After nearly a month of teasing, Sony is finally revealing its big PlayStation news. Could this be the rumored PlayStation 4? UPDATE: New DualShock controller, Killzone and Bungie Studios game shown off.
The announcement stream started at 6 PM EST, and went on for a little over 2 hours. Read our live blog for all of the updates from Sony’s live event in New York City.
Update: The announcement can now be watched:
The PlayStation 4’s DualShock controller, long rumored to be seeing big changes, will have a touchpad near the top, share button to send game footage to friends, a light bar to “identify players,” and a “stereo camera” that can track the 3D position of the controller.
The PS4 itself will allow downloadable games to be played as soon as they have begun the background download process. Players will be able to take over the controller for a friend via the internet for difficult levels and bosses. Lastly, the PS4 will have an increased interaction with social media, allowing players to use their existing social networking accounts as their PlayStation I.D.’s.
For more on the games and the tech that was show off, including new Killzone, Bungie Studios, Square Enix, and Quantic Dreams content, read our live blog coverage below. (Tip: The search function on your keyboard [Command-F on Mac] will come in handy to find exactly what you’re looking for)
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Old story:
There are a lot of possibilities for what is going to occur during this broadcast. If Sony follows in the steps of Nintendo’s recent Nintendo Direct Broadcasts, there could potentially be new games announced, along with the new PlayStation.
The reason that most are sure this live broadcast will be for the new PlayStation console iteration is that it would follow the cycle of any given console’s lifespan for the PS3. It is not yet confirmed what the name of the new PlayStation console will be called. However, it’s likely that Sony will continue to follow numerical order for their next generation console.
The PlayStation 3 was announced at 2005’s E3 convention, and boasted features unheard of before its time. One of the most unique aspects was that a BluRay player was to be included within the console. This feature was similar to the PlayStation 2’s internal DVD player, in that both the PS2 and PS3 largely popularized a new type of movie player.
It is unknown what kind of features the new console will contain, but it can be assumed that Sony will maintain the PS3’s abilities to play games in 3D, and to utilize Sony’s PlayStation Move features.
What do you think will be announced with Sony’s NYC live stream? Do you think that this system will trump Nintendo’s Wii U system? When do you think Microsoft will inevitably respond with their announcement for their next generation Xbox?