Sony PS4: Five next-gen features we want to see!

 

Last week, a new report revealed some of the specs inside the long awaited Sony PS4. The Japanese gaming giant has yet to announce the fabled PlayStation 4, but it appears to be working with developers on it right now. With that in mind, we thought we’d dream up a wishlist of what we’re hoping to see in it: are your must-have features in here?

Launch day game streaming

Earlier this year, Sony snaffled up Gaikai, a service that lets you stream high end 3D games from the cloud. It’s clear Sony has plans for it inside PlayStation, but right now, an OnLive-like subscription service probably wouldn’t cut it. Even in Britain, broadband speeds aren’t up to delivering a smooth experience. But what if Sony just used Gaikai’s tech to stream games on launch day, so if you’d pre-ordered the disc, you could start the game at midnight on the day of the release by streaming it until the postman rocked up?

All in one catch up TV

Sony’s done a good job of getting all the major video services on the PS3, from Netflix to BBC iPlayer. But Microsoft’s done a better job since of streamlining all the different apps to follow a similar design on Xbox Live: on the PS3, they’re all a bit of a mess. Sony’s got a real opportunity to amend this with the PS4. What if it rolled all the catch-up services into one easy to use EPG, just like YouView on the fantastic new Humax set top box we checked out just last week. Why not even support YouView while you’re at it?

Microsoft’s Kinect motion and voice sensor is useful way to boss your Xbox about with no hands, but it’s an expensive add-on that demands extra space on your TV stand. Sony could dispense with the motion cameras that make you look like a wally, and just build voice controls into the Sony PS4 – think Siri for games and TV.

Universal PS Vita streaming

Much like the Wii U and its tablet controller, you can currently stream a select few games from your PS3 to your PS Vita, including Ico: Shadow Of The Colossus. You can even play them on the go, streaming the game to your handheld over 3G. But it’s a piecemeal solution, and up to the developers to turn the feature on for their games. With the Sony PS4, Sony could start over with Remote Play, and make streaming of your new games to PS Vita (or even your smartphone) native to the system.

Cross game chat

It’s a simple little thing, and something Xbox 360 owners take for granted. But due to the way the PS3 was designed, it’s simply not possible to talk to your mates via headset while they’re playing a different game to you. Fans have begged and begged for the option, but it just can’t be done. Luckily, all the signs are there that it will be. The Sony PS Vita already supports cross game chat, so if Sony’s 2012 handheld can manage it, you can bet the Sony PS4 will.

What else would you like to see inside the Sony PS4? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments below.

www.tell-me-first.com

Sony PS3 Super Slim review

 

 

 

The basics

Say hello to the Sony PS3 Super Slim, Sony’s third generation model of its hit PS3 games console. There’s absolutely no change to the software: it’s still a games machine with smart TV skills and a 3D Blu-ray drive. But this time round it’s smaller and lighter: it clocks in at just 2.1kg, a huge drop down from the 4.7kg of the very first PlayStation 3. Is that enough to stay relevant with a PS4 around the corner?

The good

Sony’s kept some of the best bits about the PS3 - like the easy to reach USB ports and swappable hard drive (Although 500GB will be enough for all but the biggest video hoarders) and trimmed everything down.

Measuring 290 x 230 x 60mm, the new PS3 Super Slim is as wide as its predecessor, but several inches less deep, and slightly thinner. It’s impressive that Sony’s managed to whittle it down so much, although we do wonder how much smaller still it could get if Sony moved the power brick from inside to the cable, like Microsoft does with the Xbox 360.

You won’t notice any major speed improvements over previous generations, but the PS3 Super Slim is blessedly quiet compared to the first generation PS3, which sounded like a Harrier Jump Jet taking off, even in the middle of a noisy shoot’em up.

Did we mention it’s a PS3? We won’t go into much detail about the software and games here since Sony has changed nothing on that front. The PS3 Super Slim has access to thousands of blockbuster games, and just about every video demand service under the sun. By now you’ve probably made your allegiance though, and the new PS3 Super Slim won’t change that.

The bad

The PS3 Super Slim is lighter, yes, and smaller, just. But, well, that’s about it. It’s slightly quieter than the second generation PS3, but otherwise identical. You get two USB ports on the front, but no support for PS2 games like you did with the first PS3 models. And with the glossy black plastic, it looks a lot cheaper.

Worse still, the disc tray is a real let down. This isn’t a slot-loading one that sucks in and spits out discs correctly. It’s a cheap old do-it-yourself job, with a slide-off tray. So that eject button on your PS3 remote control? Yeah, that doesn’t work anymore. And you can now hear the disc reading noises since it’s all going on much closer to the surface.

We’ve also come to expect a nice big price cut with every refinement of this generation’s consoles, but, well, that hasn’t really happened here. You can pick up the 500GB PS3 Super Slim for £249, but the second generation model with a still hearty 320GB of storage now goes for £199.99 on Amazon. It’s a tough sell against that, and the £140 4GB Xbox 360.

The bottom line

While we love the Sony PS3, and how it’s evolved to become so much more than a games machine, we’re not too impressed with this model, which is cheaper without Sony really passing on the savings.

There’s absolutely no reason to upgrade from the second generation PS3 slim to this, but owners of the 2006 classic chunkster console might relish the lack of turbine noise in their living room. Come back when you’ve got something as small as the PS2 Slim next time please Sony.

www.tell-me-first.com

Which next-gen console is the best?

 

Are we nearly there yet? The first of the ‘next generation’ of games consoles has just been released with two more on the way and a further two still in the realm of speculation. What can we look forward to in the brave new world of gaming and which one deserves your cash? Read on to find out.

Nintendo 3DS The Nintendo 3DS is arguably the first of the Eighth Generation (as the cognoscenti call the ‘Next Gen’) of games consoles and is distinguished by the fact that it is the only one commonly available to play.

The 3DS has a number of innovations compared to earlier DS models including a motion sensor and gyro sensor that can react according to movement and incline, an analog controller and of course the adjustable-depth 3D effect. On their own each of these is fairly unremarkable – being available in other consoles or gadgets like mobile phones or flatscreen TVs. Together, though, they combine to create something potentially very immersive and flexible enough to create some spectacular new games

Sony PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita is another convergence of established technologies – capacitive OLED touchscreen, dual-analog sticks, and internet connectivity. The Vita’s USP will be backward-compatibility with existing titles from the PSP, PS1 Classics (as seen on the Playstation 3) and other downloadable content from the PlayStation Network as well as its own games, distributed on the new NVG flash memory format.

The Vita is an extremely powerful device compared to other portable consoles, with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 core processor and a SGX543MP4+ graphics processing unit which should lead to some spectacular games, on a par with some of today’s console efforts. The built-in camera is intended for use in augmented reality games, an area that has only been lightly explored so far.

Wii U The Wii changed everything when it launched with its unique WiiMote controllers, now the Wii U could be set to do it again with its Wii U Controller, which is more like a small tablet computer than a game controller. A built-in touchscreen can be used to play stand-alone games as well as offering fine controls for certain types of game unsuited to the WiiMote motion sensors or D-Pad.

The Wii U is the first Nintendo console to display 1080p HD graphics and Nintendo have promised that the new console will take advantage of its powerful multi-core processor – unlike the Wii, which was rather under-powered compared to its rival consoles.

Xbox 720 and PS4 Right now, both of these consoles are in the realms of fantasy as far as most gamers are concerned. Sources within both Microsoft and Sony have reportedly said that the next-generation PlayStation and Xbox are being developed but for now both companies seem intent on squeezing the last drops of gaming juice from the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Both consoles will no doubt incorporate 3D technology quite heavily (one rumour suggested ‘Avatar like’ graphics for the Xbox 360) and we would expect Microsoft’s Kinect motion tracking technology to feature too, along with some PlayStation equivalent.

As for other features, with neither console expected until 2014 at the earliest, we wouldn’t like to bet what new innovations in graphics or immersive controller tech will come along between now and then.

But which one is best? With the new Xbox and PlayStation consoles not even off the drawing board yet it doesn’t seem fair to include them. Of the remaining three, the Vita seems a bit similar to the PSP for our liking while the 3DS has proven rather less impressive in practice with the 3D effect causing us no end of eyestrain and not really adding that much.

Our money, then, is on the as yet unreleased Wii U. It may surprise us and turn out to be a lemon, but the combination of Nintendo’s reputation with the boost in processing power and the new types of game opened up by the Wii U Controller has us intrigued enough to queue