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Feb 21, 2013 - The Sony PS4 has been announced by Sony! Tonight in New York Sony announced its much-rumored next video game console, the PlayStation 4. So far we haven’t yet get any idea of what the PlayStation 4 looks like, but Sony revealed some tantalising details about the hardware specs, along with some amazing software features that the new console will have.
PlayStation 4: Hardware
PS4 will be powered by an AMD APU - most probably a Jaguar core. That means the CPU sits on the same die as a GPU element, and so-say offers 2 teraflops of compute power. If this is indeed the chip we're talking about, the PS4's CPU packs eight cores but is clocked at a measly 1.6GHz (boooo). The main benefit of a setup like this is that the console will be very power efficient, meaning less draw and quieter operation, i.e. no need for any mahoosive, loud and invasive cooling fans.
The drawback of this CPU - and it's a real biggie - is that it is, frankly, an incredibly mediocre chip in this modern age. It's third-tier tech even by AMD's standards, and thus is absolutely no match for even budget Intel processors. The current batch of eight core Intel Xeon processors are simply in a different universe.
PlayStation 4: New Features
Mark Cerny explained that PS4 owners will be able to share their gameplay stream with friends, even giving their peers the ability remotely take control of the game to help them get through a tough spot. Gaikai founder Dave Perry explained that the technology is baked in to the PS4 architecture, and will give players new avenues of sharing their experiences by piping out video to Facebook and Ustream. The cloud gaming trick is central to the PlayStation Store too, promising to allow gamers the ability to "instantly experience anything." In other words, try before you buy, and forget about waiting for downloads.
PS4 is also to get companion social app for tablets. The network will also learn a player's likes and dislikes, and automatically download content it figures users will dig. Hirai and Co. are also planning PS Vita and tablet apps for folks to partake in the social experiences when they're not near their PS4.
PlayStation 4: Backwards compatibility
The PS4 will definitely not offer native support for PS3 games. However, there will at some point be a service on the Sony Entertainment Network that offers server-side emulation and streaming of games from PS One classics right through to PS3 Platinum Editions.
PlayStation 4: Price
No pricing details were revealed at the event, so all we've got to go on are various rumours from before the launch - but it might be that Sony has a price point of around $400 in mind for the US release. That translates to around £255 so you could extrapolate that to around £299.
This is further backed up by a recent report in The Times which states that Sony is aiming for a price of under £300 in the U.K. Many people think it'll be more than that though - we'll just have to wait and see.
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