PS4 unveiled at recent Sony event

BY: MICHAEL EMERSON
progress@eku.edu

Feb. 21 marked the date of the unveiling for Sony’s latest gaming console, the PlayStation 4. A two-hour live show was dedicated to showing off the different functions of the new system and some of the new games that will come upon release.

The system architecture was built to resemble basic PC hardware to help ports run as smoothly as possible. The main 8-core processor is a single-chip custom with a x86-64 AMD called “Jaguar.”

It also has a Graphics Processing Unit from Radeon of 1.84 teraflops or Floating-point Operations per second. Such features will ensure game graphics new and old will be able to run and outreach the uncanny valley that has plagued the last generation of visual software.

Additionally, the system sports 8 GB of internal memory as opposed to the PS3’s comparatively miniscule 256 MB. The new wireless controller paired with the system is of relatively new design featuring concave thumb pads, a front touch screen and an, as of yet, unexplained LED light between the top left and right buttons. Even better is a new button on the controller called the “share button” is used to instantly stream the games you’re playing, record specific moments and share gaming content with your friends online.

Different games such as the new IP Knack are marketed as tech demos to show off the graphical capabilities of the system for both its hardware and software. Several other games were announced during the show such as SuckerPunch’s Infamous: Second Son, Evolution Studios’ Drive Club, Bungie’s Destiny and a PS4 port for Diablo III.

Sony, however, has stated in order to cut back on the price and move forward to newer games it opted to release the PS4 without backwards compatibility. Meaning, it won’t be able to read the discs of its past systems.

This change is somewhat unexpected and can be seen as risky since it’s usually backwards compatibility keeping new systems afloat as they settle into a new market. Sony will try to alleviate this possible problem with its online gaming service the PlayStation Network, which has been the source of buying digital versions of games old and new.

A price or release date has yet to be set, but the time frame is holiday season 2013. People can probably expect Sony to have a more elaborate presentation at this year’s E3.