by Ian Dean
Last night, on the 20th February 2013, Sony hosted an event in New York to discuss the ‘future of Playstation’. Of course, everyone pretty much knew what was coming: Sony would unveil the Playstation 4. Educated guesses were made, expectations were raised, but when it came down to it, Sony just didn’t have enough tank in the gas to propel past these hopes. That’s not to say I’m not excited for the PS4; it’s currently on my list for Christmas (or early next year if European supply issues are to be believed). No, the problem was that I am no more excited now than I was before the show. Sony didn’t bring anything that I didn’t either expect or surprise me in any way. But I’ll come back to this point later.
Because, ladies and gentlemen, the countdown to the real next generation has begun. Sorry Nintendo, you had some great ideas but in the terms of sheer horsepower, your console has only really caught up rather than surpassed the current generation (that’s not to say it’s a bad console, though). Sony fired the first salvo last night, officially announcing the PS4, discussing basic system architecture, online services, and the games themselves.
Though no actual, physical box was on display at the event, Sony did reveal some of the internal specifications. An 8-core X86 CPU, 8GB of GDDR5 unified memory, an enhanced PC GPU, and a built in hard drive. Now whilst this isn’t exactly a full on schematic of the system, and though I don’t fully understand hardware myself, it does go some way to showing just how powerful the new console will be. If nothing else, my Xbox 360 currently runs on 512MB of GDDR 3 memory. Sony have sixteen times that in a newer, better format. Now I’m not a hardware afficiando, but I’m fairly certain that is good. Cos I is simart like that.
Anyone with an internet device and an interest in video games has probably seen the leaked PS4 controller, but Sony revealled the final product on stage (as seen above). From the start, you know it’s a Playstation controller from its appearance, but there’s a few new gadgets on hand this time. Located where the PS button used to sit, and replacing the Select and Start buttons, is a decent sized touchpad. Similiar to a laptop touchpad, this is likely to take over interface navigation, particuarly on the various apps the console will launch with. On the top, between the redesigned L/R 1/2 buttons is a large LED light. This light helps to identify the players, but it also allows the controller to interact directly with the also redesigned PS Move camera.
Finally, hardware wise at least, Sony announced the PS Vita integration into the console. The handheld device will seem to work in a similiar way to Nintendo’s Wii-U gampad, allowing the gamer to control the game whilst streaming the video to the device (though my stream of the show started to mess about here so I may have missed something). But that’s not all.
In fact, that segueways rather nicely into another major feature of the PS4 whilst also moving on to the internet services Sony’s acquisition of Gaikai seem to have provided. Though it was fairly unclear, Sony seemed to be suggesting that if you have a game on disc, you can also stream the game over the internet to your Vita in a similiar fashion to the OnLive service, allowing you to take your PS4 games with you when you leave the house. Though, again, this will only work with certain games, it seems like another great feature that really unleashes the potential of the console, removing the restrictions of the living room console and allowing you to take it with you wherever you go. Of course, I’m not likely to buy a Vita just for this feature, but it’s still a great way to utilise their new internet services.
In fact, streaming games seems to be one of Sony’s gambits for the next generation. Not only can you play games over the network, but with a press of a button, the PS4 will allow you to record gameplay to upload to various social networks, such as Facebook, or even to stream your gameplay live to the PlayStation Network. Gamers around the world can watch as you take on various challenges, can comment on a chat feed, and even take over if the game gets too difficult for you (or you have to answer the phone). Sony even managed to show off this feature by uploading the Killzone demo straight to their Facebook page at the end of the Killzone presentation! Though this is hardly the most important feature Sony could bring to the table, it is the one that has me the most excited about the console’s potential.
It didn’t take long, however, for the discussion to turn to the games themselves. In fact, of this two hour presentation, almost an hour and a half was spent discussing the games themselves. Guerilla Games started proceedings with a beautiful Killzone: Shadow Fall live demo, followed immediately by the even more jaw droppingly gorgeous racing title, Drive Club by Evolution Studios. Sucker Punch Studios then came out to announce the continuation of the Infamous franchise with Infamous: Second Son. Jonathan Blow, the creator of the hit indie title Braid, then slowed things down with his next game, The Witness, a puzzle based adventure set on a mysterious island. Finally, Quantic Dreams and Media Molecule, of Heavy Rain and Little Big Planet fame respectively, came out with a couple of tech demos to show off the powerful new tools at their disposal for the PS3.
Third Party developers were then invited on stage to show of their games for the console. Capcom announced Deep Down, a new fantasy title, but seemed more interested in showing off their new engine, whilst Square Enix showed an extended version of the demo from E3 for Luminous. Ubisoft returned with more Watchdogs, showing off an action sequence as the player runs from the police, utilising the city to their advantage.
The final two developers were probably the only real highlights of the Third Party reel. Firstly, Sony suprised everyone by bringing one of the biggest gaming studios onto the stage for their first console game in over a decade as Blizzard announced Diablo 3 would be appearing on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. Though the news hardly excited me, I can understand how big a deal that may seem to other gamers. Secondly, for the first time in Sony’s history, Bungie Studios presented their latest game for a PlayStation console, announcing that Destiny will also release on both the current and next gen PlayStations.
The PlayStation 4 looks great, but I can’t honestly say that Sony did much to fuel my excitement at the presentation. I want a new generation of consoles because the current wave has become stagnant. Okay, I’m still content with what I have, but I would love something new, with better graphics, more immersive gameplay, and some truly unique gaming experiences that just can’t be found on the current hardware.
That was where my excitement was fuelled from before the announcement, but very little was unveiled that actually picqued my interest. I don’t have a Vita, I’m not a big Facebook user, and I’m not overly keen on the pointless buzzwords that padded out the show. I am keen on the sharing feature, and I like the concept of watching other people playing games. Rather than describe my game to a friend over the net, I could just show them. Sounds pretty neat, right? But being able to stream my game over the net is hardly a deal breaker for me.
In fact, aside from some graphical improvements, the games themselves didn’t really do anything for me either. I’ve seen Watchdogs in action at E3, I haven’t ever cared for Diablo III, I’m still confused as to what Destiny actually is, and I’m still not entirely sure what all the other studios were actually selling. I’m still excited for the PlayStation 4, and I’m still excited about Microsoft’s new console. I’m just not as excited by what I saw last night.
Obviously, until Microsoft make their move, I can’t judge which console I’ll be backing for the next generation, but Sony have made a solid start. A powerful device with some exciting new features, I do like the look of the PS4. I’m just not sold on it yet. Sony failed to bring the killer app, nor did they really sell me on the console itself. With the impending torrent of information on its way, however, I’m still hopeful, I’m still interested, and I’m still excited.
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