Rumor has it that Sony is now officially working on a PlayStation 4 (PS4) as Microsoft is secretly readying a new Xbox to succeed the Xbox 360.

Speculators are betting that the next “Battle of the Console” will be held around 2011-2012. Analysts believe that there is a potential that these new consoles will be named Xbox 720 and Playstation 4.

Processor for PS4 should be extremely fast with expected future-proof technology enhancements in the areas of wireless gaming and graphics rendering.

If the PS4 is a revamp of the PS3, we’re likely to see some obvious technology upgrades – Superpower processors, 802.11n to replace the existing 802.11b/g chipset; an external power supply (to reduce the size of the box and to improve cooling); a massive hard disk; new graphics processor and an increase in the onboard memory.

The memory architecture in the PS3 splits 512MB equally between graphics and application use and it’s been suggested that this limits developer freedom. You’d expect the PS4 to address this issue, giving developers more dedicated memory in which to load game levels. Although it’s worth pointing out that the PS3 (and any future Cell-based consoles) can use the SPEs for maths-intensive tasks like physics.

Like any Xbox 360 replacement, the PS4 is also going to have a much bigger hard disk. This will be in readiness for a wealth of downloadable content that will include games, demos, music, movies and TV shows. A terabyte HDD isn’t out of the question.

And what about the Blu-ray?  It is highly speculated that the PS4 wont need any.  By that time, digital hubs of the future will run games worldwide as seamless as we do in our local area network.

When will it launch?  Based on experience, Sony normally has a 10-year life cycle for its console.  If history will repeat itself, then we are looking at 2016.

Not bad to talk about it today.  At least its a good subject to talk about when all of the unknowns are seemingly impossible to attain.