Since this article was first posted, there’s been a slow but steady influx of Playstation 4 workout games utilizing the PSVR virtual reality unit. Click to see the latest.
As most of you have probably heard by now, Sony recently announced the PlayStation 4, to be released this holiday season. It’s already available for pre-order at Amazon
Here are the impressive specs:
- AMD 8-Core x86-64 Jaguar CPU
- AMD Radeon 1.84 Teraflop GPU
- 8GB GDDR5 Memory
- 500GB Built-in Hard Drive
- Blu-Ray / DVD Drive
- Super-Speed USB 3.0
- Wi-Fi
- Ethernet
- Bluetooth 2.1
- HDMI, Analog AV Out, or Digital Optical Output
The good news for PlayStation Fitness fans is that your current Playstation Move controllers will continue to be supported. As for the PlayStation Eye, they’re designing a new one with much higher resolution than the old one, meaning that your motions will be much more precise, recognize depth of space precisely, and detect sound and face recognition. In other words, they’ll be trying to out-Kinect the Kinect.
The bad news is that it doesn’t sound like there are a whole lot of developers lining up to develop motion control games for the PSs4. The one I’ve heard for sure so far is (as you might have guessed) Just Dance 5 (named Just Dance 2013) for the Ps4. Still, with the improvements they’re making to the Playstation Eye, I’d be shocked (and disappointed) if developers didn’t find new and amazing things to do with the improved resolution.
But bottom line, we probably won’t see a whole lot of active gaming titles for the PS4. That said, hopefully some publishers will invest some time into building one. I still contend that the technology is there to create amazingly accurate virtual reality (games like Sports Champions and The Fight: Light Out were good examples of where games should have evolved to), but sadly, very few companies have the vision nor the talent to build these experiences right. If that’s the case, I’d suggest you get a PS4 for gaming, but take your old PS3 into your home gym and dedicate it to use as an exercise machine, using the best PS3 fitness games that we’ve reviewed over the years (most of which you can get at a steal).
By most accounts, Microsoft will be positioning the Xbox One as both an entertainment center and a gaming console, while Sony will be going full steam ahead in building a gaming system that appeals most to hard-core gamers. So after years of these two companies duking it out for supremacy, it’ll be interesting to see which one is making the better strategic decision.
Microsoft has already made a few boneheaded decisions that are drawing ire among the gaming community. Its worst offense: essentially trying to end the sales of used games. Sony, for its part, declared that you’ll still be free to share and resell games however you like.
Time will tell which console to get, but at $400 for the PS4 and $500 for the Xbox One, not even mentioning the cost of games, it’s going to be a hefty investment. If I had to make a prediction, it’s that you’ll see the same patterns for both systems you saw with the Wii U: early sellouts due to large amounts of sales to early-adopter fanatics and hoarders hoping to make money, followed by a period where all the manufacturers have to cut their projections.