Sony Playstation 4: News, reviews, price, rumours and release date

The latest info on Sony PS4 rumours, specs, release date and price

Sony finally revealed its plans for the PlayStation 4 next-generation console at New York’s Manhattan Centre in February. While we’ve yet to see the actually console itself, we are now privy to a host of spec details, launch titles, and some info on the new controller.

Sony PS4 – specs

On stage at the launch event, Sony group CEO Andrew House described the PS4 as the “foundation of our next generation platform” – claiming that the console will give players “experiences that surpass [their] wildest expectations. It’s also been described as “like a PC, only supercharged”.

That all sounds lovely – but what about some cold hard specs?
CPU: single-chip custom processor, x86-64 AMD "Jaguar," 8 cores
GPU: 1.84 TFLOPS, AMD next-generation Radeon-based graphics engine
Memory: 8GB GDDR5
Built-in hard disk drive (Sony didn't specify how big the hard drive will be)
6X Blu-Ray Drive, 8X DVD
USB 3 and Auxiliary ports (Sony didn't specify how many ports)
Gigabit Ethernet port,  802.11 B/G/N built-in WiFi, and Bluetooth 2.1
HDMI, Analog-AV, and digital optical outputs
Industry analysts say that they don’t expect to see one until the E3 gaming expo this June.
Doom creator and PC gaming wizard John Carmack said: "I can't speak freely about PS4, but now that some specs have been made public, I can say that Sony made wise engineering choices.” So there you go.

Sony PS4 – controller

The only piece of kit that was on show was the new PS4 controller – which features a touchpad interface where the Start and Select buttons previously appeared and a 3D tracking light panel.

The main addition to the controller is the ‘Share’ button, which lets you record, edit and upload gaming footage and share it online with their friends.

‘Second screen’ is a term getting banded about gaming types a lot at the moment.  The PS4’s answer: The PS Vita will double as an extra interface for the console, as will your iOS or Android-powered smartphone.

Sony PS4 – social gaming

A lot of the PS4’s ethos is around the ‘connected generation’ – those that are rarely off Facebook, Twitter and the like.

The PS4 wants to give you social media through a gaming filter – by letting you watch friends games in progress, offer tips and recommendations and even take control of their game, like an IT guy remotely fixing your PC. 

The new look PSN page even looks a bit Facebook.
The now Sony owned cloud gaming operation Gaikai also ties into this, offering streaming demos.

You’ll also be able to play each PS4 title through digital download or cloud streaming. How much strain that would put on Gaikai’s server firms – let alone how good the service would be on the UK’s less that world class internet connections, remains to be seen.

Sony PS4 – release date

The PS4 is slated for release this December. We expect to see more info, and a glimpse at the console itself, at E3 in June.

Sony PS4 – games

There are ten games so far confirmed for the PS4.

DriveClub

Stunning looking tem-based racer which will tap into the PS4’s huge social gaming push – in teams you can have a go at challenges and reap rewards.

Watch dogs

Ambitious, open world futuristic hack-em-up type affair – make security cameras work for you and tap into other people’s bank account for cash. We’re sure they’ll be some shooting too, mind.

Deep Down

This looks a bit like Resident Evil, but with medieval knights and dragons instead of badly translated dialogue and ghouls. Deep Down is a working title, we expect something more fantasy genre friendly to make the final cut.

Destiny

This ‘shared-world shooter’ will be heavy on the co-op – sort of a cross between Halo and Elder Scrolls. It’s got an ambitious sci-fi setting and eye-rubbing levels of gorgeous graphics.

Killzone: Shadow Fall

Lots of futuristic gun battles and a cold-war type setting – probably not dissimilar to Gears of War when it comes to gameplay.

The Witness

One for the more cerebral gamer – this is a sort of puzzle game set in in a Myst type island setting. 25 hours of gameplay promised.

Knack

Robot tank things smash up the world in what is being held up a good vehicle for the PS4’s graphics – with independently mioving particles, etc.

Infamous: Second Son

Super heroes in an ordinary world affair – expect more 1984-esque ‘Big Brother is watching you’ sentiments when it comes to the plot.

Diablo 3

Blizzard returns to consoles with an optimised version of the PC dungeon-crawler. Four-player co-op mode on full screen, if you so fancy.

Final Fantasy

All we know really is that there will be a PS4 title to show. Expect a big reveal of the long running RPG series in June.

PS4 - Backwards compatibility

When the PS3 was first released it allowed you to ditch that PS2, but keep playing classics like Gran Turismo 3 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on your new console. However as the PS3 slimmed down, it lost that feature.

There will be backwards compatibility with the PS4, but not in the way you might expect. Old PlayStation games will be available to download digitally – but you’ll presumably have to pay for them again.

PS4 - 4K resolution

The Playstation 3 was one of the devices which brought Blu-Ray to prominence and its successor could again be the pioneer, this time being the first console to offer 4K resolution capabilities. 4K refers to the resolution of 3840 × 2160, a massive step up from the current console which outputs at 1920 × 1080. While 4K TV’s are rare (Probably because of their outstanding price tags) inclusion in the PS4 could definitely bring it into the public eye.

PS4 release date, news and features

The DualShock 4 pad will launch alongside the PS4

The PS4 is now an official thing. It officially exists, and from what we've been told so far it looks pretty awesome.

With TechRadar in attendance at the event on the 20th Feb, Sony revealed some tantalising details about the PlayStation 4 hardware specs, along with some amazing software features that the new console will have.

Sadly, and almost unbelievably, we STILL don't know what the PS4 looks like. However, we do know it's coming out in the US in time for Christmas 2013, we know about the DualShock 4 controller and we've seen the new interface and a lot of the features it delivers. Here's everything we know about the PlayStation 4 so far...

Check out our PS4 reveal video:

PS4 release date

All we know about the PS4 release date so far is "Holiday 2013". That's the only detail Sony revealed at the launch and it's unclear which territories it applies to. Most likely it means the the U.S. and almost certainly Japan as well. We have a feeling the U.K. and Europe may have to wait a little longer, maybe even until early 2014.

This is pretty much what happened with Sony's previous consoles - the PS3 came out in the EU in March - and is backed up by various leaks and rumours. At least you'll have plenty of time to save up if you live outside of Japan or the USA.

Zavvi has listed a UK release date of 31st December which seems extremely unlikely - launching a few days after Christmas? Surely that's retail suicide.

PS4: Hardware specs

AMD, as we guessed all along, is coursing through this new system's veins. 

Post-event, Sony revealed the system runs on a single-chip custom processor and utilizes eight x86-64 AMD Jaguar CPU cores, with a next-gen AMD Radeon based graphics engine powering the way. 

So it's very much a PC-based system then, which is great news for developers who will find it much easier to code games for the next gen consoles and for PCs. However, that CPU is hardly next-gen - it may have been modified for this system but the AMD Jaguar platform is by no means the fastest of its kind - indeed it's slower than Intel's fastest by orders of magnitude.

However, with fewer redundancies than a PC has, the PS4 will certainly be able to make use of every single Watt of power it draws.

The "highly enhanced PC GPU" is another story. It's another AMD part - something along the lines of a Radeon 7850 card - and packs 18 GCN units. That may sound a like a lot of techy mumbo jumbo but what it essentially means is that the GPU packs 18 processing clusters, each packing up to 64 cores. That provides a lot of parallel processing power, and will thus handle the majority of the PS4's grunt work. It hits 1.84 TFLOPS of processing mojo. This is a far more powerful component than the Jaguar CPU and is rumoured to have the edge on the GPU inside the Xbox 720.

Sony announced at the NYC event that the console will even use GPU compute features to take advantage of the GPU's raw power - it'll be used for general computation tasks as well as making games shiny.

Memory

The PS4 will ship packing 8GB of GDDR5 memory. That's some super-fast stuff right there and should enable lightning fast performance.

Indeed, Sony has revealed that you will be able to power down the PS4 mid-game and then switch it on again in seconds and pick up right where you left off. That's the sort of loading power that this memory enables.

Other specs

We're also looking at Blu-ray disk support plus good ol' DVD, plus HDMI output support as well as Analog-AV out and an optical digital output.

PlayStation 4 Eye

What's really grabbing though is the development of the PlayStation 4 Eye, a newly developed camera system that utilizes two high-sensitivity camera equipped with wide-angle lenses and 85-degree diagonal angle views. 

Sony said the cameras (amounting to 1280 x 800 pixels) can cut out the image of a player from the background or differentiate between players in the background and foreground, enhancing game play handily. There's also mention of logging in using facial recognition and using voice and body movements to play games "more intuitively."

PS4 controller: DualShock 4

The PS4 controller comes in the form of the DualShock 4 pad. Very much a classic design, the DualShock 4 nevertheless offers upgraded vibrations, enhanced motion sensors and a Vita-like touchpad on the front.

PS4 user interface

The XrossMediaBar (XMB) interface of PlayStations past has been completely ditched in the PS4, with Sony instead choosing to design a new OS that looks a lot more like that of the Xbox 360 than the PS3.

Will the PS4 be 4K capable?

In a chat with Kotaku, Sony has revealed that the PlayStation 4 will be able to playback 4K/Ultra HD video. However, it will not upscale to 4K or play games at 4K resolution.
Sony has also confirmed that it will definitely launch a 4K movie service on the PS4 and is looking at ways it can get around the 100GB downloads required.

Backwards compatibility

The PS4 will definitely not offer native support for PS3 games. However, there will at some point be a service on the Sony Entertainment Network that offers server-side emulation and streaming of games from PS One classics right through to PS3 Platinum Editions.

PlayStation Move

Sony has confirmed that PlayStation Move will play a big part in the PS4 ecosystem. However, it has not yet been revealed whether the PS4 will launch alongside a new PS Eye camera and new Move controllers or whether the peripherals are staying the same with all the enhancements made console-side.

Synergy with PlayStation Vita

Sony has revealed that the PS4 will launch with the ability to stream games directly to your PS Vita. In exactly the same way as the Wii U allows you to switch off your TV and continue playing on the tablet controller, the PS4 will wirelessly send your games to the Vita.

There will be similar synergy between "all Sony devices" which means Xperia handsets and tablets, Bravia TVs and BD players.

Sony hinted that there will be more announcements in this area, too. We think the obvious next reveal in this area is the ability to play PS4 games on your Vita from any location using a wireless connection.

PS4 Instant On

The PS4 will be one nippy device if Sony is to be believed. It will have an instant on/off feature allowing your to shut down during a game and then boot up from scratch in seconds and resume where you left off. The days of waiting 60 seconds as your console loads up are about to end.

PS4 price: how much will it cost?

We really don't know what price the PS4 will fetch. Some rumours suggest a figure of around $450/£399. But it's pure speculation at the moment.

The sake Zavvi page which lists the UK release date as 31st December 2013 has a pre-order available for £399. Again, we'd take that with a pinch of salt, but if it's their best guess, there might be a grain of something in it.

PS4 launch titles

A number of games have been revealed for the PS4. They Are: Deep Down (Capcom), Destiny (Bungie), Diablo III (Blizzard), Driveclub (Evolution Studios), Final Fantasy (Square Enix), Infamous: Second Son (Sucker Punch), Killzone: Shadow Fall (Guerilla Games), Knack (Sony), The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt RED), Watch Dogs (Ubisoft).

US talkshow host Jimmy Fallon was the first to get near Killzone 4...

Second-hand games on the way out?

Sony has yet to discuss this area of the PS4, but you'd think it would dispel the rumours if they're not true.

The rumours suggest that Sony is going in the same direction as Microsoft in that it wants to kill off the second-hand games market. Current industry wisdom suggests that future PS4 games might be tied to your Sony Entertainment Network account and will thus have no resale value. That's a similar approach as used by PC developers using Steam so we reckon this is a likely development. Doesn't mean we're happy about it, though.

What will the PS4 actually be called?

It's the PS4, of course!

4 Things That Made PS4 Possible

One thing that the PlayStation 4 announcement last week brought home for me was just how much the world has changed since the last time we were introduced to a new Sony console in 2005. Back then, the iPhone didn't exist, consoles and PC were still the only major players in the video games industry, and a console with Internet connectivity was still a novelty to hundreds of thousands of people. These changes are only accentuated by the length of this console generation, which has exceeded any that went before it. It feels like the PlayStation 4 is launching into a completely different world.

Sitting down with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's president and CEO Jim Ryan the morning after the announcement, I asked him which developments of the past six years or so have made the PlayStation 4 possible. Here are the four most significant.

The PS3 Has Been Successful (source: ign.com)

Most obviously, if the PlayStation 3 hadn't done well over the past five years, the PlayStation 4 would definitely not be happening. "The first thing is that we had a condition of considerable success with the PS3, and had that not happened, we probably would not be sitting here after yesterday’s event," says Ryan. "PS3 was not all that easy in the beginning, but we’re now 70m units in, and certainly in the part of the world I look after, in most European territories you’re in a very dominant market position, and there's good momentum – PS3 will carry on going. That success was definitely a necessary condition… it’s a big thing for any corporation to decide that they’re going to introduce a new platform, and you can best do that from a position of success."

Improved Internet Infrastructure (source: ign.com)

Although the PlayStation 4 does not require an Internet connection to function - something that was rumoured before the announcement, and a prospect that was getting plenty of people worried - connectivity is a huge part of the console's pitch, as evidenced by the Share button and the console's Gaikai cloud-gaming integration, which looks set to become one of its defining features. What has enabled this is the improvement of the global Internet infrastructure; more people than ever are online, and more people than ever have access to broadband, so it is easier to justify making connectivity so integral to the console.

"Our levels of connectedness on the PS3 platform are extremely high – in excess of 90%, even in places like Italy and Spain," says Ryan. "When you have that level of connectedness it makes that sort of innovation much easier to justify. It becomes much easier to do than if you’re running at 10% levels of connectivity; everybody’s online, so the ROI [return on investment] – which unfortuantely people like myself do have to worry about – on those sorts of investment decisions becomes much more straightforward."

Social Media (source: ign.com)

As well as better broadband, social media has totally changed the way we communicate with each other since the PlayStation 3 was announced, pushing us towards sharing more of our lives online. This has made social integration on the PlayStation 4 not only possible, but necessary. The DualShock 4's Share button and the PlayStation Network's increased personalisation show how the console is embracing the more socially-connected Internet that has developed since the PlayStation 3's release, claims Jim.

"We think personalisation is very important in this day and age. You’ll have a home page on the network which is yours, [with] stuff that you’ve bought and that your friends have bought, what your friends are doing... The social aspect is probably most important of all – this deep, very rich social engagement, whether it’s via social networks or by using this rather cool Share button.

"I think the general move to this connected world that we live in now makes the realisation of what we’re going to do with the PS4 possible to an extent that really wasn’t the case 5 or 6 years ago, " he concludes.

The Breakdown of Hardware Barriers (source: ign.com)

In 2006 the idea of being able to use, say, your Samsung phone with your Sony games console was preposterous. Since then, however, smartphones and tablets have become so dominant that console manufacturers have had to acquiesce (and other electronics hardware manufacturers - there are even ovens you can control with your iPhone). This is the impetus behind the Xbox's SmartGlass, and the PlayStation 4 will use apps to let you use tablets and phones as second screens (as well as the Vita, of course). We are no longer limited by hardware compatibility to anywhere near the same extent.

"One of the things that we increasingly see is that the silos that have existed in the past with these vertical platforms are getting broken down little bit by little bit," observes Ryan. (In plain English, platforms are no longer closed - they have to integrate.) "Things are becoming more open and less proprietary, and this can only be good for consumers. It brings certain technical challenges and business model challenges in certain spaces, but I think in this day and age companies like Sony have to meet those challenges head-on."

The PS4's processor and performance

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After all the press events, TV cameos and probing interviews, what do we really know about the PS4? The announcement of the next-gen console is a prime example of having an abundance of specs and a lack of knowledge. Although Sony put out a sheet of stats about the console's processor and memory, many of the words it used -- Jaguar cores, compute units, unified memory -- are more ambiguous than they may sound.
Nevertheless, even with all these foggy bits, there are some things -- five, in fact -- that we probably can predict about the PS4's hardware. They're listed after the break in order of decreasing certainty. All the way from confident logic down to... well, not quite flailing around with a butter knife during a power cut, but you get the picture.

1. These chips ain't cheap

AMD. APU. Six letters which would normally spell out the word "cheap." But in the case of the PS4, we can be pretty sure of the opposite. In fact, from the data Sony has revealed, the PS4's APU actually sounds like a serious investment -- not only in terms of R&D for the semi-custom design, but also in terms of raw components.

It's true that AMD is known for undercutting Intel in the marketplace, usually with the sacrifice of some general computing power. And among AMD's offerings, the APUs -- which combine CPU and GPU on a single piece of silicon -- generally hit the lowest price points, maxing out at a retail price of around $130. Merging processors is a tried-and-tested way of reducing costs -- that's why Microsoft did it with the Xbox 360 Slim in 2010.

But here's the thing: AMD's current top-end APU only delivers around 700 GFLOPs of compute power from its CPU and GPU combined. We're told the PS4's processor delivers nearly 2 TFLOPs from its GPU alone. In other words, we're looking at 3X compute performance before we even get to the eight-core CPU.

To get a similar level of graphical power to the PS4, you'd need to spend at least $200.

To get a similar level of graphical power to the PS4, you'd need to spend at least $200 on a Radeon HD 7850 graphics card and splash out extra on a processor. But even then you'd only have 2GB of GDDR5 memory. This type of memory tends to be slightly more expensive than regular DDR3 system memory, and Sony tells us the PS4 comes with 8GB of the stuff. There's no way on earth that could come cheap.

As to how much we loyal gamers will be asked to cough up for a PS4, we can only hope that it'll be less than the burdensome $499 starting price of the PS3. Sony has only hinted that it "hopes" to bring it in under $599. Perhaps Sony will take on a short-term hit to its margins in return for the long-term gains of building the PlayStation ecosystem. AMD may also shoulder some of this responsibility, since it also stands to gain strategically from this deal -- an idea we'll return to shortly.

2. Nothing else compares

Now that we've mentioned parallels with some existing PC components, why don't we go whole hog and design a PC rig to match the PS4's basic specs? It'd be a fun way to spend a weekend, but alas it'd also be spurious. A total waste of time.

How come? Because the PS4 is a true next-gen device. It'll be built around AMD's Jaguar core, which is still a long way from being available on the PC market. We know that Jaguar is an evolution of the Bobcat core found in relatively low-powered netbooks, but that doesn't mean we can use any Bobcat device for comparison. Existing Bobcat netbooks generally have two cores, while the PS4 has eight.

The PS4 is a true next-gen device.

And here's another good reason to be wary of parallels with existing PC components: Sony's use of GDDR5 "unified memory." We've already mentioned the fact that it comes in an expensive 8GB dollop, but we also need to bear in mind its speed and the way it's going to be used.

In PCs, the CPU generally uses lower-bandwidth DDR3 memory, while the graphics card (if there is one) uses faster GDDR5. The Xbox 360 went the "unified" route, using 512MB of GDDR3 for both the CPU and GPU. The PS4's memory will also be unified, but it'll be faster than anything that has been used for this purpose before, so it could potentially remove bottlenecks and improve performance in ways that are hard for us to anticipate. Equally, there may also be drawbacks that are hard to predict, for example with regards to memory latency.

3. PC gamers needn't feel jealous

It's worth reiterating though, that even if the PS4 does put its memory to wildly good use, it'll probably serve to compensate for the low-power nature of its processor rather than to push the boundaries of gaming graphics.

It won't match a good gaming PC for raw performance.

As a benchmark, a current high-class gaming PC has enough grunt to run games on multiple monitors at extremely high resolutions, reaching or even exceeding the number of pixels used in 4K displays. The PS4 will handle 4K video at at launch, and may possibly get an update to enable 4K gaming later if developers start taking the format seriously. But by the time that happens (let's say in a couple of years), PC rigs will have been upgraded and will still be way ahead. So if you want mega high resolutions now or later, the PC will probably still be the best route to deliver that.

Sony execs have already hinted that the PS4 is going to be about the complete package -- including things like streamed gaming -- rather than its pure hardware capability. This package of features might entice many PC gamers, but it won't match a good gaming PC for raw performance.

4. Maybe we're not meant to turn it off

Each update to the PS3 brought its power consumption down significantly, mainly by shrinking the processor's transistors down from 90nm to 65nm and then 45nm. The original 90nm processor burned up to 200W merely while perusing menus (yes, that's more than some refrigerators) and we'd never have left it on overnight for fear of attracting mice to the warmth of the TV cabinet.

The latest version consumes just 60W on the menu or up to 80W while running a game, but the PS4 could take things even lower while still pulling of sophisticated functions -- such as acting as a game hub for a connected PS Vita, or running always-on facial recognition with the new sensor-laden Eye module.

The 28nm Jaguar cores in the PS4 are an evolution of AMD's Bobcat silicon, which was used in netbook processors that generally maxed out at 18W. According to slides recently released by AMD, a quad-core Jaguar chip will consume up to 25W. Even if the PS4 doubles that, with eight cores burning 50W, that'd still be a lot quieter and easier to cool than a recent PS3. (But remember, we're well into very speculative territory at this point.)

5. It'll change the way games are made

AMD has staked its future on a certain philosophy that has sometimes left it looking isolated. Unlike Intel, which throws its billions into putting ever-greater numbers of transistors into its cores, AMD reckons that there are smarter ways to use and arrange these transistors.

Having many weak cores instead of a few strong ones is a classic example. It's a pattern found in AMD's FX range of PC chips and now in the PS4's spec sheet, but game developers just aren't used to it. They're accustomed to good single-threaded performance, so they'll have to adapt if they want to the push the PS4 to its limits. They'll also have to look into tricks like GPU compute, which can allow a strong GPU to help a weak CPU on certain non-graphical tasks.

All of this will be good for AMD, since games will run better on its hardware. But in the long-term it could be a good thing for anyone looking to play games on a low-cost, low-power device.

Wrap-up

Granted, there's a lot of guesswork going on here. But hopefully some of the items we've looked at from Sony's spec sheet will now have a bit more context. Not only in terms of what words like APU and "unified memory" mean, but also with respect to the bigger picture of what the PS4 is designed to achieve.

We could be wrong, but it looks to us like Sony has made a serious investment in a new type of processor that finds a better balance between performance and power consumption. It could deliver the 1080p visuals of a current mid-range gaming PC but in a form factor more akin to a small and quiet HTPC. We just hope that's as clever as it sounds -- and that Sony will find a way to keep the price below that of the console's predecessor.

Sony Details PlayStation 4 Processing Specs, DualShock 4, and Eye

New light shed on the system's internals and peripherals.

At tonight's event we were offered a brief overview of the PlayStation 4's powerful new hardware and a few quick glimpses at its new peripherals, the DualShock 4 and Eye. Now, the company has released additional information about the console's internals and more detail about the controller and new camera.

Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation 4 will be powered by a custom 8-core AMD "Jaguar" x86-64 with integrated graphics APU and "next-generation" AMD Radeon graphics processor capable of driving 1.84 teraflops. As detailed at the event, it will come paired with 8GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory, making it competitive with most gaming-focused PCs on the market. As expected, the system will ship with a Blu-ray drive, built-in 80.211 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, as well as HDMI, Analog-AV, and optical digital output. Sony is giving I/O options a boost with the inclusion of USB 3.0 ports and a mysteriously vague "AUX" port. Each system will ship a "Mono Headset" for cross-game chat and other social features.

What's more, we've gained new insight into the DualShock 4. As we know, the controller sports an integrated touch pad, headset jack, share button, and LED player identifier, but we've now learned that the touch pad features a mechanical button and supports "capacitive type." In addition to the obvious size and ergonomic changes, the DualShock 4 is expectedly gaining a bit of weight, going from 6.77 ounces on the DualShock 3 to 7.4 ounces on the DualShock 4. In addition to helping track a player for motion-based controls, the built-in LED can also be used to represent in-game elements, like a player's overall health.

Details were remarkably scant at the event regarding the PlayStation 4 Eye, which has been revealed as having a 1280x800 pixel sensor capable of capturing video at 60 frames-per-second — a significant gain over the Kinect's 640x480 30fps sensor. It can also be used to automatically detect players, though Sony hasn't detailed the exact application of the feature.

Sony to launch PlayStation 4 in November at $429, $529 -- report

The company's device will also be able to be controlled with a smartphone or tablet, according to a report.

 

 

Sony's PlayStation 4 event is today, but that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from continuing to churn out details.

The console, which hasn't been officially named but is expected to be called the PlayStation 4, will be made available in November in the United States, gaming blog Kotaku is reporting, citing people who claim to have knowledge of the company's plans. Those same sources told Kotaku that the console will ship in two different versions and cost $429 and $529, respectively.

Sony is holding a special PlayStation event in New York City today. So far, the company has been tight-lipped on what it will announce, but just about every rumor has suggested a new PlayStation will be unveiled.

Earlier reports have suggested that the PlayStation 4 will run on an AMD processor, rather than the Cell chip in its PlayStation 3. In addition, the device could support the ability to stream PlayStation 3 games over the Web. Sony's controller will also come with a touchpad to enhance gaming, according to reports.

Speaking of controllers, Kotaku's sources also said that Sony is planning to allow PlayStation 4 owners to control their console with a tablet or smartphone. Those devices will be used to chat with other PlayStation owners and buy games that will be downloaded to the console.

If Kotaku's source is correct, Sony's console will be priced significantly higher than the first next-generation console launch, the Wii U. That device is currently on sale for $300 and $350 for the Basic set and Deluxe set, respectively. Nintendo has been pressed with questions on whether it should reduce the price of its console to boost demand, but so far, the company has balked, saying that the price is right. In January, Nintendo sold just 57,000 Wii U units.

Sony Unveils PlayStation 4, Aiming for Return to Glory

The first three generations of PlayStation sold more than 300 million units, pioneered a new style of serious gaming and produced hefty profits. PlayStation 4, introduced by Sony on Wednesday evening, is a bold bid to recapture those glory days of innovation and success. 

The first new PlayStation in seven years was touted by Sony as being like a “supercharged PC.” It has a souped-up eight-core processor to juggle more complex tasks simultaneously, enhanced graphics, the ability to play games even as they are being downloaded, and a new controller designed in tandem with a “stereo camera” that can sense the depth of the environment in front of it. 

When the machine goes on sale before the end of the year — no pricing was announced — those features should make for more compelling play for the hard-core gamers at the heart of the PlayStation market. The blood in “Killzone: Shadow Fall,” shown to an audience of 1,200 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, looked chillingly real. 

 

With PlayStation 4, serious gaming is about to become much more social. A player can broadcast his gameplay in real time, and his friend can peek into his game and hop in to help. Also, they will now be able to upload recordings of themselves playing and send them to their hardcore friends, who will possibly want to watch when they are not playing themselves. 

The new features, however, cannot hide the fact that PlayStation 4 is still a console, a way of playing games on compact discs that was cool when cellphones were the size of toasters and browsers were people in libraries. It was a couple of lifetimes ago, or so it seems. 

Much of the excitement in gaming has shifted to the Web and mobile devices, which is cheap, easy and fast. Nintendo’s new Wii, introduced in November, has been a disappointment. Microsoft’s Xbox, the third major console, is racing to turn into a home entertainment center as fast as it can. 

“Today marks a moment of truth and a bold step forward for PlayStation,” Andrew House, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment, told the crowd. He said the new device “represents a significant shift of thinking of PlayStation as merely a box or console to thinking as a leading authority on play.”Fine words, but the new PlayStation will have an uphill battle. Sales of consoles from all makers peaked in 2008, when about 55 million units were sold according to the research firm I.D.C. By last year, that was down to 34 million.

 

For 2014, Lewis Ward, I.D.C.’s research manager for gaming, forecasts a recovery to about 44.5 million. “From peak to peak, we’ll be down about 10 million,” he said. “There was attrition to alternative gaming platforms like tablets, but the trough was exacerbated by the 2008-2009 recession. It did not permit as many people to buy who under normal economic conditions would have bought a console.” 

That was reflected in Sony’s miserable financial results. The company has lost money for the last four years, hampered not only by slower console sales but also by a range of unexciting electronic products, a strong yen and the 2011 tsunami in Japan. Analysts have made dire comments about the one-time powerhouse’s viability. But Sony seems to have bottomed out, helped by a yen that has now weakened. Sony executives said earlier this month that they expected a profit in 2013. 

Sony’s new chief executive, Kazuo Hirai, has a longtime personal connection to the PlayStation franchise and is making it one of the core elements of a more tightly focused company. Mr. Hirai became well-known for some of his more confident statements about the PlayStation, particularly a 2006 swipe at Microsoft: “The next generation doesn’t start until we say it does.” 

Sony has teamed up with Gaikai, the online gaming company it bought last year, to store PlayStation content in the cloud. PlayStation 4 games can be streamed to the PlayStation Vita, Sony’s portable gaming device, among other features. 

“The architecture is like a PC in many ways, but super-charged to bring out its full potential as a gaming platform,” said Mark Cerny, Sony’s lead system architect. 

 

James L. McQuivey, a Forrester analyst, said that in order for the PlayStation 4 to succeed, Sony needed to think beyond gaming. The console will have to provide other types of digital content and services, like video conferencing, third-party apps and a TV service to create a deeper, long-term relationship with the customer.

By comparison, Apple, the world’s leading consumer electronics maker, does not just sell hardware. It also has an ecosystem of digital content including apps, music, movies and e-books to make people coming back for more Apple gear every year. Apple generally takes an enviable 30 percent cut of all media it sells. Microsoft, Google and Amazon are making similar moves to create ecosystems. 

“Then and only then can Sony hope to learn enough about its users to overcome its own bias toward preferring to design products in response to engineering principles rather than customer needs,” Mr. McQuivey said.

 

Sony reportedly considering £300 price tag for PlayStation 4

With Sony’s PlayStation event right around the corner, new rumours about an imminent PlayStation 4 announcement are crawling out of the woodwork. The latest one is the price of the next-gen console. According to Eurogamer, Sony is considering pricing the PS4 at £300 in the UK.

The £300 price-tag seems to be very low, especially compared to the launch price of the PlayStation 3. The PS3 was launched in the UK at a price tag of £425. It is worth noting that the UK price of the PS4 will be the local price, and not the price directly converted from the Japanese version, which is said to cost 40,000 yen.

In the end, the pricing of the console in the country comes down to the duty that the company will face when it imports them into India and how much the company is willing to absorb the duty. Sony and Microsoft are well known to absorb duty, or we’d be paying exorbitant prices, considering our duty amounts to 50 percent of the system’s price. This can be seen in Nintendo’s pricing. As the company doesn’t absorb prices, we get a Wii that is more expensive than a PS3 or an Xbox 360.

Sony may be willing to sell consoles for a loss again

 

With this pricing, one also has to wonder if Sony will be willing to sell its consoles at a loss, much like it did early in the lifecycle of the PlayStation 3. While both Microsoft and Sony sell their consoles at losses, it was reported that Sony’s loss per console was significantly higher than that of Microsoft. It did end up paying off for Sony, however, as this coupled with price drops are what allowed the company to stay in the console race.

Just recently, Sony has been counting down to its PlayStation event by releasing retrospective videos about the history of the PlayStation. The latest of the lot was a look at the PlayStation 3.

The video takes us all the way back to the first unveiling of the PlayStation 3, with its considerably large and monolithic design. We then get aglimpse of the first—and ultimately most popular—slim redesign of the console. One of the most distinct visual differences between the slim PS3 and the original one, other than the size, was that the slimmer one had a matte paint job on it, as opposed to the very glossy original.

We also get a look at some of the games that have made it to the system, and will be making their way to the system. This includes all the Spider Man games, The Last of Us, BioShock Infinite and Uncharted.

Then we get a look at the PlayStation Move, with all the new differences to gameplay motion control brought to the table. The Move was often hailed as being better for gaming than Microsoft’s Kinect, as it was much more accurate and allowed for finer controls in more action oriented games, as well as the casual sports games.

Sony PlayStation 4 to feature some sort of mobile (Android?) support

Not all Android device owners are avid console gamers, but those of you that are surely know that Sony has a special February 20 media event to unveil its next-gen PlayStation model, the PlayStation 4. But since Sony also makes Android devices, will the PS4 feature some sort of Android integration and/or support for Android devices?

According to Nikkei, via Engadget, the PS4 will act like a home entertainment “nerve center,” focusing “on the hardware’s ability to connect and share to mobile devices.” That’s certainly not surprising in a world where mobile devices are more and more important.

After all, it only makes sense to see Sony try to offer mobile services to PS4 owners, no matter what mobile platform they use. But considering Sony’s PlayStation-related mobile gaming ambitions we shouldn’t be surprised to see some sort of Android integration in the future PlayStation model, especially for Sony devices.

Sure, the device will most likely feature a new design and improved specs, but it will also come with a lot of other uses. Let’s not forget that Microsoft is taking a similar approach with its Xbox console. Xbox services are already built-in the Windows Phone mobile OS, and the company offers an Xbox SmartGlass companion app for Android devices.

Will Sony have similar PS4-related apps for Android devices? We’ll find out more details next week.

What’s certain is that, together with the Xbox and Wii, the PlayStation is one of the most important gaming devices out there. But the trio is definitely under a lot of pressure from mobile smart devices that are themselves great gadgets for playing more and more console-grade games, no matter what OS they operate.

That means Sony, and everyone else in the console gaming business, will have to let their next-gen products connect to mobile devices for some kind of shared gaming experience.