Playstation 4 : Why It's the ONE for me

I'm going to go ahead and say it straight off the bat, the next-generation console war is over, and it hasn't even begun yet.

Sony delivered a presentation with promises and features that ticked almost every box, decisions which were galvanised and enhanced courtesy of a horror show from Microsoft earlier in the day that left consumers practically begging Sony to put things right with their press conference.

Slick design, but not too sure on the controller.

Therefore, it would be most appropriate to start with the things Sony did get right, which are consequently the things Microsoft got wrong, and the biggest cheer I've ever seen at any gaming press conference came when Jack Tretton announced that the Playstation 4 would support the pre-owned and used games market, at no additional costs or penalisation to the customer.

It goes without saying this is a good decision. I do have certain personal disagreements with used games, because I believe they de-value developers hard work and contribute to loss of earnings, which is something nobody who works hard would want to go through, but I don't think the answer is to completely clamp down on the market, so this was a good move from Sony, especially with Microsoft's permutations on used games. There was also an utterly hilarious video uploaded by the official Playstation Youtube account on how to share games on the Playstation 4, which is linked to below;

This announcement was quickly succeeded by the statement that the Playstation 4 doesn't need an always online connection of any sort, or at any time scale, to be able to operate to full capacity, another decision that  was a blatant dig at Microsoft's earlier announcement of having to have the Xbox One connected to the internet at least once every 24 hour period, for the purposes of "game authentication". Who really wants fork out so much money for a console and have restrictions attached to it, just because you can't connect to the internet for whatever reason when required to do so? Another decision full of ill logic that Sony thankfully overlooked and opted against.

Anyway, shifting the focus solely onto the Playstation 4, the hardware seems to pack a meaty punch. Under the hood of the PS4 is, effectively, a mid-range gaming PC. You've got an 8-core AMD CPU with a Radeon 7870-derived GPU complete with 18 compute units and 8GB of RAM. However, it's hardly fair to compare the specs of the PS4 to a PC, because in reality, once developers start writing code that pushes the boundaries of the Playstation 4 and it's hardware, you can easily expect performances that will compare to the very highest standard of any console/PC.

Regarding the software, there wasn't actually much revealed, and in many respects, you can argue that the big announcement regarding the software was the fact that the console wouldn't need to be "always online", and thus, wouldn't need to read discs for authentication purposes. There will be an extensive social interface, where you can capture, stream and share videos with friends directly from the console, which is great for the immersion of gaming between mates, and we'll also finally see cross-game chat, which Playstation users have cried out for on the Playstation 3 for years now. It's a good sign that the social aspect of the console has been given close care and attention,  and involvement from Playstation users will hopefully contribute to greater things regarding internet and social networking.

The price point was always going to be an interesting revelation. The Xbox One was announced at the opening cost of £429 earlier in the day, and I personally expected a similar entry point for the Playstation 4. However, Sony surprised everyone for the better yet again, under-cutting Microsoft by a full £80, and announcing that the console would ship for £349. What can you say about that? It's hard not be happy about a lower cost for a console, and even more so when you consider the seriously increased freedom that the Playstation 4 will give the user in comparison to the Xbox One.

Of course, it would be pointless talking about all of this without mentioning the games. Sony produced a strong showing on the exclusives front, with Killzone : Shadowfall, Infamous : Second Son and a new IP in the form of The Order, all producing tantalising trailers, with the latest Final Fantasy title also revealed as a Playstation exclusive. The Playstation has never struggled for good exclusives, in my opinion, and it looks like they're set to carry on this trend, even going as far to announce there are at least 40 titles currently being developed solely for the Playstation 4. Massive.

"The Order". One of Forty exclusives being developed for the PS4.

The only real fly in the ointment came from the announcement that one of the biggest selling points of the Playstation 3 would now come with a mandatory charge on the Playstation 4. If you want to play online, you can no longer do it for free, however, Sony reached a nice compromise, only limiting the online services to Playstation Plus subsciptions, rather than having a stand alone fee. It's good to see they're willing to give users something back for their money, and Playstation Plus is fantastic value regardless, so it's another step in the right direction. With how well the conference went for Sony, they could have easily slipped in a stand alone subscription service, separate to Playstation Plus, and in reality, they probably could have got away with it, but this decision was testament to their customer driven decision making.

Overall, the conference was a huge success for Sony, and although it was never going to be an issue for me personally, as a life long Playstation user, it's nice to know my loyalties are with the company making all the right decisions for the average gamer. I can see the market Microsoft are going for, with the mass entertainment angle, but when I buy a console, games are the primary interest for me, and all the correct gaming related decisions were made by Sony and the Playstation 4. Pre-order. Placed.