The first PlayStation system in seven years is upon us. Huzzah!
Credit: Sony
PlayStation 4
Sony
$400
4 globes (until more games come out)
It’s been seven long years since the PS3 took those first tentative steps into our living rooms. Now, like a politician who knows their time is up, it is stepping down in favor of someone with eight times the CPU power. (Wait, what?) Ladies and gentlemen, here is the PlayStation 4.
This is a games machine through and through. The specs are through the roof, the controller is miles above the not-so-great DualShock 3 and the UI is both usable and fast. It’s like Sony went through a laundry list of complaints about the PS3 and fixed each and every one. System updates are fast. Games can be streamed to the Vita for remote play with no great fuss. The console’s architecture makes game development easy for people whose programming knowledge doesn’t start and stop with the movie “Hackers.”
What kind of brand new stuff did Sony bring to the table? The answer is: power, first and foremost. This will run some amazing titles down the line. For now, however, the pickings are fairly slim. That’s just how things tend to go with system launches. The controller, also, has been totally revamped, adding touch capabilities and a button for sharing your play session. This functionality creates a livestream, in which others can “ooh” and “ahh” at your amazing accomplishments. Something tells me this is going to lead to a great many adults being made fun of by 12 year olds. Cool!
On the games front, the stand-out launch title is “Killzone: Shadow Fall,” which offers competent FPS action in a world so gorgeous you may just throw up. “Knack,” a 3D platformer aimed at the whole family, is also pretty fun. It’s no “Mario,” but then again, what is?
