A new report from the Wall Street Journal suggests that last week’s rumored PS4.5 (or PS4K) is indeed real. Furthermore, Sony is reportedly gearing up to announce the new hardware prior to the PlayStation VR launch in October. This news corroborates claims that Kotaku made just last week. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

The new, more powerful PS4 will supposedly play 4K content, and provide,”a richer gaming environment, including a high-end virtual-reality experience.” This doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll be getting 4K games, though. Better hardware should theoretically allow developers to make their games prettier with more foliage and whatnot, but the new resolution support is most likely added to allow gamers to watch 4K Blu Ray discs and stream ultra-high definition content as well from the likes of Netflix and YouTube.

Now we wait for an official announcement–maybe we’ll see it at this year’s E3.

Many online dwellers are disgruntled that a new console could be releasing this soon into the hardware cycle, but two to three years into a console’s lifespan is when it usually gets a redesign anyways. So, this isn’t really unheard of. I get everyone’s reservations about this upgrade, but it might actually be necessary if Sony is really trying to compete in the VR space.

Would you guys be interested in upgrading to this new hardware so early into the console cycle? Does it matter that it could potentially give you a better PS VR experience? Do you even care about 4K content? Let us know in the comments below!

[HT: GameSpot]

[Image: Sony Computer Entertainment]