Sony PlayStation 4 will support just four controllers at once

The Sony PlayStation 4 can be used with up to four controllers simultaneously, three less than the total for the PlayStation 3.

Sony's Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida confirmed on Twitter that the new console would support up to just four controllers at one time. He did so in his usual, one-word or number form, when he was being posed the question.

Shunai Doke of Tech2 reported the news and gave his thoughts on why Sony would be supporting just four controllers.

Yoshida, however, hasn't elaborated on Sony's decision to keep such a low controller count. It is probably for practical reasons, since rarely have gamers actually played local multiplayer with more than three people. The closest anyone got to using all of the controller capabilities of consoles was Rock Band on the PlayStation 3, which almost hit the limit.

The news comes a day after Microsoft announced that the Xbox One would support up to eight controllers. Xbox 360 currently supports four, while the PS3 supports seven.

Outside of peripherals like the PlayStation Move, there's barely any peripherals that take up slots five, six, and seven on the PS3. There's no need for more than four controllers in split-screen play, and there's rarely any need for more than four Move controllers at once.

Sony's decision to cut from seven to four is a good cost-cutting move, slimming down from their ultimate intentions with the PS3 in the past to be this powerhouse of a machine. Is it bad thing? Considering how often more than four controllers would ever be used, not at all.

[Photo credit: Flickr]

PlayStation Plus Updates (7-16): Free Jet Set Radio, Pre-Order Discounts

A lot of updates are in store for PlayStation Plus members when the store updates later today. This week's free game is the classic Jet Set Radio, along with six games getting discounts.

The instant game collection will add the PS3 version of Jet Set Radio, which shouldn't be confused with the Vita version that was free in the instant game collection earlier this year. Both games are nearly identical, but the advantage of making this remake look fabulous on the Vita's screen and with it being an actually great game to play on the road, those who subscribed to the service earlier got the better deal on Vita.

Here's the big list of games that received a discount, including four games that aren't even released yet. All pre-orders are 20% off their regular price:

• DuckTales Remastered (PS3)  - $11.99 (Release date: Aug 13th)
• Stealth Inc.: A Clone in the Dark (PS3/Vita cross buy) - $7.99 (Release date: July 23rd)
• Cloudberry Kington (PS3) - $7.99 (Release date: July 30th)
• ibb & obb (PS3) - $7.99 (Release date: Aug 6th)
• Sorcery (PS3, Move required) - $5.00 (50 percent off)
• Carnival Island (PS3, Move required) - $5.00 (50 percent off)

Outside of the new DuckTales game, I don't have any idea what those other games are, but those that find them intriguing should pick them up cheap while they have time.

Neither of the Move games are really must buys, but perhaps both of them for $10 can justify your purchase of the motion-controlled add on that you bought years ago. There's certainly a lot worse Move games out there, and let's not bring up all the shovelware on the Wii.

[Source: PlayStation Blog]

[Image credit: Flickr/Javier Dominguez Ferreiro]