PlayStation Meeting 2013: What We Know.

Sony's PlayStation meeting on February 20th, 2013 in New York was an invitation-only event that broke records for the most continuous streams of an electronic event.The event brought out big time developers, such as Square Enix, Activision and Ubisoft as well as PlayStation World Wide Studios partners' Santa Monica Studios, Guerrilla Games and Sucker Punch. The press were also in attendance, from GameSpot, Spike's GameTrailersTV and even media royalty like Adam Sessler. And then there were the bloggers and the game industry experts, like former Gears of War developer-turned Lamborghini aficionado Cliff Bleszinski and former Treyarch community manager Josh Olin.

Cliff Bleszinski, presumably after he filled up his Lamborghini with premium. 

For all your chainsaw-to-a-tree needs, hit the jump.


Of course, Sony also had to put on a show for these industry heavy-weights, and that meant bringing in the best developers, designers and publishers that Sony has in their stable, and they didn't disappoint.

Andrew House, President of Sony Computer Entertainment, took the stage and set a scene for us. A scene where gaming wasn't confined to the living room anymore because of the PSVita, and that inter-connectivity  ease of access and quality was forefront in the gaming industry. He promised "The future of play."

Andrew House, President of SCE, announcing the PS4.

Mr. House announced that the PS4 console would be available this holiday season, and then passed the stage off to Mark Cerny, who is not only a world-famous game designer, but serves as the PlayStation 4 Lead Architect. Mark tells us that the PlayStation 3 is the "top platform for NetFlix" and then immediately turns to the PS4 design capability. He reveals that Sony approached developers, presumably ones who publicly claimed displeasure in developing for the PS3, discreetly as early as 2008, searching for clues as to how to built a better architecture for developers to build on. They then rolled this in to a new platform, with the latest advancements in technology.

Mark Cerny, Lead Architect on the PlayStation 4 project, talking shop.

The PlayStation 4 will be powered by a custom 8-core AMD "Jaguar" x86-64 with integrated graphics APU and "next-generation" AMD Radeon graphics processor capable of driving 1.84 teraflops. It will also come paired with 8GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory, a Blu-ray drive, built-in 80.211 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, as well as HDMI, Analog-AV, and optical digital output. Sony is giving I/O options a boost with the inclusion of USB 3.0 ports and a mysteriously vague "AUX" port. Each system will ship a "Mono Headset" for cross-game chat and other social features. This makes the console competitive with the most gaming-focused PC's on the market today, and will maintain that competitive nature for most of it's life cycle.

The DualShock4 Controller, front view.

The DualShock4 Controller will feature advanced vibration technology, a familiar shape and design, as well as some other tweaks in performance and latency improvements.

The DualShock4 Controller, top left view.

As you can see in this photo, the front has a light bar, which uses the same technology as the PlayStation Move controller, to identify the controller and it's position in relation to the screen. This will vastly improve movement-based game play and will assist the six-axis motion sensors introduced with the PlayStation 3. This light bar will also react to certain in-game criteria, depending on the developer's use of the technology. For example, if your character is on the brink of death, it may pulse red and the controller vibrate. Or, if your character is racing a blue car, it may be blue to signify who is playing as who.

The DualShock4 Controller, top view.

You can see the USB charging port directly under the move light. Same as the DualShock3, it has no removable battery, however improvements in the battery charging interface allow it to be charged by any charger with the proper USB port.

The Dualshock4 Controller, plan view.

Noticeably different is the face of the controller itself. The PS button has been moved lower, to between the sticks. There isn't a "Start" or "Select" button anymore; it is replaced by a single "Options" button to the top right of the face plate  There is a "Share" button to the top left of the face plate  allowing users to instantly stream and share and interact. To quote Sony's Shuhei Yoshida:

The “Share” button allows you to easily broadcast your gameplay in real-time through streaming sites such as Ustream, where fellow gamers can comment and even join your game in new ways. For example, if you’re stuck in a difficult level, your friends can offer health potions or special weapons that you can use during game play  You can also instantly upload images or video to Facebook by pressing the “Share” button. As both a developer and a gamer, I’m personally excited about the opportunity to get help from friends when facing a challenge, and I can’t wait to see what my friends are playing in real time along with videos of their favorite in-game moment

The large void in the middle of the controller's face plate is the touch pad, allowing new and interesting ways for players to control input. The controller is also equipped with a speaker, which will work in conjunction with your standard audio setup. Additionally, there is a port for connection of a stereo headset directly to the controller for social purposes. The console will ship with a mono headset.

Other key features for the new platform include a newly revamped PlayStation Network, which will allow gamers, through Sony's acquisition of Gaikai, a cloud-based video game service, to instantly try any game in the library, and if they want to play more of it, they can just buy it.

Another aspect of the Gaikai inclusion is that Sony, through gamer profiles, will be able to send games that it thinks, based off of your preferences, you will want to buy directly to your console before you buy them, allowing for you to instantly play your new title.

David Perry, CEO of cloud-based gaming service Gaikai,
touted "Try for free, and only buy the games you really love."

It also means that second-screen technology is here to stay. Let's imagine you are playing the latest Elder Scrolls title in your living room on your PS4 when your spouse decides that she wants to watch the Food TV Muffin Madness Marathon on your only television. Currently, you would save the game and shut down, succumbing to hours of listening to how "buttermilk evens the palette" and other cookery nonsense. With remote play, more importantly second-screen technology, you just whip out your PlayStation Vita, sync up with your game and walk away. The PS4 processes all the game data, graphics and more, but streams it to your Vita. Your Vita is literally only a control interface and screen, it does none of the processing required.

Another interesting feature is what I am calling the "I've fallen and I can't get up!" feature, which, once Sony gives it a proper name, will allow you to hook up with a PSN friend and have them get you out of the hole you dug yourself in without them coming over or anything. They play your game from their living room, and you sit there and see it on your console.

The new PSN will also allow you to be notified when your friends get a new game, so you can get it too, and feature advanced connectivity with social media platforms such as Facebook.

Well, that's it for the new console gibber-jabber. I'll talk new games in a new blog post coming <very> soon. In the mean time, here is the whole shebang for you to watch, if you are so bored and/or inclined.

Streaming live video by Ustream