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Sony put on a hell of a show this evening effectively presenting themselves as fierce competition for Microsoft’s XBOX ONE.
Let’s get down to it! The PS4 will be available “this holiday season” and will retail for $399 USD in North America and €399 and £349 in Europe. Let’s take a look at the new PS4 hardware! It looks slimmer than the XBONE and reminds me a of a cross between the PS3 and PS2.. which is appropriate, I suppose!
Sony also made it clear that they are are in support of the used games market – stating that once you buy a PS4 disc, you own it. You can sell it, lend it, trade it, or keep it forever. Great move on their part, IMO.
Sony also stated that their new console would require no online check-in and will continue to work indefinitely if you choose to play your games offline. Another great move.
Existing Playstation Plus subscriptions will carry over to the PS4 console. This means that you will have access to your Plus features across all Sony Playstation platforms – PS4, PS3 and PS Vita. All for one price.
It was softly hinted at, and later confirmed, that online multiplayer experiences on PS4 will require a PS Plus subscription. It’s a change that people are not used to.. but at $5 a month, it’s still quite an inexpensive fee to enjoy these features. We have not been told whether or not PS3 online multiplayer will be effected, but I would place my bets on that staying the same (ie: free).
But what about the games?! Here’s the run down! Be sure to check out the embedded and linked videos, too!
Playstation 4
- Santa Monica Studios’ The Order 1886 was shown. Exclusive to PS4.
- Killzone: Shadowfall was shown. Exclusive to PS4.
- Drive Club was also shown and was announced that it will also be a PSPlus freebie for the Instant Games Collection program.
- More footage of InFamous: Second Son was shown.
- Further footage of Knack was shown.
- An impressive tech demo from Quantic Dream, titled “The Dark Sorcerer” was shown off. Really amazing stuff.
- Indy developer Super Giant Games is bringing Transistor to PS4.
- Playstation announced a ton of new indy studios working on games for PS4.
- There was an update given on the Playstation versions of Blizzard’s Diablo 3. The Playstation versions will have exclusive PS-themed items in-game. Ie: items based on or named after Uncharted, etc.
- Square Enix showed off Final Fantasy Versus XIII.. Now renamed to simply Final Fantasy XV.
- Square Enix also showed us Kingdom Hearts 3!
- Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag was shown off. Unfortunately the game kind of lagged out.. not sure what happened there.
- Watch Dogs was given a more in depth look. The Playstation versions of this game will include an extra hour of game content, plus DLC attire for the main character.
- Lebron James talked about NBA 2k14.
- In what was probably my favourite moment of the night: it was announced that Bethesda and ZeniMax Online Studios are bringing The Elder Scrolls Online MMO to PS4 in Spring 2014! It’s also coming to XBOX ONE but Playstation players will have first access to the beta phase. Holy hell, what an exciting development!
- A Mad Max game is being developed by Warner Brothers Interactive and Avalanche and will have Playstation exclusive DLC.
- Finally, we were treated to a long look at gameplay for Bungie’s Destiny. Looks amazing!
Playstation 3
- Several upcoming games were shown: The Last of Us, Rain, Beyond: Two Souls, Gran Turismo 6, Batman: Arkham Origins.
- Exclusive Batman: Arkham Origins content coming to PS3: Knightfall and 60’s Batman costumes.
- A Grand Theft Auto V + PS3 console bundle is coming this Fall. Priced at $299.
- Sony is also releasing a GTAV branded version of their bluetooth headset
Playstation Vita
- 85 new titles will be released for the Vita by the end of 2013.
- Batman Arkham Origins and Killzone Mercenary were shown.
- God of War 1 & 2 HD are coming to the Vita.
- Final Fantasy X & X-2 HD are also coming to the Vita.
- Telltale’s Walking Dead (the original game) and 400 Days (new content) are coming to the Vita.
- A Walking Dead Vita bundle will be coming as well – bundling together the Vita hardware, and all Walking Dead content (includes 400 Days).
- Remote play for PS4 was touched on. Vita was called “the ultimate companion piece” for PS4.
Playstation Network
- Playstation is enlisting Sony Pictures to bring existing and original content exclusively to PS4.
- Playstation is also beefing up their Music and Video Unlimited services – streaming to tablets and smartphones coming!
- Verizon’s Redbox Instant is also coming to PSN & PS4.
- Pay Per View events will be viewable through PSN & PS4.
