By COOPER BROCK
Having been seven years from the release of Sony’s previous gaming console, on Feb. 22, Sony unveiled their next generation iteration of the Playstation, the PS4.
In a conference held in an E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) style unveiling ceremony, Sony announced their newest console would seamlessly integrate social media into every aspect of gaming.
Sporting the new Sony Dualshock 4 controller, lead system architect Mark Cerny explained the functions of the share button, an addition to the gaming experience that allows anyone to share a clip of gameplay, via Playstation Network or other social media sites. Personally, this writer doesn’t think anyone on Facebook cares about how many points one just got on Call of Duty, but can understand the appeal of social network integration.
Apart from social features, the controller now offers a touch pad, which can lead to some interesting gameplay mechanics, as well as annoying gimmicks.
After the disappointing launch of Nintendo’s lackluster Wii U, the gaming community isn’t exactly looking for anymore touch controls.
The actual system, although not shown at the conference, is run by an impressive 8 core dual processor, with 8GB of memory, which can only be found in the most high end gaming PCs. With a few presentations of titles that will launch with the system, Sony showed off the impressive graphical achievements of new system.
Although prices have not been officially disclosed for this new system, rumors of a $429 standard package and a $529 premium edition have circulated the web, along with a rumored release date of early November 2013.
The only real disappointment with the conference, was that besides being able to tweet from the console during a game, and a little fancier hardware, there’s not much new here. It’s still the same old games about the same old things: shoot this, grab this, then shoot that. And for over $400, Sony needs to bring something new to the table, something that’s lucrative and interesting, and not just another way to get access Facebook.
The next generation of gaming is certainly less of a revolution than Sony hyped it up to be. Look for the PS4 at the Los Angeles Convention Center during E3 on June 11, 2013.
