The first round of rumors regarding the PlayStation 4 carries a lot of unwelcome news for gamers.
There is nothing surprising in the expected technical details. The PlayStation 3 successor, currently codenamed "Orbis" is expected to sport an AMD CPU and GPU that'll make it capable of running stereoscopic 3D games at full 1080p HD (unlike the PS3 which limits 3D games to 720p resolution). The GPU's maximum resolution will be 4096x2160 which is also the maximum resolution achieved by HD TVs shown during this year's Consumer Electronics Show.
A big negative for the upcoming console is that it ties games to a single PSN account, hence limiting the ability to resell used games. Under this system, second hand games will run in demo or trial mode unless they pay a fee to unlock the full game.
Additionally, it is rumored that the upcoming PlayStation console will not be backward compatible with current PlayStation 3 games.
The last bit of rumor circulating today is that Orbis/PS 4 will be released during the 2013 Holidays season. It is worth noting that Sony's CEO Kaz Hirai has stated clearly that they won't reveal any new consoles during E3 in June 2012.
