Sony confirms ability to record game footage via HDMI on PlayStation 4

Gamers that want to record their game playing with the ease of HDMI will be able to do so with the PlayStation 4.

Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida shared the news on Twitter today. Yes, actually giving more than a one-word answer since he wasn't responding to a question.

We announced today that PS4 users will be able to capture their gameplay through HDMI output in the future. We'll update you when ready.
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) September 19, 2013

Current PlayStation 3 users cannot record gameplay through an HDMI output thanks to High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection. There are various YouTube videos and other written methods to bypass the protection, but soon the PS4 will just let users be able to do it.

The keyword in Yoshida's tweet is "future." This feature will likely not be available when the PS4 is released.

It's a good move by Sony. With the rise of "Let's Play" popularity and gaming channels on the internet, apparently the fad of watching people play video games online isn't going away any time soon.

Soon the easy use of something like the Elgato Game Capture HD will be available to use on the PS4!

[Photo credit: Flickr]

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]

Virtual reality on the horizon for PlayStation 4?

Sony, never wanting to let go of 3D and virtual reality, are planning to make their own version of the Oculus Rift VR headset for PlayStation 4.

From Wesley Yin-Poole of Eurogamer:

Amid the growing popularity of the Oculus Rift VR headset among the development community and a small number of gamers, Sony has been working on a rival device for its next-gen console, and it is on track to be revealed in 2014.
Multiple sources have indicated to Eurogamer that Sony's VR headset will work similarly to Oculus'. Internally, the device has been demonstrated with Evolution Studios' PS4 racer DriveClub, with players able to look around the cockpit of a car.

The potential is certainly there to create something that the PlayStation Move tried to do. Instead of adjusting a first-person view by moving to the sides of a television screen or using an analog stick, a VR unit would make it as simple as looking around your own area. It's something that can easily be done by just sitting on the couch instead of fiddling with a camera to find out where the player is at.

However, "potential" is a word that's thrown around too much in this industry. VR units usually never end up succeeding, although this is something that shouldn't fail as hard as Nintendo's Virtual Boy.

Sony Worldwide Studios honcho Shuhei Yoshida didn't comment about VR with Eurogamer at Gamescom, and the headset that was scheduled to be revealed at the event was pulled.

What will be tested, like any other peripheral on the PlayStation, is how many games will actually implement it. There's next to no third party support on so many Sony additions and peripherals -- the Move itself, Sixaxis, Vita's augmented reality. It's a product that will really have to wow like the Oculus Rift has done.

That, or just bring in support for the OR, which could be "a possibility."

"They're a little busy," [Oculus COO Laird] Malamed told Eurogamer. "We've chatted, but they're trying to bring their new consoles out. It's a possibility - it would work. It's the same thing as iOS - it could technically work, but the business side isn't there."

[Photo credit: Flickr]

Shuhei Yoshida confirms PlayStation 4 won't support external hard drives

 

 In an unsurprising move, the upcoming PlayStation 4 will not support external hard drives, making the storage system very equal to the current PlayStation 3.

Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida confirmed the information on Twitter, but according to Gamespot, there's still the ability to replace the hard drive in the system.

Microsoft announced during PAX that the Xbox One will support external storage later on in its lifecycle. A quote from Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb in the Gamespot article:

"My understanding is that feature will not be there at launch because the team is working on some other things, but it definitely is on the list," said Hryb. "I don't know when it will come in, though."

Both consoles will have a 500 GB hard drive in the system, giving ample space for users to download video games and more.

With PlayStation Plus, using the cloud to back up game saves has made it less of a pain when deleting and re-installing digital games, ESPECIALLY on the newly updated Vitas.

Unless your internet takes multiple days to download one game at a time, it shouldn't be that hard to find enough space to keep all the games that are currently being played, and installing the other games that don't fit at a different time when wanting to play them again.

[Source: Gamespot]
[Photo credit: Flickr]

PlayStation 4 gameplay streaming, recording is free

Gamers that enjoy streaming or recording their video game playing will be excited to hear that those options will be free for PlayStation 4.

While Xbox One will have DVR features that require the Xbox Live Gold membership, similar features for the PS4 will be free.

The confirmation of the PlayStation 4′s ability to offer these features without a PlayStation Plus membership comes from Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida. When Yoshida was asked by potential PlayStation 4 customers if the upcoming console would require a PlayStation Plus membership to record, share and stream gameplay, as well as watch streaming content from third-party services (Netflix, Hulu, etc.), he responded by simply saying “no.” Yoshida-san then elaborated by saying all users would have that functionality.

We already knew that streaming would be free without a PS+ membership, but it's good to hear that many features will be free for those that don't want to purchase the subscription for certain niche features. However, the convenience of DVR features will likely not be there.

The only difference between PS+ now and for PS4 looks to just be the ability to play video games online with others. That's not a bad idea at all, considering the online universe for PlayStation needs to be fixed up a bit.

[Image credit: Matias Vega]

PlayStation Vita only used if 'specifically programmed' for PlayStation 4 games

The compatibility between Sony's next-generation console and handheld devices will continue to be slim, with confirmation that the PlayStation Vita will not operate as a controller with the PlayStation 4.

As reported by Yannick LeJack on NBC News, Sony Computer Entertainment president Shuhei Yoshida responded to questions on Twitter about the possibility of the Vita acting like a controller on the PS4.

"In a normal sense, no," Yoshida wrote. "Unless a game is specifically programmed to allow such use of PS Vita." Rather making the PS4 compatible with Vita straight out of the box, Sony developers would need to take that extra step to "specifically program" the Vita for any given game.

That last bit of news is rather depressing. Similar to the camera, there's going to be a very small amount of developers that would actually take the time to implement Vita's use. What's missed is a golden opportunity to copy what Nintendo's Wii U can do.

The Vita could easily become an extra controller, especially when it has a place for a touchpad like the DualShock 4 has. No, LED light does not shine anywhere on the Vita, but how much will that matter if the camera is a peripheral sold separately?

Sony could also cut a break to gamers that actually decided to purchase the Vita. An extra controller would save them $60, which is what the MSRP will be on DS4. Prices for the DS3 were similar (around $50-60) when the PS3 first came out.

It's further proof that Sony is abandoning the Vita, and it would be a surprise if the handheld could actually stream any PS4 game.

[Source: NBC News]
[Image credit: Flickr/Jung-nam Nam]

PlayStation 4 Controller Could Drain Unnecessary Battery Life

Perhaps one of my biggest gripes about the upcoming console for the PlayStation 4 is the controller. Not the redesign, which actually looks pretty comfortable and snazzy with the much-needed new triggers, but the LED-light sensor that may prove to be completely unnecessary.

Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony's Worldwide Studios, is somebody who actually responds to general people over Twitter. While he may not elaborate, we were able to find out some new information on the lightbar that may be rendered useless in many games now that the camera is not included with every PlayStation 4 unit.

@DN_pro no
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) July 5, 2013

@nanakifirelight yes
— Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) July 9, 2013

Here's what I don't understand: If developers can choose not to even bother with using the lightbar, then why isn't there an option for users to turn it off? This further proves how useless the lightbar will become for developers; it's the next generation's version of SIXAXIS. Here's what we know about how the lightbar will be used currently.

If multiple Dual-Shocks are connected to the PlayStation 4, the Lightbar will change colour to indicate which controller is assigned to which player. The player one controller will glow blue, player two's will glow red, player three's green and player four's pink. The Lightbar will also be used for in-game functions; in Killzone: Shadow Fall, which IBTimes UK recently play-tested, the Lightbar changes colour to indicate the player's health.

Except the worse part about the lightbar is that the SIXAXIS at least didn't drain battery life. With a next-to-useless light always on, it's doubtful that players will get the 15 or so hours they were able to get with a DualShock 3.

There's no reason for Sony to exclude an option to turn the lightbar off. Hopefully developers will implement an option to turn it off in their games, and maybe Sony will give us the opportunity to turn the damn thing off on the system unless they will actually use it along with the camera.

Considering the company's history of abandoning products, I'm not giving my hopes up.

[Source: IBTimes UK]
[Image credit: Flickr/William Hook]

'The Last of Us' Reaches 3.4 Million Sales in First Three Weeks

Naughty Dog's newest hit was one of the best-received games in the history of PlayStation 3, and now it's the fastest-selling game.

Sony released the news that The Last of Us exceeded expectations in its first three weeks available to the public, selling a total of 3.4 million copies in all formats. The game has received the best score overall on GameRankings for any PS3 game at 95.05 percent, besting previous leader Jouney by around 2.5 percent.

"These sales figures are a testament to the blockbuster quality of The Last of Us," said Shuhei Yoshida, president of Sony's Worldwide Studios, in a quote from IGN.

"The teams at Naughty Dog are true visionaries and their storytelling capabilities are second to none, this title is an undisputed demonstration of that. SCE continues to be committed to delivering unique gameplay experiences that redefine the interactive entertainment industry and The Last of Us is a perfect example."

IGN also points out that this was around the same total that Tomb Raider sold for in first month, yet publisher Square Enix considered the game a failure. Yes, it was a available on more platforms than just PS3, but it still shows how enormously high SE has their expectations at.

Especially for the Tomb Raider franchise, which wasn't touched since 2008.

Anyway, Naughty Dog and TLOU deserves all the high praise, sales, and overall success of the game. Even if the genre isn't to someone's liking (it's certainly not my favorite), the production is top-notch, the story is engrossing, and the gameplay matches the pressures of surviving from one scene to the next.

[Source: IGN]

[Image credit: Flickr/naughty_dog]

PlayStation 4 Titles Will Require Remote Play on PlayStation Vita

Sony president Shuhei Yoshida has confirmed on Twitter that remote play from PlayStation 4 to PlayStation Vita will be mandatory for all titles, excluding those that use special hardware peripherals.

It was a promise given by Sony to all Vita owners that remote play would be possible, and does exist with certain titles on the PlayStation 3. A few problems with this feature: there's not enough titles that support it and using the feature renders the PS3 useless to do anything while playing with the Vita.

That's apparently going to change. Along with the announcement of a vast majority of PS4 games using remote play, Sony's purchase of Gaikai technology will be used to stream games instead of using the PS3's power.

Here's a more detailed explanation from the Eurogamer article that reported on a developer that told them Sony would make the mandate:

Remote Play works by downscaling the 1080p framebuffer to the Vita's native 960x544 resolution, using the PS4's in-built hardware h.264 video encoder to compress the image. This is then beamed out over WiFi to the Vita, which decodes the video and sends back controller inputs to the PlayStation 4. It's effectively OnLive cloud streaming technology relocated to the home - the difference being that image quality issues can be resolved through much higher-bandwidth video, while input latency is cut down considerably owing to the localised nature of the network.

While there's nothing that confirms multi-use on the new console, it could mean that if someone else in the household wants to use Netflix on the PS4 while someone else plays a game on the Vita with remote play, it could be possible.

[Source: Eurogamer]
[Photo source: Flickr/Javier Dominguez Ferreiro]