processing Unit. A hardware system that includes an additional method of processing. In this case, a CPU with a GPU built in. CPU = Central Processing Unit. The primary processing function of a machine. GPU = Graphics Processing Unit. The system used to process and generate the visuals of a game. SOC = System On Chip. A method of combining all the processing functions (CPU, GPU, etc) onto a single chip. Largely used for mobiles and tablets, but increasingly popular for consoles. Omni = One of the proposed final names for the PS4. Starsha = The rumoured name of the chips on board the PS4. Thebes = The internal codename for the PS4.

After being in the dark for quite some time bungie shed's some light on how they are preparing for their next game Destiny and how they as a company are holding up. Nothing exclusive about destiny has been revealed yet but we are expecting something in late March. This article is from Edge Issue 250 of Edge, on sale today, features an exclusive profile of Bungie, the studio which cemented its place in videogame legend with the 50 million-selling Halo series and which is now working on its first project for Activision, codenamed Destiny. The game has been shrouded in secrecy ever since Bungie signed a ten-year deal with Activision in 2010 – until last November, that is. Art assets which had been handed to an advertising agency ended up in the hands of gaming websites; Bungie, to its credit, took ownership of the leak, giving fans a first official look at some of the game’s concept art in a post on its website. Speaking to us as part of an in-depth studio profile, writer and design director Joseph Staten recalls the day of the leak. “I was in a conference room,” he tells us. “And Pete [Parsons, COO] walked in with his laptop. Pete has this look on him when he’s a little nervous and his eyes get really wide; his entire body was quivering. “I think our response was typical Bungie. We just took it in our stride and, instead of making it a negative, we turned it into a positive. We initiated a conversation with our fans, which we hadn’t done in a really long time. And I think having done that, the great reaction that we got from it really made us all very excited internally. It motivated us.” The feature charts the history of Bungie, which began life as a Chicago-based developer of Mac games before Halo caught Microsoft’s eye, the studio upping sticks and taking up residence on the Xbox maker’s Redmond campus. Time magazine once described that office as “a low-rent nerd farm in the middle of a pumpkin patch”; now the company occupies a sprawling converted multiplex cinema in Bellevue, the Seattle suburb that Valve also calls home. And the similarities with Gabe Newell’s company don’t end there. All Bungie’s desks are on wheels – and have been since 2005, Parsons assures us, lest we think it was a change made last year after Valve’s workplace culture was exposed in a leaked staff handbook – and even the most junior staff are given creative input. It’s a remarkably stable company, too, avoiding falling into the hire-ship-fire loop to which so many big studios succumb. Success helps, of course, but stability is an important part of the Bungie philosophy, as music director Marty O’Donnell explains. “There was a very conscious decision when we went independent from Microsoft,” O’Donnell, the man behind Halo’s classic soundscapes, tells us. “We wanted to make a game company that didn’t get into the habit of swelling its ranks in order to finish a project, and then letting a bunch of people go. We wanted to figure out a way to make a place where people could come and work and stay.” And so it’s proved. Half of the team that worked on the original Halo is still at the studio. Staff are shareholders, so everyone stands to benefit from the studio’s success – which could hit new heights this year, given that Bungie, not Activision, owns the Destiny IP. For the full story of how Bungie is preparing for what looks to be a very interesting year indeed, you’ll need the latest issue of Edge. E250 is on sale now, and it’s a packed issue, with the inaugural Edge Developer Awards – our pick of the 50 best studios on the planet. There’s a 12-page feature on the number one studio, Valve, and reviews of the likes of DmC: Devil May Cry and Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch. Edge is available in print, on Android through Google Play or Zinio, and in award-winning, interactive form for iPad on Apple Newsstand.

According to Major Nelson Halo 4 has now dropped to 4th place on the Xbox live activity chart with Black Op's II at the top, Minecraft in second and Fifa Soccer 13 in third. Here is the List of the 20 most played games on xbox live from the week of January 7th. 1.Call of Duty: Black Ops II 2.Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition 3.EA Sports FIFA Soccer 13 4.Halo 4 5.Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 6.NBA 2K13 7.Skyrim 8.Call of Duty: Black Ops 9.Madden NFL 13 10.Battlefield 3 11.Assassin’s Creed III 12.Far Cry 3 13.Modern Warfare 2 14.GTA IV 15.Borderlands 2 16.Gears of War 3 17.Halo: Reach 18.Forza Motorsport 4 19.Forza Horizon 20.EA SPORTS NHL 13

343 Industries has announced in this weeks bulletin that they will be shutting down the servers for Halo 2 vista, they said the reason for this is because the population has only been 20 at it's peak. "To switch gears ever so slightly, we’re sad to report that the service end-date for Halo 2 PC Multiplayer will be February 15, 2013. We’ve been monitoring the population for months, and it’s been peaking consistently at approximately 20 players or less. Those that own this game can continue to enjoy Multiplayer over LAN after that date; however our network services will be turned off at that time. We love you, Halo 2 PC, and you will live forever in our hearts" So for those few who still play it try and get in as much games as you can before the lights are switched off and the doors are locked for good. Goodbye Halo 2 vista we love you.

In late march bungie will finally be discussing about their next game destiny, the discussion will be held at GDC (game developers conference) at the Moscone Centre in San Francisco. Further details below. This article is from Gamespot. Bungie will discuss its all-new and still-unannounced franchise--believed to be titled Destiny--in late March during a 2013 Game Developers Conference talk at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California. Presumably, a more formal announcement for Destiny is planned for sometime prior to the talk. Neither Bungie nor Activision had returned requests for comment at press time. Bungie writer and design director Joe Staten and art director Christopher Barrett will lead the discussion, titled "Brave New World: New Bungie IP." The talk will focus on Bungie's design process and world-building techniques, running from concept to production. Those in attendance will get a glimpse inside Bungie's new world, though it's not clear what state the game will be in during the briefing. Additionally, the event description suggests the next ten years of games from Bungie will be based in the Destiny universe. To date, Bungie has released just one piece of artwork for Destiny, but speculation has run rampant. A leaked marketing document in November described Destiny as a "fun and accessible" game with a "deep, tangible, and relatable" universe compared to Star Wars. The game is also described as "social at its core." According to the document, Destiny's plot revolves around an alien ship bent on destroying Earth and the "knights" tasked with defending what's left of humanity. The document also shows images bearing the Destiny logo along with Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 icons. Destiny is Bungie's first project as part of a 10-year publishing deal with Call of Duty company Activision. Legal documents from May suggested that the game will be released for the Xbox 360 in 2013, with a 2014 release slated for the PlayStation 3.

The next generation systems from both PlayStation and Microsoft will retail at the $350-$400 range, a games analyst has claimed. This article is from CVG Basing his numbers partially on off-the-record meetings with "a number of companies" at CES 2013, analyst Colin Sebastian of Baird Equity Research said the new consoles will likely sit around the $400 range. In 2005, Microsoft retailed its Xbox 360 premium bundle at $400, while one year later Sony was at the centre of controversy for offering the premium PS3 system at $599. The rumoured next-gen price points, if accurate, would imply that both Sony and Microsoft are willing to sell their systems at higher losses to appear to an increasingly diversified market. "Given the fragile state of the console game market, we expect the E3 trade show in June will take on added significance, most likely providing the industry with the first public opportunity to examine next-generation hardware," Sebastian wrote in his notes. "Our checks suggest that next-generation console hardware will be largely built from 'off the shelf' high-end PC components, along with hybrid physical/digital distribution models, enhanced voice controls and motion sensing (Kinect integration with every Xbox), and broad multi-media capabilities," he added. "Moreover, a PC-based architecture (Intel chips in the case of Xbox) should have a number of advantages over custom-developed silicon: for one, the learning curve for software developers will be shorter than completely new technology. "Second, the cost of production and retail price points should be lower than prior console launches. "Third, it will be easier to build online services around PC chip architecture, including flexible business models (free-to-play, subscriptions) and multi-media (over the top) content offerings. For Microsoft, this design will also allow for moreintegration with Windows 8 and Windows Mobile devices."

Microsoft has been showing of it's new technology at CES, it is called "Xbox IllumiRoom". What it does is make your entire room part of the TV screen, your walls will show the content that breaches the edges of your TV and acts as an extension to your screen. More details below. Article and videos are from IGN. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHV4nclMdGc During Samsung’s keynote at CES today, Microsoft unveiled IllumiRoom, a new technology that turns the entire room around your TV into an extension of the screen. As explained on Microsoft’s official site, IllumiRoom uses Kinect and a projector “to blur the lines between on-screen content and the environment we live in allowing us to combine our virtual and physical worlds.” Microsoft explains that IllumiRoom “augments the area surrounding a television screen with projected visualizations to enhance the traditional living room entertainment experience” and “can change the appearance of the room, induce apparent motion, extend the field of view, and enable entirely new game experiences." Kinect captures the geometry of a room and adapts projected visuals “in real-time without any need to custom pre-process the graphics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoUGRGjG07E In a video demo shown off during Samsung’s keynote, Microsoft showed off several different applications of the technology, noting that the footage was “captured live and is not the result of any special effects added in post production.” IllumiRoom appears to be the realization of the immersive display experience Microsoft patented last year, which aimed to make gaming “more realistic” and eliminating “out of context images” that sit next to your TV. Whether or not IllumiRoom will tie-in with next Xbox or the next generation of Kinect remains to be seen, but Microsoft says more details will be revealed at the ACM SIGCHI Conference in Paris in April.

Here are some stunning images of what Mass Effect 4 could look like on the next gen Playstation and Xbox. This could be giving us an idea of what the next generation of gaming may very well look like and the power of what the next consoles could be capable of. Read below for more details. Article and images are from Examiner Some images have popped up online on Saturday giving us a taste of what the next “Mass Effect” video game, presumably “Mass Effect 4,” could look like on next-generation systems like the PS4 and Xbox 720. As reported by DSOGaming, Baolong Zhang was able to put together several character models using the Unreal Engine 3 with DirectX 11. You can check out his “Mass Effect 4” images, as well as some concept images of the PS4 and Xbox 720 from Yanko Design. Late last year, Bioware announced that they are currently working on the next installment for the “Mass Effect” series, which many think will end up being “Mass Effect 4.” The latest title, “Mass Effect 3,” was released for multiple platforms in North America on March 6, 2012.

Recent reports claim to have revealed the next gen xbox specs, it's is said that the CPU, GPU and RAM total but microsoft have not announced these details themselves yet so it should still be considered as rumor. Read below for more details. This article is from Examiner.com Although Microsoft remains mum on the topic, rumors concerning Microsoft’s upcoming next-generation home console, dubbed Xbox 720, continue to surface. On Tuesday, a report from Club.TGCER.com arose which, apparently, reveals many of the technical specs of the Xbox 720. According to a post from the NeoGAF video game forums, which translated the original source, the Xbox 720 will house an 8-core CPU, a customized AMD 8800 series GPU, and pack 8 GB of RAM – for comparison, the Nintendo Wii U has 2GB of RAM. In addition to these technical details, the report also mentions that the Xbox 720 will use Windows 8 as an operating system and come with a 640 GB hard disk drive – the Xbox 360’s largest HDD currently is 320 GB. Microsoft has not formally announced the Xbox 720 or a next-generation home console. Despite Microsoft’s reluctance to announce the new hardware, there have been a number of reports that suggest Microsoft will debut the Xbox 720 at E3 2013 later this year with a launch in North America by the end of the year