The Verge - PlayStation 4: all the info on Sony's next generation hardware

Sony adds instant 'remote play' of PlayStation 4 games on PS Vita

2013-02-20T23:40:47Z

Sony has announced a new "remote play" feature for the PS Vita, which will allow PlayStation 4 games to be played directly on the Vita. "Our long term goal is to make every PS4 title playable on the Vita," the company says. It's a strategy similar to what we've seen on the Nintendo Wii U and Nvidia's Project Shield, where home console or PC games can be streamed to a smaller second screen. Though we're not sure exactly how it works yet, Sony says it's integrated Gaikai technology that "effectively makes it a game server." Unfortunately, there appears to be no similar support for tablets, which effectively limits remote play to people who have gone all-in on Sony's ecosystem.

Update: Sony's official press release states that the...

Sony announces DualShock 4 controller with touchpad and 3D camera tracking

2013-02-20T23:18:37Z

Sony has announced the DualShock 4, a new controller with a touchpad and headphone jack. The controller will come with a dedicated share button and a light bar that identifies players or changes color during play, and it essentially looks like a sleeker version of the classic DualShock. The light bar, which rotates between three different colors, can actually be used to provide feedback during gameplay — to notify a player if their health is running low, for example.

The DualShock 4 packs some additional surprises inside, including a six-axis sensor and a built-in speaker. A 3D camera — dubbed the PlayStation 4 Eye — can also track the controller's motion from the light bar, sensing depth. Overall, the system is much like the p...

PlayStation 4: does Sony's next generation start now?

2013-02-19T22:09:30Z

Tomorrow evening, Sony is widely expected to unveil its fourth-generation PlayStation, which could become Sony's biggest product launch of the year. In fact, it could be Sony's biggest launch for the next half decade.

That's thanks largely to the PlayStation brand's proud lineage: the original PlayStation put arcade-quality gaming into homes around the world, the PlayStation 2 drove DVD adoption and amassed the most comprehensive video game library of all time, and the ambitious PlayStation 3 is arguably the main reason we still have Blu-ray today. So there's a lot at stake for Sony's all-but-certain PlayStation 4 — or whatever the name may be — when it's announced tomorrow evening. PlayStations are more than just game machines;...

New PlayStation will expand social features, could integrate mobile gaming, says WSJ

2013-02-18T20:19:14Z

Mere days before the successor to the PlayStation 3 is rumored to be announced, The Wall Street Journal has published a few more tidbits on what we might see. According to anonymous sources, Sony will be expanding on the console's current social features, allowing users to share achievements through Facebook and Twitter and upload gameplay footage to YouTube. These features were already present to some extent on the PlayStation 3, but we could be seeing a better experience in the future, in line with previous reports that the new PlayStation would emphasize social gaming experiences.

The Journal also tentatively filled in some of the gaps in Sony's plans for extra features and its acquired cloud gaming service Gaikai: we're now hearing...

PlayStation 4 will stream PS3 games, reports WSJ

2013-02-16T00:38:05Z

Last June, Sony purchased Gaikai, a company that can stream games — delivering them over the internet in real time from remote servers, by sending compressed video frames. Now, The Wall Street Journal reports what many have suspected for months: Sony will use the service to stream games to the next PlayStation game console, which the company is widely expected to reveal on February 20th. However, according to the publication, Sony won't necessarily use Gaikai to deliver brand-new games. Those will reportedly still be delivered on optical disc. Instead, the next PlayStation will allegedly bring existing PlayStation 3 games to the new system using the streaming technology.

A play for backwards compatibility

Previous generations of...

Another photo of PlayStation 4 'prototype' controller surfaces ahead of Sony event

2013-02-15T16:40:57Z

It was only yesterday that Destructoid gave the world its first glimpse at a purported controller for Sony's next-gen PlayStation console. Since then, other publications including IGN and Kotaku have confirmed the image as legitimate while being careful to emphasize we're likely seeing a prototype design that could differ substantially with what Sony is expected to unveil next week. Yet the same controller has turned up in a second photo, this time from another angle. Thankfully the handles appear a fair bit longer here than in the original shot, and you're again able to make out those concave analog sticks, an LED strip at the top, and what looks to be an LCD or some type of touchpad at the controller's center.

New in this shot,...

Sony PlayStation 4 controller prototype reportedly leaked in new photo

2013-02-14T21:05:38Z

Sony already announced that we'd "see the future" of the PlayStation at its event next week, and now a photo has emerged that may be our first look at a prototype controller for its new console. Destructoid has the image, which shows a DualShock-style controller with what appears to be a touchpad on top, and a blue light on its back. The addition of a touchpad lines up with previous reports about the PlayStation 4 controller, while the blue light bears a strong resemblance to that found on Sony's PlayStation Move motion controllers. As Polygon points out, Sony was granted a patent for a Move-equipped controller back in 2012.

Kotaku is also reporting that one of its sources have confirmed the image is real — but cautions that since...

PlayStation 4 report suggests $400+ price (update)

2013-02-07T00:23:33Z

The PlayStation 4 will launch this year for over 40,000 yen (about $428), according to a report in major Japanese daily the Asahi Shimbun. That's the first clear indication we've gotten on how much the new system might cost, and suggests that while Sony isn't pricing the PS4 too aggressively next to the likes of the Wii U, it may have learned its lesson from the shaky PlayStation 3 launch.

For comparison, upon release in 2006 the PS3 cost around 60,000 yen in its more expensive configuration, and $599 in the US. Meanwhile, the cheapest PS3 now costs 24,980 yen in Japan versus $269 in the US. Were the PS4 to launch at 40,000 yen in Japan, we'd expect an American price point of around $400 or more.

Has Sony learned its lesson from PS3?

T...