Sony announcing PS4 20th Feb 13

[BassTech]

See the Future – PlayStation Blog

 

What do you think? It has to be the PS4 surely?

[featured_spectre]

From what I have heard, they're announcing a paid for service to use the PSN, and an update to give it a streamlined "metro" style feel...but thats sony fan boards.

[featured_spectre]

Also, console announcements tend to come at the E3 convention

[tmcd35]

Grrr, can't access the link! I agree with @nephilim, the PS4 launch is likely to be at E3. I hope they're not planning anything that'll bugger up my PSN subscription, I'm liking it the way it is at the moment...

 

edit: The store was upgraded last month, and yeah it is a little metro like, and actually much better than before - I like it.

[featured_spectre]

just judging by sony fan chatter...it looks to be a subscription similar to live, and sony staff are not denying this, though they have denied that new games will be released on PSPlus and they'll be a 3 month turnaround before released games are available to buy on there (EG game released on disk in Jan is available in April on PSPlus)

[L3OUGH]

@nephilim, nooooooooooo! They can't start charging us to use PSN! Why are they sinking down to Microsoft's level with Xbox Live!? :@

 

I hope that is nothing more than a rumor, and that nothing else comes of it.

[BassTech]

Some people seem to think it's the announcement for Gaikai - The live streaming service that sony purchased not long ago, and that this will be an addition to PS+ (Similar to OnLive)

 

I doubt very much that sony will start charging everyone for online gaming.

Edited February 1, 2013 by BassTech

[localzuk]

I reckon they'll be announcing a new rootkit

[LosOjos]

maybe it's an announcement that they've found a way to halve the time of PS3 updates - it'll now only take 1 hour

[featured_spectre]

Would make sense if they did charge...why do you say?

 

1) Parties. Currently you can only talk to friends who are in the same game as you. The additional bandwidth on Sony servers for party chat would be immense, therefore there would need to be a cost

2) Service. A 100mb file on a 50mb connection on xbox takes a shade under 2 minutes, the same size file on PS3 on the same connection, at a similar time and day, takes half hour. They need to increase bandwidth to cope with demand for downloads

3) Lag. Xbox rarely suffers from gaming or party chat lag. PS3 suffers frequently. This is using a wired connection on both machines.

 

Sony need to up their game before they release the next console, and either way, they risk losing a lot of customers.

 

*EDIT*

 

Having both consoles, I am not biased towards either, I am just stating facts based on my experience.

Edited February 1, 2013 by featured_spectre

[tmcd35]

Gaikai would be a good/interesting announcement but I was somehow expecting that one with/after PS4 as I'm guessing it's main use will be to provide PS3 backwards compatibility?

 

I already pay for PS+ and am very happy with service (ok, free games) I get. If they add more to the service fine, but paying anything in addition to PS+ for access to the PSN would make me want to cancel my current subscription.

Edited February 1, 2013 by tmcd35

[BassTech]

I'll answer them:

 

1) Parties. Currently you can only talk to friends who are in the same game as you. The additional bandwidth on Sony servers for party chat would be immense, therefore there would need to be a cost

 

Sony already wanted to implement cross-game-chat into the PS3 as it was the most requested feature. The reason they didn't do this is because the PS3 simply does not have enough memory available to support cross-game-chat. Sony have themselves confirmed this - nothing to do with bandwidth.

 

2) Service. A 100mb file on a 50mb connection on xbox takes a shade under 2 minutes, the same size file on PS3 on the same connection, at a similar time and day, takes half hour. They need to increase bandwidth to cope with demand for downloads

 

I disagree with this, my PS3 has never taken half an hour to download 100mb, even on wireless on a sky broadband 8mb line...

 

3) Lag. Xbox rarely suffers from gaming or party chat lag. PS3 suffers frequently. This is using a wired connection on both machines.

 

This depends on the game, I very rarely experience lag online on PS3 I played FIFA 13 and BO2 for hours last night, in a party with my headset and not one bit of lag. Again this was at peak UK time (6-8ish), wireless on sky broadband.

Edited February 1, 2013 by BassTech

[BassTech]

UPDATE: WALL STREET JOURNAL CONFIRM VIDEO IS PS4 TEASER: WSJ: Yes, Sony Will Announce the PlayStation 4 on February 20th | Gizmodo UK

[Guest Guest]

1. The reason they didn't do this is because the PS3 simply does not have enough memory available to support cross-game-chat.

 

So Sony have made a console which we are "no where near maxing out the processor" but it can't handle opening msn due to lack of memory. Well done sony (though my bets are on your source is incorrect as I just can't see a messenger app using much memory)

 

 

2. disagree with this, my PS3 has never taken half an hour to download 100mb, even on wireless on a sky broadband 8mb line...

 

We took GT round a mates to play when it first came out. It took 3 hours to install, update the console and update the game. This is on a reliable 10mb virgin line. Yes 3 hours. That was the last time any of us entertained the idea of playing a PS.

 

 

3. This depends on the game, I very rarely experience lag online on PS3 I played FIFA 13 and BO2 for hours last night, in a party with my headset and not one bit of lag.

 

Don't know about BO2 but FIFA, as with every EA game, uses EAs/Origin servers so nothing to do with MS or Sony on the gaming front.

Edited February 1, 2013 by Guest

[tmcd35]

UPDATE: WALL STREET JOURNAL CONFIRM VIDEO IS PS4 TEASER: WSJ: Yes, Sony Will Announce the PlayStation 4 on February 20th | Gizmodo UK

 

Money, Pocket, Hole, Burn...

 

We took GT round a mates to play when it first came out. It took 3 hours to install, update the console and update the game. This is on a reliable 10mb virgin line. Yes 3 hours. That was the last time any of us entertained the idea of playing a PS.

 

As a PS3 owner I'd happily admit that the only thing that really, really, really annoys me about the console is it's patch mechanism. The fact that I can download a full game from the store and it'd need patching is unforgivable. The fact that Sony insist of full patches rather than delta updates (which I believe the 360 uses) just makes a bad situation almost intolerable. Thankfully I have a 50mb Virgin Media connection so, so long as I don't try using the internet for any reason at all during peek times, I haven't waited more than 20mins for anything.

 

Installing Batman Arkham City on my mums PS3 over Christmas on the other hand was an all day affair (she's got a 2mb if lucky connection).

 

 

I'm hoping Sony have something good up their sleeves this time. I want to see a PS+ style subscription service, Gaikai, and at least 4k Blu-Ray...

[mac_shinobi]

I'm hoping Sony have something good up their sleeves this time. I want to see a PS+ style subscription service, Gaikai, and at least 4k Blu-Ray...

 

Would like to see some specs obviously when they become available to see what they include or what you get with the PS 4.

 

1. I only have a 1080p HD TV, not an ultra HD TV ( so if 4k Blu-Ray is on the cards then this is no use to me )

2. Im in the middle of playing some games on PS 3, don't have or own an xbox so can't comment on the xbox side

[BassTech]

1. So Sony have made a console which we are "no where near maxing out the processor" but it can't handle opening msn due to lack of memory. Well done sony (though my bets are on your source is incorrect as I just can't see a messenger app using much memory)

 

MSN??? and basically, yes they have. PS3 has 512MB, split between CPU and GPU, many devs have said over the Years the low memory is a big issue with the PS3, so each MB is precious to devs.

 

 

2. We took GT round a mates to play when it first came out. It took 3 hours to install, update the console and update the game. This is on a reliable 10mb virgin line. Yes 3 hours. That was the last time any of us entertained the idea of playing a PS.

 

Different. I was talking about 100mb file. The install takes a long time, but that's nothing to do with internet speeds. All the updates together are massively big, I expect if GT5 was on the Xbox 360 the speeds would be the same.

 

3. This depends on the game, I very rarely experience lag online on PS3 I played FIFA 13 and BO2 for hours last night, in a party with my headset and not one bit of lag.

 

Don't know about BO2 but FIFA, as with every EA game, uses EAs/Origin servers so nothing to do with MS or Sony on the gaming front.

 

True, also exclusive PS3 games run great online... Warhawk springs to mind...

[arwen]

I've had 2 PS3's since they came out, my original 60GB model overheated and melted the solder off the motherboard after me using it constantly. My current slim model one has never overheated and has only ever crashed when playing Skyrim…

 

So I am happy with the PS3. What is the PS4 going to do that the PS3 cannot?

If it is not backwards compatible with PS3 games I don't see me upgrading.

[X-13]

So I am happy with the PS3. What is the PS4 going to do that the PS3 cannot?

 

Play PS4 games.

 

We're sort-of at the point with new consoles where they're releasing new ones, simply to release new ones.

[LosOjos]

We're sort-of at the point with new consoles where they're releasing new ones, simply to release new ones.

 

I don't know if it's any different to any other point in the past 20 years - each new iteration brings on new advances in the technology, meaning better graphics and "bigger" (at least theoretically) games. Sure, the improvement isn't as obvious as it was from 4-bit > 8-bit > 16-bit > 32-bit, but essentially it's always been about enabling better graphics and more memory to allow developers to produce bigger and "better" games (I still play my 8-bit consoles so better is definitely subjective)

[X-13]

I don't know if it's any different to any other point in the past 20 years - each new iteration brings on new advances in the technology, meaning better graphics and "bigger" (at least theoretically) games. Sure, the improvement isn't as obvious as it was from 4-bit > 8-bit > 16-bit > 32-bit, but essentially it's always been about enabling better graphics and more memory to allow developers to produce bigger and "better" games (I still play my 8-bit consoles so better is definitely subjective)

 

True, but HD is good. They're already talking about how true to life it looks. [Or more, the consoles can render true-to-life graphics already]

 

Why the hell do we need ultra HD? [Apart from the the fact Sony sell ultra HD TVs?]

[Theblacksheep]

True, but HD is good. They're already talking about how true to life it looks. [Or more, the consoles can render true-to-life graphics already]

 

Why the hell do we need ultra HD? [Apart from the the fact Sony sell ultra HD TVs?]

 

Some 5" phone are now 1080p HD and look great, yet my 50" TV maxes out at the same res? TV and monitor technology is so far behind the best screen technology its laughable. Films have been recorded in 4k for a while and wont be very easy to stream. FPS also makes a big difference so I'm expecting 120fps to be a standard. Check out Smooth Video Project (for MPC) to see what 24fps to 60fps+ can do!

 

Anyway the games wont be 4k and 120fps, like current gen can rarely do 1080p, they all upscale from lower internally rendered resolutions. The graphics wont look that much better if they truly step to 4k due to the pixel fill ratio. Viewing your camera pics (higher than hd), 4k youtube videos will be well worth it... along with 4k 2d games!

 

Still got my launch day Japanese PS3, still working and actually worked out cheaper than the UK one even taking into account shipping. Slim no problems either.

Edited February 7, 2013 by Theblacksheep

[tmcd35]

So I am happy with the PS3. What is the PS4 going to do that the PS3 cannot?

 

I'm expecting 1080p @ 60fps with optional 4k upscaling compared to 720p @ 60fps and 1080p upscaling.

 

If it is not backwards compatible with PS3 games I don't see me upgrading.

You won't be upgrading. The one thing I think can be pretty much guaranteed is backwards compatibility won't happen. There's only one way I could possibly happen and thats including PS3 hardware in the PS4. The only the first edition US/JP PS3's included the PS2 emotion chip for full backwards compatibility. We can be very certain that doing it in software is completely impossible. Only hope for PS3 on PS4 is Gaikai... which you'll have to pay for.

Edited February 7, 2013 by tmcd35

[Theblacksheep]

Q) How many other wired consoles (1990+) have allowed FULL backwards compatibility or purchased games?

 

A) 3

 

PS2->PS1.

PS3->PS1.

WiiU->Wii.

 

Wii->GC removed in latter models.

360->xbx limited/discontinued.

PS3->PS2 limited/removed

[tmcd35]

Actually, I suspect a fairer answer is one that no one want to hear. The PS4 will have full backwards compatibility with all previous Playstations - you'll just have to re-purchase all your games again and download from the PSN store.

 

PS1 and PS2 can be easily done in software and I can't see why current PSN Store offering can't be transported across. As I said above, I expect Gaikai to be the means of providing PS3 compatibility for those willing to pay to play old games...