Sony brought the house at its event in New York City, revealing a new console and an absurd amount of games, but it wasn’t a perfect conference.
What it had:
1. Playstation 4
Spend some final moments with your dusty PS3 — its time is almost over. Sony’s biggest announcement was its new flagship console, and unlike past press conferences, it didn’t completely disappoint.
The PS4, launching “Holiday 2013,” features “supercharged PC architecture,” an 8-core X86 processor, “enhanced” GPU, 8GB of unified system memory and a “massive” hard drive.
While “supercharged PC architecture” is most definitely a buzzword (‘Retina display,’ anybody?), the processor, though customized, is standard in many PCs.
Couple that with a good GPU and 8GB of RAM, and you have the “most powerful platform ever,” according to Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andy House.
That hardware allows the PS4 to download games and other content in the background and even play games as they’re being downloaded.
The system can also seamlessly upload and download media such as videos or screenshots, thanks to dedicated systems and a “share” button on the new DualShock 4 controller.
Plus, users can interact with the PS4 through a smartphone, tablet, or PS Vita.
2. DualShock 4
The console comes with Sony’s new controller, the DualShock 4.
It has the rumored/leaked touchpad and a “share” button in addition to a light bar and PlayStation Move compatibility.
The touchpad can be pressed at any time to put the console to sleep and pressed again to wake it up from “the exact spot you left off,” according to lead hardware designer Mark Cerny.
The light bar communicates with a camera (think Kinect, but not as fancy) that can detect the distance the player is from the console in addition to direction of the controller. If this sounds similar, you’re not alone. This reminds me of the PS3’s never-used Sixaxis feature. I’ll be genuinely surprised if any developer deeply integrates the feature after the console’s first two years.
And if you wanted the Xbox’s offset joysticks for your new PS4, too bad. Sony’s sticking to its traditional button/joystick layout.
3. Games
After bragging about its all-powerful console, Sony showed off a couple of games that would grace the system in the future, including some already-released titles, like Diablo III.
If you didn’t watch Bungie’s “Destiny” announcement over the weekend, you’re in luck — the company revealed its next project will be coming to PS4.
This is huge, considering Bungie hadn’t developed a game for Sony until now.
My personal favorite was the revelation of InFamous: Second Son. I’m a huge fan of developer Sucker Punch, and the game looks badass.
It features a dystopian, 1984-esque future where “our security comes at a price — our freedom.”
Naturally, a few super-powered individuals aren’t happy with that idea.
Guerrilla Games also debuted a new Killzone game, Killzone: Shadow Fall, which looks absurd.
Ubisoft’s ambitious adventure game Watch Dogs is also coming to PS4 in addition to Xbox 360, PC, PS3 and Wii U. The French publisher/developer released new footage of the game on a PS4:
Edit: Ubisoft confirmed the footage was actually shown on a PC with similar specs to a PS4.
Finally, Sony revealed three new IPs (not sequels to anything) for PS4 — Knack, DriveClub and Deep Down.
Deep Down looks like Dark Souls on steroids, though hopefully not as soul-crushing.
What it didn’t:
1. Price
Sony didn’t announce a price or definite release date for the PS4. I honestly can’t say I’m surprised, but I feel it’s best to let the consumer know as soon as possible how much money he or she is going to drop when this thing comes out.
I’m predicting we’ll get a better idea of the price at E3 this summer.
2. Design
We also have no idea what this thing looks like, not that it matters anyway. But I want my generic black rectangles to be nice looking, you know?
3. Anything about the Vita
While it was evident this would be a PS4-centric conference, the complete lack of Vita coverage is a little odd.
This event was supposed to reveal the “future” of PlayStation, and other than a passing mention about Remote Play, the company’s flagship handheld wasn’t mentioned. No new price, no new games, no new anything.
4. The Killer Feature
The PS1 had CDs. PS2 had DVD. PS3 had Blu-ray.
What does PS4 have?
Motion controls? A touchpad? Background downloads? These have all existed in some form or another on other devices for years now. I don’t want to be overly cynical, but each new system needs something to convince people it’s not just a slightly better version of something they already have.
And with the info we received today, I’m not sure the PS4 has that “something.”
I love my PS3, and it hasn’t broken down on me yet. But Sony needs to convince me that the PS4 is worth more than the graphical differences. Show me what I’ll be missing out on if I don’t upgrade.
And do it quick, because Microsoft and Nintendo are taking notes.
