We’ve been hoping for a PlayStation 4 release this year and a full-page advert in today’s Metro backs up the theory. Yay! Take a look, loyal readers.

Exciting stuff, huh? Our pals over at Eurogamer contacted Sony for further comment, and a spokesperson had this to say:

“We announced at the PlayStation Meeting event on Feb 20th that PS4 would be coming in 2013… the adverts are simply re-stating that message.

“More information about PS4 and all PlayStation Platforms will be announced at E3.”

Boy oh boy, we cannot WAIT for Christmas. E3 is a few weeks away, and we are going to learn what the PS4 looks like as well as tons more info about games and a release date. It’s gonna be good.

To begin with it looks like a beautiful 2D game, but that moment when the camera swivels around and you suddenly realise it’s 3D is simply phenomenal. Plenty of games have tried to blend 2D style with 3D models, to varying effects (the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm is a good example) but none have looked as wonderful as this does. The cleanness of the lines and the sheer crispness of everything makes us suspect this might be a next-gen game, but that’s pure speculation at this point. All that’s important is that a new Guilty Gear game is coming and it looks amazing.

Yes, we know we are a PlayStation magazine, but we love games in general and the next-generation of consoles is important whichever one you personally prefer. The new Xbox will be revealed live from 6pm, and you can watch it directly thanks to the powers of the internets and our friends over at NowGamer. Go take a look!

Early rumours suggest we’ll be seeing Call Of Duty: Ghosts, a new FIFA and Microsoft’s Illumiroom technology among the delights on offer. With this reveal, the next-gen war is truly on and people can start picking sides and mouthing off about the other, as is inevitable. Human nature is a terrible thing. Speaking from an unbiased perspective, the PlayStation 4 reveal was very impressive with its focus on core gamers and original social connectivity concepts. Microsoft are going to have to pull out all the stops!

Head on over to NowGamer RIGHT NOW and get to watching.

So, yeah. It’s a black square. What did you expect? A unicorn? A watermelon? A fully-functioning party dispenser? Well tough, it’s none of those things. It’s a black square, and you’ll be bloody happy with it. Now we wait until E3 so we can see just how black and square-y it is. Excitement!

Since it was revealed a couple of days ago, one main question has been asked about Gran Turismo 6: why is it on PlayStation 3 rather than the upcoming PS4? GT6 will be coming to Sony’s current-gen console this Christmas, but the timing seems a bit odd. After all, all eyes will be on the next-gen, and it’s easy to imagine Gran Turismo getting lost in the shuffle of shiny new technology.

Well apparently it’s something that has crossed the mind of Polyphony Digital CEO Kazunori Yamauchi. Speaking at the Silverstone event where he revealed the game on Wednesday, Yamauchi made it clear his team was still looking to the future.

“We actually do have a PlayStation 4 version in mind,” Yamauchi said. “So for this holiday season, we thought that it would be best for users to release the PlayStation 3 version. I thought the best scenario would be to have the game come out, to have new content and new DLCs every month, and updates coming in for the game; and once players have thoroughly played out the system and played out the game, if the PlayStation 4 version just came out naturally in the progress, I think that’s the best scenario.”

It makes sense for GT6 to come to PS4 at some point, although bearing in mind the franchises legendary development times, we might be waiting a while. Even on current-gen hardware, hopefully Gran Turismo 6 will be a blast when it is released later this year.

So, yeah. Any gameplay? Details? A confirmation of what it’s actually called? Nah. But it is shiny!

The site has been updated with a new date of 21 May, where hopefully we will learn more. Interestingly, that is also the date of the presumed next Xbox reveal. Considering the Sony logos all over this, we are assuming the two are not directly related.

So what is “Panopticon”? From the trailer it looks like a weird cross of sci-fi, MMOs, Monster Hunter and plenty of anime style. What it will actually be is anyone’s guess yet, but we are excited to find out. More great PlayStation franchises are always welcome .

We’ve all been suspecting for some time that Gran Turismo 6 will be announced in the near-future and now we have even more reason to believe. The official Gran Turismo website has been updated with a new section for GT6. It’s empty at the moment, but the mere fact it’s there is interesting.

A special Sony event at Silverstone later today seems like the perfect time to announce the game, so keep your eyes on the road and your ears to the tarmac because the next installment in the famous racing-sim series could be closer than you think.

With PS4-mania running wild and the next-gen race really kicking off, odds are that a hypothetical Gran Turismo 6 would be an early title for Sony’s next console. If our guesses are correct, we might know for sure later on today. Vroom!

We hope you like lists! Square Enix have announced two updated versions of Final Fantasy XIII-2, bundling the game with a variety of post-release DLC. The more expensive “Digital Contents Edition” will come with all this lovely stuff:

Colosseum Opponents
Omega
Lightning and Lieutenant Amodar
Jihl Nabaat
Ultros and Typhon
Gilgamesh
PuPu

Costumes
Sera: Summoner’s Garb
Sera: Beachwear
Sera: White Mage
Noel: Battle Attire
Noel: Spacetime Guardian
Noel: Black Mage
Mog: A Wondrous Wardrobe Costume Pack

Weapons
Sera: Genji Bow
Noel: Catastrophe Blade
Noel: Muramasa

Episodes
Sazh: Heads or Tails?
Lightning: Requiem of the Goddess
Snow: Perpetual Battlefield

If you’ve played XIII-2, we assume this all makes sense to you. Meanwhile, a cheaper “Ultimate Hits” edition will come with a smaller selection of DLC. If you already own the game and simply want all the DLC in one big glob Square Enix have you covered, with a “Additional Content Selection” bundling it all up and making it available to download for a reduced price. The two games hit Japan on July 18th and there is currently no word on whether they will make the trip across the pond. We’d bet on a complete edition of some description releasing eventually, though.

Both Sony and Microsoft are apparently telling developers they are focusing “heavily” on free-to-play and in-application purchasing models for the next generation, according to Epic Games VP Mark Rein.

Speaking at a roundtable discussion, Rein said that the business model now common on mobile devices would end up making its way to console.
“The next-gen consoles are going to be fully embracing the free-to-play and these IAP-type business models,” Rein said, “So in case you don’t know that I’m putting that out there. Sony and Microsoft are both going heavily in that area.”

Old school gamers and traditionalists might not be too happy, but it’s not that surprising. In the most recent issue of Game Informer Sony Worldwide Studios chief Shuhei Yoshida said the company was working on a free-to-play style game and that the company was open to trying out a variety of different revenue models.

“We are developing a free-to-play type of game, but we haven’t announced it yet,” Yoshida told Game Informer. “We don’t have any subscription-based games in development, but we are not crossing out any type of game; if it makes sense for a particular project, we’ll look at adopting different models. We are open for any types of models. Overall, we are increasing investment in the digital side of development, either through digital titles like Journey that we’ve been doing, but also trying to add more service-based models to our games going forward, like DLCs or additional features post launch.”

Head over to Joystiq for the full story. 

The launch of the PlayStation 3 was an expensive time for Sony, with the company making a loss on every PS3 sold. Taking the loss leader approach, Sony chose to sell the console as cheaply as possible in the hope of making up profits through software sales. How successful they were is debatable, but the facts show that they lost a lot of money in those early days.

Luckily, that doesn’t seem to be the case this time. ”Unlike PS3, we are not planning a major loss to be incurred with the launch of PS4,” said Sony CFO Masaru Kato in an earnings report earlier today.

“At the time we developed PS3, we made a lot of in-house investments to develop the chip, the Cell chip. Development of the chip saw the silicon processing and all the facilities invested by us ourselves. But this time, yes we have a team working on chip development, but we already have existing technology to incorporate and also product investment and all the facilities will now be invested by our partners, other foundries, so we don’t have to make all the investment in-house.”

It’s great news and hopefully will give the PS4 a much smoother and more profitable launch than its predecessor. From what we’ve seen so far, it definitely deserves it. Head over to Eurogamer for the full story.