A first for Sony, the PS4’s design managed to stay under wraps until today’s E3 reveal. Honestly, it’s kinda ugly. I think both systems this coming gaming generation are pretty unspectacular in their physical appearance, but, hey, it’s the games that matter, right? It kinda looks like a smaller, slantier Xbox One with a cutout in the center. Image below:
Microsoft has been receiving a lot of bad press lately surrounding their Xbox One reveal. They weren’t exactly open with certain platform policies (such as an always-on connection, locking out used games, and blocking borrowing) which has drawn a lot of criticisms and gamers have sworn their allegiance to the PlayStation 4. While a lot of the speculation surrounding the Xbox One has been unfounded rumors (the system won’t be “always-on” but will require a periodic connection to authenticate games; used games are a part of the business and will not be blocked, though Microsoft and publishers will now see a cut of the profits; and borrowing and lending games is still much alive), it still looks, for many consuemrs, as though Sony is the better choice. It’s worth noting that Sony was equally elusive after the announcement of the PS4.
Little details beyond the fact that the PS4 is coming and it will, indeed, play games were confirmed. Sony, after the conference confirmed that the system will play used games, but didn’t specify anything beyond that. While Microsoft was a bit foolish in, well, talking and breeding speculation, Sony took what might be the smarter route by being quiet in not stating any potential scenarios. While many believed this to be a confirmation that Sony won’t be trying to get their slice of the used game pie, it may have easily been omission to make themselves more appealing.
GameTrailers’ Geoff Keighley has stated that it’s unlikely that developers would allow one platform (Microsoft’s Xbox One) to enable them to retain some of the profits of used game sales without the other embracing such a feature. There’s been a lot of hubbub surrounding this speculated used game DRM and fans have been crying out to Sony to not allow such a feature in the PS4. It’s worth noting that whether or not the developers and publishers see a cut of the used game sales, the consumers will likely be completely unaffected by this implementation. Business will carry on for us as usual–we will be able to buy, sell, lend, and borrow games as we normally would, just the workings behind the scenes would make the selling and buying of used games more ideal for the people who actually made the games.
Personally, I haven’t made any sound decisions on either console. I know I’m likely going to end up with both of them, but there are too many uncertainties to be, well, certain. I love gaming and I prefer doing it on a console, so I’m going to continue doing that until it is made incredibly undesirable to enjoy my games from my couch. E3 is right around the corner, so I’m sure a lot of these rumors for both systems will be cleared up soon.
Source: GameSpot
On Wednesday, February 20, 2013, Sony finally revealed their next videogame console: the PlayStation 4. While there had been a lot of speculation leading up to the event, it’s nice to finally have some details confirmed and, after seven years, we can look forward to a new console gaming generation this fall.
Here’s a brief rundown of the system: The PS4’s new controller will feature a touch pad, a light bar which can indicate character health as well as act as work in tandem with PlayStation Eye (similar to PS Motion), has redesigned analogue sticks with concave grips, and a new “social” button which opens up a social menu. The PlayStation Eye has also been vastly improved and now features two cameras with 1200 x 800 resolution–the two cameras allow depth recognition.
The system itself is equipped with a “powerful custom chip that contains eight x86-64 cores and a state of the art graphics processor.” The PS4 also has 8 gigs of GDDR5 memory allowing 176GB per second bandwidth and higher graphic fidelity.
Games announced for the PlayStation 4 include a new title in the inFamous series titled Second Son, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Bungie’s Destiny with exclusive content, The Witcher 3, Ubisoft’s Watch_Dogs (which was announced at E3 2012), Diablo III (which will also make an appearance on the PS3 for the eager, console-bound dungeon adventurers), among others. The upcoming content seems to be a strong lineup, but there’s little new content to entice potential buyers at this early stage–E3 is likely to bring more exciting news on the next PlayStation.
It’s also worth noting that the PS4 will play used games, contradicting past rumors that the system would block the use of pre-owned titles. The PS4 will not, however, be backwards compatible and past PSN purchases on previous platforms will not be accessible on the new system. While Sony plans to circumvent the backwards compatibility issue with a streaming service, the lack of any native support for older titles is discouraging.
Nevertheless, the PlayStation 4 looks to be a powerful gaming machine and it’s certainly exciting to move on to a new generation of console gaming hardware this holiday season.
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