Sony Officially Announces PlayStation 4
Hoo boy, where to begin? As promised, today Sony announced the future of PlayStation, the PlayStation 4. With an x86-64 8-core AMD CPU, a 1.84 TFLOPS AMD GPU, and 8GB of RAM, the PS4 has enough horsepower to run engines such as the Unreal Engine 4. The system uses a new controller, the DualShock 4; it’s close to the DualShock 3, but with a touchpad in the middle, a light to help identify each player’s controller, the ability to be tracked by the new PlayStation 4 Eye (included), and a Share button for some cool new features.
The PS4 uses Gaikai’s streaming technology for some crazy new social features. You can access your most recent gameplay as footage and upload it to share with friends. Even cooler is the ability to spectate games online as other players are playing them. Even more cooler (yeah, we’re going there) is that if you get stuck playing a game, you can ask someone spectating to jump in and take over your controller to help you get past it.
Also using Gaikai technology, Sony has developed a system where games don’t just background download, you can actually play them while they’re downloading. For demos, you don’t need to download anything — just stream the demo. There’s more to these features, but just looking at the broad strokes, Sony is using Gaikai’s tech in ways far more interesting than just streaming games.
There were no announcements of the price, launch games, a firm date (beyond “Holiday 2013”), or even what the console itself looks like. But there were still plenty of game announcements and trailers. Here’s what Sony currently has on their YouTube channel:
There were a few more announcements. Blizzard’s Diablo III,Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs, and Bungie’s Destiny will be released on both PS3 and PS4. In addition, Square Enix showed off its recent tech demo Agni’s Philosophy again and promised a Final Fantasy game would be announced at E3. Here’s a few more trailers from non-Sony sources:
You can still watch the stream on repeat here, but be warned: like most PlayStation conferences, Sony finds a way to present interesting news in the most boring way possible.