After months of rumors, leaks, and conjecture Sony unveiled the PlayStation 4 at a press conference in New York last night. A series of Sony executives and reps for third-party developers talked for around two hours about what the future of PlayStation. You can say a lot in two hours, and the show was packed with information about what to expect.
Now that we've had a day to process everything, let's go over what Sony said about PS4 and what it all means:
Hardware
Described as a "super-charged PC," the PS4 will feature an X-86 quad core CPU, an AMD Radeon GPU, and 8GB of GDDR5 memory. In terms of storage, the console will feature a built-in hard drive, though Sony didn't speculate on potential storage size(s). As with their current console, the PS4 will feature a built-in wi-fi support and Blu-Ray optical drive. It also has a lot of the inputs you'd expect from a home console, USB 3.0, HDMI, etc.
The DualShock 4 (Yes, it's the controller we've seen photos of.) is very similar to Sony's historic controller, but with a few key changes. First and foremost, the top of the controller features a colorful "light bar" that, in conjunction with 3D camera, will be able detect who's playing at any given time, which is key to the console's emphasis on personalization. (We'll get to that later.) Instead of the start and select buttons, the controller features a touchpad similar to the one on the front of the Vita. Lastly, the controller has a "share" button which allows player to instantly upload game footage onto PSN.
Streaming/Sharing
The PS4 features always-on video compression and de-compression, which allows "seemless uploading" of game footage players can take on the fly. Players can broadcast play sessions to friends watch gameplay sessions of their games. Using Gaikai, players will be able take over controls of a friend's streaming game and "assist" them with their game if they get stuck.
Using Gaikai, Sony plans on making all PlayStation games-PS1, PS2, and PS3-available through streaming services on PS4 and other devices. The PlayStation 4 will not support disc-based PS3 games, though.
PSN
Social sharing and game streaming play a critical role in Sony's vision for the PS4, and PSN is the glue that holds those aspects of the console together. Like all social networks, the PlayStation operating system will learn about players' gaming habits, and suggest games they might like to purchase. They suggest that the system will get so good, that players will be able to use AI pre-purchasing to make sure they get all the games they want as soon as they become available. Once they start, PSN games are playable, even as you download them.
Sony's Music and Video unlimited services, Netflix, and Amazon Streaming will all be available, though Sony didn't elaborate on any innovations vis a vis non-gaming apps.
Vita
PlayStation network will feature Gaikai integration "the fastest, most powerful gaming network in the world." The PS4 will feature remote play on PS Vita, tablets, and other devices. Gaikai's David Perry called PS Vita "the ultimate companion to PS4." Sony's goal is to make every PlayStation 4 game playable on the PS Vita via streaming.
Sony's Games
Sony unveiled four first-party PS4 games at last night's show. The selection covers a lot of bases: There are two new IP and two sequels. There's a kid-friendly game, an FPS, an action game, and a racer.
- Knack: An animated game created by SCE Japan, Knack is a "growing" robot protecting humanity from a horde of invading Goblins.
- Killzone: Shadow Fall: The fourth Killzone jumps to 30 years after the events of Killzone 3, where the Helghast and ISA live in a cold war Berlin-style walled city. The demo shows the player defending civilians a Helghast terrorist attack at the ISA part of the city.
- InFamous: Second Son: The next InFamous also seems to jump to the near future, where people with elemental powers are fighting an over-bearing police state.
- DriveClub: A hyper-detailed racing simulator from Motorstorm developer. Players will be able to fidget with literally every detail of their cars, both technical and cosmetic.
Third-Party Games
- Deep Down (Working Title): A new game from Capcom that looks a lot like Dark Souls. Or Dragon's Dogma II? A visually stunning knight squares off against a dragon, the trailer ends with the knight's shield slowing melting from the dragon's fire-breath.
- Watch Dogs: A new demo from Ubisoft's now-confirmed next-gen open-world game showed a more complete UI and introduced the idea that players will be able to enter each other's games, controlling a camera that attempts to hack the player's phone.
- Diablo III: Blizzard shocked everyone when they came up on stage at a console gaming event, announcing that Diablo III will come to PS3 and PS4.
- Destiny: Destiny is coming to PS4, and the next-gen platform will get some kind of exclusive content.
- Final Fantasy ??: At the end of their presentation, Square Enix revealed that they're working on a new Final Fantasy, indicating that it will be shown at E3 in June.
- The Witness: Jonathan Blow's follow-up to Braid will be a timed-exclusive for the PS4. One might expect a game that's also in development for iOS and Android to look less impressive than the rest of the next-gen games, but it certainly held its own, visually speaking.
- The Rest: Sony revealed that a massive group of third-party developers are working on PS4 projects, including Level 5, Rockstar, WB Interactive, Konami, EA, Bethesda, Telltale, Platinum Games, and more.
Tech Demos
A handful of developers, both first and third-party, also showed presentations that not connected to an actual game.
Media Molecule: Media Molecule showed off software that allowed players to create LittleBigPlanet-style levels using only Move controls.
Quantic Dream: Quantic Dream's David Cage showed the most realistic character model you've ever seen. The old man's wrinkles had shadows, glassy eyes, and if you didn't know it was a tech demo, you might've thought it was a real person.
Square Enix: Square showed the same psudo-Final Fantasy tech demo, Agni's Philosophy, which showed off their next-gen "Luminous Engine" at E3 2012.