PS4
The Sony conference last night started a little slow. It was reassuring to hear that support for the PS3 and PS Vita were still be very much a part of Sony’s future plans. Many new AAA titles are still appearing and going to appear on the PS3 for at least the foreseen future and not only are a lot of cool new titles are being developed for the Vita such as Batman Arkham Origins and Killzone Mercenary. A new Walking Dead PS Vita bundle will also be coming out soon, with the entire first season of Tell Tale’s Walking Dead video game series available on Vita, along with the second season just announced Walking Dead: 400 Days. Speculation is that with 5 playable characters you might spend 80 days apiece intertwining each characters individual story into one single larger story. Sony has pledged its commitment that we will see full integration between the Vita and PS4 this next generation of console gaming. We will have to wait and see exactly what that means but it does sound promising.
Next we were shown the actual PS4. Admittedly at first glance I thought it was similar to the XBOX One design and it does bare some resemblance. The PS4 is smaller than the XBOX One, and can lie flat or be stood up like a tower and the PS4 is also angled in the front, I assume to make it go faster. The overall finish is somewhat similar to the XBOX One only the PS4 doesn’t seem to have as many vents as the XBOX One.
The beginning of the press conference covered a lot of familiar games that were shown at the PS4 announcement conference back in February. We saw new parts of Killzone Shadowfall which I think is definitely shaping up to be an interesting departure from the original series. We also got to see more of Infamous Second Son, a game that I wasn’t that excited about upon its announcement but this second trailer seemed much more promising delving a bit more into the characters and the direction of the new iteration of the series. Second Son looks great with new graphics and honestly I never really got into the Infamous series but the new characters and the style of the gameplay shown really makes me want to give it a try.
Sony’s conference really picked up though when they talked about their commitment to the independent developers showcasing a lot of independent games and there creators. The bullet point on this announcement was the fact that independent developers will be allowed to self publish for the PS4. This is of note because Microsoft has made it clear that self publishing will not be allowed for the XBOX One.
Announcements were made for Kingdom Hearts 3 which sounds great and definitely is exciting new in the gaming community all we really saw was a trailer divulging very little about the actual game and what it might entail as far as story of if there even is one yet. Also a bit troubling was at the end of the Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer all was said is that the game is in development. Well the Last Guardian has been “in development” since 2009 and is now in hiatus so that announcement doesn’t sit so well with me now in retrospect. Also announced was that Final Fantasy XIV would be coming to PS4 along with the believed dead game Final Fantasy Vs which is now being re-branded as Final Fantasy XV which again is kind of exciting. Will we ever see it?
Sony’s announcement to pair with Gaikai is promising, more promising than the announcement of Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy because those are in the end just software. Two franchises that are equally beloved but without which I think that the PS4 would be able to survive just fine. Gaikai however will be integral to the infrastructure of the Playstation Network allowing for high speed streaming for the entire Sony ecosystem PS3, PS4, and Vita. Gaikai will allow for users to play games while they are downloading, high speed connections for online multi-player games. Gaikai will allow PS4 players to stream a large library of PS3 classics at ease. A promise I think Sony will make good on. Gaikai is not supposed to launch for Sony until 2014 but I think with the potential cloud gaming has to offer gamers, it will be well worth the wait. Playstation Plus will carry over to PS4 with an instant online game collection available to users on the PS4 and the Playstation Network will be full of bonuses as well but multiplayer online will now only be available to Plus users which will cost $5 a month. Drive Club a very impressive looking new car game emphasizing team building will be immediately available to PS Plus users upon purchase of the PS4.
The explosions started to happen after that with Sony’s Jack Tretton coming on stage to address the audience about used games. To summarize…”Ahem…You buy the game….YOU OWN THE GAME!!” Sony will not enforce any new policies on the treatment of used games. Once you buy a PS4 game it is YOUR GAME and you do not have to verify ownership online…..EVER!! The crowd, twitter everyone watching went nuts. By the end of this note in the conference you could hear people in the audience cheering PS4! PS4!
Then after Sony virtually curb-stomped Microsoft in front of the whole world, they went on to show a demo for Destiny an impressive looking FPS (First Person Shooter for the uninitiated) MMO(Massive Multiplayer Online) game developed by Microsoft’s golden goose Bungie, the creators of HALO. Not only does Sony publicly lay down the gauntlet against Microsoft they finish off their conference showing off a game made by Bungie looking drop dead gorgeous on the new hardware.
Just when you think Sony has finished pummeling Microsoft’s lifeless body up and down the conference hall, they come out “oh yeah, by the way PS4….$399 this holiday season.” BOOM!!! after everything that Sony already did, they are also selling the PS4 a full hundred dollars cheaper than the XBOX One. MIC DROP! Sony just made a statement and that statement as of right now, the Playstation name was built by gamers and we built the Playstation 4, for gamers. The PS4 is the place to be for next generation GAMING.
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