Playstation 4: Announced But Is A No-Show

Picture from Sony Entertainment PlayStation 4 website. 2013

It’s kind of comical that the tag line for the new PlayStation 4 that Sony Entertainment announced yesterday is “See The Future” considering they didn’t bother to bring the actual console to the much anticipated event!  I wasn’t the only one who noticed that little gem, I’m sure.  Anyone who knows me knows I’m a PC Gamer first and an XBOX guy who dabbles in Wii. (but only for the bowling . . . I swear!)  When I heard rumblings of a PS4 coming out this year I made sure to read up on the announcement to see if anything ground-breaking was coming in the gaming community as a good little gamer does.  Unfortunately my assumptions are proving to be correct which is a disappointment – but it got worse.

Not only does there appear to not be much in the way of new tech or ground-breaking  gaming play/aspects, but Sony appears to have abandoned the “backwards compatible” concept that made the PS2 so popular in the first place.  So not only do you NOT get anything new and shiny to brag about but if you choose to buy the PS4 – you’re gonna lose your game library as well.   That doesn’t make me want to go drop what I’m sure will be at least $400 on a new system and then start a whole new game library from scratch hoping they bring my favorite titles along for the ride.  Sure, they hinted at the possibility of bringing legacy games to the new console via online streaming . . . . possibly.

And while we’re on the subject of games – I haven’t seen or read anything that puts the PS4 in the lead when it comes to new games or future gaming concepts that may arise.  It pretty much looks like they are banking on the gaming world to pretty much stay status quo for the next several years.  Hey Sony, ever heard of social gaming?  It’s pretty big right now and might be why the console gaming market is taking a slight hit in recent months.  With games out there like Ingress from Google where not only is it a game played on your mobile phone but out in the real world that makes you feel like a friggin’ special ops covert spy,  I struggle to see what the hype is over the PS4 console that will be tethered to my flat screen TV.  Maybe the VP’s at Sony should take a gander at what the folks at OUYA are doing.  Here’s an exciting piece of tech, very reasonably priced, open source on Android which is the leading OS for smartphones and you can customize/hack it right out of the box.

The PlayStation 4 isn’t due out until late this year – November’ish time frame if memory serves. (but don’t quote me on that . . . it’s been a long day!)  Maybe in the months ahead they will hear the conversations around their release yesterday, take note and bring something a little more substantial to the table.  If not, I don’t see the PS4 making very many headlines in the future – at least not positive ones.

On a somewhat related note – here’s a video for your eyeballs that I’ve been wanting to post but didn’t have a story to tie it all together until now!!!  So at least the PS4 brought me that.  Leave it to Dodger to get the Nicki Minaj “I-I-I-I-I-I-I” part.  At least when Dodger does it I don’t want to throw my iPad across the room.