The day has finally arrived; the release date for the PS4 along with its main features we’ve all been waiting to gaze at with bated breath have made their way out of Sony’s stable. Set to usher in a new era in gaming this holiday season, the system has all its core specifications listed, but intriguingly, the actual final console hasn’t been revealed as yet. However, the various new features that will be on offer to buyers have been disclosed, along with the DualShock 4 controller, the PlayStation Eye accessory and most importantly, new games.
Introduction
Throughout yesterday’s PS4 unveiling event, the system was repeatedly referred to as something having been built with game developers as the primary focus. Its system architecture is highlighted by a powerful custom chip which comes equipped with eight x86-64 cores and an AMD next-generation Radeon-based 1.84 TFLOPS GPU. Moreover, 8 GB of unified system memory also makes its way into it.
DualShock 4 and PlayStation Eye
Firstly, the new controller lets go of the Start and Select face buttons, while replacing them with new Share and Options keys. Unlike what was being speculated, the light bar on the DualShock 4 isn’t the PS Move in any way. It is actually an informative tool for players, capable of providing them with gameplay details like health or damage. Apart from the familiar elements, a built-in speaker and a stereo headset jack are also present on it
The new Eye camera kicks in two high-sensitive shooters with wide-angle lenses meant for recognizing depth of space precisely. Four microphones have been integrated into it. Logins with face detection will be made available by the camera, along with support for identifying entire body movements of users. The accessory can even sense the color of the DualShock 4’s light bar to know the positions of multiple players.
Sharing features
The much hyped Share button on the new controller is aimed the console’s dedicated ‘always on’ video compression and decompression system that allows seamless uploading of gameplay. By using this function, players can easily scan through the last few minutes of their gameplay, tag it and return to the game while the video is being uploaded. Social spectating will also be made possible, as players will be allowed to broadcast their gameplay in real-time to friends via services like Ustream. Advanced social integration should form part of this attribute as well.
Second Screens
The PS Vita, along with smartphones and tablets, will provide gamers with Wii U-like second screens. A new application called PlayStation App is set to be doled out for the iPhone, iPad and various Android-based devices, for granting them the console’s second screen experiences. Gamers will even be able to purchase and download titles on their systems while on the go, and watch others play.
Tremendously low boot-up times
Another important aspect Sony has talked about is the reduced lag time which will be dished out by the machine. A suspend mode on it will keep the system in a low power state, and preserve the ongoing game session. This means gamers will be able to easily resume their progress from where they left off within seconds of hitting the power button again. Besides, other applications will be bootable without getting out of games, gamers players will even be allowed to start playing a part of a game while it is being downloaded.
PlayStation Cloud
Gaikai’s technology has been turned into PlayStation Cloud by Sony, and it has been integrated with the PS Store in a unique way. New possibilities for this feature are currently being explored by the company, but the most prominent among them is the ability for players to indulge in PS3, PS2 and PS one games over the cloud without the need to download them.
Other important points
The new PS4 won’t block used games, so the ball’s now in Microsoft’s court, as the Xbox 720 is being suspected to grab this trait. A lot of games have been announced for it by big developers, and we’ll be putting up a post detailing all of them very soon (Update: Here it is). It will be hitting markets this holiday season, while its price is yet to the disclosed. Although the controller has been unveiled, the actual console still remains unseen.
Here’s a look at its core specifications
Main Processor
Single-chip custom processor
CPU : x86-64 AMD ‘Jaguar,’ 8 cores
GPU : AMD next-generation Radeon-based 1.84 TFLOPS
Memory
8GB GDDR5
Optical Drive
(read only)
BD 6xCAV
DVD 8xCAV
I/O
Super-Speed USB (USB 3.0) AUX
Communication
Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T)
IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1 (EDR)
AV output
HDMI
Analog-AV out
Digital Output (optical)