Sony seems to have thrown a gauntlet at Microsoft with the launch of the much-awaited PlayStation 4 (PS4) at the E3. The company has revealed that the PS4 will offer upgradable HDD, won't be region locked and will not require online checks like the Xbox One.
Sony has had a busy time at the E3 and the Japanese company has revealed a lot of information on the upcoming PS4. Shuhei Yoshida, President of Worldwide Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment, also tweeted that the next-generation gaming console's hard disk can be swapped and upgraded by owners, just like it was on PlayStation 3 (PS3). The tweet reads "And yes, PS4's HDD is upgradable like PS3."
The option will be handy to those PS4 owners who feel restricted with the regular 500GB hard disk.
Yoshida also confirmed on Twitter that the PS4 won't be region locked like its predecessor, the PS3. Microsoft has confirmed that its next-generation gaming console will be region locked. A Microsoft representative told Digital Trends "Similar to the movie and music industry, games must meet country-specific regulatory guidelines before they are cleared for sale. We will continue to work with our partners to follow these guidelines with Xbox One."
Microsoft revealed at the Xbox One launch that the gaming console should be online at least once in 24 hours, which means that offline gaming will be difficult. Microsoft says "While a persistent connection is not required, Xbox One is designed to verify if system, application or game updates are needed and to see if you have acquired new games, or resold, traded in, or given your game to a friend."
However, Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, said "If you enjoy playing single-player games offline, PS4 won't require to you check in online period and it won't stop working if you haven't authenticated in 24 hours."
Sony has already announced that the next-generation PS4 will sell for $399, which is $100 less than the expected price tag of the upcoming Xbox One.
The competition in the gaming space will steam up with the launch of the Xbox One and PS4. However, we will have to wait and see which console is able to attract more gamers.
