Sony Game Change

A lot of hot air has been puffed out by people regarding the Playstation 4. Will do this, could do that, might do this. One thing that was touted before the “detailed” announcement last week was the cracking down on used games. In the press event, Sony flat out said this would not be done by them, but left the door open for developers. There was a similar rumour about the Microsoft Nextbox which hasn’t been commented on by the Microsuits yet. In related news, Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida told The Guardian that every single PlayStation 4 title will be available digitally. "PS4 will be similar to PS Vita in that every game will be available as a digital download, and some will also be available as a disc," he said in an interview last week.

Now I am totally not down with the banning of used games. Heck, I would hardly play any games at all. I buy new games maybe once or twice a year as there is such a dearth of instabuy games and with me being such a picky twat, it just doesn’t happen. The last few ‘new’ new games I bought were Batman Arkham City  and before that, Mass Effect 3. So I would probably skip any console which did allow for the banning of used games. HOWEVER: What if Sony was prepping a Netflix-style online rental streaming type of thing using their Gaikai cloud streaming servers? You pay a few quid a month, and you can play whole back catalogues of games back to the PS1 system. Triple A games wouldn’t be available initially, or you could buy separately, but after a period of time, would be available as part of the package.

This would literally be a game changer.

I wouldn’t care about the availability of used games or whether or not they would be playable on the system. I would have my Battle Arena Toshinden and be damn happy. My Metal Gear Solids. My Infamous. If Sony do something like this, then I would happily sign up. No wait, hang on. They already do. The PlayStation Plus network already gives you free games, full game trials, discounts etc. So if they had their Netflix style streaming it would just sit alongside with that. Microsoft Gold costs £40 a year (approximately) and gives you no games and the ability to use services that you have already paid for, and to play online. Sony’s offering could potentially murder the NextboxLive service if all things were equal.

We wait in hope. 

PS4 - First Look

Do you want a Playstation 4? What an absurd question. It’s like me asking, “do you want air?” of course you want it. The gun has been fired on the next generation console race (I’m discounting the WiiU – it’s a good system, but it is by no means next gen) and it is now a race between Sony and Microsoft to squirt their new systems down our throats via a fatline communication network.

So we now know what the PS4 will basically entail. Gone is the Cell processor, and instead we have basically all AMD silicon (8 Jaguar cores) powering the Japanese beast. It will incorporate a 720p 3D camera in an update to its Move/Eye technology, it will have a faster bluray player, more RAM, astonishingly it will cram in a Dualshock 4 touchy controller in a move that nobody saw coming. Split optical audio as well as HDMI. The PS4 is clearly trying to address the PS3 issues and to beef up the elements where it was weak and maintain the areas where it was traditionally strong.  The Kinect was seen as the better of the Wii style motion clones but the new camera on the PS4 will blow the Kinect away in terms of field of vision and depth perception. It will also work with a second screen app either tablet or phone for extra linked in goodies. Possibly the Vita will be able to be used like the PSP was with the PS3 but hopefully in a more integrated way. Fun fact: a PS3 can generate enough kinetic energy to send half a kilo of bacon to the Kuiper belt.

What about the games? Well, a number of the usual suspects have been lined up (some haven’t been confirmed but yeahhhhh they will)  like the next iteration in the Gran Turismo franchise, FFXIII, Uncharted, Killzone, Infamous, Motorstorm, Diablo etc. New game franchises such as Deep Down,  Bungies ‘Destiny’ and a particularly exciting game called ‘Watch Dogs’ which is new IP and it’s an open world action adventure game which comprises elements of stealth and parkour, computer and appliance hacking, as well as cover- based third person shooter.

There may also be backwards compatibility due to the recently acquired by Sony Gaikai technology which streams data and games back to the console thereby no requiring local software emulation of including a pricey Cell chip in the PS4 guts.

So it looks good. Wait, does it? One thing that Sony didn’t do, was actually to show the blimming thing off so we have no idea what it looks like which is a bit silly and fanbois always like to fetishise new tech. With this in mind and using my considerable gamer knowledge, I have included 3 CAD renditions of what the PS4 could look like. 

 The Potato Battery Style PS4

The PS4 in "Villa in the Dordogne" mode 

The PS4 "Concept of Paper" mode