It’s been a little more than seven years since the release of the Xbox 360 ushered in the current generation of video game consoles. It seems like just yesterday that Sony fans were gaping at the PS3’s $600 price tag while everyone else was still trying to figure out what a “Wii” was. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to feel the excitement of a good old-fashioned console war. The release of the Wii U this past holiday season was our first taste of next-gen gaming, but up until recently it’s been the only combatant in the fight for dominance of the future of gaming. This week, though, a new challenger showed its face for the first time.
On Feb. 20, Sony held a conference to officially introduce their next-generation console, the PS4. The information they presented was largely what you’d expect from a next-gen console reveal: impressive graphics and some more powerful innards than its predecessors. But they managed to throw in some curveballs, too, with some of the social innovations Sony is rolling out. The PS4 is certainly shaping up to be a memorable console for everyone, but some of these new features and quirks could really change the way college students are able to play.
One of the new functions on the PS4 that’s causing the most buzz is the “Share” button on the reimagined DualShock 4. The Share button allows you to easily take screenshots and video during gameplay as well as set up a live stream to share with your friends or through USTREAM. They also announced a feature that allows a friend watching your stream to remotely take control of your game and play from their location, presumably with your permission, of course.
When I first saw this feature, I was immediately turned off by it. There’s nothing quite as annoying as having a backseat gamer looking over your shoulder while you play, promising that if you just hand them the controller, they’ll get you through this level in no time. Letting your friends do this wirelessly just seems more like a pain than anything. But at the same time, I can see what the benefits of this system could be. Since the dawn of online gaming, people have been able to simulate the experience of playing a multiplayer game with friends even if they’re halfway across the country.
With this system, Sony is taking it one step further and allowing you to simulate the experience of sitting down with a good friend and playing through a single-player game together. You can watch the game together, pass off the controller when they want a turn and even talk and joke together with the newly revealed headset that attaches right to the DualShock 4 and will come bundled with the PS4 system. So if you and your buddy from back home feel like playing through Jak and Daxter together during Reading Week, the PS4 can make that happen.
With all of these online capabilities, it’s also important to mention that – contrary to early fears – the PS4 will not require a constant Internet connection, a cause for relief for anyone who suffers from spotty Internet access. Fortunately for us, NUIT is becoming a lot more accommodating when dealing with connecting consoles to the network, but anyone who has spent time on campus can tell you how frustrating Internet access here can be sometimes. But students here can rest easy knowing that suddenly getting booted off the network won’t interrupt their time with the PS4.
As another boon to poor college gamers, Sony officials have stated PS4 support for some of the hottest commodities for young adults with only a little pocket change to throw around: used games. Though individual developers can still make the decision to utilize registration codes or similar methods that hinder the used game market, Sony doesn’t seem like they ready just yet to take on that magical Clearance box at GameStop where you found Madden ’07 for $1.99 that one time.
Perhaps the most disappointing news about the PS4 is its utter lack of backwards compatibility. The PS4 won’t support games or controllers from earlier systems with the exception of the poorly-received PlayStation Move that Sony’s still trying to turn a profit on. So if you were hoping to continue playing your old PlayStation games, you’ll have to make some room on your shelf for two systems and give up the hope of cashing in on the trade-in value of your old console. Sony tried to mediate this with the announcement that older games will be available for playing via wireless download, but there’s no telling for now what games will be available this way or what this service might cost. The silver lining, though, is that this probably means a less expensive console, though a launch price still hasn’t been formally announced, making this issue still up in the air.
These are only a few of the new developments the PS4 has to offer – and no doubt more interesting details will surface before its release this holiday season – but right out of the gates, it looks like Sony’s new system will have some interesting effects on how college students buy and play games. We can only imagine what surprises Microsoft has up their sleeves with their new system. Let the console war begin.