The Sony PS4 has been announced by Sony! At long last we've had our first look at the new console and so far it looks... next-geny. Sony revealed some tantalising details about the hardware specs, along with some amazing software features that the new console will have.
But sadly, and almost unbelievably, we STILL don't know what the PlayStation 4 looks like. Sony
has, however, revealed some fundamental details about the PS4 hardware, announced during the event and revealed in a post-conference spec sheet just what we'll see when the console launches during the holidays this year. So, in the interest of clearing away some of the speculative cobwebs, here's what we know & you should know about Sony's latest dream machine.
Sony PlayStation 4 (or PS4) Facts
Controllers: The new controller includes a share button and a touchpad. The dual shock controller spots a light bar to identify players and changes color as you move through the game. The Share button not only allows players to upload and share clips from their gaming experiences online, it also allow players to browse their online mate's games and take note of their trophies and leaderboards achievements.
Social as a priority: There were rumors that Sony would pursue a significant social infrastructure in the PS4, and they were right. It appears to have been built from the ground up with social in mind, integrating real-world identification, Facebook and dynamic real-time sharing. Players will be able to not just quickly cut clips of recent gameplay footage, but stream live game sessions to friends, thanks to Sony's dealings with Ustream.
Blizzard!: It's been forever since Blizzard, the company that has dominated PCs with "World of Warcraft," "Starcraft" and "Diablo," has released a game for consoles. But that's all changing with the release of "Diablo III," not just on PS3, but on the PS4 as well. What the game looks like on console hardware, and what the reconfigured interface looks like will be unveiled next month at PAX East.
No backward capability…yet: For hardcore game lovers, PS3 titles will not be natively supported on the PS4. Sony says it's exploring ways to make this happen in the future, including older titles from PS2 and PS1, but for now, you are stuck with new titles. However, a lot of the PS4 titles are also playable on the PS Vita.
Remote play: What's good for Nintendo is apparently good for Sony. Announcing remote play between the PS4 and PlayStation Vita, Sony leapfrogged one of the competing Wii U's selling points: the ability to take a full-fledged console game off the television and onto a mobile device. Utilizing Gaikai's streaming software, the PS4 will act as a server, and the Vita as a client.
The ultimate goal, according to Gaikai Chief Executive David Perry, is to make "every PS4 game playable on the PlayStation Vita." How PS4 games, which use a controller with more buttons than the Vita has, will work with such a transition remains unknown.
More from the PS3 stalwarts: "Killzone" and "Infamous," two series that released a couple of titles apiece on the PS3, return for new installments on the PS4. "Killzone Shadow Fall" was displayed with more than seven minutes of real-time gameplay demonstration, looking to maintain the series' FPS fundamentals. "Infamous: Second Son," teased a storyline apart from the first two games, featuring what may have been a new protagonist with the same projectile and mobility-based superpowers.
The hardware specs: - X86 CPU with a next-gen AMD Radeon based graphics engine,
- enhanced PC GPU,
- 8GB unified memory,
- local HD,
- GDDR 5 system memory,
- Blu-ray disk support plus good ol' DVD,
- HDMI output support as well as Analog-AV out and
- an optical digital output.
- PlayStation 4 Eye - a newly developed camera system that utilizes two high-sensitivity camera equipped with wide-angle lenses and 85-degree diagonal angle views.
What that means in layman's terms is that the PS4 will be significantly more powerful than the PS3, but don't expect the same graphical leap as was experienced between the PS2 and PS3. Given the demos on display during Sony's debut, it's likely that all but the most hardcore PC gamers will be impressed by the console's initial graphical displays.
Release date: The PS4 release date is "Holiday 2013". That's the only detail Sony revealed at the launch. Whether that means October or December remains to be seen, but at least there's confirmation that the PS4 will launch this year.
Online purchasing: Sony promised that downloadable games would be playable the moment they begin downloading, with the game forcing the downloads into the background initially. What wasn't mentioned in the event was whether Sony would continue its current PlayStation Plus system, which provides basic online gameplay and functions for free while putting a cost premium on additional features, or if it would move toward something like Xbox Live, which puts a paywall on pretty much anything worthwhile.
But where's the console? And the price?: Two crucial questions remain in the wake of Sony's PS4 announcement. What does the console actually look like? And how much will it be? Perhaps Sony learned from its PS3 announcement, which featured fans recoiling from its $599 price point, but if Sony can't bring the price down to something manageable, E3 or another press event will bring more of the same. No pricing details were revealed at the event, so all we've got to go on are various rumours from before the launch - but it might be that Sony has aprice point of around $400 in mind for the US release. That translates to around £255 so you could extrapolate that to around £299. This is further backed up by a recent report in The Times which states that Sony is aiming for a price of under £300 in the U.K. Sony didn't reveal any information on how much the PS4 will cost at its big press conference. According to the Asahi Shimbum, the new PS4 will cost around $428. This is the first report we've seen with any speculation of the cost. When the PS3 was initially released, the price was $599. So, what do you think how is it and how much it would cost?
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