PlayStation 4: all the info on Sony’s next generation hardware – The Verge

PlayStation Now will require a DualShock controller for TVs, tablets, and phones

2014-01-09T08:01:00-05:00

PlayStation Now

PlayStation Now could be the future of gaming, but you're going to need a proprietary controller to play. Though Sony has announced that the streaming game service will come to tablets and smartphones - perhaps even non-Sony devices - the company doesn't plan to let you use a touchscreen. To play PS3 games, PlayStation marketing VP John Koller tells us, you need to have the gamepad they were originally designed for. "You need to have the DualShock to be able to play," says Koller.

Sony tells us a DualShock 4 will do for the PlayStation 4, and the PlayStation Vita handheld buttons can continue to work the same way they do now. Sony's new Bra …

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Sony announces PlayStation Now, its cloud gaming service for TVs, consoles, and phones

2014-01-07T12:43:00-05:00

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The PlayStation 4 may not be the most important part of Sony's gaming strategy anymore. At CES 2014, Sony has just announced PlayStation Now, a service that will bring streaming PlayStation games not only to PS4, but also PS3, PlayStation Vita, and even televisions, tablets, and smartphones.

It's the company's public-facing brand for Gaikai, the cloud gaming technology it purchased in June of 2012, which the company previously said would bring PS3 games to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita later this year. Sony says the technology is already working here at CES, with attendees able to try critically acclaimed action title The Last of U …

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A look inside the Xbox One and PlayStation 4

2013-11-22T00:09:27-05:00

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The next generation of console gaming is here. Sony launched its PlayStation 4 last week, and Microsoft launches the Xbox One today, ushering in a new battle between the hardware titans.

Over the last several months, we've become very familiar with the exterior design of both consoles. But with both devices now available, iFixit has torn them open for a look at everything that's packed inside. Both companies expect these products to remain on the market for up to a decade, so the Xbox One and PS4 will be powering the games you play for years to come.

For more information on what each of these consoles can actually do (and which is worth yo …

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Sony adds instant ‘remote play’ of PlayStation 4 games on PS Vita

2013-02-20T18:40:47-05:00

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Sony has announced a new "remote play" feature for the PS Vita, which will allow PlayStation 4 games to be played directly on the Vita. "Our long term goal is to make every PS4 title playable on the Vita," the company says. It's a strategy similar to what we've seen on the Nintendo Wii U and Nvidia's Project Shield, where home console or PC games can be streamed to a smaller second screen. Though we're not sure exactly how it works yet, Sony says it's integrated Gaikai technology that "effectively makes it a game server." Unfortunately, there appears to be no similar support for tablets, which effectively limits remote play to people who hav …

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Sony announces DualShock 4 controller with touchpad and 3D camera tracking

2013-02-20T18:18:37-05:00

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Sony has announced the DualShock 4, a new controller with a touchpad and headphone jack. The controller will come with a dedicated share button and a light bar that identifies players or changes color during play, and it essentially looks like a sleeker version of the classic DualShock. The light bar, which rotates between three different colors, can actually be used to provide feedback during gameplay - to notify a player if their health is running low, for example.

The DualShock 4 packs some additional surprises inside, including a six-axis sensor and a built-in speaker. A 3D camera - dubbed the PlayStation 4 Eye - can also t …

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PlayStation 4: does Sony’s next generation start now?

2013-02-19T17:09:30-05:00

ps3 logo stock

Tomorrow evening, Sony is widely expected to unveil its fourth-generation PlayStation, which could become Sony's biggest product launch of the year. In fact, it could be Sony's biggest launch for the next half decade.

That's thanks largely to the PlayStation brand's proud lineage: the original PlayStation put arcade-quality gaming into homes around the world, the PlayStation 2 drove DVD adoption and amassed the most comprehensive video game library of all time, and the ambitious PlayStation 3 is arguably the main reason we still have Blu-ray today. So there's a lot at stake for Sony's all-but-certain PlayStation 4 - or whatever the name may …

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New PlayStation will expand social features, could integrate mobile gaming, says WSJ

2013-02-18T15:19:14-05:00

PlayStation logo (STOCK)

Mere days before the successor to the PlayStation 3 is rumored to be announced, The Wall Street Journal has published a few more tidbits on what we might see. According to anonymous sources, Sony will be expanding on the console's current social features, allowing users to share achievements through Facebook and Twitter and upload gameplay footage to YouTube. These features were already present to some extent on the PlayStation 3, but we could be seeing a better experience in the future, in line with previous reports that the new PlayStation would emphasize social gaming experiences.

The Journal also tentatively filled in some of the gaps i …

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PlayStation 4 will stream PS3 games, reports WSJ

2013-02-15T19:38:05-05:00

playstation 2 logo

Last June, Sony purchased Gaikai, a company that can stream games - delivering them over the internet in real time from remote servers, by sending compressed video frames. Now, The Wall Street Journal reports what many have suspected for months: Sony will use the service to stream games to the next PlayStation game console, which the company is widely expected to reveal on February 20th. However, according to the publication, Sony won't necessarily use Gaikai to deliver brand-new games. Those will reportedly still be delivered on optical disc. Instead, the next PlayStation will allegedly bring existing PlayStation 3 games to the new system u …

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Another photo of PlayStation 4 ‘prototype’ controller surfaces ahead of Sony event

2013-02-15T11:40:57-05:00

PlayStation 4 controller

It was only yesterday that Destructoid gave the world its first glimpse at a purported controller for Sony's next-gen PlayStation console. Since then, other publications including IGN and Kotaku have confirmed the image as legitimate while being careful to emphasize we're likely seeing a prototype design that could differ substantially with what Sony is expected to unveil next week. Yet the same controller has turned up in a second photo, this time from another angle. Thankfully the handles appear a fair bit longer here than in the original shot, and you're again able to make out those concave analog sticks, an LED strip at the top, and what …

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Sony PlayStation 4 controller prototype reportedly leaked in new photo

2013-02-14T16:05:38-05:00

PlayStation 4 controller prototype leak (Destructoid)

Sony already announced that we'd "see the future" of the PlayStation at its event next week, and now a photo has emerged that may be our first look at a prototype controller for its new console. Destructoid has the image, which shows a DualShock-style controller with what appears to be a touchpad on top, and a blue light on its back. The addition of a touchpad lines up with previous reports about the PlayStation 4 controller, while the blue light bears a strong resemblance to that found on Sony's PlayStation Move motion controllers. As Polygon points out, Sony was granted a patent for a Move-equipped controller back in 2012.

Kotaku is also …

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