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The much anticipated launch of Sony's next console may have gone ahead in New York city, but gamers were left bewildered when Sony failed to even provide a glimpse of what the console would look like.
Sony also failed to provide concrete information about the pricing of the console, as well as the precise launch date, although these are more understandable given how quickly things will change between now and the 2013 holiday shopping season, when the PS4 will be launched.
The only piece of hardware Sony managed to show off, other than a new stereo depth camera, was the controller, photos of which were unfortunately leaked pre-event, and thus further adding to the anti-climatic feel of the entire event.
While some gamers were left disappointed, those that paid attention to the entire two hour launch will still have managed to garner a lot of information about Sony's next console. A powerful x86 based CPU and a powerful AMD based GPU will power the console, with an impressive 8GB worth of DDR5 memory available for games. This allows the rendering of up to 30,000 polygons for in-game characters, making for a more life-like characters.
A Blu-ray drive will still be included, despite Sony's move towards "cloud gaming". Sony's new "Instant Play" is Sony's answer to game streaming, and will allow games and demos to be played without pre-downloading. This will also offer backwards compatibility for PS3 (and earlier) games, by making them available via the cloud.
While most of the details of the new controller has already been leaked, Sony did manage to provide additional information. The controller will offer a bigger difference to the PS3 controller than the PS3 controller was to the PS2 controller. It features a light bar, its function was previously unknown, but Sony clarified that, like the PS Move wand controller, the light will be used for player identification and motion controls (via a new PlayStation camera accessory). A "Share" button will also be available on the controller for everything social, including capturing screenshots and even sharing live videos of gameplay.
Sony also provided details on the range of launch games for the new console, including the long awaited console debut of Diablo III. Other launch games includes Killzone: Shadow Fall, Infamous: Second Son, realistic racing game Drive Club, and Bungie's (the creators of Xbox 360 exclusive, Halo) Destiny.
Great news for gamers is that the PS4 would not be blocking second hand games, at least no more so than how the PS3 deals with it.
But the lack of an actual reveal of the console itself seems to be a distraction from the main event itself. Rival Microsoft was keen to take advantage, with Xbox Live programming director Larry Hyrb posting this on Twitter:
"Announce a console without actually showing a console? That's one approach"
Gamers, some PlayStation fans, many probably not, also vented their "outrage" at the lack of a reveal.
"This is the Future! Where console reveal events don't actually need to reveal the console," tweeted Ron Guyatt.
"Do we get to see the #ps4? Maybe it's entirely cloud based and you just plug the controller into your phone jack," tweeted Eric Jacobus.
"This is like you come to a crazy birthday party and the guest of honor never came," tweeted Laura Shiraishi.
But other games are already excited. "Im already saving for the new #ps4 check out the controllers," tweeted gamer Lil Rico.
You can watch a replay of the live event here.
Sony also failed to provide concrete information about the pricing of the console, as well as the precise launch date, although these are more understandable given how quickly things will change between now and the 2013 holiday shopping season, when the PS4 will be launched.
The only piece of hardware Sony managed to show off, other than a new stereo depth camera, was the controller, photos of which were unfortunately leaked pre-event, and thus further adding to the anti-climatic feel of the entire event.
While some gamers were left disappointed, those that paid attention to the entire two hour launch will still have managed to garner a lot of information about Sony's next console. A powerful x86 based CPU and a powerful AMD based GPU will power the console, with an impressive 8GB worth of DDR5 memory available for games. This allows the rendering of up to 30,000 polygons for in-game characters, making for a more life-like characters.
A Blu-ray drive will still be included, despite Sony's move towards "cloud gaming". Sony's new "Instant Play" is Sony's answer to game streaming, and will allow games and demos to be played without pre-downloading. This will also offer backwards compatibility for PS3 (and earlier) games, by making them available via the cloud.
While most of the details of the new controller has already been leaked, Sony did manage to provide additional information. The controller will offer a bigger difference to the PS3 controller than the PS3 controller was to the PS2 controller. It features a light bar, its function was previously unknown, but Sony clarified that, like the PS Move wand controller, the light will be used for player identification and motion controls (via a new PlayStation camera accessory). A "Share" button will also be available on the controller for everything social, including capturing screenshots and even sharing live videos of gameplay.
Sony also provided details on the range of launch games for the new console, including the long awaited console debut of Diablo III. Other launch games includes Killzone: Shadow Fall, Infamous: Second Son, realistic racing game Drive Club, and Bungie's (the creators of Xbox 360 exclusive, Halo) Destiny.
Great news for gamers is that the PS4 would not be blocking second hand games, at least no more so than how the PS3 deals with it.
But the lack of an actual reveal of the console itself seems to be a distraction from the main event itself. Rival Microsoft was keen to take advantage, with Xbox Live programming director Larry Hyrb posting this on Twitter:
"Announce a console without actually showing a console? That's one approach"
Gamers, some PlayStation fans, many probably not, also vented their "outrage" at the lack of a reveal.
"This is the Future! Where console reveal events don't actually need to reveal the console," tweeted Ron Guyatt.
"Do we get to see the #ps4? Maybe it's entirely cloud based and you just plug the controller into your phone jack," tweeted Eric Jacobus.
"This is like you come to a crazy birthday party and the guest of honor never came," tweeted Laura Shiraishi.
But other games are already excited. "Im already saving for the new #ps4 check out the controllers," tweeted gamer Lil Rico.
You can watch a replay of the live event here.