Sony promises PC-based PlayStation 4 for Christmas

The EyePad makes sense now

One bit of new during the announcement made sense of that Move-enabled tablet the Reg featured a few days back: 'Digital Clay'. During the PS4 presentation, the its 'Move' controller was used to 'sculpt' 3D models. Combined with Sony's 'EyePad' ( http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/19/sony_patents_eyepad/ ) there is the makings of a capable content creation system. The obvious applications are for creating levels and avatars, but there are applications beyond gaming. For certain scales of models (human-sized, creatures, vehicles), using a TV with a 3D cursor and tablet could be very usable indeed.

The general consensus about the PS4's graphical prowess is that the games almost look like films, except that characters still move like video games (an issue with the game engines used, I assume)... The rendering of human heads looks very impressive, as did a Havok physics scene with a million objects.

And it turns out that Bungie's next game, 'Destiny', is everything I hoped it would be - a blend of Elite, Halo, Planetside, Cowboy Bebop, Iain M. Banks, Borderlands and Star Wars Galaxies. Being produced for current and next gen consoles, with intention of a PC version.

Lightbar?

...tracked by an Xbox Kinect-like “light bar” hooked up to the console.

Sounds more like the Wii's infrared tracking bar than the Xbox's doppler system from the name.

Sounds good to me

Upgrade the specs but otherwise keep the old device and bolt on all the cool new things from their own and competitors' products. Nothing is wrong with the PS3 after all.

Very pleased they haven't messed about with the controller - keep the DualShock but add a couple of tweaks.

headphones

Coo. A headphone jack on the controller, not seen that since the 3DO. I wonder if it has a DSP dedicated to the headphone jack audio as well.

The Steam Console

Will be my choice. I already have a big catalog of games bought through Steam and some (although not FPS, playing a FPS with a joypad is as stupid as not finding out where your GF is before shooting through a door) will be great on a big screen.

My guess is that Valve will release something that plays better and looks visually better than either the M$ or Sony offerings.

So ready

..... to run PS4 VM on my laptop.

It's such a shame it's x86

It would be much more exciting for the whole IT industry if they had continued development of the Cell processor. Now (ARM, low end, aside) Intel has a clear run at the processor market and we'll see less innovation.

So Sony's finally laid its cards on the table. Since they've changed architectures from generation to generation, switching to PC-based architecture is actually not too radical on their part, nor is trying an OnLive-like approach to retro gaming. All I can say at this point is good luck to them.

Which leaves Microsoft. Their console evolution has been a bit different from that of Sony, and it might be of benefit to them to try something different than Sony's so as to differentiate itself. I think it would be best if Microsoft didn't jump architectures the way Sony did and stick with POWER CPUs and AMD GPUs. When it comes to specific hardware development, as long as the tools are robust and the hardware capable, the architecture can usually take care of itself, and sticking with POWER gives them a compatibility angle that keeps them closer to Nintendo's niches. As for memory, at least 4GB would be prudent, though with Sony touting 8GB they may want to consider moving up to allow for larger game worlds: cost-benefit analysis pending. Meanwhile, network-based gaming is thankfully a platform-agnostic idea so they can leverage Live to perform many of the same functions without much of a need for architectural changes.

So, Nintendo's already out the gate, and Sony's laid its cards on the table. Now it's Microsoft's turn. Odds are we'll hear from them at E3.

The big question is of course;

Will it be running a Linux kernel and did Valve have some hint of this ahead of time when deciding they could convince developers to create Linux ports? It doesn't seem like that much of a far fetched idea to me considering the leaked/speculated SteamBox specs are very similar to that of the PS4.

Console ports

will eventually have DirectX11.1/OGL 4.2 feature set.

This has to be good for PC gamers who have had DirectX11 and OGL4.x capability for years and scant little game software coded that truly takes advantage of those capabilities.

The quality of console ports if not the content has been improving over the years and some developers do make an effort for the PC port.

I'm looking forward to what both the PS4 and the new XBox bring to the PC gaming scene, even if I am unmoved by the control that each party wants to exert over the use of their respective devices.

The flagship games are what I'm interested in...would be nice to see something both epic and unexpected for launch

le sigh - ps4 wont play ps3 games - that's a dead duck then... though I havn't really done ps since ps2 and I have an emulator for that.