PS4: will the next-gen start when Microsoft says it does?

Wait a second I’m pretty sure they only revealed first let’s see who launches first. ?

From what i am hearing over on Gaf that the specs of the leaked Durango are almost year old.

I’m glad you wrote it down Patrick. Exactly my thoughts. And I hope that Microsoft has more than exclusive DLCs or timed exclusives to show. They really need to rock the boat on the games departement.

I think most Uk and EU core gamers question will be if MS focuses on the services that we will not get, why would you get a new xbox if you live in Europe?
If its about the games and they are good enough I’ll consider buying an nextbox.

Well, for microsoft, there is an easy way to beat sony: if they made new console with a DESCENT CPU. Then sony device would be epic fail.

Amazing, MS in a stupid move, started a timer for E3 (by nelson). Hirai bluffed that they they would allow MS to go first by giving the silliest of reasons. Looks like MS took that bluff at face value.
Moreover, Sony seems to put Gamers at the forefront for PS4, not the multimedia crowd. If MS shows Kinect 2 and Just Dance 5 at the ceremony for more than 5 minutes, they have lost me there and then.
Sony should be applauded for keeping multimedia and move things to a minimum.
We should also not forget that MS can spend much more in marketing than Sony, so this added time helps Sony immensely to let PS4 get more exposure than 720.
Very Well played Sony indeed.

@4: my thoughts exactly. I’ve been with Microsoft from the beginning, but if they do not bring the thunder games wise instead of sticking to services I might just jump ship.

Why bother with all the words? Why not just write “Sony 4eva. Fugg yoo Microshaft!”

Would have achieved the same level of baiting.

1/10

@8 – God. I remember now. I is bias.

#9

I’m not saying you are biased, but the article is exceptionally badly worded.

Wow at this article, fanboy much? Good God, the way you are jumping to conclusions is laughable, honestly.

MS has ONE problem next generation, they need to show THE GAMES! if they fail to do that, then that’s the reason they will fail not because Sony announced its next gen console first.

@10 – You’re entitled to your opinion, my friend. Thanks for reading!

@Patrick Garratt

I meant what I said. There is a way of putting your arguments forward without sounding biased. Sadly, this was not the case for this article, it comes off very biased.

Pat this article is a bit much isn’t it?

You think you’re getting a bit carried away here old boy?

@13 – Agreed

#12

/Winner

Calm down dear it’s only an opinion.

Your stuff is usually good. I happen to think this article isnt up to your usual standard.

For me its all about the exclusives, and Sony have always had the exclusives that I’m interested in. As an old Playstation fanboy, it doesn’t matter one bit to me what microsoft bring to the table, the only next gen console I’ve ever been interested in is the PS4.
I’m sure there are many Xbox owners who feel exactly the same way, but the other way round obviously

Whilst I do think there’s a fair chunk of dramatisation in the article, the sentiment concerning mindshare is one I agree with.

Announcing second can be percieved as ‘responding’ to whatever the competition announced first. Following rather than leading.

I don’t think it’s the be all and end all. Even releasing first, whilst giving an advantage early on, doesn’t guarantee meaningful numbers.

Personally I’m more interested in the partnerships and services than the silicon. Great developers will always do great things regardless of hardware. I say this as someone who still admires how some C64 games push their host to extremes.

If the gaming experienced is enhanced by good partnerships and meaningful services (and hopefully not stifled by them) then that could be what tips the scales.

I am very interested to see how Gaikai develops. Whilst there are many unknowns it is a strong card to have in your deck, versatile and likely to become stronger as digital becomes increasingly common. I am keen to see what alternatives to the promise of Gaikai may appear.

JM

@Pat,
Remember that bribe Sony gave you to piss on MS and its fanboys

‘with PlayStation 4 being a powerful, cheap console’

We will see about this. 8GB of GDDR5 isn’t going to be cheap. I’m not sure how Sony can shoehorn all that in and keep the costs down to the rumoured £300.

You’re biased not matter what you say about this stuff. I’ll be an “Xbot” too, no doubt.

The next generation starts when the next-generation products hit the market in mass quantities, not one day before. The advance press looks better for Sony at this point, to be sure. They’d best keep up that momentum, because the tide can turn in a hurry between now and actual release.

@16 – Yeah the way I’m thinking right now is that Sony’s exclusives are gonna win me over next gen. The only franchises I’ll miss will be Forza and PGR (both of which I prefer to GT), though Fable, Gears and Halo I’m not bothered about.

MS need to kill it to win my money next gen…

Sony may have asked us to the dance first, but I think Microsoft will prove the better dancer.

In my opinion, Sony’s “reveal” left a lot to be desired. Microsoft has a great chance to capitalize on that, and I expect the 720 reveal to outshine the one we were given by Sony.

Shouting the fastest or loudest does not compensate for being ill-prepared. Every day before Sony’s event was full of “ifs” and “maybes” … and every day since has been full of too much of the same.

I’m not yet sold on PS4.

Microsoft will simply have to drop a megaton of realtime game footage and exclusives, finished with we will be first to market boom. Or something along thoughs lines

Fact is. I disliked Sony’s conference, but they did it. Everyone right now talks about PS4 and Major Nelson and Microsoft is in damage control right now.
In my opinion sony’s conference lacked a lot of details and reveals but their hands feel free right now and they can give dev kits and other stuff to devs and start developing stuff for the next gen consoles without any issue that “something” “somewhere” is going to be leaked.

But Shmony COULD SHOW THE BOX, YA’ KNOW?

and decent demo, not some PS4 games that will be on PS3. Or killzone:SF that looks a bit better then PS3 games.

@Gadzooks, your ass hurts whenever Sony does something and MS doesn’t. Chill out bro. Go to forums and talk about how Sony copied kinect and that sony games sucks and so on. Xbox fanboy favourite thing these days. Chill out.

I just want a Box to play games – no social-apps, no tv, no merchandising! Just enough power to play the most beautiful games. I like my 360 but MS will have to do a lot… If it is not enough I will buy a PS4.

@Pat: Nice post – people talk about it and that’s the way it should be

@26: If MS keep pushing Kinect, social crap and media over real games, they will definitely lose me next gen.

I like the Ps3 specs and ideals of gamer first but I hate that controller please I hope a cascaded thumb stick 3rd party controller becomes available. Right now as long as NextBox has comparable specs I’m all over Xbox maybe a year or two down the road I’ll get a ps4

Erthazus MS PR might be mouthy now but what about all those other times Sony crapped talked about Nintendo and Microsoft?

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=485754

The Sony presser was hot air and loose future target projections. Remember how PS3 would run two games on two different screens? Remember all the USB hubs? Remember the power of Cell tech? Remember SIXAXIS and how no-one needed Rumble any more?

Now re-watch the PS4 presser and see about “playing demos on the fly”, “insta-Share”, “social media integration” and the “hopes” and “visions” of developers for the “possible future” and “direction” that they “believe they can” take PS4 in.

Now ask yourself how many, if any, of those “features” will actually make it. Ask yourself why Killzone 4 was a scripted sequence with no freedom whatsoever. Ask yourself why developers weren’t more concrete. ASk yourself why you only saw target renders when the console is apparently due out this year.

Ask yourself if you’re going to be taken for a fool again.

Then watch the MS presser and ask yourself the same questions.

Then offer up an opinion.

ah, so Sony bloodied MS’ nose huh? Pretty sure MS has mounted and grounded and pounded Sony for the last 8 yrs. Remember Sony had a monster lead w the PS2? The 360 ate their breakfast, lunch and went back for dinner. So they had to do something, but it was a rather lackluster reveal. Sharing? haha come on.

I bought both the 360 and the PS3. PS3 hasnt been touched since 2008.

And the guy that wrote this #9? Total fanboy, prob wrote this wearing his PS4 Tshirt.

The thing is, if Microsoft do show us the games it will consist of Driving, shooting and Dancing. Possibly all in the same game!
I fucked M$ off this gen, they released noth of worth as far as Exclusives go and their online service is so outdated regarding pay to play I do wonder why people still fork out for it.
I am a SONY fanboy, I’ll admit it, but only cus SONY fucking earned it!

“mind-share”? This is a flawed concept.

How many times on a talent show does the last performer win?

Frequently.

There are months and months to go before the supposed launches. Almost everyone gave the PS4 reveal a thumbs up, but not much more.

MS now have two whole months before the rumoured 720 launch to make sure that they steal the show with a winning performance.

It’s not about who reveals first, or WiiUs would be flying off the shelf.

I still think E3 is very relevant here. It should be a chance for people to analyse the new consoles side by side on the biggest stage before release.

I find it a little funny that nobody considers the Wii U to be part of the next console generation despite it being a new system in its own right. That’s not a complaint, just an amusing observation.

Aside from that, a quick glance at the comments seems like most people are being fanboys about the whole subject, so nothing to add.

@32 Why be a fanboy? You just get laughed at and rightly so, fanboys are child mentalities

@34:

You’re right. Wii U is seen as being irrelevant now. I thought that it would at least have the headlines until E3, but it’s already flopped (in the US, at least).

This completely disproves the idea that Pat is presenting, which is that going first, ‘wins you the round’.

Nintendo went first, and they’ve practically been TKO’d without a punch being thrown.

The_Deleted Driving, Shooting and Dancing was shown off at Sonys press conference

PS4 FTW!

@36,
So its Second-mover advantage. But I don’t know, looks like the first mover didn’t even existed

@30 – “Ask yourself if you’re going to be taken for a fool again.”

Very good point and Sony’s past corporate crap is the reason why I’m taking everything they say with a pinch of salt.

For what it’s worth, I always regard ‘announce’ presentations to be aspirational and vacuous for the most part. This is true of so many tech announcements – whether it’s a console, a phone or some other gadget.

Expecting a box, date, price, range of colours and every other bit of minute detail isn’t what an announce is about at all. All those details come later. Usually those reality bites eat into the aspirational stuff and chip away at the initial enthusiasm. But reality has a habit of doing that to most things.

I suspect, however, that if what is presented at an announce conference doesn’t float your boat, the details that come in the weeks and months that follow won’t do much for you either.

In that regard, these companies have to get you on board as soon as possible. To present their most pie-in-the-sky aspirations and sell you the dream over the product (I felt Nintendo did this extremely well with the Wii). That mindshare really is important.

JM

@39:

The thing is, it doesn’t really matter when a console is released/revealed.

People aren’t buying Wii Us, because it’s blatantly obvious that the PS4 and 720 are lined up to be better consoles.

The concept is simple. People go for the one that they like the most. Not the one that comes first.

If MS come with a new super amazing technology, then Sony going first will have meant nothing.

Likewise, if MS comes with something weak and uninspiring, then, just as with the Wii U, they would almost certainly have already lost, even if they had revealed first.

Stupid Xbox fanboys are in damage control right now. How funny.

Don’t worry, your Halo and Call Of duty map packs won’t go away. You can eat that shit up as much as you want.

One shouldn’t underestimate the power of the “multimedia features” part of a console. There is no contradiction between a gaming console and a multimedia console. To satisfy the game crowd is fairly easy and straightforward in terms of hardware features.

One can have the additional features without it canabalizing the games aspect of a console. Sony saying that it will be games focused really doesn’t mean that the “nextbox” will fail in that aspect even though it probably focus on other things aswell.

Having an open app store with apps that works seamlessly with Windows 8 (write once, deploy everywhere) then they could have quite a strong contender in the race. Without sacrificing the games aspect. If they don’t do that then they are stupid and apple will come out with something for the appletv that will eat that part of the market.

Also, price pays a huge role. The cheapest console of the two will probably “win” considering they will probably be quite similiary speced, with an edge to the PS4. Also, release date matters. Wouldn’t be surprised if the Xbox launches before the PS4 in europe.

Me, I’ve prebooked both until i know more. It’s a hard choice…David Cage or Alan Wake? Nathan Drake or Master Chief? We’ll see how it looks in the coming months.

When Apple reveal their new phone/iPad – they show you what it can do, when it will be released, what it looks like and how much it will cost. They also spout an amazing amount of other bullshit but you know what you’re getting Day One.

But Apple do usually reveal about 2-4 weeks before release. There is still a lot of time to go until the expected launch date, so Sony should still have time to remove features reveal more info.

@30
“Ask yourself why Killzone 4 was a scripted sequence with no freedom whatsoever.”

That was played on US TV by other people doing what they wanted? I think Killzone 4 whilst not offering up much in the way of gameplay additions was a great example of how Sony have changed. Killzone 2 was pre-rendered video when first shown, and then took 2 years+ to try and live up to that target render. Killzone 4 was realtime, played out in front of you and looked very nice too.

If you look at the press stuff Sony is being pretty clear and realistic about the features they expect to have ready and what is part of the vision too.

Apple announces are of releases that are of iterative hardware with relatively minor, incremental changes. Many of their changes are in software anyway.

True Apple ‘new gen’ product announcements, of which there have been many over the decades, differ considerably from the iterative products they are now known for.

JM

Let me put it to you this way VG247.

The article you quoted when you said “woefully underpowered compared to PS4″ the article you linked said the PS4 would have 4GB or RAM.

How does one trust the whole “PS4 50% more computational power” statement after seeing your source be wrong regarding the RAM?

If the rumors about the next xbox are at least half right (and they were pretty right about PS4), Microsoft will launch an x86 console as well.
Most likely the same CPU inside PS4 minus/plus some optimizations.

If this is true, Microsoft can squeeze an extra MHz to match or top PS4 raw power. The same goes for the GPU. And they now have 2 months to do it.

I would agree with you if we were talking about last generation.

Last time around things were a bit different, the consoles architecture were very different and somehow new (for Sony at least). Doing big improvements in short notice was much more complicated.

But then again, in the end it didn’t matter. PS3 has more raw power yet it didn’t sold more than xbox 360, and games weren’t/aren’t much more beautiful. That raw power was hard to tap because the development tools for Cell are a nightmare.

There were some issues with PS4 announcement.
No launch date. This holidays? Early 2014?
Why weren’t any demo units on stage? Is the development still ongoing and they don’t have anything to show? I don’t know much about product development but can this be a sign that if the launch date is this holidays availability will be an issue?
What about price?

So, yeah. Sony has everyone talking about PS4 but at this point no one other than some extreme fanboys will make a decision now to buy PS4 in a untold date at a unknown price.

If Microsoft wants to match PS4, specs aren’t the real issue.
x86 + DX11 is Microsoft comfort zone. They’ve been doing this for decades. And, again if word on the street is right, their next console will be an highly optimized PC. x86 CPU, DX11 GPU, DDR3, most likely running a shaved version of Windows 8.
If a game developer knows how to code a Windows PC game they will be at home with nextgen Xbox.

So, more than hardware specs what I want to hear from Microsoft is that they will start to treat Europe’s gamers the same way they treat North American’s gamers. It’s only fair since we pay the same for a live Gold account and receive far less.