Guys Upstairs - Tech

The Metal Gear Solid 4 “Gun Metal Gray” Playstation 3 was previously only available through the Konami website at a premium of $600. Last week it was reported that the bundle could be pre-ordered through Amazon for $450. The price has now been dropped to a mere $400. The bundle contains the 40GB version and will be released on November 4th.

I personally like the gun metal color more than the traditional Sony “Piano Black,” but nothing can compare to the MGS4 PS3 mod by the guys over at Morpheon Mods. The unit is even signed by Hideo Kojima himself when the world tour stopped in NYC. The front of the PS3 is a giant black laser etching of Solid Snake while the other side is decorated with the Fox Hound logo. The entire thing is covered in digital camouflage and has a laser cut Metal Gear Solid 4 marquee. It’s also lit up with 15 white micro LEDs. Best of all, this was created using an original 60GB PS3 so it’s got full backwards compatibility. It sold for $17,100 on eBay with 15% of the proceeds going to Child’s Play Charity.

[Joystiq]

Japanese site PC Watch just released a report today stating that Sony is leaning heavily toward basing the PlayStation 4 on the same cell processor which the PS3 runs on. This is a step away from tradition for Sony, which has pushed the boundaries of processor and hardware for both the PS2 and the PS3. One of the reasons for this decision may be that it would cut down on the price of production as well as the price for the consumer.

The Cell processor has the capability to reach 32 cores based on current technological trends, but redesigning the processor would be expensive enough for Sony to most likely go with around 10-12 cores. The current plan is also for the chip to shrink from 90nm to 45 nm and only a slight increase over the current 3.2 Gz clock speed.

PC Watch reports that Sony could potentially switch to DDR3 memory over the expensive Rambus XDR used in the PS3. The low power DDR3 memory could have a decreased latency if it is coupled to the processor.

While this pushes the expected release date from 2010 to 2011, the good news is that game developers should be able to start working on games for the PS4. The delayed release of quality games for the PS3 could have been what led to at least a sluggish start for the system, something that may be avoided for the PS4.

[Electronista and Gamecyte]