The Sony PS4 has been officially unveiled at a New York based PlayStation event, ending months of speculation around the Japanese company’s next-generation games console.
Bringing a raft of new features to the PlayStation series, the fourth-generation Sony PS4, which is likely to go head-to-head with Microsoft’s heavily rumoured Xbox 720, has entered the realms of reality with Sony suggesting the next-gen console will progress the gaming industry into a selection of new avenues.
“Expect worlds to come alive with greater fidelity and intensity, expect the best franchises to be even better and expect the most powerful opportunities to connect and play and to stay informed even when away from the primary console,” Sony’s PlayStation head Andrew House said. “This is the foundation for our next-generation platform, the PlayStation 4.”
Sony PS4 Features
Self-proclaimed by Sony as a “powerful and accessible platform,” the newly announced Sony PS4 is set to be a new powerhouse of the gaming scene, with the Japanese manufacturer confirming that that console has been built around PC architecture for a more powerful, more compatible, high-end user experience. Unveiling the PS3 replacement, Sony stated: “On PlayStation 4, we’ve put together a feature set that radically reduces the lag time between consumers and their content.”
Playing host to a hefty 8GB GDDR5 RAM, Sony has confirmed that the PS4 specs sheet will be bolstered by “a GPU with remarkable long-term potential” as the PS4 pairs its “high-speed unified memory” with a supercharged x86 CPU and an enhanced PC GPU for graphics.
Speaking on the console’s specs, Sony has suggested that “putting CPU and GPU on the same die gives streamlined access to a common pool of memory.” Adding that “powerful functionality needed to be just a button press away,” Sony has stated that “the processing power [of the PS4] is an exponential leap over its predecessors, but at the same time we wanted the platform itself to be a premium place.”
As a selection of leaks had suggested, the Sony PS4 will come boxed with a newly remodelled Sony PS4 DualShock 4 controller, with the input enabling peripheral introducing touch-sensitive gaming offerings. Taking the multi finger compatible touchpanel from the console’s portable sibling, the PS Vita, the new PS4 controller touch options will offer new interface abilities for the Nintendo Wii U rival.
Bringing further gaming options to the PS4 controller, Sony has confirmed that the essential add-on will play host to a new ‘Share’ button, allowing gamers to upload or share 10-second in-game clips instantaneously, whilst a Move-esque light bar will allow the console to track a 3D position of the controller for improved motion gaming.
More than a simple console hardware refresh, the PS4 will provide a whole new infrastructure for Sony’s gaming arm, allowing users to connect their PS4 gaming experiences with those on their PS Vita consoles and beyond to more social and smartphone and tablet based means.
“We also looked at how the whole PlayStation ecosystem could be evolved,” Lead Sony developer Mark Cerny said at the New York based PS4 launch event.
With a “secondary custom chip” allowing gamers to download or update titles in the background without disruption, Sony has revealed that amazingly, “on PlayStation 4, digital titles are playable even as they are downloaded.”
With Sony’s recent acquisition of Gaikai ensuring that users have instant access to a raft of entertainment content at will, the Xbox rival has, somewhat disappointingly added that existing PS3 titles will not be natively compatible with the new PS4 console.
Whilst PS3 titles have been overlooked, the PS4 is set to benefit from new social services with “The base hardware architecture for PlayStation network designed to integrate social networks through all aspects”
Offering an insight into the advanced social and mobile capabilities of the Sony PS4, Andrew House has claimed that with the console “representing a significant shift from think of PlayStation as merely a box or console,” utilising the new PS4 features will “give gamers the kind of multi-dimensional experiences they not only expect, but quite frankly deserve.”
Sony PS4 Release Date and Price
Whilst Sony has ended months of rumours in formally unveiling the PS4 console, the Japanese manufacturer has failed to confirm the exactly when the eagerly awaited console will touch down. That said, a PS4 release date has been confirmed for “coming holiday 2013.” What’s more, with a selection of the console’s capabilities still to be fully detailed, a PS4 price tag is still unknown and expected to be announced later in the year.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
