The PlayStation 4 is official and it's coming this year. If you're reading this blog, you undoubtedly knew this already as Sony formally unveiled the console this week. Actually...they didn't unveil it all! Although we saw games, tech demos, and the controller, we never saw the console itself. Earlier in the week, I posted a few recommendations for Sony on how they could have the best showing possible. Let's see if they earned a passing grade.
1.) Save Something For E3
Pass.
Sony definitely kept a number of details under wraps. While we know the console is set to release "Holiday 2013," we don't have a firm date. The company made no mention of price, other than to say it would be "affordable." What company doesn't say this? Still, let's hope they learned from the PS3's launch and manage to release the console for $399 or less.
And of course, we're all itching to know what the system itself actually looks like. It's a little pointless if you think about it. The console's shell serves no other purpose than to house the internals (which are incredible by the way). Even so, there's just something about a nice, sleek design sitting next to your television. We're almost assured to see the system at this year's E3.
2.) Show The Console And Show The Controller
Fail/Pass.
As mentioned above, we didn't get to see the console. Sony President of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida told The Guardian, "Our focus here was to show some games and talk about the key principles - we wanted to save the unveiling of the actual console."
After the fact, I'm actually glad they didn't revel both. It definitely leaves us wanting more as we begin the wait for this summer's E3. After all, can we really complain considering they revealed a near-final version of...
...the dualshock 4! The leaks were mostly accurate; however, this version looks more polished overall. The new controller features a touchpad (similar to the Vita's backtouch), as well as new L1/L2/R1/R2 shoulder buttons, a share button, and semi-concave thumbsticks. The controller also appears more ergonomically pleasing than the dualshock 3. The company proved they care about fan response by making revisions to the thumbsticks and the triggers, two of the more popular criticisms regarding the dualshock 3.
3.) Show Real Gameplay
Pass!
I'm really happy about this one. We have to be at least nine months from release so I had reservations they'd actually show gameplay. We saw live demos of Killzone: Shadow Fall, a new title called Knack, and Watch_Dogs from Ubisoft. As expected, Killzone looks absolutely amazing and Watch_Dogs continues to impress.
4.) So Why Do I Need A New Console?
Incomplete.
I say incomplete not because Sony did a poor job of illustrating the need for a new console, but because the presentation was mostly packed with goals, ideas, and lofty expectations. We've yet to see if they'll actually deliver on cloud gaming for every generation through Gaikai (one of my previous predictions), remote play with the Vita on every PS4 game, how the new social features will work, and more.
Overall Grade? Pass
For this type of event so far in advance, Sony really hit it out of the park. We saw gameplay. We saw the new controller. We saw innovative ideas. We saw concepts. We even got a few surprises with Bungie showing Destiny and Blizzard announcing Diablo III for both PS3 and PS4.
I look forward to the news that will no doubt trickle out over the coming months leading up to E3. I'm also curious to see how Microsoft responds. Sony fired the first shot of the new console war and they definitely made it count.
2 comments:
I think this is a big step in the right direction for Sony. They did a terrible job advertising for the Vita, and turning on the hype machine this early for the PS4 gives me hope they are learning from their mistakes.
I agree Ricky. Definitely gets me excited for the future. I was going into this generation with an open mind about which console I would choose. So far, Microsoft has a lot of ground to make up.
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