Sony PS4 Unveiled: Dazzled Or Disenchanted?

Sony hosted their PS4 announcement earlier this week in Manhattan’s swanky Hammerstein Ballroom. The rumors leading up to the event ran rampant across the blogosphere for weeks, with speculative feature lists including everything from disc-less play to a name change (neither of which came to fruition, in case you’re wondering).
The February 20th meeting was slated to be an official unveiling, but by the meeting’s conclusion, the audience didn’t even get a glimpse of the new console. Instead, Sony Entertainment CEO Andrew Glass focused on gameplay, synergistic capabilities, and social integrations.
In the wake of Sony’s announcement, many journalists are calling the spec list disappointing. The lineup might not be worth a standing ovation, but we think there are at least a few features to champion.
Memory, Performance, and Speed
With 8GB of ridiculously fast DDR5 RAM, the speed of the PS4 is a force to be reckoned with.
Advanced Graphics
Sony confirmed that the system will run on a single-chip custom processor, along with eight x86-64 AMD Jaguar CPU cores and a next-generation AMD Radeon based graphics engine. (In non-geek speak, that means it’s brawny and efficiently powerful.)
PlayStation 4 Eye
PS4’s branded gesture-based technology, dubbed PlayStation 4 Eye, is a peripheral component that features not one but two cameras. It’s tough to tell if PS4 Eye will rival technologies put forth by Microsoft and Nintendo, but the standard has definitely been set.
Dualshock 4
The controller features the classic design and DualShock 4 pad, along with a newly added touchscreen, modeled after Sony’s PS Vita product. Gone are “S0tart” and “Select,” replaced instead with a new “Options” button. Another new button, “Share,” integrates social media to PS4. With it, users can broadcast gameplay, upload screenshots, and even share video across social media applications like Facebook and Ustream.
Backwards Compatibility
The peanut gallery is calling the lack of backward compatibility a huge whiff, but we don’t really see the bid deal. In order to facilitate faster computing and position themselves as a hassle-free platform that appeals to developers, backwards compatibility wasn’t an option. In our humble opinion, the speed and developmental perks were a fair tradeoff for not being able to play old games. What’s more, Sony mentioned that eventually the old games will be available via streaming.
Where and When to Find the PS4
We don’t have a confirmed idea yet how much the PS4 will cost, but early speculations put it in the $400 ballpark. While this is a must-have item for many, for many others it will be a hefty price tag. Expected for release sometime this holiday season, you’ll be sure to find it for less than retail costs at auction sites like HappyBidDay, that allow users to buy bids and join auctions for high demand products like the PS4.
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