The presentation began in the usual way, with flashing lights and a slick marketing video declaring that “PlayStation wants to win” the war, using imagination as a weapon. A montage of curent and past PlayStation titles like Gran Turismo, God of War and LittleBigPlanet heralded Sony’s declaration that it grew up “different” and a “renegade”

Sony boss Andrew House then took the stage. “The stakes are high for what we’re going to show you,” he said, saying Sony’s making a “bold leap” by strengthening the PlayStation ecosystem with hardware, software and network interfacing.

The living room is no longer the centre of entertainment, House said – the gamer is. He talked up connectivity between devices and social aspects, and promised Sony will continue to unlock the Vita’s potential, as well as expand to smartphones and other mobile devices – with details to come later this year.

PS4 hardware

All this was leading into the news we all knew was coming: PlayStation 4. It’s real.

Mike Cerny, lead system architect on PlayStation, then took the stage, confirming that development started five years ago.

Cerny said that Sony is very proud of the Cell architecture the PS3 used, but with the PS4 it wanted to ensure nothing came between the gamer and the game. It spoke to developers and used their feedback to construct a new system which would enable development, not complicate it, using familiar components.

The new console will be PC-like to develop for, with 8GB of RAM and almost two teraflops of power. An Unreal Engine 4 demo was shown.

He then showed off the Dual Shock 4, also produced in conjunction with developer feedback. The controller has improved triggers, sticks and rumble; reduced latency; and a headphone jack. As rumoured, it includes a touch pad and motion sensor, and partners with a camera.

Cerby said the new console has a lower power state which can be initiated or cancelled with a single button press. It can be triggered in-game, with play state preserved in RAM.

Steph is on-site in New York and will have a full report in the morning. No pricing details were given. PS4 is said to be launching at £300, according to documents that leaked over the weekend.

PS4 Network

Cerny said digital games can be played even as they are being downloaded, and some clever video tech means seamless upload of gameplay recording using share button.

Players can spectate others’ play over a network – and even take over gameplay from them to assist in difficult sections. Developers will be able too implement systems where players can donate items to others.

A new friends system will be based on social networks, enhancing connections between “real-world” acquaintances. Facebook and Ustream were mentioned.

The network will also learn from the player, using metrics to determine what kind of games you might be keen on. “Our long term goal is to reduce download times to zero,” Cerny said.

Gaikai CEO Dave Perry was next to present, saying that Gaikai and Sony’s long term goal is to make all games available instantly from the PlayStation Store.

“Try it for free, share it if you like it, and pay only for the games you fall in love with,” he said.

Perry also announced Vita Remote Play for the PS4. Like the Wii U’s Game Pad, the console will be able to stream games directly to the handheld, allowing you to play while your TV is busy elsewhere. Sony said its long term goal is to make every title compatible.

The PS4 will support existing SEN services such as Music Unlimited, and Sony’s working to bring companies like Netflix onboard.

Perry said Sony has fully greenlit a project to make every PlayStation 1, 2, 3 games playable via PlayStation Cloud, a service accessible from all PlayStation devices. It will be rolled out in phases.

In a hype reel, Sony talked up its ambition to eliminate update, download and install times – something the PS3′s detractors will be pleased to note.

PS4 games

Early in the presentation, Sony said all game demos were “live”, suggesting they’re running off a PlayStation 4, not pre-rendered footage.

The first PS4 game shown was called Knack, a new effort from Sony Japan with impressive, Pixar-like cartoon graphics.

Killzone: Shadow Fall

Later, we got a look at Killzone: Shadow Fall. The first-person perspective video showed an incredibly detailed future city which looked like something out of a cutscene, but Steph confirmed she could see a player controlling the demo, and it quickly transitioned into a shooting section. There were some beautiful light and dust effects, and character animations were remarkably lifelike.

I was already having a little cry of joy when Sony brought out Matt Southern from Evolution Studios to show off the game the studio has “always wanted to make”. DriveClub was trademarked nine years ago – “we’ve literally waited for the technology to become available”, Southern said.

DriveClub is all about working in teams – collaborative driving. Players form real clubs, and battle others in asynchronous and real-time multiplayer. It connects to mobile devices so players can issue challenges and win glory for their clubs. “Weekend long, thousand-player tournaments” are on the cards, apparently.

Southern said Evolution has worked with the best car manufacturers in the work to recreate the cars in “loving obsession” with custom built photo-metric apparatus. “We’ve gone borderline insane,” Southern said, detailing how every layer of paint; the microfibres of interior trim; and the amount of wax on headlights have been recreated. The fabric even looks different depending on which way the material has been brushed, he claimed.

InFamous: Second Son

Sucker Punch’s Nate Fox introduced his team’s new game – InFamous: Second Son. The new game explores post-9/11 security measures taken to their extreme – it seemed quite Orwellian – and features a new superhero, Delsin Rowe.

Next, Sony reaffirmed its commitment to the indie scene by introducing Braid creator Jonathan Blow, whose next game, The Witness, will be console exclusive to PlayStation 4; a PC version is probably still on the cards, though. Blow boasted that the open-world puzzler has 25 hours of gameplay and “no filler”. Detractors of adorable side-scrolling indies will be delighted to learn the first-person view showed full 3D graphics.

Quantic Dream’s David Cage followed, saying that all he wants from next-gen hardware is the opportunity to convey emotion and get players involved with games. He said that the PS4 has brought games to the point where it can finally live up to films for emotive potential. The developer has created a new engine for the console.

Characters in Heavy Rain were a couple of thousand polygons; the Kara tech demo characters had 20,000; Beyond: Two Souls will have about 30,000, Cage said. He didn’t give a figure for PS4, instead showing a render of an old man’s face, but said there are no more limitations besides imagination. Cage did not announce a new game, obliquely referencing “future titles”.

Media Molecule turned up next, ready to unveil its “mystery”. Alex Evans said the developer wants to help people create, and to “cut through all the crap”, and allow users to “record their dreams”. Wanting to escape the “tyranny of the polygon”, the team spent years working on ways to allow users to create digitally using technology like motion capture.

In the end, Media Molecule chose the Move controller, noting that it hadn’t like it at first. “Dear Move controller, I’m sorry it took us so long,” Evans said, showing off real-time 3D sculpting. “You just hold your controller and click to create your dream,” he added.

As well as sculpting and collage, the tool allows users to control characters, giving performances which are then recorded. Four Media Molecule staffers were shown controlling characters playing drums, keyboard, and guitar, and dancing, to result in a short film. No title was given for the tech demo; it’s not clear if it will evolve into a commercial release.

“Virtually every major third-party partner” in the world will support the PlayStation 4, Andrew House said, introducing Yoshinori Ono.

“It feels good to finally be able to talk about this stuff,” Ono said, giving a brief history of how PlayStation and Capcom have enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship. The publisher has a new engine for next-gen, the Panta Rhei, and Ono introduced a new property – Deep Down.

The demo showed medieval-style characters engaged in combat with some kind of draconic beastie, which breathed some lovely fire. The characters were overwhelmed and the screen cut to Yoshi Ono sending a request for help over the SEN.

Knack

Square Enix sent its chief technology officer to present the Agni’s Philosophy Luminous Engine demo; it’s not a game, and we’ve seen it before, but this time it was demonstrated running on the PS4, not high-end development PCs.

There were grumblings from the peanut gallery but Square Enix then announced a new Final Fantasy title to debut at E3 2013.

Ubisoft was next, showcasing Watch Dogs which, as expected, is set to arrive on PlayStation 4 at system launch. The publisher reiterated the game’s smartphone connectivity – players will be able to view maps to tap into traffic controls and other services – before moving onto a demo, again played live on stage by a demonstrator, but this time on a PC.

Protagonist Aiden was seen using his phone to access information about NPCs as he wandered the open world before becoming embroiled in a fire fight and fleeing police. The city’s security camera network was used to locate him, showing the two-edged sword of surveillance.

Blizzard owes me a new monitor, because by turning up on a console stage it caused me to do an amusingly extravagant spit take. Chris Metzen confirmed Sony and Blizzard have entered into a strategic partnership through which it will “take over the world”. Diablo 3 is coming to PS3 and PS4, he confirmed.

Watch Dogs

The console version isn’t just a port; it has a new control method whereby players are directly in control of a character’s actions rather than triggering abilities from hotkeys, and will have a four-player, full-screen co-op mode.

One final publisher turned up to the party – Activision. CEO Eric Hirshberg promised full support for the PS4 with “multiple titles” from its “best developers during the launch window”. More information was promised later this year, hinting at a Call of Duty reveal, but while Infinity Ward wasn’t ready to show anything, Bungie is: Destiny. The sizzle reel shown included some brief snippets of in-engine footage.

Bungie staff said they’re very excited to expand to a larger audience now that it’s no longer Microsoft-owned, and confirmed the shared worlds shooter is coming to both PS3 and PS4, and will have exclusive content specifically for the PS4.

444 comments

Older Comments

#401

aleph31
21/02/13, 1:38 am

The only thing that has really impressed me on the software side is the new Dragon Dogma from Capcom. I expected more tbh

#402

Erthazus
21/02/13, 1:39 am

@daytripper, I think nope. Just information was old.

#403

manamana
21/02/13, 1:39 am

Hey TEA, why don’t you play a little with your Move-sticks to get a good relief?

#404

Erthazus
21/02/13, 1:39 am

@401, It was amazing, but I thought it was staged as F. Everyone likes doing it these days.

#405

daytripper
21/02/13, 1:41 am

&400 so both have the same ram and it’s down to how decent the GPU is?

Gotta say I liked the OnLive style watch other people play and share stuff , gives a real community feeling that PSN lacks at the moment. I can’t wait to spam Tea with penis pics…;-)

#406

Hunam
21/02/13, 1:41 am

Yeah, the whole thing was faked, sticking a little weapon UI didn’t fool anyone.

#407

aleph31
21/02/13, 1:41 am

@404 yep you’re right, good point

#408

Hunam
21/02/13, 1:42 am

@405

Basically, what it boils down to so far is that one might have fast CPU and RAM than the other by a little bit. They’ll be very similar so that devs don’t have to do too much work to get both up and running but one will edge the other out in framerate or extra little features.

#409

heroes159
21/02/13, 1:42 am

Did i miss anything or What are the system specs ??

#410

aleph31
21/02/13, 1:43 am

@405 With 8GB GDDR5, it’s hard to believe that they will make it into the $400 price tag

#411

daytripper
21/02/13, 1:44 am

@408 ok cheers mate

#412

theevilaires
21/02/13, 1:46 am

This is how you know you’re dealing with children. You fools are actually talking about this stuff in a bad way as if its releasing next month or 3 to 4 years into the PS4 life cycle.

Two Words………Naughty Dog

When they show off Uncharted 4 at E3 you’ll eat shit so i advise you to all shut your mouths now who are trying to down play this night. This wasn’t just about the games it was about showing the industry why a PS4 even exist.

like I said come E3 when Naughty Dog shows you what they can do with 8GB of ram when they can do miracles with split 512MB then talk shit.

#413

manamana
21/02/13, 1:49 am

Who is downplaying this event? I mostly see happy faces (besides Erthazus, who takes the bus)

#414

theevilaires
21/02/13, 1:50 am

anyway screw you guys I’ve got a photoshop PS4 controller to bring to life Anyone want to invest now while its cheap?

#415

Beta
21/02/13, 1:51 am

Tonight was only to confirm that the PS4 exists and to give a glimpse of the future of Playstation.

Since I’ve yet to actually see anything (thanks sky broadband) I can’t give an opinion but if Naughty Dog made the Uncharted series on PS3 I can’t even begin to imagine what they have in store next gen

#416

rafterman83
21/02/13, 1:52 am

Don’t forget Driveclub, it’s has 3v3 racing :O

In all seriousness, too many holes in their presentation, far too many working titles and tech demos. It all reeks of the PS3s lofty ambitions and promises, which lets face it never really materialised. (2 x 1080p screens running off one console?)

The big question is can they deliver, or do the goal posts change and the console is watered down closer to the release.

Considering Sony’s bank balance I have my doubts that they’ll be able to deliver everything they’ve promised tonight.

At the moment it all seems a bit like a pipe dream, all be it a very nice one.

Personally I need some more flesh on the bone to be really excited, but if I was Microsoft I wouldn’t be massively worried.

#417

daytripper
21/02/13, 1:53 am

New controller looks good, looks comfortable

#418

Digital Bamboo
21/02/13, 1:54 am

Hardware sounds solid, & that 3D modelling thing looked interesting from a creative standpoint, but nothing blew me away game-wise. (Though it was hard to tell what they looked like graphically as I had more of a slideshow going after the intro.) Got a few mild surprises, but was hoping for more, bigger ones. Something new from Blizzard would have been nice.

I can’t believe those guys from SE flew all the way from Japan to show a video everyone (watching) has already seen, and say ‘a new Final Fantasy game’ will be announced. I guess nobody told them that the FF name no longer carries much weight in the West. But I hope whatever the new FF is, it gives fans reason to get excited about the series again.

Not bad overall, but could have been so much better. Nice intro, but some of those guys could use a course in public speaking, and should have brought more confidence and, in some cases, been better prepared, for this event (ideally with less talk, & more stunning new game footage).

#419

theevilaires
21/02/13, 1:57 am

@415 exactly. These fools are going crazy as if this stuff is going gold next week. Seriously some of you guys are so pathetic.

Everyone said from the jump even Microsoft that next gen won’t be all about the visuals. Its about the tech. You see what they can do with a 8 year old Nvidia chip with split 512MB memory? Now they have 8GB of GDDR5….How dare you look down at SONY tonight in anyway negative? And no i don’t mean everyone I’m talking about a handful of trolls that have been commenting ever since the start of the press and that 1 that showed up after out of the blue.

#420

manamana
21/02/13, 1:57 am

@416 wasn’t it just to let the cat out of the bag, so we can finally all talk next gen stuff? It was reveal and for that it was interesting. And interesting it will be what M$ has to conquer and at which point in time.

#421

Erthazus
21/02/13, 2:03 am

Ram is cheap. It is the cheapest thing on that console. Lol.

#422

PAUL-
21/02/13, 2:03 am

I have never owned a Sony console despite playing videogames for the last 25 years. The lead upto the press conference had me buzzing but for me it was a massive disappointment, I see nothing here that represents next gen in my eyes, the wow factor simply isn’t there.And they certainly had long enough to come up with more than they displayed tonight. I don’t think Microsoft has anything to worry about, but I am now concerned that their reveal of nex gen xbox will be disappointing too. Next gen is going to be a hard sell and I think people will want to cling onto their 360s and ps3s because the leap is not so obvious.

#423

theevilaires
21/02/13, 2:05 am

^ ok Alt account

#424

manamana
21/02/13, 2:12 am

@423 “the leap is not so obvious” … Did you have seen anything from the presentation, besides Knack, of course.

#425

Dragon246
21/02/13, 2:14 am

@421,
Not when its GDDR5 and is more than any other consumer hardware, even the latest titan nvidia gpu has 6gb gddr5 and costs 1000$.

#426

PAUL-
21/02/13, 2:15 am

Watched it all mate, from start to finish. I seen very little that impressed me, although that Capcom game looked promising and watchdogs obviously.

#427

Erthazus
21/02/13, 2:20 am

@Dragon246, what GPU have to do with unified memory? They all have different tasks.

Gddr5 is just a speed and efficiency. PS4 devkits will probably have 16 GDDR5 or even more.

#428

killersense
21/02/13, 2:28 am

i think people need to understand this is just a taste. there are still studios like naughty dog, ssm, ready at dawn and many more that haven’t shown their hands so people need to chill out. they are not going to blow their whole load before microsoft even announces. there is still probably ten months before the launch so they have to keep the big stuff closer to launch.

@erthazus don’t you think the specs are actually very good for a system aimed for mass market? didn’t you want 8gb memory all this time wehn you were complaining when the rumors were 4gb. they obviously can’t go bleeding edge technology and release it less than 500$ so this is really looking good

#429

CPC_RedDawn
21/02/13, 3:10 am

How the hell can you guys be negative!?

I am a PC gamer through and through. Heck I was playing FC3 in windowed mode whilst watching the conference. And when ever they showed off actual gameplay I stopped and watched.

The console is a complete and utter sell to me, mainly because they finally ditched the stupid proprietary hardware and went with X86 CPU and a massive 8GB unified RAM. Which onbviously means that games can access and use this RAM how it chooses too (ie it can allocate 4GB to graphics and 4GB for the games engine, physics, etc).

This also means we finally get better ports on PC too as it uses the exact same architecture and as they said the PS4 had 2 Teradflops of graphical power. Where my current AMD HD7970 has 4.3 Teraflops so you can see the difference. Meaning our PC’s will destroy PS4 games!

Also, they actually brought games, AND NEW IP’s!! Which is a relief! Third party support looks great too. Heck they even got Blizzard on stage and brought Diablo 3 to the mix. They had barely any talk on Move, nothing on sales figures which was a bonus.

Nintendo probably are cacking their pants right now as that Vita streaming was awesome! And the ability to stream to literally ANY device is great too.

This was a great showing, and for me its a day one buy as they have already been spotted for preorder on sites for £399.99 and then £450 after preorders are filled.

Microsoft better bring it now with 720, and not focus on Kinect 2.0 etc. Which I have a feeling they will do.

#430

Phoenixblight
21/02/13, 3:13 am

@429

Hear! Hear!

I don’t get the elitism. I play on the PC as well but I also have the PS3 for its exclusives. This sytem is a definite buy for me just need a release date for Second Son.

#431

mathare92
21/02/13, 3:30 am

The cynicism is getting overwhelming now. A new console was announced today for goodness sake. A new machine that plays games. The next-gen is finally afoot after eight long years (sorry Wii U). Isn’t anyone excited?

#432

Dragon246
21/02/13, 3:44 am

@Erth,
I think you know this well that one of the first things that gets cut to make cheaper gpu is the ram. Also gddr5 is costly and difficult to manufacture, biggest single modules are only 512 mb.
Read the DF specs analysis for info.

#433

MegaGeek1
21/02/13, 4:05 am

@431 – I’m with you 100% brother. I couldn’t care any less if it was Samsung or freaking LG releasing a next gen gaming console. The fact is after 7-8 long years here we are, and I’m about as excited as I could possibly get. What I saw this evening was amazing and I’m salivating for more.

As for the cynicism, yup, this website has become a far cry from the one I used to religiously attend.

#434

MegaGeek1
21/02/13, 4:08 am

@ 429 – Pretty much sums it up for me as well.

I think the Gaikai acquisition was money well spent.

#435

theevilaires
21/02/13, 4:19 am

I think SONY took a shot at Microsoft tonight really hard. Not only do they have to match what SONY just announced but they still don’t know everything about the PS4 and they still have no direct answer to SONY’s awesome 1st party studios. The PS4 being more PC like than the other systems pretty much guarantees they will always have smooth easy to port games all around no matter where it was developed from.

And Gaikai sweetens the deal. the only thing I didn’t like was the controller which I hope is still a prototype because its FUGLY. I still can’t get over 8GB of GDDR5 when Uncharted 3 is running with 512MB of split memory.

#436

daytripper
21/02/13, 4:35 am

Just watched the Killzone video in better quality than the stream I had, holy shit

#437

SplatteredHouse
21/02/13, 4:58 am

square enix manager shows the tech demo we already saw, then the Final Fantasy brand director comes in, talks up ps4 then leaves almost forgetting to remind everyone a new something of that series will be shown at E3 – that’s got to be VERSUS, right. They wouldn’t hold out on it until TGS!

#438

Phoenixblight
21/02/13, 5:25 am

@437

That was the biggest waste of time. I was hoping for a Versus reveal but nope we get a tech demo that has been shown and then a announcement of an announcement.

#439

Francis O
21/02/13, 6:34 am

I told you guys Sony learned from their past mistakes.

http://playeressence.com/sonys-all-in-with-the-ps4/

#440

Erthazus
21/02/13, 11:24 am

By the way, Watch Dogs dev said that they used a PC to show a PS4 demo. This is really funny. I thought they could at least use Dev kit.

Anyway, so far no killer app for the system, although i’m a fan of inFamous series so I will check E3 for sure. I hope for more stuff.

#441

SplatteredHouse
21/02/13, 11:43 am

@438 It was exactly the same, though wasn’t it, that SE Luminous Engine demo… I was thinking they were going to burst out with a mention of how the last time they showed it it was on PC but here they were running it on a PS4 in the back – but there was nothing of that nature, just Square-Enix staffers dropping by and saying “how-do” lol.

#442

manamana
21/02/13, 1:12 pm

Yeah, Square Enix were the weakest and dumbest staging acts ever. They came with nothing and left with nothing.

#443

noamlol2
22/02/13, 2:30 pm

looks like sony is taking the first strike on this one

if it’s wise, no, if it’s the right move for them
probably yes

#444

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24/02/13, 11:40 am

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