PlayStation 4 specs, UI details reported

Work on PlayStation 4--codenamed Orbis--is moving forward and more advanced kits are hitting developers, according to reports. VG247 says it spoke with several anonymous sources about the development kits and internals we'll see in the final version of the console.

VG247's source said Sony plans to make the system "very affordable," while not being a "slouch" when it comes to graphics. Sony's goal is allegedly to run 1080p games in 3D at 60 frames per second with no issues. It will accomplish this with a derivative of AMD's A10 accelerated processing unit series (an APU is a combination of a graphics card and CPU.)

The system will supposedly have a Blu-Ray drive, 256 GB of storage (it's not clear whether this would be on an HDD or SSD, but cost concerns make an SSD unlikely), and have the same inputs and outputs as the PlayStation 3. The dev kits are said to have 8 or 16 GB of RAM, though this may not translate directly over to consoles.

The source said the system's interface has been overhauled to be as fluid as possible, allowing much greater access from within a game--for example: pausing, downloading some DLC from the PlayStation Store, then jumping back into the play session. Orbis is designed to remain in standby mode when not in use, and to download system and product updates in the background by default.

The current dev kits were said to be modified computers, with a near-final version coming in January ,and a final edition next summer. The source said Sony plans to unveil Orbis at an event just before next year's E3.