In what was sort of like a mini half day at E3, Sony has officially announced the Playstation 4. I’ll save my opinions for the end but first lets get a recap of what was shown (and what wasn’t).
What’s Under the Hood
One of the things Sony clearly wanted to highlight was the engine running under the PS4. I must of heard the term “computational power” enough to last a lifetime. However Sony did have a point, with 8GB of unified DDR5 RAM, eight AMD x86-64 cores and a GPU that generate 1.84 teraflops the PS4 may not be able to send you back in time to save Twinkies but it should have no problem with multitasking. Which brings us to….
Social Integration
These two buzz words have been flung around tech announcements like beads at Mardi Gras and Sony has continued the trend. The PS4 will allow players to record and upload recent gameplay directly from the PS4. The new DualShock 4 controller even comes with a dedicated ”share” button. You can also eavesdrop on what your friends are playing with a new feature that will allow you to watch another players gameplay in real time. The feature will allow you to take over the other players controller to help them through a difficult part of the game.
Sony also announced that new apps for iOS and Android devices will allow you to connect to the PS4 in new ways.
Games on Demand
As a member of the Playstation Plus program I love getting free games to play every month, however one thing I’m not a fan of is waiting around for those games to finally download…. and install…. and update. Compared to the Xbox 360 this has been one of the downsides to the PS3. But now Sony assures us those days are over. With the PS4 when players purchase a digital version of a game the system will download a small portion and allow you to almost instantly play while the rest of the game downloads in the background. This will also be true of game demos. Of course all of this is because of Sony’s purchase of Gaikai last year.
DualShock 4
As we reported a few days ago the leaked photos of the new DualShock 4 controller were pretty spot on. The new controller comes with a center touch screen, a share button and finally, after all these years, a microphone head jack. The back of the DualShock 4 also is equipped with a glowing light meant to identify players but more than likely its main function will be some type of motion control. The trigger buttons have also been redesigned. Check out the photos below.
The Games
Sony announced several new games we can expect to see along with stressing the strong partnership with several 3rd party developers. One game that really caught my attention was Bungie’s Destiny. Revealed earlier this week as a “shared world shooter” this game has a lot of promise coming from the makers of the Halo franchise.
Some other notable games to look forward to are:
Ubisoft: Watch Dogs: From the demo this new IP could be something truly impressive with its open world format and AI.
Capcom: Deep Down (working title): A fantasy game that will at least have some dragons to fight.
Sucker Punch: Infamous Second Son: It looks like this will be a separate game taking place in the infamous universe.
Gorilla Games: Killzone: Shadow Fall: Another entry into the well established FPS series.
A couple other things to note was that Square Enix teased a new Final Fantasy game. While no demo or trailer was shown we were told to look forward to this years E3.
How Did Sony Do?
Sony hit on a lot of notes that we all expected from a new console. Better graphics, improved hardware, social integration and games, however they seem to have intentionally held back in some key areas. The main one of course is we didn’t actually get to see the new PS4. After all this was supposed to be Sony’s moment in the spotlight. This was not E3. There was no other press conference from their competitors. They had the sole attention of gamers and the industry as a whole, yet the only hardware we got to see was the new DualShock 4 controller. I can’t help but feel Sony made this decision because they didn’t want to show Microsoft all their cards and I can understand that. Sony was first out of the gate, lifting a curtain on their new child before they knew what the neighbors kid looks like, but it still feels like a missed opportunity to me.
My other disappointment with the new PS4 came when it was announced that there would be no backwards compatibility with PS3 game discs. Yes I know that PS3 games will be available on the PS4 as digital downloads but come on, backwards compatibility has been around forever and when Sony just spent an hour talking about how powerful this new console is only to tell me its unable to read a disc from the PS3 it just feels like a way for them to try and get me to buy the games I already own. To make matters worse this morning Shuhei Yoshida, Sony’s Worldwide Studios president, announced that PSN games and PS3 saves will not transfer to the PS4. This is a bit of a kick in the teeth for PSN Plus Subscribers, like myself, who will lose all their games and saves if they upgrade to the new console.
As we get closer to E3 this summer no doubt more information will become available regarding the PS4. A console that shows a lot of promise and hopefully developers will put all that ‘computational power’ to good use. While no pricing was announced we did get a release window of Holiday 2013 which I would guess sometime early to mid November.
Be sure to leave you comment and let use know what are your thoughts on the PS4. Are you pre-ordering yours now or are you waiting to see what Microsoft has in store?
With less than 24 hours until Sony’s New York Press Conference in which it is expected that the company will reveal the new PS4 rumors are flying around at break neck speed. The newest rumor is coming from Kotaku.com which reports, that according to an anonymous source the PS4 will be announced tomorrow with a November 2013 release window. The new console will be available in two models, one priced at $429.00 and the other coming in at $529.00.
This would be similar to how Sony priced the PS3 when it first launched when it offered a $499.00 and $599.00 version. What do you think of the rumor and Sony’s price point for their new console? Leave a comment and let us know. In the meantime Toys and Geek will have a recap of all the events at tomorrow’s press conference.
If you want to read the whole article hit the link below.
The Amazing Arizona Comic Con is coming up quick! This is the first convention of the new year and we are ready! The Amazing Arizona Comic Con is Friday-Sunday January 25-27, 2013
Tickets are on sale on the site, but you can get discounted tickets through a Groupon offer! Get your tickets now and start planning for this great event with guests like Stan Lee.
See you there!
If there is one thing I’m a bit biased towards it BSG (Battlestar Galactica in case you didn’t know) which has got to be one of the best shows to grace TV in the last 30 years. It’s greatness is due in no small part to the outstanding quality of actors and actresses so when we hear about a BSG alum showing up on a new show we always get excited.
Eureka was a great show too!
Happily it’s been reported that BSG and Eureka alum James Callis will be joining the cast of the CW’s “Arrow”. Callis will be taking on the roll of The Dodger, a master thief who, at least in the comics, eventually teams up with The Green Arrow at one point.
The Dodger!
We’ll have to wait and see how The Dodger’s story unfolds but regardless Arrow has picked up a great addition to the cast.
Be sure to check out Arrow when it returns to the CW on January 16th at 8/7c.
If you love games and hate spending money then this is a good day. Several free games from Halfbrick are being made available for FREE today for all your iOS devices! But there is always a catch, the sale is only for 24 hours so hurry up and get downloading!
Here’s a list and link to all of the games you can snag for free today:
Happy Anniversary You Two!
Not much has been seen or heard from the Blue Bomber over the last few years however that’s about to change. As more of a celebration than a full title, Capcom is giving us Mega Man X Street Fighter! A classic Mega Man platformer with Street Fighter inspired stages and of course, the bosses he’ll battle will all be characters from the classic 2-D fighter. While this is not the first time Mega Man has crossed paths with my beloved Street Fighter Universe (see the PS3 version of Street Fighter X Tekken) it will be fun to see these two franchises meet up in this way.
Check out the Mega Man X Street Fighter Trailer here!
Of course all of this is due to the 25th anniversaries of both Mega Man and Street Fighter and while some were hoping for a full new game from Capcom, especially after the cancellations of Mega Man Legends 3 and Mega Man Universe this will have to do for now.
The game releases on December 17th only on the PC but the upside is that it will be completely free. There are some rumors that it will be made available for iOS sometime in the future but we will have to wait and see. So grab the game Monday and let us know what you think!
For more info check out our friends at Capcom-Unity!
http://www.capcom-unity.com/brelston/blog/2012/12/08/street-fighter-x-mega-man-coming-december-17
Personally I enjoyed Superman Returns. I thought it was a bold decision not to deliver a full on reboot of the franchise but a story that was a sorta sequel, picking up after the events of Superman II. And for the most part I feel that it succeeded in carrying on the spirit of those films.
However, it appears that the good folks at Warner Brothers felt it would be one and done for Brandon Routh’s take on the god father of superhero’s so now we have the “Man of Steel”, a full on reboot, to look forward to. Outside of a teaser trailer that ran with the opening of the Dark Knight Rises and some footage shown at Comic-Con this year there hasn’t been a lot for us to see but thankfully a new trailer has dropped and we finally get a feel for what we can expect from Zack Snyder’s Superman film.
Hit the link below to check out the full trailer in all its HD glory!
My first reaction is that this Superman is going to have a much different feel than the ones before it and as much as I enjoyed the Christopher Reeve films I think a change in this direction will be a good thing. There is a lot going on in this trailer including space ships over the Kent farm, a disturbing talk between child Clark and Jonathan Kent about Clark using his powers and of course our first real look at General Zod!
Kneel before Zod!
So needless to say I am now excited for this movie. I love what Marvel has done with its franchise but you just don’t get any bigger than Superman. Which leads me to one thing that I’m very interested in, are we going to see some type of “Avengers” clip after the credits roll to introduce the idea of the Justice League movie to the audience? Will we see Batman’s cowl or a Bat Signal or anything that ties this film into the larger DC universe? The Justice League movie is not that far off and Warner Brothers has made it clear that each member will not be getting their own film so it would make sense that they would do something here but I guess we will have to wait and see.
Let’s form a team, maybe even some sort of league.. you know, one that stands for Justice!
Dec 10
This gallery contains 5 photos.
I recently picked up a new game for game night, Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game. This is a strategy board game for 2 players based off of the space ships from Star Wars. First off, the figures and the game pieces are incredible. The detail that Fantasy Flight Games put into this game is fantastic. The [...]
Last week we were in our local Best Buy and guess what was already set up??? The new Wii U!!!
So of course we had to give it a go. Our thoughts???? AMAZING!! me and B.A. played it until the demo timed out on us.
We played Rayman Legends and after the demo concluded we were wanting more. The Wii U pad is surprisingly light and very responsive. They best part of the Wii U system is by hands down the co-player ability. being able to “work together” was incredibile. It was much more than just two people playing a game together. We each felt that we had our own job to do in the game. So, you could play this game twice, once from each perspective and get an entirely different experience. We’re always excited for a new gaming system, but after experiencing it for ourselves, we are more than ready to get out there and get our own Wii U system on November 18, 2012 when they release!
The price, well you can get the white console at places like Best buy, Target, Toys R Us, Gamestop, and more, for $299.99. This gets you the basic set which is the console, Wii U GamePad controller, and 8GB of internal storage. But we recommend getting the Deluxe set for only $50 more, $349.99. It comes only in black with the console, Wii U GamePad controller, 32GB of internal storage, AND the Nintendo Land video game, along with some other accessories.
For more information go to Nintendo’s site, they have lots of great videos and more!
The Walt Disney company just reported that they are buying Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion.
What does that mean?
STAR WARS Episode 7 in 2015!!!
Many may have mixed feelings about Disney having more influence on other companies like, Marvel, Pixar, etc…
But if the end is more of what we want then how bad can it be? Also, the creative teams are usually kept in place so that Disney keeps the new companies separated and artistically intact.
I’m for one happy because we know that the end of the Star Wars franchise would be here if not for someone like Disney stepping in with the money to keep it going.
Long live the Mouse!!!!