Heads up, gamers – the PlayStation 4 is coming soon!
Announced through a live broadcast on Ustream last week, Sony shared what it has next up in store. Eight million viewers tuned in for the big announcement. The PS4 will feature new social aspects, such as cloud services that bring “everything everywhere.” There will also be Remote Play and the ability for friends to take over for you during the game if you get stuck.
Players can share individual screenshots, video clips or broadcast live video to an audience. The ability to stream games will come from technology that Sony has acquired when it bought Gaikai. Players can trim and preview videos before sharing them.
A big difference between the PS4 and its previous consoles are the DualShock 4 controller and the new PlayStation Eye. The DualShock 4 controller is more rounded than past controllers. It has a slightly rubberized grip with enhanced rumble capabilities. It also has a touchpad, a headphone jack, a share button, a light bar that will be used to identify characters, and a stereo camera to track the position of the PlayStation Move controller.
Sony is taking a page from the Xbox Kinect with the Eye. This second generation of thedevice features two 1280 x 800 cameras, four microphones and can see a field view of 85 degrees. Sony promises facial recognition, player positioning and depth sensing. It is designed to work with the DualShock 4, recognizing players by the colour of the light bar on the controller. The Eye will allow face login on the PS4 and the microphones may allow voice control too.
Through screenshots released by Sony, we can see new social apps for the PS4 on tablet and mobile devices and new player profiles. We also get a first glance into what livestreaming will look like, complete with comments that friends can leave as they watch you play.
The PlayStation 4 is planned to hit stores later this year! Will you be picking it up? Let us know in the comments!