Welcome to this weeks rumor roundup. I've got a lot of exciting rumors for everyone including leaked information about the Playstation 4, a new 360 model called the Lite, and leaked Black Ops 2 details.
[Also, check out drawception for a good laugh]
Playstation 4
It is no rumor that Sony will be releasing the next Playstation within the next few years but a Kotaku Source says that we will be getting codename "Orbis" by Holiday 2013. For those of you unfamiliar with latin, Orbis means "orbit" or "circle". Combine that with the recently released Vita, you have "Orbis Vita" or "Circle Life". Circle of Life anyone? Whether this means the two devices will be married in their capabilities is unclear, but it makes sense.
Onto the Specs:
AMD x64 CPU
AMD Southern Islands GPU
The CPU was expected but the GPU is extremely interesting. The Southern Island GPUs are AMD's high end cards from 2012. With a card like that you can expect resolutions up to 4k. This does not mean that every game will be released running at 4k (just look how many PS3 games actually run at 1080p) but it DOES mean that we can expect every Orbis game to run at full 1080p even in 3D.
The bad news is that with those chips you can throw backwards compatibility with PS3 games out the window. It would take a lot of time and processing power to create an emulator, which Sony would have to do, without the Cell Processor onboard.
The good news from this is that you can expect the Orbis to be much cheaper at launch than the PS3 was. No new Blu-ray drive (most likely will still have one but they are much cheaper now than when the PS3 launched), no backwards compatibility, and no R&D costs on the processor.
Xbox 360 Lite
Coming straight from Microsoft rumor king MSNerd:
"My understanding is that we'll see a Xbox device in late 2013 which does Arcade-style games & all the current & future media apps with Kinect (with near-mode). It will be an ARM-based platform price-competitive with the Apple TV (if you own a Kinect already)"
What this means:
This 360 Lite will essentially be a cheap (~$100), entry level model used only for media apps and arcade downloads; there will be no disc drive. This rumor fits in with all the previous rumors about Microsoft ditching the disc drive for their next xbox. This also places the Xbox 720 at a Holiday 2013-2014 release date.
If the above Playstation Orbis rumor turns out to be true, I expect Microsoft to release their console alongside Sony as to not give them a year head-start.
Black Ops 2 Details
This information is coming from a pulled post from the official Black Ops forum.
Game Modes
- Escort, a new game mode
- Similar to Search and Destroy however a live player must be escorted to one of three areas (or two depending on the map) without being killed.
- The match will have rounds, consisting of one life only.
- Drop Zone and Kill Confirmed will return
- Team Defender and Infected will not return
- Will follow from Modern Warfare 3’s system
- Larger emphasis on objectives
- A bomb plant is worth 2 points
- A neutral flag is worth 1, however an enemy flag is worth 2
- A flag assist capture is worth 1, a capture is worth 2
- The Specialist Pointstreak has be modified
- 2 kills now gets you 1 perk
- The 4th kill gets you 2 more perks
- The 6th kill gets you 3 more perks
- The 8th Kill gets you 4 more perks
- You do not get every perk when you reach 8 kills
- Perks only become “Pro” when you have them Pro
- RC XD will not return
- Heat vision
- Is a new Pointstreak reward
- When you get the required points, you can activate this Pointstreak and your player pulls out a scope and attaches it to your weapon.
- This scopes main advantage is it’s ability to detect enemies through most walls.
- Note, the scope can only be attached to primaries not including shotguns
- Item Packages
- Requires 5 points
- Fall along side care packages and air drop traps.
- Features a list of package items only
- Including ammo, mini gun, grenade launcher, rocket launcher, and body armor
- There will be 15 prestiges
- There will be 50 ranks
- Every two prestiges there is a 5 rank increase
- The final prestige has 90 levels
- ELITE is being fully incorporated into Black Ops 2
- Combat record has been modified and re-named as ELITE Stats
- There will be a specific lobby for clan matches (new way of leveling clans)
- Clan Tournaments can now be implemented
- No MOAB or Nuke
- No last stand
- No death streaks
- No flame thrower attachment
- Map design and size will be following Black Ops not Modern Warfare 3
- Improved sniper rifle usage.
- No aim assist for any sniper rifle.
- Less sway
- No longer just perk 1 chooses the players appearance
- Appearance is a combination of all perks and type of Pointstreak being used.
- Larger emphasis on hardcore than ever before
- No grenade launchers
- Only vehicle guided rocket launchers permitted
- Respawn timings decreased (for most modes)
- 1 bullet in the foot will no longer kill a person, a head or chest shot is usually required.
- A person will now bleed out if severely injured.
- The Perk Pro system has been upgraded
- There is now 2 options a perk can advance to.
- Both require different challenges to unlock
- Once the desired Pro version is unlocked, the player can select that as their “Perk Pro”.
- Once selected, the only way to choose the other option is by entering prestige mode.
- For example Perk slot 1 has the perk called Speed
- Speed – Reduces the time taken to aim down the sight
- > Pro I – Swaps weapons faster
- > Pro II – Throws equipment faster
- Will be returning with vast improvements.
- Difficulty is no longer based on how long the bots take to start shooting.
- Bots now have an advance AI system
- Similar to the behavior seen in the MW3 Spec Ops survival
A lot of information there.
Cheers,
Jon