Anything else than PS4 or Playstation 4 will kill it. The brand name is strong! Changing a systems name didnt work for PSVita....they should have called it PSP2.
I'm in agreement that PS4 is the right choice. It will become too confusing for the consumers to differentiate the console and handheld of different "word" names...say Orbis and Vita. I can see why they would want there to be a "theme" with the two, but I think it might cause confusion.
That's not to say I don't agree with the PS Vita naming. To me it was a necessary "freshener" to not call it the "PSP2". Something about it just looks redundant and "same old". Despite what you may think about Western sales right now, the key market is Japan. In Japan the PSP lived a very long life (with games still releasing on it and production still not entirely shifted to Via, but it's definitely picking up...Vita is now getting your token visual novels more instead of PSP). It lived a very long life and most users have what they need on the PSP, or think they do. They need a fresh name and outlook on a new platform to raise that interest level in the new system. Either way, things would have gradually shifted towards Vita development 100% in Japan. As for Western interest and sales, that's second priority for SCE I would say. The PSP was never on fire there, but there is more chance for Vita to do well in the West than PSP did, with it's modern social integration apps and other attention grabbers.
Back to "PS4" vs "PS -insert name here-". If you ignore the talk about negative connotation with "4" in Japan, PS4 is nice. Through legacy of console naming, it's an easy way for Sony to tell consumers that this is a generational leap and something to pay attention to. It is not as easy to the other companies, where there have been different, un-related names for each console iteration. That's not to say that the "Wii -> Wii U" situation is the same as "PS3 -> PS4". This is different because it's a clear advancement (new number), proven by history. History didn't prove itself with Wii, because there was no history; there was no Wii before Wii, and "U" doesn't necessary say "new" or "advancement".
I believe redundancy in number (let's talk software sequels here) doesn't start until 5 or 6. 4 is still a low enough number where people don't start to question the series doing the same thing or having too many, regardless of if that's true or not. After 4 or 5 you start to see a lot of games putting just subtitles in or simply "rebooting". So for naming, PS4 is still a good choice in my eyes. Just because the option is there, doesn't mean a new naming scheme has to be introduced. Sometimes consistency in legacy and history is best. Start thinking of different names when we're up to PS7 or something.
