Sony Announces PlayStation 4, Releases Holiday 2013

Sony’s next generation console, the PlayStation 4, has officially been unveiled. During tonight’s PlayStation Meeting 2013, Sony dove headfirst into details regarding the PS4, including its logo, its hardware specifications, its new features, its controller, and which developers have already signed on to support the system.

First off are the specs. The following is what we know is powering the PlayStation 4:

• A supercharged PC architecture
• An x86 CPU
• An enhanced PC GPU
• 8 gigabytes of unified GDDR5 memory
• A local storage HDD

According to Sony, the five major pillars of the PS4’s philosophy are “Simple, Immediate, Social, Integrated, and Personalized.” The ideas behind these pillars make PlayStation 4 a much more social platform than its predecessor; for example, while users will still utilize PSN usernames, many aspects of the system will instead use the real name of a person. Furthermore, friends can spectate each other’s games at any time, and can either join the game or even take control to help one another complete a level. In addition to spectating other players, a button on the system’s new DualShock 4 controller allows users to instantly record and share gameplay footage with friends via Facebook. Many of these gameplay-sharing features are powered by technology developed by Gaikai, the cloud gaming service that was purchased by Sony last year.

In terms of PlayStation Store-related enhancements, Sony stated that as the user plays and purchases more content, the service will come up with suggestions of new products that might interest the user. The notable part of this, however, is that according to Sony, the system can download content even before it’s purchased if it’s one of the suggestions, and games can be played as they are downloaded from the PlayStation Network.

Regarding the DualShock 4, Sony showed off the new controller, and announced several changes that it features compared to the PlayStation 3’s DualShock 3:

• Redesigned analog sticks
• A redesigned, more concave directional pad
• An enhanced built-in Sixaxis motion sensor
• A share button, used to share gameplay footage with friends
• An options button, which is used as a replacement for previous controllers’ start and select buttons
• A touchpad, used to offer new gameplay features
• A speaker
• A headphone jack
• A light bar, used to distinguish players in games

Finally, many publishers and developers have announced support of the upcoming system, as seen above. In addition, several announced off new games. The games are as follows: