playstation-2013
Latest
What we learned at the PlayStation 4 event
Sony didn't disappoint with its super-secret conference today, unveiling the PlayStation 4 and a heap of games to go with it. While some of our predictions went unfulfilled – we didn't really expect to hear anything about The Last Guardian anyway – Sony made up for it with a few surprises, such as Diablo 3 coming to PS4 and PS3.Here's a quick roundup of the major announcements from Sony's two-hour-long conference: The PlayStation 4 is a thing, and it's coming holiday 2013. The PS4 has 8GB of memory, a local hard drive and x86 CPU, alongside a secondary custom chip that allows users to play games while they download (and will eventually read our minds). The DualShock 4 controller features a touch pad front-and-center, alongside a headphone jack and share button that broadcasts games to other players in real-time. An additional "light bar" helps identify individual players and turns the gamepad into a Move controller, though the Move still works with PS4. The share button uses tech from Gaikai. The PlayStation Cloud streams PS1, PS2 and PS3 games, since it appears the PS4 won't be able to play legacy discs. The Vita will be able to play PS4 games remotely. And then there are the PS4 games: Knack from Mark Cerny, Killzone: Shadow Fall from Guerilla Games, Driveclub from Evolution Studios, Infamous: Second Son from Sucker Punch, The Witness from Jonathan Blow, Watch Dogs from Ubisoft, Diablo 3 from Blizzard, and Destiny gets Sony-exclusive content from Bungie. Quantic Dream and Capcom showed off some pretty tech demos, including one for Capcom's new original IP, codenamed Deep Down.
PlayStation 2013 event: What we didn't see; what we wanted to see
Sony's PlayStation 2013 event just concluded in New York City and while many developers and business types talked about the future of PlayStation 4 and what's possible, many concrete details were missing, like a price tag.Perhaps the biggest omission was the PlayStation 4 hardware itself. Sony gave us a glimpse at the new DualShock controller – which features a new rounded design and built-in touch pad – but we didn't get to see the console. What does the PS4 look like? What will PlayStation Plus entail on PS4? Will it even exist on PS4?Another letdown was the lack of first-party games. Sure, Sucker Punch unveiled a new Infamous game, Guerilla Games gave us a taste of Killzone: Shadow Fall and we caught a glimpse of a new IP in Knack, but where was The Last Guardian? We couldn't get a new Uncharted? What new games we did see, aside from those mentioned, were pretty tech demos for games a long way off or pre-rendered stuff. Like Square Enix's presentation and Capcom's Deep Down.Where was the PS Vita love? All PlayStation 4 games allow for remote play on PS Vita, so why not mention a price drop? Japan is dropping the price of the PS Vita later this month and tonight would've been a great place to announce a price drop for North America.In the end, at least we got to see the successor to Ravi drums, Media Molecule's PS Move tech demo. That's something.
PlayStation 4 announced, coming 'Holiday 2013'
The PlayStation 4 has been officially revealed during this evening's Sony's PlayStation Event, held at The Hammerstein in New York City. The new console is scheduled to launch Holiday 2013.The announcement marks what feels like one of the longest console generations to date, arriving six years, four months, nine days and 18 hours after the North American launch of the PlayStation 3. In fact, the time between the PlayStation 2 and 3's launch was six years, eight months and seven days.In contrast, the time between the original Xbox and Xbox 360 was a mere four years and one day. If the next Xbox launches later this year, it will have been nearly eight years since the Xbox 360's launch in November of 2005.
PlayStation 2013 Event liveblog on Joystiq
Update: We're in our seats at The Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Commence the commentary!Original:We're carving out this spot on the internet for Joystiq's impending liveblog of Sony's PlayStation 2013 Event, which we are attending as live human beings. It starts at 6PM EST (3PM PST, 11PM GMT), so please take your seat and activate your second-screen experience before then.Once we're ready, we'll document the event as best we can, complete with keen observations on the ambiance, humidity, odor, vegetation, precipitation and prestidigitation surrounding the Playstation powers that be. Stay tuned to this post!
Bungie's 'Destiny' coming to the PlayStation 4 alongside PS3 version
Activision Publishing's Eric Hirshberg took the stage during today's PlayStation 2013 event to announce that the Bungie-developed Destiny will make its way to the PlayStation 4.Bungie president Harold Ryan said that Destiny "is being developed for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, with both versions available at Destiny's launch." Ryan also added that PlayStation gamers will enjoy exclusive content; however, he did not specify if the bonus included both current- and next-gen consoles.An early version of Activision and Bungie's contract detailed an intricate release plan, which noted Microsoft platforms would see Destiny release as a timed-exclusive.
Watch Dogs focuses in on PS4 [Update: Video with, without commentary]
Watch Dogs is coming to the PlayStation 4, Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot said at Sony's conference today. Ubisoft showed off a new, live demo for Watch Dogs that intended to make viewers feel like protagonist Aiden Pierce and "invade everyone's privacy," the game's creative director Jonathan Morin said. Watch that demo above.Watch Dogs looked like a next-gen game even way back, during its E3 2012 announcement.Update: Check out the Watch Dogs demo with commentary from Morin below.%Gallery-179444%
Square Enix developing new Final Fantasy for PS4, first taste at E3
During today's Sony PlayStation event in NYC, Square Enix's Shinji Hashimoto revealed that Square Enix is currently developing a new Final Fantasy game for PS4. We'll get our first look at E3 this year.
Capcom reveals next-gen 'Panta Rhei' engine, teases new IP
Taking the stage during the PlayStation 4 reveal event, the energetic Capcom producer Yoshinori Ono revealed a new engine meant to power the publisher's slew of next-generation of console titles.Code named 'Panta Rhei,' Ono says that the technology is "the next evolutionary step of our MT Framework," which powers many of Capcom's current-generation software.Capcom revealed the power of its new engine in a video that teased one of the new intellectual properties it plans to bring to the next generation; a game featuring plenty of dragons and fire. The game, which has the working title of Deep Down, is a medieval fantasy RPG.
Quantic Dream's new PS4 engine debuted
During Sony's PlayStation 2013 event, Quantic Dream head David Cage showed off a tech demo of the developer's newest engine for the PlayStation 4. The demonstration showed an old man with wispy hair and impressive facial expressions. Cage praised the abilities of the PlayStation 4, saying, "We are now limited only by our imagination." As our own Ludwig Kietzmann notes, we'll probably hear that line again whenever the PlayStation 5 is announced.The video hearkens back to Quantic Dream's emotionally charged "Kara" demo, which was showcased during GDC last year. At the time, when asked if games using the engine would look as good as the Kara demo, Cage responded that they would "look much better," and that Kara was running on the first version of the studio's latest tech. Presumably, today's demonstration is indicative of Quantic Dream's most recent progress. Even so, as impressive as today's demonstration was, we're not out of the uncanny valley just yet.
PS4 will have support from 'every' major third party
That's the claim from the PlayStation event, anyway. And to prove it, here are rather a lot of logos. Everything from the big (2K, Activision, Square Enix, EA, Namco Bandai) to the tiny (Nippon Ichi, Dimps, Peakvox, Gust). Click to enlarge the image.
PlayStation Move compatible with PS4, Media Molecule shows
During today's PlayStation Event in NYC, Media Molecule's Alex Evans revealed the studio has married the PlayStation Move controller with the PS Move, Sony's motion peripheral originally designed for the PS3. The Move was demonstrated as a sculpting tool with the PS4, among other things.Really, the entire demo was an artistic suite, showing the Move being used as a paint brush and to control two dancing avatars. The sequence eventually culminated in a full rock show where players used Move to control individual instruments. While not Media Molecule's next game, per se, the demo was designed to showcase the creative power of the PS4.
Jonathan Blow reveals 'The Witness' coming to PS4
At the PlayStation 4 reveal event, Braid creator Jonathan Blow has announced that his upcoming puzzle title, The Witness, is coming to Sony's new platform.Blow revealed that only Sony's new hardware will house the console version of The Witness during the game's "release window."The developer described his new first-person puzzle title as "a game about epiphany, that instantaneous transition of the mind that takes you from confusion to understanding."The Witness, said Blow, will have 25 hours of unique puzzles to play through, and the game's exclusivity will include the new console's "release window," so presumably the title's availability is open after that. Blow then showed off a quick video of the game, which looked about like what we've seen before, though perhaps with a few more bits of graphical flair thanks to the PS4's shiny new hardware.[Ed. Note: We have edited this post for accuracy.]
Watch the Killzone: Shadow Fall announcement demo right here
If you missed the part of today's PlayStation 2013 presentation in which Killzone: Shadow Fall was announced, Guerilla Games uploaded the video from the demo using the PS4's instant video sharing capabilities to the game's official Facebook page. We've embedded the video above.%Gallery-179475%
Driveclub coming to PS4 from Evolution Studios
Evolution Studios is developing Driveclub for the PS4, a first-person game about driving cool cars in awesome locations, Evolution announced during Sony's conference today. Driveclub will allow players to compete in clubs, asynchronously and in real-time, and it looks like clubs will be accessible via mobile devices and tablets."It's all about team-based racing," Evolution said. Evolution is the studio behind the MotorStorm series.
Killzone: Shadow Fall announced for PlayStation 4 [Update]
Killzone: Shadow Fall is the latest entry in Sony's flagship shooter series. Guerilla Games' Herman Holtz likened the game's setting to Cold Wa-era Berlin "The helghast have evolved and claimed genetic superiority. The conflict draws parallels with cold war Berlin."Update: You can check out the video for the game's announcement demo over here.
PS4 features PS Vita remote play powered by Gaikai
The PlayStation 4 will allow games to be played via remote play on PlayStation Vita. The news was announced at the PlayStation 2013 event by industry veteran and Gaikai CEO David Perry. Using Gaikai technology, PS4 remote play on the Vita promises "reduced transmission times so the gameplay is snappy and immediate," said Perry. Mark Cerny's Knack, announced earlier during Sony's event, was shown running on a PS Vita. The "goal," said Perry, is for all PlayStation 4 games to support remote play.
PlayStation 4 will stream PS1, PS2, PS3 games
The PlayStation 4 will use the "PlayStation Cloud" service to stream PS1, PS2, and PS3 games, solving the backward compatibility problem with technology developed by Gaikai. This functionality was first reported last week by the Wall Street Journal, and confirmed today during the PlayStation unveiling event.In the presentation, Gaikai founder David Perry expressed PlayStation's desire to use this service to stream "everything ever," but no specific games were revealed. On one hand, that suggests the PS4 isn't natively able to play legacy discs; on the other hand, there's tech built in to play those games on the system via streaming.This is part of "PlayStation Cloud," the services of which will be rolled out gradually.
PlayStation 4 will continue to bring streaming media to homes
Despite inviting a host of new video game experiences, the PlayStation 4 will retain the ability to bring other forms of media into a gamer's home.During the PlayStation 4 reveal event, Gaikai boss Dave Perry confirmed that the PS4 will feature streaming content from Hulu Plus, Crunchyroll, Crackle, Netflix, Vudu, Epix, Facebook, Music Unlimited, Video Unlimited, and Amazon Instant.We will update the post with other providers as that information is made available.Sony's PlayStation event in New York City kicked off at 6PM EST (3PM PST, 11PM GMT) today. Sony kept a tight lid on any specific game or console announcements prior to the show, though popular speculation suggested it would reveal the next PlayStation home console.
PlayStation 4's dedicated video hardware will allow seamless video uploading, streaming, sharing
Lead system designer Mark Cerny took the stage at today's PlayStation 4 announcement event, and he's just revealed some very interesting features of Sony's newest console. Cerny said that the PS4 is equipped with always-on, always available hardware for both video compression and decompression, which means that playing and recording video won't take up the CPU during your gameplay. This makes for a lot of interesting features, like seamless uploading and downloading of video -- you'll be able to just hit the "share" button on the new Dualshock 4 controller, browse through "the last few minutes of gameplay," find what you want to send, and then upload it while you continue on through your game.Cerny also said that having this much video running around will allow players to share and view video at will: You'll be able to browse through videos of potential opponents before you play against them in a game, or view streaming videos on a PS Vita or "companion apps" on tablet hardware. Players will also be able to interact while watching each other play, or even "take over the controller" remotely via video streaming. The hardware sounds very impressive indeed. Stay tuned to the Joystiq liveblog and to the site all day today for more info on the PlayStation 4 and how it all works.
Try Anything and Instant Broadcast announced for PlayStation 4
Dave Perry, co-founder and CEO of Gaikai took the stage during today's PlayStation 2013 event in New York City to announce the integration of Gaikai's tech into Sony's future PSN architecture. Part of the new feature set introduced will include the ability to find anything in the PlayStation Store, press the X button on the controller, and the game demo or media will immediately start playing. "Try it for free, share it if you like it, and pay only for the games which you fall in love with," Perry said.The "instant broadcast" side of that equation allows players to broadcast and share gameplay videos using existing, connected social networks, such as Ustream and Facebook. Friends are able to post comments to your screen, which Perry described as "peering over your shoulder."Gaikai technology will also power PS Vita remote play and the ability to stream past console games to the PS4 hardware.
