Sony hasn't officially announced what it's going to pitch at its Feb. 20 PlayStation event in New York, but the consensus is nearly universal: The PlayStation 4 will be the star of the show.
The presentation is only a few days away now, and it seems like PS4 reports are leaking in increasing numbers every day the event draws closer. Here's what we (think we) know about the new console so far.
First, let's hit the latest news. According to the Wall Street Journal, the PlayStation 4 will stream video games via a Cloud-based service on the Internet. The titles available through the service won't be brand new PS4 games, since they will likely be too high-powered to stream effectively, but Sony will try to make up for that deficiency by offering something similarly important to customers: PS3 games.
Previous reports indicated that the PS4 won't be backwards compatible due to the fact that its architecture is moving away from the Cell-based processor developed by NVIDIA and towards hardware more in line with high-end PCs. If that's the case, then streaming old PS3 titles to users could be an acceptable work-around for many. It's unclear if players would have to re-purchase the digital version of games they already own, but hopefully PSN games previously downloaded through Sony's digital network will be available for free.
PlayStation 4 games are expected to still retail in physical form on optical Blue-ray discs with either a 50GB or 100GB capacity.
The Controller
As you may have read earlier this week, leaked photos of the PS4 controller (prototype?) made their way online, and much of the imagery lined up with what rumors pointed towards. The device looks very similar to a traditional DualShock, except that the middle of the pad has been replaced with a touch pad. There's been some dispute as to whether this is a screen or a simple multi-touch-detecting pad, so we may have to wait until Wednesday to find out for sure. A built-in speaker appears right below the touch pad, and a headphone jack can be seen on the underside of the pad.
Additionally, there's a mysterious blue light emanating from the top of the controller, between the L and R shoulder buttons. Numerous reports are now suggesting that Sony is integrating its standalone motion-based Move controller directly into the new PS4 pad. Since it'll feature buttons, motion control, and touch-based abilities, the controller morphs into an all-inclusive device offering multiple interfaces. Needless to say, all these features open up a lot of possibilities for developers to toy around with.
Missing from the picture, however, is a "Share" button. The PS4 will supposedly record the last 15 minutes of gameplay, enabling users to press the Share button, edit the gameplay video, and upload it to the Internet for friends to view.
The Specs
When it comes to the system's guts, here is what developers are working with according to a recent update from Kotaku (note the system memory is low because it's not what the retail console will ship with).
- System Memory: 8GB
- Video Memory: 2.2 GB
- CPU: 4x Dual-Core AMD64 "Bulldozer" (so, 8x cores)
- GPU: AMD R10xx
- Ports: 4x USB 3.0, 2x Ethernet
- Drive: Blu-Ray
- HDD: 160GB
- Audio Output: HDMI & Optical, 2.0, 5.1 & 7.1 channels
The PS4 will reportedly be 50 percent more powerful than the Xbox 720, and will ship with 4GB of RAM compared to the Xbox 720's 8GB. Some have claimed that Sony is trying to match Microsoft's RAM capacity in the lead-up to launch.
Used Games, Price, and Release Date
There has been a lot of talk about Sony and Microsoft blocking the ability to play used games on their new consoles. Sony has actually filed a patent for the technology (though it hasn't indicated it'll use it), while others have claimed that the new Xbox will, in fact, not play second-hand titles. The fact is that we simply don't know yet; hopefully Feb. 20 will shed some news on that front.
Finally, all signs point to Sony learning from the mistake it made with the PS3. When that system shipped, a prohibitively high price point (up to $600!) kept the system from garnering momentum for a while. No one knows for sure what the PS4 will cost, but many analysts are banking on a $400 price point and an October launch later this year.
As usual, Sony has officially confirmed a mind-boggling zero percent of this information. Tune in Feb. 20 to get all the facts.
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