The Playstation 4 thread Pt 2 - £349 - Now available!

[Stevie G]

And to continue this thread......

The hardware;

- CPU: low power x86-64 AMD "Jaguar", 8 cores
- GPU: 1.84 TFLOPS, AMD Radeon™ Graphics Core Next engine
- Memory: GDDR5 8GB
- Hard Disk Drive: Built –in
- Optical Drive (Read only): BD 6xCAV, DVD 8xCAV
- I/O: Super-Speed USB (USB 3.0), AUX
- Communication: Ethernet, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth® 2.1 (EDR)
- AV output: HDMI, Analog-AV out, Digital Output (optical)
- Playstation 4 Eye camera optional additional purchase (price unknown, rumoured to be around $60/£45)

The official UK Playstation 4 web site

Can games be shared/sold/passed on? Yes, there will be no DRM or authentication of games on PS4.
Do I need an internet connection for it to work? No.
Is the console region locked? No.
Will the PS4 play PS3 games? No, backwards compatibility is not possible due to different architecture, although some PS3 games may be released through Playstation Network (and will need to be purchased).











Games expected to be released on launch day (taken from IGN);
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Battlefield 4
Call of Duty: Ghosts
DC Universe Online
DriveClub
FIFA 14
Just Dance 2014
Killzone Shadow Fall
Knack
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
Madden NFL 25
NBA 2K14
NBA Live 14
Skylanders: Swap Force
Warframe
Watch Dogs

The Ultimate Playstation FAQ - Playstation Blog

Torf's guide on how to buy US games to use on your UK PS4 (also works for PS3)

[Robby]

I'm really quite looking forward to getting back into the Playstation world having favoured the 360 over the PS3. ACIV, Division, Infamous: Second Son and Watch Dogs should keep me entertained for a long time.

[gavinhanly]

Yes me too - I'm sure I'll get an Xbox One eventually, but I'm just more excited by the PS4 for some reason (despite the fact that I currently only use my PS3 for Blu Ray and I use my 360 almost every day). Any idea if Amazon will ever offer any bundles (I have my pre-order with them)?

[RobDickinson]

Everything about the PS4 is looking much better for gaming than the xbone.

But at the moment I am seriously tempted to take my console money and buy a ne video card for the pc...

[SheepDip]

The thing I'm still wondering, is what cross platform games will look like on the PS4 vs Xbone.

It was a fact that the 360 more often than not looked better than PS3.........and yes there were a number of reasons which have been discussed hundreds of times(ish).

Time will tell and all that

[rustybin]

Originally Posted by SheepDip

It was a fact that the 360 more often than not looked better than PS3.........and yes there were a number of reasons which have been discussed hundreds of times(ish).

It wasn't just looks in some cases - Fallout 3 was pretty much broken on the PS3 and was never properly fixed (IIRC). And many PC users are still unable to play it due to compatibility issues.

Hopefully this Gen will see an end to crap like that.

[RobDickinson]

TBh they are at their basics very similar this time, but close to PC architecture it allows much easier customisation, considering people are going to have to work hard on the xbone to get that esram working at all.

[GarethH]

There's no way it's coming that late. It'll be November I say!

[lentini]

Originally Posted by RobDickinson

Everything about the PS4 is looking much better for gaming than the xbone.

I hear this a lot but nobody actually says why

[Guest 23929]

Originally Posted by lentini

I hear this a lot but nobody actually says why

It isn't what it has, but what it doesn't = Kinnect.

[rustybin]

Originally Posted by lentini

I hear this a lot but nobody actually says why

Hopefully developers for the PS4 will be focusing on proper gaming, rather than trying to integrate Kinect into their games for the sake of appeasing MS.

[dunkle]

There is a guy over on a certain other popular forum who has posted pictures of the ps4 that his company have got hold of along with the controller

Looks legit and reputable and he is very happy and impressed with what working with.

[RobDickinson]

Originally Posted by lentini

I hear this a lot but nobody actually says why

On a hardware level its miles ahead for games. Move processing units in the graphics chip and they are more flexible for other computing too, and this is coupled to memory that is much much faster. Even if people make full use of the xboxes esram to speed things up (which is a puny size anyhow) the ps4 has masses more bandwidth.

So the xbox ones gpu which is somewhat less powerful will be starved of data much more often. I would say the PS4 is likely to be 40-60% better(for graphics) when both systems are exploited full. This will translate to more polygons, better textures, longer draw distances , higher frame rates.

Microsoft is trying to make up some distance with cloud computing - that may help with things like AI which is CPU heavy but wont make a dent in graphics.

[lentini]

Better graphics ≠ better gaming

[rustybin]

Originally Posted by lentini

Better graphics ≠ better gaming

Yep - I don't buy into all that - at least at this stage.

From MS I see an extremely confused corporate policy and an active desire to move away from the core gaming market (as admitted by themselves and seen at E3).

From Sony I'm seeing a company releasing a machine with gaming at its heart.

And this isn't just from a Next Gen POV, this is something that's been shifting over the last few years - MS changing the Xbox for the worse and Sony changing the PS3 for the better (PSN+). In fact, the more I think about PSN+, the more I see it as an absolute master-class in marketing - practically giving away games at the end of a console's life has made me and many others a) Buy a PS3, b) Buy a Vita, c) Buy a PS4. And I was as hardcore a 360 fan as you were likely to find 12 months ago.

Time will tell how this pans out in practice, but from an Xbox-addict's POV, that's what I see.

[target]

Originally Posted by lentini

Better graphics ≠ better gaming

Faster framerate = smoother gaming = better gaming though.

Also... is there any point in even going next gen if you don't care about graphics?

[rustybin]

Originally Posted by target

Faster framerate = smoother gaming = better gaming though.

Also... is there any point in even going next gen if you don't care about graphics?

The hardware is only as good as the developers make it though.

Haven't we seen many PC games not look as good as they could because of developers focussing on less powerful consoles?

[lentini]

Originally Posted by target

Also... is there any point in even going next gen if you don't care about graphics?

How else am I going to play Forza 5, genius?

[RobDickinson]

Originally Posted by lentini

Better graphics ≠ better gaming

Sure, but you think the kinect is the answer? Because thats the only advantage the xbox has and IMO its looking a pretty weak one for actual games.

[Guest 23929]

Originally Posted by rustybin

Yep - I don't buy into all that - at least at this stage.

From MS I see an extremely confused corporate policy and an active desire to move away from the core gaming market (as admitted by themselves and seen at E3).

From Sony I'm seeing a company releasing a machine with gaming at its heart.

And this isn't just from a Next Gen POV, this is something that's been shifting over the last few years - MS changing the Xbox for the worse and Sony changing the PS3 for the better (PSN+). In fact, the more I think about PSN+, the more I see it as an absolute master-class in marketing - practically giving away games at the end of a console's life has made me and many others a) Buy a PS3, b) Buy a Vita, c) Buy a PS4. And I was as hardcore a 360 fan as you were likely to find 12 months ago.

Time will tell how this pans out in practice, but from an Xbox-addict's POV, that's what I see.

Practically the same as me. You can add that it's made me cancel my GTA5 360 preorder and swap it for the PS3 version. I've used mine more as a games machine over the last three months than I have for the previous three years. I loved the 360 to fanboy levels.

I still don't know what the Kinnect and Xbone is for. It doesn't look like a games machine to me, it looks more like a media hub which is fine as an add on, but I don't want to by a media hub with a games machine added on. The first nail in the coffin was the NFL and US TV tie-in - translated, that means we neither understand nor care about the market outside the US. I'm waiting to see how that pans out before spunking £400+ on one.