Kim_Naroz said : I agree that the Playstation 3 ended up as a big disappointment and failed to live up to expectations. This has been very costly for the overall Sony corporate group, which is why we continue to hear more and more reliable reports saying that there won't be a PS4.

I have to disagree with you there, just because sales have not been as strong a Nintendo or Microsoft, does not mean that the PS3 is a disappointment. There has to be a reason why globally 16.84 million (as of September 30, 2008 source : Wiki) has already choosen the PS3 over the the Microsoft or Nintendo product. That surely means that some people have confidence in the hardware even when some people here don't. This year will bring some top exclusive titles to the PS3 so it will be interesting to see how 2009 goes especially in lite of the financial situation.

Sony aren't going to make an announcement in year three of their current hardware life cycle that they've already started R&D on the PS4. I am sure they may well have, but this information certainly wouldn't be released to the public domain just yet. At this point whether there will or won't be a PS4 or for that matter a Xbox540(or whatever they will call it) is pure speculation.

As regards to Job cuts... as the recession/depression deepens it's likely that a lot of big companies will start cutting their workforces, that goes without saying, I'm afraid. It's by no means isolated to the computer games industry! Areas of manufacturing will slow down and downsize, especially in luxury goods as the demands for these items wane.

But that doesn't mean to say that any of those companies end product will be effected, their merely streamlining their manufacturing process so that consumers and shareholders don't suffer as a result. I would assume that if Sony are buying in a certain amount of third party part of their TV's, that this would all be part of the streamlining process. Sony are well known for doing this anyway.. The PS3 itself has hardware in it from both Toshiba and Nvidia as well as others it just has the Sony branding. Microsoft have also done the same with their own box. with various collaborations for gfx and mainboard specifications. so that respect the charge of Sony using Samsung kit is hardly news.