Video Demonstrates PlayStation 4 Interface

We’ve all seen the PlayStation 4’s hardware by now, but even with the few glimpses we’ve had, the software is still somewhat shrouded in mystery… until now.

The above video shows off a lot of the core features of the OS and wider connected gaming, which Sony has envisioned for the next generation. As the chap, Will, picks up the controller and goes online, he spots that his friend, Sarah, has the platinum for Knack. So he hops into the game, but soon gets stuck at a boss battle.

Luckily for him, he can quickly hop over to Sarah’s user profile and can view a quick video to see how she tackled this boss. Turns out he needed to do a particular special move, and he can hop straight back into the game and do this for himself.

As he keeps playing his buddy Brian gives him a call with the bundled mono headsets, with cries for support in Killzone: Shadow Fall. Whilst I want Brian to win, I lose all faith in Will’s competence as he utters “Dude! I don’t got that, man. I gotta go get it!” in a sparkling shower of poor language skills. Not to mention how long he takes to actually do go get that game.

Here, they show off the rather natty PSN store system, letting him buy the game and chose whether or not he wants to grab multi-player or single-player mode first. He picks multi-player, and with a double tap of the PS button on his controller hops right back into Knack to carry on smashing things. The theory holds that at this point he would be able to play the single-player as it’s downloading, but logically I’d assume that multi-player is off the table, to avoid horrendous lag when online.

Sarah spots he’s on Knack, and a little impromptu chat, replete with awkward looking motion controller based text input, starts up. Luckily for Brian, this coincides exactly with not just his repeated plea for help, but also KZ:SF successfully installing, and letting Will jump right into the same game as he is in.

Did I say “luckily”? Because it turns out that Will is just as hopeless at Killzone as he is at Knack, and Brian has to show him how to shoot his gun with a quick share button press. I fear that Will was not the person to call in his moment of need.

This is all rounded off by Sarah who continues to chat with Will and Brian, as she spots this uploaded video… Except that she’s doing this from her phone, and she’s sat in a diner somewhere. Eager to join the action, and help Brian shepherd Will around the battlefield, she actually buys and initiates a remote download of the game from right there on her phone. She’s even able to set up a KZ:SF clan!

It’s quite a neat and snappy little video, which shows off quite a lot of what the PS4 is going to bring over what the PS3’s XMB can do. Instantly hopping from one thing to another, sharing and viewing videos on the fly, chatting with friends who are on their phones, and remotely purchasing, downloading and interacting with games whilst out and about.

If you want to be, you can be always connected.