The PlayStation 4 is almost here.
Sony's next-gen gaming console will hit stores in the US on November 15 at a price of $399. That price undercuts Microsoft's Xbox One -- also arriving in November -- by $100.
The US launch will be followed by a European release on November 29. The console will cost £349 in the UK, and 399 euros on the Continent.
Along with the console, Sony has also confirmed a large list of PS4 games due to be released before the end of the year.
Design
About that design: the angled parallelogram design of the PS4 clearly conjures PlayStations of the past. It looks like a PS2 on steroids. It's an attractive look, but it's boxy; it doesn't seem nearly as big as the Xbox One, however.
About that design: the angled parallelogram design of the PS4 clearly conjures PlayStations of the past. It looks like a PS2 on steroids. It's an attractive look, but it's boxy; it doesn't seem nearly as big as the Xbox One, however.
Also, box design really means nothing. But, hey, at least we know what it'll look like next to our television, and it's fine-looking without being obtrusive.
Used games: Yes (mostly)
The Xbox One had generated controversy because of its onerous digital rights management policies, including requiring daily Internet connections and account verification -- even for single-player games. According to Microsoft's original plan, sales and loaning of used discs would've been limited by policies set by individual game publishers. Microsoft has since reversed those policies.
The Xbox One had generated controversy because of its onerous digital rights management policies, including requiring daily Internet connections and account verification -- even for single-player games. According to Microsoft's original plan, sales and loaning of used discs would've been limited by policies set by individual game publishers. Microsoft has since reversed those policies.
Sony's policy for the PlayStation 4 appears, at first glance, to be far more traditional, but now that Microsoft's Xbox One policies seem to have come more in line with Sony's, the PS4's original advantage on this front has been largely erased. The PS4 will support used games and won't verify game accounts online. However, Sony will also leave it to third-party publishers to set their own rules on used titles, so it may not be as black and white as originally touted.
Both the PS4 and Xbox One are said to be region-free, meaning games bought in or imported from any region should play on each respective console.
(Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment)
PlayStation Plus and PS4
The PS4 will support the same PlayStation Plus service as the Vita and PS3, with no new subscription price increase: it's all folded together. (Right now, that's $50 per year.) Unlike the PS3, however, a Plus subscription will be required for online multiplayer games. Thankfully, though, you won't be required to have Plus to access PS4's media services (Netflix and the like). You do need Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold subscription to do nearly anything -- including Netflix -- on Xbox One and Xbox 360.
The PS4 will support the same PlayStation Plus service as the Vita and PS3, with no new subscription price increase: it's all folded together. (Right now, that's $50 per year.) Unlike the PS3, however, a Plus subscription will be required for online multiplayer games. Thankfully, though, you won't be required to have Plus to access PS4's media services (Netflix and the like). You do need Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold subscription to do nearly anything -- including Netflix -- on Xbox One and Xbox 360.
The PS4 will have its own Instant Game collection service; DriveClub PS Plus Edition will be the first free game at launch, with one free game per month after that. Titles will include Don’t Starve and Outlast.
Sony’s been smart to offer up free games via Plus, and you have to wonder if Microsoft is taking notice: a similar offering of free monthly games was announced for Xbox 360 owners subscribing to Xbox Live Gold.
Sony announced at Gamescom that PS4 owners will receive a free 14-day PlayStation Plus trial with the purchase of their console, which includes access to games DriveClub and Resogun.
(Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment)Video content and services
Leading off the PS4 discussions at E3 was a mention of Sony's video efforts, seemingly aiming for a similar type of video-content approach with the console as Microsoft is with the Xbox One. Sony touted its studio strength and the eventual launch of exclusive videos coming only to the PS4, but it’s unclear what those are.
Video services like Video Unlimited, Redbox, and Flixster are some of the services launching on the PlayStation Network, but it looks like these services will be available on the PS3, too.
The big challenge with fronting content as a reason to buy a console is this: can game systems really become video networks? Microsoft and Sony seem to be betting on this direction, and it’s a dicey endeavor.
New games
Sony demonstrated games at E3 and Gamescom -- as you’d expect -- in a mix of new games and sequels, including exclusives The Order, Killzone: Shadow Fall, and Infamous: Second Son. It was hard to glean what advantages the PS4 was offering these games that the PS3 couldn’t accomplish, but for the most part these games looked pretty.
Sony's also pledging massive third-party support, and a very easy process for independent developers to publish on the PS4.
The list of PS4 games available before the end of 2013 includes 33 titles, a good number of which are independent and available for download only, as opposed to disc-based. Sony's aggressive support for independent publishers could be a point of differentiation from Microsoft.
Sony also says that its augmented-reality experiment Playroom, which incorporates motion control and robots, will be bundled with every PS4.
In a move aimed to ease the pain of transition from one console to the next, people who buy Battlefield 4, Assassin's Creed IV, Call of Duty: Ghosts, or Watch Dogs on the PlayStation 3 will be able to buy the PlayStation 4 digital version for a "significantly discounted price." Other games are likely to join this list soon.
Meanwhile Amazon and GameStop have announced similar promotions where gamers can trade up to the next-gen version of games for $10.
(Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment)Hardware
The PlayStation 4, as you'd expect for a seven-years-later follow-up, has impressively bumped specs:
An eight-core X86 AMD Jaguar CPU
1.84-teraflop AMD Radeon graphics engine (with "18 compute units")
8GB of GDDR5 memory
500GB hard drive
Blu-ray drive
Three USB 3.0 ports
802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
Ethernet, HDMI, Bluetooth 2.1, optical audio and analog AV out
The PS4 will use a 500GB hard drive for storage; the same as the Xbox One. The specs overall match that of a modern PC with integrated AMD processors and graphics, or so it seems. It's not a particularly stunning set of specs for a PC, but it's far ahead of any existing game console. It's just not as ahead-of-its-time on the hardware end as the original PlayStation 3 seemed to be.
Immediacy of response reducing lag time while accessing content is also one of the promised PS4 features (unlike the extremely laggy Wii U, perhaps). The PS4 will allow speedy background downloading, and Sony claims that games will even be playable as they're being downloaded.
(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
Yes, the PS4 will have a Blu-ray drive that can also play DVDs. The PS4 will also have three USB 3.0 ports, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.1, HDMI, Analog AV-out, and optical digital audio output.
What about PS3 games playing on the PS4? Sony has so far discussed PlayStation 3 gameplay on the PS4 under the same umbrella as playing PlayStation 1 and PS 2 games, via a digital library in a yet-to-be-determined PlayStation Cloud Service. Whether this would be accomplished via streaming, digital downloads, or emulation wasn't specified, but it sounds like Sony's answer to the Virtual Console.
The DualShock 4 controller.(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
DualShock 4 and the new PS Eye: Touch and move
The new DualShock 4 controller feels like a fusion of the PlayStation DualShock with some of the design philosophies of both the Vita and the Move. It has enhanced rumble, a touch pad, a "Share" button, a standard headphone/microphone jack that will accept standard headphones, and light-up bar that looks like a transplanted top of a Move wand. The two-finger touch pad with click, located right in the middle of the controller, has the same look as the pad on the back of the PS Vita handheld. The DualShock 4 also has a Micro-USB port, Bluetooth 2.1, and Sixaxis gyroscope/accelerometers.
What about PS3 games playing on the PS4? Sony has so far discussed PlayStation 3 gameplay on the PS4 under the same umbrella as playing PlayStation 1 and PS 2 games, via a digital library in a yet-to-be-determined PlayStation Cloud Service. Whether this would be accomplished via streaming, digital downloads, or emulation wasn't specified, but it sounds like Sony's answer to the Virtual Console.
The DualShock 4 controller.(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)
DualShock 4 and the new PS Eye: Touch and move
The new DualShock 4 controller feels like a fusion of the PlayStation DualShock with some of the design philosophies of both the Vita and the Move. It has enhanced rumble, a touch pad, a "Share" button, a standard headphone/microphone jack that will accept standard headphones, and light-up bar that looks like a transplanted top of a Move wand. The two-finger touch pad with click, located right in the middle of the controller, has the same look as the pad on the back of the PS Vita handheld. The DualShock 4 also has a Micro-USB port, Bluetooth 2.1, and Sixaxis gyroscope/accelerometers.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment