I am always somewhat suspicious of a new console that hits the market amidst talk of how hardware and raw horsepower isn’t the true focus of the system.
Unfortunately, this may be the case with the Sony’s long-awaited PlayStation 4, which is expected to make its debut on February 20 and launch later this year.
Indeed, an unnamed Sony Computer Entertainment executive has reportedly stated that the PlayStation 4 will be more of a home entertainment hub than we’ve seen with previous Xbox consoles.
The executive also said that the main selling point isn’t hardware specifications, but rather, opening up new styles of gameplay. Since the PlayStation 4 was tipped last year to offer Avatar quality graphics, I’m not sure what Sony is thinking if the above-mentioned report is true, namely that gamers will be happy with a console that doesn’t offer a significant improvement in specifications and graphics performance.
As we noted above, Sony apparently plans to push the next PlayStation as a home entertainment nerve center. As such, one of the big focuses for the gaming console will be its ability to connect and share content with mobile devices. This is another place where I worry Sony may try to lock support in for its own devices, perhaps only allowing content to be shared between the PlayStation and its own Android smartphones and tablets.
In terms of specs, we talked a bit about hardware expected in the PlayStation 4 a few weeks previously, although the Japanese-based corporation has yet to release any official information. Nevertheless, the PS4 is tipped to use an AMD eight-core processor, paired with 4 GB of RAM and 512 MB of reserved for the operating system alone.
