Guesswork is easy. “I don’t think there’ll be a touch screen on the new controller,” I said back on the 3rd of January. “There might be a touchable surface, populated with the same little icons that the Vita’s rear touch pad is.” That now appears to be exactly the case: a Vita-esque touch pad right in the centre of the controller. Why? We’ll find out in just two days. Two days.
I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about a hardware reveal. It’s not going to be out in two days, of course, we’re not going to get a price, or even a locked down release date. We’re not going to get a bulletpointed list of games and developers, either – or, at least, we’re not likely too. Wednesday will be all about letting people know Sony are back in business, and that the PS4 is coming.
And that’s more than enough. As long as we can finally put at least two years of constant rumours and speculation to bed, that is.
It’s been fun to watch people guess and predict the future and make ridiculously bold claims that never came to fruition (like this) but hopefully by the middle of the week all this messing around will be over and we can actually start to look forward to the games coming out and what the system will deliver, rather than endless guesswork.
The Name:
It’s going to be called the PlayStation 4, right? I mean, the Vita took a swerve and every time anyone mentions the number ‘4’ there’s some spurious discussion of what it means in Japanese, but that’s just one way of saying the number and Sony have always used a ‘borrowed’ word for the numeral at the end of PlayStation. Four. 4. It’s going to be called PlayStation 4. And besides, Sony say so.
Will it be the best?
Yes, says Tretton.
Will it be download only? No disks?
Of course not, although that was muted a few times over the last couple of years. I’d imagine the next, next gen will be purely digital downloads, but there’s simply not the infrastructure and speed yet to manage downloading 50 GB+ games – besides, even grabbing the massive patches we’re used to this gen can be a real bind. So, no, the PS4 will play disks.
Games:
Yes, there’ll be games. WipEout was apparently cancelled, which is gutting, but Evolution are on the case and are more than likely revving something up for this Wednesday. Quantic Dream are working on PS4 games too (this is the first confirmed one, kinda) but we’re hoping for Killzone 4 to be shown off soon enough. Elsewhere there’s a rack of first and second party titles that could really set the PS4 apart from the rest.
Will it play pre-owned games?
Potentially not. Sony have a great patent in place that – unlike Microsoft’s apparent method of locking out resale of games, doesn’t need the internet. They’d be crazy to implement it wholesale, but I can definitely see them leaving it in as an option, like region locking, for publishers to pick up and use if they want. Yes, it’s stinky, but it’s apparently what the industry wants.
Social features:
Think big. The PS4 will use something called BigFest (although maybe not at first) as a kind of hub for PS4 gamers to share their content. It’ll be rich with user generated stuff and will act like a combination of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, from our guesswork. Social gaming is important to Sony next gen. There’s highly likely to be a revised UI, too, ditching the XMB in favour of something more vertical.
Release Date:
Probably 2014 in Europe, with the US and Japan getting the console at the end of this year. Our sources point to a ‘holiday 2013’ window, which doesn’t mean a great deal. I’m going on holiday in May, for example, but I don’t expect to come back to a brand new console launch.
How much will it cost?
Nobody knows, and we’re not likely to find out for sure until E3. Sony would be crazy to pin down a price point with Microsoft still to even acknowledge that they’re working on a next gen Xbox. Some say $400, although the Japanese price will no doubt vary. Europe will probably see the highest relative price, of course, but that could be as low as just £300…
Specs:
It seemed that for about three months all the gaming press could talk about was Teraflops and RAM, two things that won’t matter one iota if the games themselves aren’t up to scratch. Blind, wildly ignorant spec wars creates hits, mind, even if it makes the industry a little bit of a laughing stock to anyone outside of the bubble. More interestingly is chatter of speech recognition and some soul-crushingly bad news for gamers. The context-switching thing sounds cool, though.
What’s Gaikai?
Sony bought game-streaming company Gaikai in the middle of last year to much excitement. Does it mean we won’t see a PS4, we asked. Well, no. That was crazy. But it does potentially open up the Vita to lots of cool stuff and might mean a solution to the lack of backwards compatibility on the PS4. If you need to buy a PS4 at all, that is.
That controller:
Yeah. It looks like the last DualShock but it comes with a touch pad, built-in Move and what could potentially be 3D Sound. The leaks were handy – we now know what it looks like – but don’t worry, Sony are digging the leaks. Probably.
And Move?
Built into the controller, by all accounts. That little strip at the top will help with positioning and depth, and the PS4 is heavily rumoured to come with a dual camera array in place of the Eye. Think Kinect, but called PlayStation Move.
Surely PlayStation Plus is still relevant?
Yes, for sure. Whether it’s for discounts on the Store (as it is now) or to subsidise the Gaikai streaming we don’t know yet. We can say that Sony are still behind Plus 100% (as they should be) and it’s 99.9% likely your Plus subscriptions (and your PSN name, friends list, Trophies etc) will carry over to PS4 when it releases – just look at the Vita.
And the console itself?
Nobody knows. It’s a secret. Hopefully a secret that’ll stay that way until Wednesday when Sony hopefully roll it out in front of us all. They may well have taken cues from their latest Blu-ray ranges (where the image for this story’s header is from) but that’s all up in the air at the moment. It’ll probably come with a couple of USB 3 ports, boast 4K resolutions – at least for games – and the latest HDMI spec. To be honest I’m impressed the actual console unit hasn’t leaked at all yet – that’s not normally the case for Sony products.
Any clearer? Thought not. All eyes on Wednesday.
Taylor Made
PS4 won’t be called pS4. If I’m wrong I will buy everyone on TSA a £5 psn voucher!
cc_star
I’d predict PlayStation 4… with it being called PlayStation Four in Japan.
Something like Orbis or whatever when the PlayStation brand is so strong for Sony would be unthinkable. I think they only didn’t call the Vita the PlayStation Portable 2 was because the PSP doesn’t have the brand & in some people’s eyes even has negative connotations so Sony wanted something new as a way of showing it will be different to what happened with the PSP trailing the DS by so much.
Taylor Made
I see what you saying & you have a point but with the ps vita, a lot of people I know of call it psp 2. So what I’m thinking is Sony will either call it The playstation or maybe playstation with something Latin like with the ps vita.
Kennykazey
Seeing how Playstation 2 is known as “two” and PS3 as “three” in Japan, it’s a pretty safe bet it’ll be pronounced “four” there aswell.
Flash
You, sir, are going to have a very expensive Wednesday.
Taylor Made
Lol I meant to say everyone who comments on this news bit will get the voucher
KeRaSh
I guess I’m commenting then, huh? ; )
Tuffcub
Me too. Free money!
djhsecondnature
I’ll take that bet.
Klart
I’m sure it will be named the Playstation 4, with 4 being pronounced “Four” and not the superstitious “Shi”. It’s only logical, as the PS2 was pronounced Playstation “Two” and PS3 “Three” instead of the Japanese numbers.
So Taylor Made, I’d get those psn vouchers ready!
Deathbrin
That is a LOT of vouchers.
Joshua Hood
Woohoo! Free PSN credit!
YOURMUMANDME
I’m not surprised at there being no console leak yet. If (like iOS devices) the PS4 were to be released a fortnight after the announcement, I would be surprised at there being no leak.
I they’re still looking at two concepts, tapping a biro off there lips, trying to decide which looks better!
gazo69
I hope there is no console leak either. Will be nice to watch the stream an react on seeing it 1st time.
HywelWJ
I’m assuming home won’t make the leap to ps4.
cc_star
Bigfest, whatever that is could replace it.
I just hope they change its name prior to launch.
Deathbrin
The only problem with Home was it didn’t have any trophies.
cam the man
I’m glad the actual console hasn’t been leaked so Sony can do the big reveal.
I know the Playstation Meeting is going to be streamed in the forums (and Home) but does anyone know if it’ll be live on the us.playstation.com/meeting2013/ web site?
Jakster123x
I hope Jack Tretton’s going to be at the meeting, i love that guy.
Temascos
The hype is giving me tingles, I do like hearing about new systems even if I’m not gonna get one for a long time. Here’s hoping plenty of titles are shown from the major developers, I don’t really want sequels though, they’re more of a down-the-line sort of thing, new IPs should be promoted. Having Media Molecule and Evolution working on stuff will be great to see, and wasn’t Gurrella confirmed to be planning a new IP a while back? Perfect time to show it.
Either case, gonna be watching that stream with some nice cider :)
Breezy
I had an idea looking at the controller at the mini jack headphone socket and the speaker. With some of these 3dtv’s you can play local 2 player multiplayer with 3d glasses without the other person seeing your screen. It’s something I have seen on this site before and definately on click at E3 or some other convention. The headphones would sort any issue with splitting the sound so all you hear is your gameplay. The speaker bit might actually be a microphone. Speakers and mics are the same way. Using the mic of each controller would eliminate having to take your headphones out to hear the person next to you.
In the same vein, each person would have there own mic for online play. 2 people sharing a screen and being able to chat independently to others online.
Well it was just a thought; I am probably getting totally carried away!
Kennykazey
Sounds good. I’d love it if Sony supported Simulview / DualPlay on all 3D TVs.
Paulo Vinicius Radtke
Actually, Simulview / Dual Play could be supported on any 3D TV. All you’d have to do was to take 2 glasses, put just the left eye lenses in one, and just the right eye lenses in the other one. Cheap for passive TVs, too expensive for active 3D TVs.
Deathbrin
Well, that sounds brilliant.
G_The_Enemy14
I’m excited for what the game cases look like. The ps3 one’s are great, but maybe they’ll make them thinner? Kinda like the new blu ray cases.
Jakster123x
Oh yeah, the game cases are gonna change. I totally forgot about that :)
I quite like the sort of stubby cases we have now with the PS3 logo at the top so it’ll be weird to see that change. Saying that, i also totally forgot that the PS3’s case design has already changed this generation.
Also, we’re hopefully gonna get ourselves a nice new orchestral boot up tune. :) Exciting times!
Speaking of that, I sort of miss that little 2 second tune that played just before loading up a disc.
YOURMUMANDME
That tune was way better than the xbox one, it sounds like an airy fart through a long cardboard tube….
Jakster123x
RIP tinkly tune.
TSBonyman
Can’t wait for 11pm wednesday. I kinda wish those devkits were the actual design though, refreshingly different to the black plastic we normally get.