Sony unveils its next game console, the PlayStation 4
Sony tonight announced its much-rumored next video game console, the PlayStation 4. Sony Computer Entertainment prez and CEO Andrew House announced the console with little more than a logo and a handful of concepts, though he did say it's coming in holiday 2013. We're sure to hear more as the night goes on, and we'll be updating this post as we learn more.
Lead system architect Mark Cerny -- legendary game dev and, to us, creator ofMarble Madness -- came up next. He said that development of the PS4 started five years ago. Cerny said he's been exploring how to evolve "the PlayStation ecosystem," and he started by speaking to the limitations of PlayStation 3. Cerny said he's been aiming to make sure "nothing gets between the platform and the game." An image of an old-timey hunter shooting space invaders in the sky is used as an example -- here's hoping the PS4 doesn't mean we'll be taking plastic guns and shooting pixels in the sky.
"We were able to create in PlayStation 4 a system by game creators, for game creators," Cerny said. As far as specs, he said it runs on x86 architecture, a "highly enhanced" PC GPU (with "almost 2 teraflops of performance," he added), an unknown amount of local HDD storage, and 8GB of GDDR5 system memory. Cerny next unveiled the DualShock 4, which looks an awful lot like the leaks we saw recently -- it features a touchpad, a light bar, and what looks like rubberized grips. Otherwise, it looks an awful lot like a DualShock 3 with some new bells and whistles.
Cerny's talking software now -- the PS4 can pause and resume mid-game, allowing players to multitask at any point. There's also a second chip dedicated to managing uploads and downloads, meaning you can download games in the background or when the system's off. More importantly, however, you can start downloading a game and begin playing it as the download goes -- pretty great! As far as sharing goes, PS4 is heavy on social interactivity; Cerny said its social network will extend beyond the console to mobile and Vita. He's ambiguous about which platforms that'll mean, but it sounds like Sony's aiming to make it platform agnostic. There's also a Pinterest-esque social app for friends to share screens and video, which Cerny said applies to the PS4's "personalization" angle. "You'll see real pictures of your real friends," he said.
[Source: Engadget - Click here to read the full sory]
Sony Shows Us the Evolution of the PlayStation 1, 2 and 3
If you still had any lingering doubts about whether or not Sony was set to unveil the PlayStation 4 at their special event this coming Wednesday, I think it’s safe to cast them aside.
Over the course of the weekend, Sony rolled out three separate videos. Each clip checks in at around two minutes and aims to gloss over what each console in the PlayStation line has given the world of digital interactive entertainment.
You’ll find the evolution of the original PlayStation at the head of this post, and you’ll see the evolution of the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 below.
[Source: TechnoBuffalo]
PS Vita price cut: both 3G and WiFi models reduced to 19,980 yen (around $215) in Japan starting Feb. 28th
SCEJ President Hiroshi Kawano introduced a PS Vita info session earlier today. Detailing "everyone's PlayStation Vita," he announced a price drop for Japanese models right from the outset. Starting from February 28th, the price will drop down to 19,980 yen for both the 3G (previously 30,000 yen) and WiFi (once 25,000 yen) models. Yep, both will receive a substantial price-cut alongside a a 7-day free trial of PS Plus (including Uncharted, Ridge Racer and four more titles free during February), plus a free download campaign for its Torne TV service until the end of March. No word on whether the rest of the world will benefit from the same price reduction, but we've got in touch with Sony Computer Entertainment to check. Maybe we'll hear more on Wednesday.
Update: And SCE aren't saying anything more about those price drops elsewhere -- you can wait two days, right?
[Source: Engadget]
NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan leaks, could cost a grand
NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 690 currently wears the world's-fastest-graphics crown, unless you count the limited edition Ares II, by cramming two Kepler GPUs onto one mainstream board. When it comes to improving on that, some leaked European retailer listings suggest NVIDIA might not wait on a completely next-gen architecture, but may instead try to deliver similar performance through a less power-hungry single GPU design. The listings, gathered together by TechPowerUpand VideoCardz, point towards a pricey new flagship, the GeForce GTX Titan, that would be a graphics-focused adaptation of the beefy Tesla K20 computing card. It'd pack 2,688 shader units, a 384-bit memory bus and 6GB of RAM, all with one chip -- for reference, the GTX 690 needs two GPUs to offer 3,072 shader units and has 4GB of RAM. There's no confirmed unveiling date, and the primary leak on a Danish site has actually been pulled, but ASUS and EVGA are rumored to be launching their own GTX Titan variants as soon as next week, possibly in the $1,000 to $1,200 ball park. That's a short wait for what could deliver a serious boost to game performance, not to mention bragging rights.
[Source: Engadget]
LEGO Lord of the Rings brings Middle-earth to Mac on Feb. 21
There's a new Lord of the Rings game on the block and it's coming to Mac later this month. Oh, and it features characters and a world that are literallymade out of blocks. Feral Interactive is preparing a port of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment's LEGO Lord of the Rings, released last fall on other platforms, and will be launching it on the Mac App Store and via its own site on February 21 for US$29.99.
The game adheres to the formula employed by
[other LEGO titles from developer Traveler's Tales, such as LEGO Batman and Star Wars, and sees the Fellowship of the Ring battling orcs and other baddies from Tolkien's tomes while assembling things out of LEGO bricks to help them on their quest. Two players will be able to collaborate on the adventure which will offer the opportunity to unlock more than 80 playable characters. (Let us just suggest that you keep plastic Frodo and the gang away from the fires of Mt. Doom.)
If this sounds like the sort of adventure you'd like to embark on, you'll need a Mac running OS X 10.7.5 with 4 GB of RAM and 256 MB of video memory to play.
[Source: TUAW]
Minecraft Pi Edition ready to download, offers pint-size play on a pint-size PC
Is Minecraft the new Doom? It feels that way, as it's increasingly playable on every platform under the sun -- including the finally available Raspberry Pi port. After a false start in December, Mojang has posted Minecraft: Pi Edition for consumption on the tiny ARM PC. The public release is a cut-down version of Pocket Editionthat fits into the system's limited resources, including networking if you've bought the $35 Raspberry Pi unit. The limitations reduce the chances that you'll be creating virtual electronics with a device that was originally meant for very realelectronics, but try not to let the irony sting: it's a chance to create blocky virtual worlds on a computer that costs less than a good night on the town.
[Source: Engadget]
Xbox 720 makes Internet connection mandatory, report says
Microsoft could be working hard to suck all the bargains out of gaming, if fresh rumours concerning the next Xbox are to be believed.
Citing "sources with first-hand experience of Microsoft's next-generation console", Edge reports that the Xbox 720 (said to be code named 'Durango') will require an Internet connection in order to function, and will see games shipping with single-use activation codes.
That would put the kibosh on buying or selling second-hand games, forcing you to always pay first-hand prices. It would likely also rule out lending games to a friend or sibling.
This is only a rumour for now, so take this report with a pinch of salt. These anti-second-hand measures are already being taken by a number of games publishers however, who bundle one-use codes with games in order to make the discs less valuable to sell. Sony's upcomingPlayStation 4 is rumoured to feature the same locked-down technology.
The report also reckons that the next Xbox will use Blu-ray discs, taking advantage of the format's high-capacity discs, and will come packing a quad-core processor.
The next Xbox and PlayStation 4 are both expected to go on sale this year, to combat the Wii U, which was released before Christmas. Sony has already teased a PlayStation event on 20 February, so we could be less than a fortnight away from glimpsing the fourth PlayStation console.
[Source: CNET]
EA Launches Origin Online Game Distribution for Mac
A Mac client for EA's digital distribution platform Origin was launched today, as first noted by AppleInsider. Origin for Mac was originally announced in August 2011 and went intoalpha testing in late January.
Origin is quite similar to Valve's Steam and allows users to download games and demos, chat with friends and continue saved games from most computers.
The store currently lists 48 Mac games available for download, including games like Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition, LEGO Batman, Harry Potter and Star Wars, Tropico 3: Gold Edition and The Sims 3 and its plethora of expansion packs. The new SimCity is supposed to launch a little after the March release of the PC version of the game.
EA Origin Vice President of Production Mike Blank told AppleInsider that EA brought Origin to Mac because of two reasons: growing Mac marketshare and a vocal community of Mac gamers.
"We're seeing increased activity from our Mac gamers," he said. "In the past, we've brought games slower to market for Mac than for PC partly because the audience hasn't been at the same level. The growth of iOS and Mac devices, though, means we're starting to see gamers demand to play their games on devices that are becoming more prominent. I think, across the board, developers have focused on the PC platform, but I think you're going to start seeing some changes there. [Origin] is the first step in a strategy you're going to start seeing coming out of EA."
Origin client for Mac is available as a download for free at EA's Origin website. It requires OS X 10.6.8 or higher and an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor.
[Source: MacRumors]
PlayStation 4 to Cost $400+, Coming End of 2013 According to Japanese Paper
One Japanese newspaper has a source close to Sony that says the company has targeted a launch date and a launch price for their upcoming PlayStation 4, or whatever they choose to name it.
The Asahi Shimbun reports that Sony will release the PlayStation 4 in at least Japan for 40,000 yen. 40,000 yen is roughly $425 USD, according to today’s exchange rates.
They also indicate that Sony plans to start selling the PlayStation 4 before 2013′s end. Whether or not that launch is exclusive to Japan was not indicated and still remains to be seen.
Sony has announced that they’ll have a special conference on February 20th in order to unveil the future of the PlayStation brand. We assume that the PS4 will be revealed there.
Sony has not commented on this price and timing rumor.
[Source: TechnoBuffalo]
Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy Pack Could be Released if Fans Demand it
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII hasn’t even been released yet, and Square Enix is talking a trilogy pack.
In an upcoming interview with VG247, Final Fantasy XIII Director Motomu Toriyama explained that a trilogy pack of Square Enix’s massive budget RPGs could be released if (and only if) fans demand it.
“We are currently devoting all of our efforts to Lightning Returns. Although we would certainly like to give it some consideration – if there were a big enough demand from the fans.”
While it’s nice to see them putting more precedence on a game that’s actually in the works, I’m not quite certain yet if we should tell Toriyama that more fans are demanding that Square Enix just move beyond Final Fantasy XIII at this point. Seriously, the games are cheap enough to buy individually now if you want them. Put the remaining talented developers to work on something else, and just call it a wrap already.
Final Fantasy XV can’t come soon enough, if it even happens at all at this point. Or if it even matters.
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII is the final part of the decade of Final Fantasy XIII initially promised to us. It will be released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 worldwide later this year.
[Source: TechnoBuffalo]
Sony: PS4's main selling point will be 'new playing options, not improved hardware specs'
As Sony Computer Entertainment warms up its blue lighting and double-checks its playlist for February 20th, one unnamed SCE official says that the PlayStation 4 will act as more of a home entertainment hub than what we've seen in the past. They added, according to the Nikkei, that the main selling point won't be therumored eight-core AMD64 CPU or other hardware specs, but how it opens up new styles of play -- something Nintendo is also focusing on. Sony is going to push the new console as a home entertainment "nerve center," with a focus on the hardware's ability to connect and share to mobile devices -- the rival that's pulling gamers away from traditional consoles. No discussion on any Gaikai-poweredcloud gaming just yet, but following its unveiling later this month, the report states that the new PlayStation should launch before the end of the year. A bit of a shame, then, that it's still only February.
[Source: Engadget]