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It's real, then, in case there was ever any doubt. Confirming what's been known in considerable detail for some time, Sony has acknowledged the existence of a new, more powerful PlayStation 4, choosing to do so via a glib admission in a Financial Times interview timed to clear the air ahead of next week's E3, where it won't be discussing the new console any further.Perhaps it doesn't need to, when we already know the specs of the machine, details of how it will co-exist with the current PlayStation 4, and what we can expect of the experience. What that leaves, though, is the all-important question of why, the answer to which we'll be no closer to learning next week as execs look set to stick their heads in the sand. Maybe they simply don't have an answer, because now is as good a time as any to be more forthcoming with one. I've struggled to find one myself, and all I keep coming back to when considering this new PlayStation 4 are reasons why not - and why a mid-cycle console upgrade on this scale sounds like a pretty rotten idea.
History sets a robust precedent, of course, and looking back over the relatively brief lifespan of console gaming, it's hard to find any examples of mid-cycle upgrades that were anything other than a mistake. From the Famicom disk system to the notorious mess Mega Drive found itself in towards the end of its life, puffing and wheezing underneath all those unnecessary, divisive add-ons that sucked the momentum out of Sega's console business, it's a history of failures and disappointments too often brought about by hubris.
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