Gamers and game developers are all eagerly awaiting the next generation of game consoles. Sony PlayStation users will be pleased to know that the next generation PlayStation is already in development. Sony confirmed this news during the company's investor meeting, according to Tomsguide article.

Masaru Kato, Sony's executive vice-president and chief financial officer explained the rising research and development costs for the company's fiscal year. He explained that in the game segment Sony has incurred development expenses for the NGP.

"For the home console, the PS3 still has a product life, but this is a platform business, so for the future platform - when we will introduce the product I cannot discuss - but development work is underway, so the costs are incurred there," Kato said.

News that Sony is developing the PS3 comes as welcome news to gamers as rumors that Sony will remain focused on handhelds. Sony had claimed that the PS3 will have a 10 year lifecycle, implying that the next PlayStation won't roll out until 2016. Developers haven't explored the maximum potential of the PS3 and the PlayStation Move has added more options for gameplay. There are still more years to be mined with the PS3 but gamers won't balk at a earlier release date for the PS4.

Sony's not the only one hard at work on their next generation game consoles. Nintendo plans to reveal its new console at E3 next month with a 2012 product release date in mind. Microsoft has begun hiring people for its next generation console last March.