Last night Sony held a press conference in New York to reveal its next generation console, the PlayStation 4. If you were unfortunate enough to miss the conference here is a run down of all that was announced.
Hardware Specs:
For all you tech heads out there the confirmed hardware specs for the PS4 are as follows:
- 8-core 64-bit x86 “Jaguar” CPU built by AMD, with a Radeon GPU comprised of 18 “compute units” capable of giving 1.84 TFLOPS to process graphics and more.
- A Blu-ray drive that spins 6X (8X for DVDs)
- 8GB of unified GDDR5 RAM capable of 176GB/sec of bandwidth.
- 802.11n WiFi, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 2.1,
- HDMI, optical out
- Legacy analog AV out
The PS4 will be using HDD storage like its predecessor, but storage capacity wasn’t confirmed.
The PlayStation 4 Controller:
Image from Eurogamer.net
The DualShock 4 controller was also unveiled to the gaming masses at the press conference. If you have been following the PS4 rumors and leaks, you will notice that the PS4 controller is not too dissimilar to the leaked images that have been making their way around the internet over the past weeks.
The controller features a front touch pad which is similar to the rear touchpad featured on the PS Vita. It also features an inbuilt PlayStation move style sensor bar to identify players.
Image from Eurogamer.net
The controller also has a share button which appears to be replacing the select button. This share button will allow the player to browse through the last few minutes of gameplay which can be shared with your friends via PlayStation Network.
The PS4 Eye:
Image from Eurogamer.net
Every PlayStation 4 will come bundled with a PS4 Eye. This device features two cameras to get a good view of the gameplay space and will let gamers log in via face recognition amongst other things. The PS4 eye will also feature 4 integrated microphones for advanced voice recognition meaning that it will be able to recognise who is speaking accurately.
Better Connected:
Sony announced that you will be able to control specific features on your PS4 through your iPad, iPhone or Android device. The PS Vita will also be fully compatible with the PS4. This means you will be able to play PS4 games through your PS Vita much like the Wii U is doing with its Wii U game pad.
New and Improved PlayStation Network:
With the recent purchase of Gaikai, Sony have confirmed that the PlayStation Network will be vastly upgraded allowing gamers to connect with their friends like never before. There will be full integration with Ustream and Facebook and you will now be able to share your game play videos with friends.
Gamers will also be able to observe their friends as they play, offering advice etc. There will also be the opportunity for your friends to take over the controls if you are particularly stuck.
Downloading digital games will be far less time consuming with the PS4, as it has been announced that you will be able to play games whilst they are downloading. Sony also have the vision of making every single PlayStation game available digitally, but that is a vision that is unfortunately still a long way off.
In an interview with Eurogamer.net Sony confirmed that the PS4 will not block used games, which comes with a sigh of relief.
Games coming to PlayStation 4:
It has been confirmed that 169 companies have signed up to develop with the PS4, these companies and the confirmed games can be found below.
Companies that have signed up:
Games confirmed so far: (UPDATED 3:43 21/02/13)
- Deep Down (working title) – Capcom
- Destiny – Bungie
- Diablo 3 – Blizzard Entertainment
- Driveclub – Evolution Studios
- Infamous: Second Son – Sucker Punch Productions
- Killzone: Shadow Fall – Guerrilla Games
- Knack – SCE Japan Studio
- The Witcher 3 – CD Projekt RED
- The Witness – Jonathan Blow
- Unannounced Final Fantasy game – Square Enix
- Untitled Media Molecule sculpting game – Media Molecule
- Watch Dogs – Ubisoft Montreal
The PlayStation 4 looks set to be a great contender for the next generation console war. The console itself wasn’t unveiled at this press event, unfortunately it looks like we may have to wait until E3 to see the PS4 in the flesh.
PlayStation 4 is due for release this Christmas in the US. The EU release has yet to be conformed.
-Garv
