E3 2013: Sony and the PS4

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Like Microsoft, Sony held a pre-E3 event where they officially announced the next-gen PlayStation, the PS4. Without showing off the actual console, Sony filled in a lot of the blanks by talking up the advanced architecture that powers the machine, introducing the DualShock 4 wireless controller, a new PlayStation Eye camera, the system’s ability to share and stream gaming sessions, and the company even saved time to introduce some next-gen games. At last, Sony revealed the actual box behind it all and previewed many more games coming to PS4 (more than 140 of them are coming this year) at its E3 briefing. For more, jump after the break.

Sony kicked off its E3 briefing with a look at the PS Vita. The powerful handheld “is just beginning its life cycle,” the company remarked. In fact, more than 85 titles will launch for Vita by the end of this year including Batman: Arkham Origins (WB Games Montreal), CounterSpy (Dynamighty), Destiny of Spirits (Q Entertainment), Doki Doki Universe (HumaNature), Killzone: Mercenary (Guerrilla Cambridge), and Tearaway (Media Molecule). A handful of remastered classics are coming to Vita, too, and they include God of War HD 1 & 2, Final Fantasy X & X-2, Flower, and Dead Nation. The next chapter in Telltale Games’ acclaimed The Walking Dead series called 400 Days is coming to Vita in a bundle this August that will include the complete first season of the series and other bonus content.

The PS3 isn’t losing steam anytime soon; Sony remains committed to the seven-year-old console and says over 300 titles are coming to it before the end of the year. Previewed at the briefing were The Last of Us (Naughty Dog), Puppeteer (SCE Japan Studio), Rain (Japan Studio), Beyond: Two Souls (Quantic Dream), Gran Turismo 6 (Polyphony Digital), Batman: Arkham Origins (WB Games) [exclusive to PS3: Nightfall DLC & 1960s TV show Batman skin], and Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar Games) [Sony will release a new bundle including the game, a 500GB console, and a custom Pulse Elite headset for $299 this September].

And then there was the PS4 hardware reveal. “It is a design that is sleek, visually impactful wherever it is placed.” The black box features a unique design; when viewed for the side, less than one half of it is glossy while the bottom third is all matte. Dividing the two sections is a thin line with a blue hue. Inside is a 500GB HDD, in case you’re wondering, and storage is upgradable.

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A section of the briefing was saved for serving up new entertainment initiatives on PS4. Michael Lynton, CEO of Sony Entertainment, took the stage to announce that Sony Pictures is hard at work on a brand new original programming plan that will bring unique access to content that will be available exclusively on PSN and PS4. It will “deliver new, cutting edge programming developed with gamers in mind.” Sounds like Sony is taking a page out of Xbox One and its plan to develop console-exclusive programming such as Steven Spielberg’s live-action Halo series. Also mentioned was that Music and Video Unlimited services are coming to PS4 at launch, and the Redbox Instant by Verizon, Flixter, and a Live Events Viewer by Sony are coming to PS platforms later this year.

Next Sony spent some time discussing the future of PlayStation Plus. Existing memberships will carry over to the PS4, and members will have access to all Plus benefits across the company’s central devices including the PS3, PS Vita, and PS4 for one price (the annual subscription rate remains at $49.99). As you should already know, PS Plus gets you discounted games, cloud saves, automatic game updates, early access to beta programs, and an instant game collection. When the PS4 arrives, however, gamers must subscribe to the service if they want to play games online and enable multiplayer sessions. Note that single player sessions and access to all media services on the PS4 won’t require Plus. Plus members will get immediate access to Driveclub: PS Plus Edition when PS4 launches, and they’ll receive one new title every month including indie games like Don’t Starve, Outlast, and The Secret Ponchos.

Also briefly touched upon was the future of Sony’s cloud gaming initiative. The Gaikai-powered cloud service is coming in 2014 beginning in the US. The service will provide PS4 and PS3 customers, followed by Vita owners, with immediate access to a catalog of critically acclaimed PS3 games streamed over the Internet at lightning fast speeds.

Sony responded directly to Xbox One’s DRM woes by addressing the hot issue head-on at E3. PS4 supports used games and it won’t impose any new restrictions on the use of used games. Gamers will be free to trade in disc-based games at retail, sell them to another person, lend them to friends, or decide to keep them forever. Disc-based games do not have to be connected to the Internet to play, and single player sessions won’t require periodic check-ins for an Internet connection. Essentially Sony is moving in the opposite direction of Microsoft when it comes to DRM in video games; theoretically, things will remain the same when it comes to playing used and borrowed games on PS4. However, after the briefing, Sony clarified their stance by saying it won’t impose any restrictions on their games but the company is leaving it up to third party publishers’ discretion to make such decisions. In Sony’s words:

There’s gonna be free-to-play, there’s gonna be every potential business model on there, and again, that’s up to their relationship with the consumer, what do they think is going to put them in the best fit. We’re not going to dictate that, we’re gonna give them a platform to publish on. The DRM decision is going to have to be answered by the third parties, it’s not something we’re going to control, or dictate, or mandate, or implement.

And that brings us to the final major announcement from Sony’s briefing. The PS4 will release “this holiday season” at $399. True, this is one Benjamin less than what the Xbox One will cost when it launches in November, but keep in mind that the One ships with a mandatory Kinect while the enhanced PlayStation Eye remains an accessory sold separately at $59. PS4 is available to preorder today; at Amazon the Launch Day Edition is currently sold out, but if you opt to get one of three game bundles you can still snag the system on day one.

The Games (“*” denotes PS4 exclusive)

Sony highlighted many independent developers and their upcoming games that will make their console debut on the PS4:

One more thing: this clip leaked onto the ‘Net this week; it sheds even more light on the PS4 UI, specifically the console’s ability to quickly multitask and share gaming sessions.

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