Sony Unveils PS4, ‘Slapping Face’ of Microsoft

Japanese tech giants Sony have announced the fourth instalment of the hugely popular Playstation series.

The games device, that was officially exposed at this year’s E3 Trade event in Los Angeles, California, has been hotly anticipated.

Although many of the console’s features and upgrades were announced in February, Sony had kept potential consumers guessing on some essential information, including the general design of the Playstation 4.

Andrew House, President and Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, said the Playstation 4 represents, in some ways, a totally new Playstation.

Perhaps the reports that has many people talking may be the announcement the PS4 will critically undercut its nearest rival, Microsoft’s Xbox One, on cost. Mr. House announced the Playstation 4 would be sold at US $399 (£349) upon release, whilst, at the same exhibition, Microsoft had earlier revealed how the Xbox One would be US $499 (£429).

One more important announcement came when it was revealed that Sony would not be introducing any limitations on second hand games. In truth, the Playstation 4 won’t even require players to regularly validate their consoles via the Net to be able to continue play.

Conversely, Microsoft has added more limitations regarding who a player can buy second-hand titles from. The company has even gone as far as to require Xbox One gamers to connect to the net once every day in order to use their console.

In response to Sony, there is approximately one hundred forty Playstation 4 video games currently in progress, with one hundred roughly expected to go for sale within the Playstation 4′s 1st year of issue. Industry insiders have speculated that Sony are trying to reach out to indie developers, mainly those that feel stifled by Microsoft.

Drawing a huge cheer from the spectators, Jack Tretton, boss of SEA stated, “PS4 won’t impose any new limitations for your use of Playstation 4 game discs,”



BBC correspondent Dave Lee reported that, “If console battles were decided by the frequency and volume of whoops and cheers from highly strung gaming fanatics, then Sony has won it hands down”.

The present Sony console, the PS3, outsold Microsoft’s Xbox 360 by a good margin, but was consequently outsold by Nintendo’s Wii. It is thought that Sony are attempting to rectify this with the release of the Playstation 4.

Sony’s announcement is seen by some like a calculated strike against Microsoft, with IGN.com’s UK Editor-in-Chief Alex Simmons recounting it as a extremely public slap across Microsoft’s face.

Sony declined to offer a release date for the new machine, but tenaciously hinted the Playstation 4 ought to arrive around Christmas time.