Sony recently announced it’s successor to the Playstation 4 yesterday at their press event in NYC. On paper it looks like a power house, sporting an AMD 8-core “Jaguar” X86 64-but CPU, AMD Radeon, Graphics, 8 GB of GDDR5 RAM, the usual array of wireless letters, a Blu-Ray drive, and other goodies usually found in consoles these days. (USB ports, HDMI, etc., etc.). Sony seems to be making this a social system, meaning it will let you see what your friends are playing, watch them play in real time, post up to FB, and other social features that Sony has planned.
They also unveiled the Dual Shock 4, and I am so relieved that they still retained the classic shape and look of Playstation controllers of the past, but now, it has a touch pad similar to that found on the PS Vita. Few new features found on the new controller is a headset jack, and a share button. Absent is the start, and select buttons, but seems to have been replaced with an ‘options’ button. It appears to have gained some weight also, seeing as it does sport some new hardware, one can only assume that it has. This was probably my biggest concern, since there were rumors floating around prior to the the press event that Sony was totally revamping the controlling. I am so glad it still retain’s the old shape we have known to love since the PSOne days.
Sony’s Dual Shock 4
I’ve been conversing with a few friends about this, and we are all very excited. The graphics on the tech demo’s and other trailers that have been released just look astounding. I’m not too fond or keen on the social aspects, but it’s probably going to be pretty transparent. There are no photos of the actual system itself, though, pictures of the dev. kits has surfaced. Before today, we were all unsure if there would be a physical tangible disc, as they were really focusing on downloading the game. Reading some more articles today squashed our fears of not having physical discs. But another concern is the need to be connected to the internet at all times to be able to play. Now I hope this is just a rumor, because, even if my PS3 is always connected to my router, thus giving it access to the interwebs, my ISP sometimes has hiccups, like if someone sneezes hard in the general vicinity of it’s equipment/wires. I still would like to play ‘offline’. Not everyone has blazing fast internet also. So I think it would be a poor decision on Sony’s part to implement this. Again, this is just a rumor, and hopefully it will stay that way. Also, it does not have backwards compatibility with PS3, which is lame. Reason, well, the Cell processor which was a power-pc type, is a different architecture from x86. Coding wise, it’s different, and from what I read, if it can’t be emulated without taxing the system too much, then it wont be playable on the PS4. Another piece of rumor I just came across, is that the system will controllable via smartphone (iOS or Android), and tablet. It will work similar to that of Microsoft’s Smartglass app for the X-Box. (source: http://toucharcade.com/2013/02/20/rumor-playstation-4/)
Apparently the release date is Nov. of this year.
We are truly excited to see this come to light. The specs for it will make it seem like a true computing powerhouse, and once the developers get to know the system, and manipulate it like how Naughty Dog made the PS3 it’s bitch with Uncharted 2 and 3, one can only imagine the type of game’s we will be playing in 2-3 years. We will post up any new information regarding the PS4, as we get a hold of it. Rumor or not.
For now, enjoy some videos showcasing the PS4’s brawn.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw1l_C4kXrg]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk-RsawGjPY]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYY-J3ckeSI]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B26lKK8t9pE]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5VqaNf-gZ4]
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuRwp6aCWRw]
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