This brings me to the PS4 announcement gala extraordinaire that took place yesterday. This press event made most Apple events seems quick and enthralling in comparison. After numerous hardware and software leaks over the past year the entire video game community was treated to these juicy tidbits:
- Dual Shock 4 (leaked all over the net last week, still looks kind of silly with the touch panel)
- Move compatible (nobody cares) and new controller works in a similar fashion as a Move
- New PS4 Eye sensor
- Considerably reduced load times (praise the Lord), always on standby
- Potential availability of entire PlayStation back catalog via streaming technology
- Remote Play has expanded to include PS4 titles (take that, WiiU)
- Share button on DS4 SHOULD allow for instant live streaming of your l33t skillz
- Obligatory tech specs that are predictably powerful for a new console, but not in the least impressive to high-end PC gamers
- A few new exclusive IPs such as Knack, a whimsical action game involving a Pixar reject, Driveclub, and updates to existing exclusive IPs in Killzone: Shadow Fall and Infamous: Second Son
- Expected support from all of the big boy developers such as EA, Capcom, Square Enix, etc.
- iOS and Android apps to further enhance the "always connected" experience Sony's marketing department is completely in love with
- Diablo 3. Seriously.
Take a look at that list for a second. Let that all sink in. Be honest, is there anything that really floats your boat or gets those gamer glands salivating?
Better yet, how many of those newfangled features do you see working right out of the box flawlessly? WiiU recently had major critical backlash when many of their interactive TV features did not work at launch. If I were a betting man, AND I AM, I would place a wager that the Share streaming functionality will not be present at launch. We can facilitate this through PayPal if anyone wants to bet.
Speaking of not learning from the competition, Sony announced that all current PSN purchases will not transfer to PS4. REALLY? SONY, DID YOU NOT SEE HOW PISSED PEOPLE WERE WHEN SWITCHING FROM ANY NINTENDO CONSOLE TO ANY OTHER NINTENDO CONSOLE?!? I do not care how technically difficult this process could be, you make it happen or lose a lot of potential early adopter sales from your most loving of fanboys/girls. To me, this is just as crazy of a flaw than if Apple released the iPhone 5S this fall and all of the content purchased via iTunes and the App Store was incompatible. The streets would flood with the tears of iSheep everywhere.
Even with none of the big exclusive franchises being announced yesterday such as God of War, Gran Turismo, Uncharted, Little Big Planet, Ratchet and Clank, I am still excited at how the extra horsepower in the system RAM, processor, and graphics hardware will allow for incredible lighting and physics. Knack seemingly was created expressly as a tech demo for the physics and particle capabilities of the PS4 and in that respect they have succeeded. Seeing Knack transform and revert back to his small form is impressive and bodes well for the power of the console. For years now I have been blabbing to all of my friends that the major aspects of graphics that will continue to grow exponentially with new tech would be photo-realistic lighting and even more accurate physics models. This may be the first generation of hardware that will allow for 55,000 unique fans being present in a stadium during a game of MLB: The Show or Madden. No more cardboard cutouts that stare blankly at your moderate achievement of pounding a 9 year old 56-0 using RGIII on every play.
Ok, we are entering TL:DR territory so I will stop now. I will be back later, going to go preorder a PS4.
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