Gamers worldwide breathe a collective sigh of relief as Sony officially announces the PlayStation 4, in an event filled with game announcements and technical exhibitions.
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) today introduced PlayStation®4 (PS4™), its next generation computer entertainment system that redefines rich and immersive gameplay with powerful graphics and speed, intelligent personalization, deeply integrated social capabilities, and innovative second-screen features. Combined with PlayStation®Network with cloud technology, PS4 offers an expansive gaming ecosystem that is centered on gamers, enabling them to play when, where and how they want. PS4 will be available this holiday season.
All about Sharing
Sony have embraced the whole social aspect of gaming, even going as far as putting a “Share” button on the Dualshock 4. The PS4 is continually recording your gameplay footage, which you can upload clips to Facebook (and presumably YouTube).
Sony have also announced a partnership with Ustream, which players can use to automatically stream their gameplay without additional equipment. They also announced a “remote desktop” type function, in which you can allow other players to take over your controls.
And it looks like cross-game chat is finally in.
Second Screens
The system will apparently be able to integrate with the PS Vita and other devices such as iPhone, iPad, and Android devices via an app, dubbed the “PlayStation®App” which will allow them to use the device to display extra information such as maps etc.
The Vita integration also extends to remote play through Wi-Fi, as Sony states that it’s their long term goal to make all PS4 titles playable on the Vita in the future.
This is essentially Sony’s answer to the Wii U, which totally one up’s Nintendo by allowing us to use non Sony devices such as your phone or tablet. Plus the fact that it integrates with Vita is a really smart move, which will hopefully boost sales for the lagging handheld.
A new Final Fantasy
Shinji Hashimoto briefly came on stage and mentioned that a Final Fantasy title would launch with the PS4, and that more details would be revealed at E3. For now, I’m going to say either it’s Versus XIII, which has been delayed long enough that it’s possible they shifted their entire development to PS4.
Or it could be the Final Fantasy VII remake. Tell me I’m crazy, but I think that pulling that out at E3 would be the ace in the hole for Sony. The time just feels right.
Blizzard Fail
One of the largest disappointments during the conference came from Blizzard. After drawing a massive WTF when it was announced they were teaming up with Sony, it turned out that they were not working on a new next-gen title, but rather porting Diablo 3 to the PS4 and PS3.
Watch Dogs is next-gen
Back when we first saw Watch Dogs at E3 2012, some people had their doubts as to whether the game was going to be on the PS3/360, or a next-gen title. It looks like the answer is actually both, which brings to mind…
Will Phantom Pain and MGS Ground Zeroes be next-gen as well?
I’d say yes. Ground Zeroes just looked a bit too good to be running on current gen, but we might see cross-gen releases, just like how many games continued to be released on PS2 quite a while after the PS3 came out.
Other stuff
Those were really the main points I took, but there were a couple of other features that were announced. There’s a new “Suspend” mode in which you can put the PS4 into standby mode, from which you can resume the exact state the game you were playing was in prior to putting it in suspend. The “streaming” and Cloud gaming thing was also touched upon, apparently you will be able to trial games by download/streaming them while the game is actually playing. It sounds interesting, but for those living in countries with 3rd world Internet like Australia, how viable will this actually be?
When a player purchases a game, PS4 downloads just a fraction of the data so gamers can start playing immediately, and the rest is downloaded in the background during actual gameplay.
Sony hopes to have PS3 titles available through streaming in the future.
Final Comments
It’s been quite a while since a console launch, so the event has really given me something to look forward to again. While the leap in graphics quality isn’t as astronomical as the PS2 -> PS3, what we’ve seen so far looks pretty great, with my favourite being Deep Down by Capcom.
The lack of Naughty Dog and a possible Uncharted 4 announcement also let me down, dare I say we’ll definitely see something at E3 2013.
Overall, it’s been quite a while since I’ve been this hyped for anything, and it’ll be interesting to see if whatever Microsoft have planned with the Durango can make me feel the same.
