Sony undercuts Xbox One, as 2013 console war hits play
Announced at E3 gaming event in LA earlier today, Sony PlayStation 4 was official unveiled for the first time to the gaming community at large. And its basically a black box.
PS 4 will have an RRP of A$549 in OZ – $50 cheaper than
Xbox One, also announced at E3, but $150 more than the console’s US pricetag, and will be available around holiday time, says Sony.
First
revealed in February, PS4 will have an 8-core x86 processor, “enhanced GPU”, 8 GB of unified GDDR5 memory, hard drive, and a secondary custom chip to handle social features and uploads/downloads.
Sony CEO Computer Entertainment, Jack Trenton also clearly had his eye on his Xbox competition, referring to the fact PS 4 doesn’t need constant Internet connection to game (single play only) and will support older games, according to reports from E3.
“Gamers should be free to trade in their games, sell them or loan them to friends,” said Trenton. “We want to support the retail models already in place.”
“Your PS4 won’t stop working if you don’t check in every 24 hours,” he added.
The new Playstation is also more social – players can ‘share’ (with a dedicated button on PS 4’s DualShock wireless controller), view game-related information shared by peers, get recommended content, games, TV shows and movies.
The Twittersphere was in overdrive following the gaming head-off between the titans of the hardware industry, and many seemed won over by Sony cheaper price tag, meaning we could see a price cut from Microsoft.
“Games games games -sports- games -looks- games -tv- games games -used games- GAMES GAMES GAAAAMES – killer price. That’s how you win #sonye3,” user ‘Lightblind’ tweeted.
Sam McKee wrote:” Plays used games, online connection not required, better hardware and ram, and $100 cheaper. Game Over.”
“Microsoft won’t be able to stand straight for weeks after that conference,” another (amused) gamer tweeted.
But it wasn’t all about hardware – the gaming giant announced new PS4 games – The Order: 1886, The Dark Sorcerer and indie titles including Don’t Starve.
Shu Yoshida, president of Sony Computer Entertainment’s worldwide studios, today said 30 PS4 titles are in development at Worldwide Studios.
Sony also announced new media entertainment hook up with Netflix, Redbox, MLB, and Flickster, according to reports, although some of these including Netflix, aren’t available locally.
