We are only mere hours away from Sony’s Playstation event which, most likely, will reveal the Playstation 4. So I figured we would play a little game of “take a stab at rumors and see if Sony can screw it up”. We will go through some quick points and check back after the event to see how close we were to being in Sony’s head.
Be sure and leave your guesses in the comments below. We want to hear just how in tune with Sony you are.
Alright it is time to check and see how my guesses panned out from last night’s event.
1. Will be called the Playstation 4
Yes. Good Start.
2. Will only come in one version
No answer given. Closer to E3 maybe?
3. 1TB hard drive (I am tempted to say 750GB)
No answer given. Guess I was too specific.
4. Will retail for $399.99
Again, no answer.
5. Will still be able to use the PS Move (I don’t know why)
Yes. Media Molecule showed off a sculpting demo.
6. Will stream games and may offer a game rental service.
Yes. Well Gaikai did say streaming games, but not definite on the rental. I’ll take it.
7. At least two of these games will be shown and/or announced as launch titles: Killzone 4, Uncharted 4, Infamous and Planetside 2
Yes. Now we’re doing good. Killzone: Shadow Fall and Infamous: Second Son were shown.
8. Will launch on October 25, 2013.
No answer. This will most likely be at E3.
Be sure and keep up with all the news here and on our Facebook and Twitter.
All in all I am calling this a win for the good guys. 4 out of 8 right and the four not right are pushes for a later date. Bingo!!
With the Sony Playstation event coming up on Wednesday where the Playstation 4 is expected to be unveiled the rumor bin is in full overdrive. The newest one comes from The Wall Street Journal that reports that Sony will offer streaming games over their new system.
‘The new technology, to be unveiled Wednesday along with the new console, will allow users to play games delivered over the Internet, these people said. The streaming service, they added, is designed to use current PlayStation 3 titles on the new console; the new device is also expected to play new games stored on optical discs.”
This rumor should probably be filed under the section “completely likely to happen”. Sony spent $380 million dollars last year purchasing the streaming service Gaikai and I am pretty sure it wasn’t just to have no use of it.
With only six days to go until Sony’s big press even that many people (by that I mean 100%) believe will be the official unveiling of the Playstation 4, it seems that Destructoid has found the first look at what the PS4 controller may look like.
There have been many reports that Sony was abandoning the dualshock design and including a small touch screen that will serve as the start and select buttons as well as have a share button that will let users be able to post info and videos from games they are playing directly to social media sites. Now assuming this is a prototype and not the final product what we can take away from this photo is that the reports appear to be mostly true. It may not be a complete redesign of the dualshock but it certainly has a different look and honestly looks thick as hell (again, prototype).
We only have six more days of waiting before (hopefully) we get to find out the truth. And on the bright side, at least it is not as asinine as the PS3 boomerang debacle.
Naughty Dog has officially announced that their post-apocalyptic game [amazon_link id=”B007CM0K86″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ]The Last of Us[/amazon_link] has been delayed by five weeks. The game will now release on June 14th, which also happens to be a Friday.
Naughty Dog has released an official statement on the delay:
“As a team we pride ourselves on setting a very high quality bar for every aspect of our games – gameplay, story, art, design, technology and more. We want to make sure The Last of Us raises that bar even further – for ourselves, and most importantly, our fans.
As we entered the final phase of development for The Last of Us, we came to realize just how massive Joel and Ellie’s journey is. But instead of cutting corners or compromising our vision, we came to the tough decision that the game deserved a few extra weeks to ensure every detail of The Last of Us was up to Naughty Dog’s internal high standards.”
This hurts a lot considering how long we have been salivating over every bit of coverage we have seen for the past two years, but delays almost always mean that we will be getting a better product and that’s the important thing. But still.
A new video released by Sony shows the team at Sony: Santa Monica hard at work in the motion capture studio with actors T.C. Carson (Kratos), Jennifer Hale (FemShep, I mean Lysandra) and Troy Baker (Orkos). The three are suited up in spandex and balls which sounds like fun but they are just motion capture suits. One of the things the team is doing differently is recording the voiceover work at the same time as the mo-cap session to give the performances a more authentic feel.
We then get a look at the programmers as they take the actors mo-cap session and translate that into the game you will see next month.
SIDE NOTE: I realize this is T.C. Carson’s seventh time voicing the legendary Kratos, but am I the only one that still thinks of Kyle Barker from Living Single? Or am I showing my age. (We are livinnng sinnngle)
We’re seeing the peak of the current console generation. The franchises that have been the staple of the two heavy-hitters (360 & PS3) are either on their third (fourth) installments, or will be within the next year. Nintendo, meanwhile, finds its support in franchises that aren’t tied to stories that need an ending, and can be adapted to new hardware easily. While it’s true that this current run has a longer lifespan than previous generations – something that has only been extended by the additions of the Kinect and the Move – I think it’s time to start thinking about what kind of announcements we can be expecting as early as E3. I’ve decided to do a breakdown that examines what I think the “next big thing” will be.
1. The Idea
2. The Hardware
3. The Software
4. The Subscription Service
Finally, I’ll give what evidence – real and imaginary – I have as to how some of my predictions are already all but confirmed, as well as address some of the glaring problems with my concept.
The Idea
I’ll get straight to the point on this part.
• I think the first genuine next generation console will be completely downloading based.
• I don’t believe it will have any sort of disc-reader, and there won’t be hard copies of the games.
• Current subscribers to the older generation service will be able to move their profile over, along with any supported content.
• The initial games will also have versions available on the older console, and there will be support for cross-generation interaction.
• At launch, backwards compatibility will be limited to a few downloadable “classics.”
Just let that sink in.
Before you go into knee-jerk reaction mode, take a look at the current industry. Steam, or other services like it, have more or less eliminated the hard-copy side of PC gaming, something which was met with severe resistance at first. While it’s true that the same drawbacks still exist – no physical copy of the game to call your own, any nice paper manuals or art books, etc – these things have not kept some services from exploding over the past five years.
Current console-based online services already offer services that could be used as the groundwork for such a system: games on demand, downloadable expansions, older-generation classics with updated gameplay, etc.
Players have already been acclimated to the concept of an online profile that contains large amounts of their data, both on the front-end (XBL, PSN) and within the games themselves (all of a player’s advancement in any Call of Duty is stored on the servers).
There’s one more thing I’d like to get out of the way now: we’ve already hammered out one very specific point, which is that this would more than likely be a Microsoft console. The concept, as I see it at least, would need the specialization of a software company, and one that already had a solid foundation in online console services. To be blunt, I don’t think that PSN is worth the price – and it’s free. They have stepped up with some of the features of Playstation Plus – free games, discounted games – but in the long run I would not trust Sony to produce this sort of device and support it efficiently. Anyone who disagrees is more than welcome to Google “PSP Go” and then get back to me. The one big positive in their corner is the partnership with Steam, which would conceivably allow them to turn certain duties over to people who handle this kind of thing far, far more effectively.
You didn’t come here to listen to me whine about Sony, though; otherwise you would have clicked the link to my article “Why Sony Smells Bad and Is Icky Too.” You came to read an overly long list of bullet points about the future of console tech from someone who has never worked in the industry, and dang it, I’m going to oblige:
The Hardware
No optical drive
500 gig + hard drive
Required high-speed internet connection
Optional motion controls
Wireless peripherals
Support for at least eight players
Very portable
The Software
Three game categories: Full Retail, Arcade, Indie
Apps: Streaming video / music, full web browsing
Integration with other devices (computers, phones, tablets)
Eventual move to streaming of some game content
No disc manufacturing should mean lower starting prices
Older game prices will drop at more consistent rates after release
Games can be bundled and sold in series / developer sets
Greatest Hits / GOTY Editions will simply replace existing SKUs
The Subscription Service
Standard Features
Continue to store account on server and locally
Licenses stored on server, content stored locally
Unlimited downloads of content
Accounts on “Home” console will have unlimited access to local content
Direct monetary transactions (No more “points” or “wallets”)
Basic Account
Access to marketplace
Delayed access to certain demos / add-ons
Friends list
Chat ability
Limited cloud storage
Premium Account
Expanded cloud storage
Multiplayer access
Early content access
Free/ discounted items
Free/ discounted access to partnered services
Tiered loyalty pricing
Content rental
Content “lending” to friends’ accounts
Direct streaming of supported content
Family discount bundles
Evidence That I’m a Psychic Genius
Not to toot my horn, but I’ve been chipping away at this idea for a while, and with each passing day the industry does more and more things that support my theory. For triple-A titles, the time between retail launch and availability for downloading is getting shorter and shorter. More and more mid-range developers are turning to Arcade / PSN titles to generate revenue; some developers like Double Fine and Twisted Pixel have risen to prominence almost exclusively through downloadable titles. Going direct-download would eliminate manufacturing costs for publishers, which would theoretically mean lower prices and the potential for games that are a risky investment to see the light of day.
On the internet-connectivity front, while initial reaction to digital rights management (DRM) systems that require internet connection was harsh, it hasn’t stopped games that utilize them from being exceptionally successful. Nor has the need for internet slowed the progress of paid and free-to-play MMOs and strategy games. And while I have met a few people in passing who own consoles but have no internet, I can’t say I personally have any gamer friends who aren’t connected any time they play. The availability concerns of five years ago are almost a moot point, as the spread of fiber optic and advancements in broadband technology mean all but the most rural areas can get high-speed connections.
Reasons I’m a Drivel-Spewing Crackpot
While all of this hyper-connected-instant-download talk sounds fun, there are more than a few reasons this would never work. For starters, gaming is a retail industry, and you know when retail makes the most money: Holidays. You take away the ability of girlfriends, brothers, aunts, and parents to put games under a tree or in a birthday bag, and you can almost hear the slam of doors as studios shut down. Speaking of parents, they’re going to have to start learning how these systems work in case something goes wrong with one of the accounts; they’ll need to be familiar enough with the system to purchase games, at the very least. Games which will need to be paid for with a credit or debit card, or monetary value cards like the ones current sold for Steam and PSN.
Of course, those same parents – or even adult gamers – might be stymied from buying anything when they realize that maybe they should have listened to what the guy at GameStop Was saying about “internet only” something-or-other. I couldn’t even begin to give you an exact figure on how many systems / titles (PSP Go, MAG, Starcraft II, World of Warcraft) I sold to people who looked me in the eye and said they understood, only to try and return the items a few hours later. Not to mention that even the most tech-savvy buyer is helpless in the face of a service outage; Comcast issues keeping you from playing online are one thing, but to have your console rendered completely unusable might be a deal breaker for consumers.
Photo courtesy techradar.com
The Middle Ground
In all likelihood, this concept may be a little too radical for consoles that will conceivably be announced and launched this year. That being said, devices like Valve’s “Piston” and the Ouya are paving the way, and I do think we’ll see an increase in titles that have launch-day on demand availability. There might even be room in publishers’ plans for smaller projects that get used as test dummies for digital-only distribution; who knows, some games might even be offered on a direct-streaming service. We’ll also see an increase in cloud storage limits, and better streamlining when using one profile on multiple devices.
Whatever is (or isn’t) coming down the pipes, it’s definitely an exciting time to be a gamer. What are some of your hopes, fears, wants, needs, and dreams for the future of consoles?
The good folks over at Edge have put their ears to the ground and heard some rumors about the next Xbox. First we will go through the list, then discuss.
1. The new Xbox will require an internet connection in order to function and come with an overhauled version of Xbox Live.
2. Games will be put on 50GB Blu-Ray discs.
3. The rumored specs of the system (AMD eight-core X 64, 1.6 Ghz CPU, 8GB DDR3 RAM) are what will ship inside the system.
4. The system will launch with a new version of Kinect packed in.
5. Final size of the hard drive has yet to be decided.
OK, here we go.
First off, I don’t believe that the first rumor will be true. Now Microsoft could easily say that to get the full Xbox experience it is suggested to have an internet connection at all times, but Microsoft also has to realize that there is still a large batch of the population that either don’t have internet or just refuse to get it. I know, I know it is hard to imagine, but take it from me and where I live (insert southern joke here) there are people like this and they play plenty of games, just not online. So to require a connection may burn a bridge to some customers who would have otherwise bought a system especially if Sony is looking at them with arms wide open saying they don’t require internet to play.
The games being put on Blu-Ray discs is almost a no brainer. Microsoft put all there eggs in the HD-DVD basket and came out on the losing end of the HD battle last go round. Now if they are going to keep up with data capacity disc wise, they have to break down and use Blu-Ray. No one will want to play an eight disc DVD version of Fallout 4 when they could have one disc on PS4.
The guts of the system is most likely what is coming inside the new Xbox. There have been too many rumors and reports about the internal make-up of the system that are exactly like the specs above or extremely close.
The Kinect being packed in is making me think that Microsoft will go with a two sku launch. If it is true then I can see a $399 launch without a Kinect and maybe like $449 with a Kinect 2.0 packed in. If Microsoft didn’t want to break that $400 point then they either go one sku at $399 and Kinects all around or drop the Kinect free bundle to $349.
I am already on record thinking that Sony launches with a 1TB hard drive. I may be wrong in that but it just seems right especially if there will only be one Playstation bundle (which i also think). I don’t believe Microsoft will be as generous. I am of the mind that the new Xbox’s will launch with a 500GB hard drive, 750GB if they are feeling frisky. I think 500GB is the one we get.
With Sony’s Playstation event set for February 20th, the wraps of the next generation are slowly being removed. Microsoft should not be far behind with their announcement so Sony won’t have the spotlight all to themselves.
So the guesses were correct the other day when Sony teased us with a short trailer showing a woman walking through a field. It is, in fact, Kratos’ wife as you can see by watching the full version below.
Called “From Ashes”, the live action trailer shows Kratos holding his daughter. She soon begins to break apart and he has flashbacks of his family as a group of soldiers moves in towards him. It is certainly one of Sony’s most ambitious advertisements ever and the company will even be showing a shortened one minute version during the Super Bowl.
God of War: Ascension releases on March 12th. Sony announced a new God of War Playstation 3 bundle with a red console that will release on the same day.
Sony attempted to break the internet last night when they simultaneously announced on their Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages that “the future of Playstation” would be announced at a news conference on February 20th. This instantly has everyone believing that this is where Sony will officially unveil the Playstation 4.
But wait, I hear you exclaiming. Didn’t Kaz Hirai just say that Sony would let their competitors go first in announcing a new console? Why yes, yes he did.
Who knows what is going on? Maybe Sony had a change in plans. Maybe this was their plan all along to give Microsoft a bit of a mindfu**. Either way all signs point to February 20th being a very huge day in the gaming world.
That is, of course, unless Sony just trolled all of us and plan to reveal the new super, super, Keira Knightley slim PS3.
It looks like it is finally time for the Vita to get the quality shooter it needs and deserves. One of the main selling points of Sony’s handheld, besides the power under the hood, was the whole new world that was opened by having two analog sticks. But the Resistance and Call of Duty franchises have fallen flat on their face in the past year and failed to deliver the FPS experience that the Vita is built for. Killzone: Mercenary is looking to change that. Developed by Guerrilla Cambridge to bring the Killzone experience to our sweaty little palms.
Killzone: Mercenary has you playing as…..wait for it….a mercenary in the midst of the Helghan/ISA war and will take place after the first Killzone. You can essentially play both sides since you will be taking jobs based on who pays you more. It appears the game will have a robust weapons list from which to spend said blood money.
The game simply looks amazing. When the Vita was launched, this was the type of game you knew the system was capable of, it was just a matter of time before someone figured out how to harness the real horsepower. Just watching the trailer you could almost be fooled into thinking you are watching a PS3 trailer.
Check out the video and screenshots below to see how great Killzone is looking so far.
