The console's underlying operating system of Sony’s Playstation 4  is based on the FreeBSD operating system. The apparent identification of the OS comes not from anything so exotic as a leaked console, but from someone with their hands on the development environment (and, El Reg supposes, willing to ignore what's probably a tied-hands-and-feet NDA).

At VGLeaks, images of the development environment booting up clearly identify the OS as “Orbis OS”. Based on lists of files and libraries, VGLeaks states that Orbis is based on FreeBSD 9.0.

VGLeaks' capture of the Sony PS4 development bootloader
According to Phoronix, the PS4's eight-core AMD APU and Radeon graphics aren't exactly close friends with FreeBSD: there aren't any suitable open source Catalyst drivers in the BSD world, suggesting a fair degree of cooperation between Sony and AMD.

The FreeBSD licence is seen as friendlier to commercial developers than GNU-licensed Linux distributions, since it allows Sony to sell binaries without being obliged to release the associated source code.

The operating system images have stirred up a frenzy of speculation that Sony will revive the option for PS4 users to access the operating system to run the platform as a FreeBSD computer, except that aside from the presence of the free operating system, there's nothing to suggest this would be the case.

Aside from continuing the ongoing console wars, one of Sony’s primary goals for the upcoming PlayStation 4 is for the console to save the bacon of the PS Vita, Sony’s handheld gaming device. Despite having solid reviews from both consumers and the tech media, the device is still well behind Nintendo’s 3DS in terms of overall sales (31.9 million devices sold for the 3DS compared to 5.2 million Vitas).

Perhaps even more telling: the VGChartz’ data reveals that Sony’s classic console, the PlayStation 2, also outsold the Vita last week.

With that in mind, the move to make the PlayStation 4 compatible with the Vita only makes sense. In fact, during E3, it was revealed Sony wants to make “almost every PS4 title” available to Vita owners. Sony’s commitment to the Vita was again the topic of discussion during an interview with GamesIndustry.biz