Future DualShock 4 update for PlayStation 4 will add option to dim light bar (updated!)
It may seem like minor news, especially considering the hoopla over Sony’s Virtual Reality this week at GDC, but the PlayStation 4′s DualShock 4 controller is about to get a firmware fix. In an interview with Geoff Keighley of Spike TV, Shuhei Yoshida, Sony PlayStation’s head of Worldwide Studios, confirmed that a future firmware update (we’re not sure if it’s console- or controller-specific like on Xbox One) will give gamers the option to turn off dim the controller’s light bar. If you own a PS4, then you know just how preciously short-lived the DualShock 4′s battery life can be. The ability to muffle that glaring light should help extend the DS4′s longevity, but only slightly. Still, it’s a major boon for the community, and those of us that like our controllers to be less of a night light and more of a gamepad.
Update: Yoshida clarified on Twitter that the firmware update will only dim the DualShock 4′s light bar, not disable it entirely.
@geoffkeighley no, I said dim the LED, not turn off
– Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) March 20, 2014
Source: Geoff Keighley (Twitter)
Playdate: We’re livestreaming Infamous Second Son for PS4!
Welcome ladygeeks and gentlenerds to the new era of gaming. The one where you get to watch, and comment, as other people livestream gameplay from next-gen consoles. Since our live gameplay of Titanfall for Xbox One went over so well, we’ve decided to make this a regular feature for any major, new release, quirky indie, or, really, any game we deem worthy enough. Because games! They’re fun!
Are you a good guy or are you a bad guy? It’s a morality tale as old as time itself — or, maybe it’s just as old as the first inFamous on PlayStation 3 back in 2009. Cole, the protagonist of the series’ previous two titles, may be dead (we think?), but his legacy lives on in Delsin, the new superhero/villain (it’s your choice, really) at the heart of Sucker Punch’s inFamous Second Son. The game, set for release tomorrow, is Sony’s first in-house AAA exclusive for the PlayStation 4. And lucky you, we’re here to play it live so you can virtually try before you buy. It’s all happening just after the break.
Pretty soon you’ll be able to rip video from the PlayStation 4
During the lead up to the PlayStation 4′s launch, Sony promised that it would enable gamers to shut off HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) post-launch and allow unrestricted video capture over HDMI. That day is almost here, as the company’s just announced its intention to release two new system updates mostly focused on the console’s sharing functionality.
Though Sony hasn’t set a time frame for either of these two planned updates, the first should arrive in the “upcoming weeks” and will add in that previously mentioned HDCP-off option, as well as video editing tools so gamers can chop up and tweak gameplay footage captured via the Share button. In addition to this, the PS4 will also gain an option to save recorded clips and screenshots to an external USB drive, thus clearing up your system’s limited storage space and letting you preserve your gaming conquests. Sony apparently plans to bundle additional features and fixes into this update, but for now it’s saying that specifics on just what that entails will come at a later date. Who knows, maybe it’ll also usher in VR support for Project Morpheus. Though that’s probably us wishing too hard and jumping the gun a bit.
But that’s not all for tweaks to the PS4′s popular Share feature set. When the second planned update hits, gamers will not only get a chance to archive broadcasted Twitch footage, they’ll also get a chance to stream and view it in 720p resolution. Again, there’s no concrete mention of when we can expect these updates to roll out, but at least you can take solace in knowing that Sony’s making good on its word.
Source: Sony PlayStation blog
Sony’s early VR headset prototypes looked pretty silly
Head-mounted display, movement sensors…. done. Sony Computer Entertainment’s Shuhei Yoshida says that the company’s been working on its Project Morpheus VR hardware for over three years and it’s fair to say it’s come a long way: the early model above features three Move controller modules, attached in what could be described as the Mickey Mouse formation. It’s somehow cute, but also hilarious.The luminous pearl-finish headset revealed on stage is apparently still nowhere near complete, although SCE appear to have taken on board some of the design cues of Sony’s existing head-mounted display series. There’s more pictures after the break, with Yoshida himself channelling some Star Gladiator vibes with two different prototypes.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Wearables, HD, Sony
‘Project Morpheus’ is Sony’s virtual reality headset for the PlayStation 4
The rumors are true: Sony’s working on virtual reality. The hardware is called “Project Morpheus” and it’s headed to the PlayStation 4. The headset is two pieces: a closed display and what looks like a PlayStation Move sensor built in. SCE Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida unveiled it on-stage tonight at GDC 2014; he said the “prototype” is “by no means final.” It’s the culmination of over three years of work, Yoshida said, and the prototype unveiled tonight will also double as a dev kit.
As seen above, a subtle PlayStation-themed blue light is emitted by Morpheus. A single wire can be seen exiting the unit on-stage; it’s unclear how the device will work with consoles. Sony’s clearly drinking the VR Kool-Aid: there’s serious talk about “presence” on-stage (the term Valve coined as the target for “true VR”). What are the specs in the headset? It’s got a 1080p display and just over a 90 degree field of view. There’s positional head tracking, 1000HZ refresh rate, a 3-meter working volume with full 360 degree tracking — it looks like anyone who wants to use Morpheus needs the PS4 camera. In terms of sound, the device has “true spatial sound” using binaural audio — pretty neat! It’s also apparently “highly adjustable” and support custom headphones if you’d prefer your own audio choice (it plugs right into the headset). Head below for more!
The current dev kit is wired, though the wire is “very long” (around 5 meters, we’re told). The dev kit also has a “breakout box” between the headset and your television.
PlayStation R&D engineer Richard Marks dug into the nitty gritty a bit: he said Morpheus needs a high-resolution, high-quality screen (“no problem,” he quipped), great sound (SCE is developing binaural tech to produce sound, incorporating that into the experience), tracking (he pointed out that the PS4 camera is “almost custom-built for VR”), and control (Sony’s sticking with DualShocks, cameras and Move, apparently).
Marks admitted that VR needs to be easy to use — as in, as simple as picking it up off the coffee table and quickly jumping in. So, perhaps no wire then? That’s still unclear. He finished with a plea to devs to create content for Project Morpheus, “which is why we’re announcing this at GDC.” Sony’s already working with a handful of devs, including Epic Games and Crytek. We expect it won’t be too long before the large world of game devs jumps in.
Update: In a Q&A following tonight’s session, we were told by R&D engineer Anton Mikhailov that the headset was given its project name for “the god of dreams” (he’s not lying). In terms of first-party Sony studios working on content for Morpheus, the Sony trio on-stage stayed mum, pointing to the handful of titles revealed tonight as the first example.
Metal Gear Solid Ground Zeroes: The Joystiq Review
It’s a pleasure being lost in the universe of Metal Gear. With every game, and with every return of director Hideo Kojima, the fascinating stealth series redraws the boundaries of its dense military fiction, pushing them back to include more and more characters and conspiracies. We feel like time-travelers in Metal Gear’s byzantine blend of fact and fiction, leaping back and forth between the future and past of a legendary soldier named Snake. Now we enter 1975 in Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes, and bless its prequel heart – there’s a spot in the statistics screen reserved for time paradoxes.
Kojima’s fiction may be impenetrable to the newcomer, but one man’s convoluted is another man’s complex, and it’s your job to infiltrate the latter. Ground Zeroes effectively acts as the cold open for the upcoming and separately released Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain, sending Snake through a massive rain-drenched encampment in Cuba. It’s not quite the glorified demo your cynical self might suggest, but this tantalizing playground does show how Metal Gear Solid will change its crouching silhouette yet again.
The mission to rescue Chico and the duplicitous Paz, two important figures from Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, is just the first step in a new, freely explorable environment. It feels daunting at first, but clear goals keep you pointed in the right direction. Ground Zeroes is a confident game for the confident player – the one who sees the playground hiding beneath Metal Gear’s tankers and army bases. This one’s just a whole lot bigger.
Click here for more
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Sony, Microsoft
Source: Joystiq
PlayStation 4 tops US console sales in February, but Xbox One narrows the gap
It looks like Sony’s commanding lead in next-gen console sales didn’t last long in the US. The NPD Group reports that the PlayStation 4 was the top-selling game console in the country this February, but only just — the Xbox One managed to get over 90 percent of the PS4′s sales volume. Microsoft says that it sold 258,000 units of its flagship, which suggests that Sony moved roughly 287,000 PS4s. Neither of these figures compare to what we saw during the systems’ launch windows, but they’re very healthy. Total hardware sales were up 42 percent year-over-year, and 44 percent over January. While Nintendo isn’t divulging its numbers, it may have performed relatively well when analysts saw “double-to-triple digit increases” in month-to-month sales for most consoles.
Software was another story. Overall game revenue was down 11 percent in February, and the aging Xbox 360 was the platform of choice for six out of the top 10 releases; the PS4 and Xbox One rarely fared better than second place. The decline isn’t surprising, the NPD Group says, since game sales are “expected” to taper off as the old generation makes way for the new. That transition should happen relatively quickly. Titanfall is considered an early system seller for the Xbox One, and high-profile releases like Watch Dogs may help Microsoft and Sony alike.
NPD Group: PS4 is #1 again for the month, and cumulative sales, in the United States. Thanks for your support!
– PlayStation (@PlayStation) March 13, 2014
Oh, and NPD says the PS4 led hardware sales, but only by a narrow margin. Xbox One unit sals were 90% of PS4.
– Ian Sherr (@iansherr) March 13, 2014
Filed under: Gaming, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo
Source: PlayStation (Twitter), Xbox Wire, Ian Sherr (Twitter)
Watch Dogs arrives on May 27th
When Ubisoft showed off Watch Dogs for the first time in 2012, there was no such thing as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Well, okay, they existed in some sense of the word, but both consoles were far from publicly ready, making Watch Dogs an unbelievably pretty game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Unbelievable to the point that many journalists were incredulous about it not being touted as intended for next-gen, but Ubisoft couldn’t say it was headed to unannounced consoles. In so many words, Watch Dogs was essentially the first “next-gen” game shown off…even before the consoles were unveiled. It’s somewhat hilarious then that we’re here to tell you today that Watch Dogs now has a release date — May 27th — after being delayed past the actual launch of the new consoles. It’s unclear if that means all versions (Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PC and Wii U) will arrive on the same day, though the Wii U version was already given a release date sometime after the other versions. Sorry Wii U, owners!
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo
Source: Ubisoft
Batman: Arkham Knight headed to Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC in 2014
In a move that won’t surprise Batfanatics, a new Batman game is headed to Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC at some point this year. The latest caped crusader game entry is titled Batman: Arkham Knight, and it’s set to complete the trilogy that Rocksteady Games started back in 2009 (which includes Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, and doesn’t include Arkham Origins). We’ve dropped the first teaser video below the break, which heavily features both very serious sad talking and a totally sweet Batmobile. We’ll let you decide which is more exciting.
In our count, the first tease shows Penguin, Two-Face, Harley Quinn, and we can hear Scarecrow. That all makes sense given the video’s blurb:
“In the explosive finale to the Arkham series, Batman faces the ultimate threat against the city he is sworn to protect. The Scarecrow returns to unite an impressive roster of super villains, including Penguin, Two-Face and Harley Quinn, to destroy The Dark Knight forever.”
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Sony, Microsoft
Source: Warner Bros.
PlayStation 4 moves just shy of 350K units in first two days at Japanese retail
By Japanese game console launch standards, the PlayStation 4 is off to a great start. In the first 48 hours of availability, Japanese console buyers snapped up just under 350,000 PlayStation 4 systems (322,083 to be exact, according to Famitsu). That’s roughly four times what the PlayStation 3 moved at launch back in 2006 and about six times what Xbox 360 sold in 2005 — not too shabby!
That’s just a drop in the bucket for PS4′s worldwide sales thus far, which crested 5 million last week (well ahead of Sony’s sales estimate for its current financial quarter). It also inches the PS4 ever closer to 6 million units sold worldwide, putting it well over the competition’s (admittedly not recently updated) numbers.
You might be wondering, “Why does this matter to me?” It might not! But it certainly doesn’t hurt your chance of playing more great games if the console makers are doing well and facing stiff competition. It’s like the opposite of the slogan for Aliens vs. Predator: Whoever loses, we win!
Source: Famitsu
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