It’s all aboard the hype train as we run down the last few hours before the launch of what is undeniably our first proper next-generation video game console. The PlayStation 4 is going to be the first next-gen console out of the gate.
Chances are that you’re up to date on the latest PS4 news and are adequately hyped (or jaded, if you’re an Xbox fanboy) but just in case you aren’t, it’s time for the return of et geekera’s Hype Train.
There are only two things in life that are guaranteed: Death and taxes. Coincidentally, it’s taxes that may lead to the death of the PlayStation 4’s chances in the Brazilian market. Sony says that the country’s high taxes on imported electronics are the reason for their next-gen console being priced at the Brazilian equivalent of over $1,800 US dollars.
We’re officially four weeks from the launch of the next-gen consoles (five weeks if you’re outside North America). While you’re unlikely to get your hands on a PlayStation 4 or Xbox One any time soon if you haven’t already pre-ordered one. Still, that doesn’t mean that the console wars are going to cool down anytime soon.
Today, to mark the final month before the next generation of the home console gets well and truly underway, here’s an infographic comparing the two consoles.
The latest point of contention between PlayStation 4 and Xbox One fanboys has come courtesy of a Sony event in Spain. A PlayStation 4 unit showed a red LED line on the top of the console where there is normally a blue LED line. Many people are jumping on this as a major potential issue with the PS4’s hardware but Sony is saying not to panic.
An anonymous survey of developers by Edge Magazine shows that the performance difference expected based on their specs turns out to be a reality. Developers told Edge that the PlayStation 4 is up to 50 percent faster than the Xbox One and the recent GPU boost hasn’t done much to fix that.
Google has Chromecast. Apple has Apple TV. Now, Sony is getting into the world of TV plug-in devices but their’s will have include a feature more interesting than Apple or Google has.
Sony announced the PS Vita TV, a small device that plugs into your TV that allows you to access online streaming services, social media, surf the internet and more. More importantly, the PS Vita TV also lets you play Vita games right on your TV.
As has been their modus operandi for 2013, where Microsoft has some good news, Sony is not far behind to say “anything you can do, I can do better.” That includes during Gamescom with Sony’s keynote address in which they found a way to trump Microsoft’s earlier presser in nearly every possible way. It wasn’t quite the massacre that E3 was but Sony still came out guns a-blazing.
Just when you thought that Hollywood had run out of ideas, they go out of their way to prove it yet again. On the heels of the rejuvenation of the Fast and the Furious franchise and the announcement of Need for Speed and Hot Wheels movies, Sony is getting into the game with their own car racing franchise.
Rumours say that Sony is working on a movie based on its Gran Turismo game franchise with the producers of Fifty Shades of Grey at the helm.
While Microsoft came out guns-a-blazing at their May console launch in promising exclusives for their new console. Along with the console, they announced that the Xbox One would get 15 exclusive games during the console’s first year and eight of those will be from new franchises.
Now, Sony is firing back with their own big line-up of first year PlayStation 4 exclusives. Sony Computer Entertainment Europe CEO Jim Ryan told Gamereactor that the PlayStation 4 can expect 20 exclusives on the console in the first year after release with 12 of them being new IPs.
Reports are spreading like wildfire that PlayStation 3 update 4.45 is causing some consoles to lock-up and become unusable after applying the update. The update was supposed to include trophy notification options and improved system stability options. It looks like they missed the latter by a bit.
According to some unofficial Reddit data analysis, if you have installed a new hard drive into your PS3 that’s larger than 500 GB, you have a 90% chance of your console bricking and becoming unusable. All other PS3 types have a failure rate of less than 10% with the stock 500 GB models suffering an 8% failure rate and 120 GB models locking up in 2% of cases.
As of publishing, it appears that Sony has rolled back the 4.45 update and lists 4.41 as the current firmware version. Just be aware if you do see an update 4.45 listed and check the internet to see if you’re safe to install it.
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