After weeks of speculation, Sony officially announced its next console from a live event
in New York today.
And while no physical system was shown to the public, the specs, demos, and gameplay
footage may in fact blow your mind.
Sony's Andrew House said the new console will create "experiences that surpass gamers' wildest
expectations."
Lead system architect on the PlayStation 4, Mark Cerny, said "the development of a next-gen
platform started about five years ago" and that it's goal is "freeing developers from
technological barriers."
Cerny said the platform is "by game creators for game creators" and that its architecture
is "like a PC, but supercharged."
PS4 uses the X86 CPU and has 8GB of memory and a local hard drive.
It uses APU technology and GDDR5 memory, which is typically reserved for "top of the line,
high end graphics cards."
The system also features a new controller, the Dual Shock 4, implementing touch controls
similar to the rear of the PS Vita.
The pillars of PS4 are Simple, Immediate, Social, Integrated and Personalized.
PlayStation 4 supports suspending and reloading play sessions instantly.
Also the console has a secondary chip for uploading and downloading in the background.
Games can then be played as they are being downloaded.
PlayStation 4 even offers personalization and will "get to know you", allowing games
to be downloaded and instantly available before you buy them, based on what the PS4 has learned
from you and will think you'll want to purchase.
The system supports seamless uploads of gameplay, spectating friends' gameplay sessions in real
time as well as integrated chat.
Players will have profile pages like Facebook integrated to the "full PlayStation ecosystem."
The PS4 is coming, this holiday season, 2013.
While no specific release date or price have been set, it is definitely looking like we
are in for one wild ride with Sony's revolutionary console.
For all your PlayStation 4 news, you're already in the right place, IGN.