There are few things more awkward in the games industry than the so-called "lifestyle ad". Filming a load of people sitting around pretending to be playing games, sticking to an awkwardly written script as they go about their lives in either a glorious wonder apartment, or in the case of this new trailer for Sony's new console, the Playstation 4, a beaten down garage, which a guy who wears sunglasses indoors and keeps his games in the fridge has decided is the only logical place to store his brand new PS4 and 50 inch TV, they're often as cringe-worthy as they are random.
But somewhere in-between the awkward acting, irrational logic (downloading a $60 game on a whim?) and appalling English ("Dude, I don't got that man", says the lead, as his friend asks him to join him on Killzone), there are plenty of snippets of the new console's interface slotted in here for us to admire, revealing a few new details and features we didn't know about before.
Perhaps most significant is the move away from the Playstation 3's XMB, or "cross media bar" for the PS4. Gone are the logically organised icons for games, films, and friends, which are replaced instead by a strange amalgam of the two, with a number of icons at the top that would appear to be for common functions, and a slightly confused looking notification area below. Mixing updates about your friends getting trophies in with news, product announcements, and trailers, it bears more than a passing resemblance to Windows 8, and certainly seems a lot more of a mish-mash than the current console's neatly organised menu - although we'll hold out on making a final decision until we can actually try it out for ourselves.
From there on in, though, everything else we see seems a lot more positive. Showing the trailer's lead, the aforementioned indoor-sunglasses wearing, fridge-game storing Will, switching between the console's menus and games without a second's delay, "liking" a friend's achievement, which seems to have been automatically posted to his wall on the main menu, and getting stuck on a game, before switching to the menu, watching a video of his friend playing through the exact same section, and jumping straight back in, everything seems swish, clean, and, most importantly, functional.
The new menus seem a bit all over the place at first glance, but we'd imagine it's easier to navigate when you've got it in your hands.
As you'd probably expect, there's a lot of emphasis placed on the console's upgraded online features in the new trailer, too, with a veritable smorgasbord of ways to stay in touch with your friends. With cross game voice chat letting one guy playing Knack chat with another playing Killzone - something which simply wasn't possible on the PS3 - along with an upgraded text messaging system that lets you post messages to a specific group of friends, rather than a single acquaintance, the Playstation 4 looks set to make staying in touch a lot easier than it is on the PS3. Whether you'll be able to have more than two people in a voice chat at once still remains to be seen, as the trailer did only ever show two people talking, but seeing as the Xbox 360 has allowed this for years, we'd be surprised if the brand new PS4 doesn't.
Another feature that was shown off in the trailer was the ability to jump into the store and purchase a game without quitting the game you're playing, along with the option of choosing to download either the single or multiplayer section first. Sony had previously mentioned that, thanks to their new technology, you'll be able to start playing games you've chosen to download after only a short delay, as it'll download the chunks you need get started first, pulling the rest in as you play, so it's interesting to see a glimpse of how that'll work here. Meanwhile, the ability to join another friend's game in progress is another much welcome addition, with a detailed screen telling you what game they're playing, what map they're on, and who else is in the session before you join.
While it may not be a brand new feature, the video does show off a little bit more of the console's incredible sharing functionality, too, which lets you share video and screenshots of your favourite moments with your friends at the touch of a button. All you have to do is poke the controller's built-in Share button, and you'll be able to access footage of the last 15 minutes of gameplay. After trimming it down, and maybe adding a title, all you have to do is hit X to upload it to Facebook, YouTube, or share it with the rest of your friends on the Playstation 4, where it'll show up in the console's main menu feed.
While it may be one of the most cringe worthy trailers Sony have produced, if anything it only makes it even more worth a watch. With plenty of interesting snippets of the menu mixed in, why not take a look, and marvel at the speed of their internet connection, which can download a 10 GB+ game in a matter of seconds:
