The PlayStation 4 has been officially unveiled. Originally codenamed Orbis, Sony’s next-generation console was shown today at PlayStation Meeting 2013. We still don’t have any of the particulars like a release date, price and whether there will be multiple sku’s but we do have a ton of new info on what the PS4 is potentially capable of as well as peeks at few new games.
Andrew House said on stage that “Every facet of the PlayStation brand will continue to become more powerful” and that “The operating system and chipset in the PlayStation Vita could bring significant value to gamers in the living room” and that additional details about PlayStation Vita & PlayStation 4 connectivity would be announced at a later date, possibly as early as GDC in March or more likely E3 in a few months.
Lead system architect Mark Cerny followed House on stage and said that Sony wanted to work with developers on the development of the PlayStation 4’s system specs. “We were able to create in PS4 a platform by game creators for game creators.”
The PlayStation 4 is built from the ground up as “supercharged PC architecture,” an X86 CPU, a high-end GPU and 8GB of unified memory. All of which will be assisted by a local storage drive. The PlayStation 4 will also use an evolution of the DualShock controller which features a touch panel in between the D-pad and face buttons and a depth sensor located between the shoulder buttons.
Cerny continued the presentation by detailing how the PlayStation Network would expand across smartphones, the internet and tablet devices. The PS4 allows players to record their exploits while gaming as well as unveiling the ability to share with friends online.
Gaikai CEO David Perry took the stage and talked about the new Share button on the evolved controller. This allows players to broadcast your game to all of your friends. With permissions you give them, your friends can watch you play, comment on your gaming prowess and even assist you in gameplay by taking over your game.
Remote play is also rearing its head with features built into the PlayStation 4. Similar to the Wii U’s new gamepad, players will be able to pick up and play where they left off when playing on their PS4. Now when your significant other wants to watch TV you can just switch to your Vita and continue on seamlessly.
The PlayStation 4 has a few new confirmed games that were shown at PlayStation Meeting 2013. A new IP from Japan Studio called Knack, Killzone: Shadowfall from Guerrilla Games, a third installment in the inFamous series called Second Son and Evolution Studios new racer called Drive Club.
Sony also showed off a handful of new games from third parties. The Witness from the creator of Braid, a new IP from Capcom developed on their new engine called Deep Down and a new demo of Watch Dogs from Ubisoft. Activision and Blizzard took the stage to show off Bungie’s new game Destiny coming to PS4 with exclusive content and a port of Diablo III coming to both PS4 and PS3.
Start saving now as they also confirmed that the PlayStation 4 will be coming this year at the holidays.
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