Earlier in January Sony released a mysterious trailer containing symbols commonly associated with the PlayStation gaming controller. For three weeks this speculation flared on the internet regarding Sony progressing to the next generation of video gaming. This could only mean one thing: PlayStation 4 was going to be announced soon! Sure enough on February 20th Sony held a press conference, and after a short retrospective (in typical Sony fashion) the PlayStation 4 was announced. It will be hitting store shelves this holiday season. Though the physical console nor the price were revealed ,Sony did give a long presentation on what gamers can expect from the next generation of video game graphics — and it all looks very impressive.
Critics will complain that not enough was shown, and they are right that not many new games were revealed. In fact, some of what was shown had already been announced — though there is a lot to be excited about, such as new installments in fan favorite series with “Infamous: Second Son” and “Killzone: Shadowfall.” New games were shown off such as “Knack,” a game that looks like an action platformer along with the highly anticipated “Watch Dogs.” Bungie jumped in with their new game “Destiny,” and even well-known PC game company Blizzard announced they would be releasing “Diablo 3” on PS4. Although there were other games, ultimately nothing ground breaking was revealed; hopes are that developers are working to announce and show off more games in the coming months.
The most interesting parts of the announcement have to do with the new innovative features gamers can expect from the PS4. First, Sony announced that PlayStation users will no longer have to work around the hassle of stopping their game to download an update. All downloads including games will be streamed in the background allowing the user to continue play on their system while it does all the work. Sony also hinted at a new feature which will allow users to preview games they want before purchasing them. This means no longer working around demos developed by companies. Sony didn’t go into much detail on this feature, but it is still an exciting prospect. Along with this, users can expect full social media integration along with stream integration which allows for players to stream gameplay from any game directly to the internet for others to watch and enjoy.
For any gamer the announcement of the PS4 is great news! With this, the next generation of gaming has truly begun. Last year’s release of Nintendo’s WiiU set the stage for these future consoles, but the hype is clearly not over yet! With Sony’s unveling of the PlayStation 4, we can now anticipate Microsoft’s response with a next-generation Xbox. The next few months with be filled with these three companies’ competition for the attention of the next generation of gamers, and a battle to see who comes out on top.