A few days ago Sony released major details about the highly anticipated Playstation 4. This is the first of the next generation consoles to have an official announcement and promises to make a splash at this year’s E3 where we hope to catch a glimpse of the console itself.
There are a slew of interesting features that have been incorporated to the PS4 and it seems that the social aspect of gaming is a key experience for the new system.
Sony stated that the PS4 will feature an “always on” video capturing component that will seamlessly upload your most triumphant gameplay moments with the press of a button. Say you just killed the final boss on your favorite game and executed a bad ass final blow that you are dying to share with your buddies. Now you can by pressing the “SHARE button”, scanning through the last few moments of gameplay, tagging it, and then returning to your quest as the video uploads in the background. Then you can post your epic feats to your Facebook wall so that all your friends may marvel at how awesome you are.
Another very exciting social feature is the ability to have spectators as you live broadcast your gameplay to friends using services such as USTREAM. During these live broadcasts your buddies can essentially “backseat game” which promises to be very amusing, but they can also help you out if you’re stuck and they can even join in other ways by offering special weapons or health potions, all during actual gameplay. It will be very interesting to see how this feature pans out and how gaming developers take advantage of this ability.
The PS4 offers a second screen experience with the ability to connect your PS Vita, tablets, and/or smartphones. Sony’s goal is to eventually allow you to seamlessly play games from your PS4 on your PS Vita which is a semi-reality already with some of their games.
With the new technology harnessed within the PS4 it seems that loading and boot times will be almost nonexistent. The new “suspend mode” will keep your system in a low power mode while essentially bookmarking your game session. This way you will be able to press the power button and get back at it right from where you stopped.
You will now be able to multitask by opening several applications, such as the web browser all while playing a game without issue. This also allows for downloading or updating in the background, and you can even play digital downloaded games while they’re still downloading.
Now this next part may make you feel a bit like Skynet has arrived, but be calm there is no need to go find John Connor just yet. The PS4 will be able to predict games, movies, TV shows, etc. from learning about you through your actions as you use the system. The ultimate goal is for the download speeds to be reduced to nothing by predicting what you may download next.
The new menu screen will allow you to browse your friend’s shared info, view their gameplay, and see the recommendations the system has acquired for you.
Rumors have been running through the mill in regards to the ability to play used games on the new console and as of now it’s looking like they will not be blocked, but there has been no solid official word on either side of this. Over the last few days there have been several articles stating that it either is or it isn’t so for now we will just say that we hope that the blocking of used games will not be a feature in the new system and we will keep you updated as soon as anything is official.
The PS4 is set to hit the stores during the holiday season of 2013, most likely allowing pre-orders just before Christmas.
You can see the entire announcement in the attached video.
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