It turns out this year's instalment of the annual gaming convention, E3, was one to keep a close eye on if you were a fan of large, angular black boxes. While Microsoft had already revealed their humoungous VHS-player alike console, the Xbox One, before the show even started, Sony instead took a slightly different approach, by running a console reveal where they didn't actually reveal the console in February, before releasing a teaser video on YouTube to get everyone excited. Last night, however, the Japanese giants could hold back no longer, and revealed all the details about the launch of their "next-generation" console, the Playstation 4.Set to launch this "holiday season" (it's probably fairly safe to assume that means Christmas, not August), the Playstation 4 will weigh in at a reasonable £349, $399, and 399 Euros. Unfortunately, there's still a rather substantial gap between what we should be paying, and what we are paying ($399 = £256 - even allowing for VAT at 20%, there's a £42 UK surcharge), but the reveal will still likely have caused a bit of sweating at Microsoft this morning, after they announced a £429 price point for their new console, the Xbox One.
Angles are in this year, it seems.
For £350 of your British Pounds (or 399 of your dollars/euros), you'll get a Playstation 4, a brand new DualShock 4 controller, which brings with it a whole host of upgrades - including a fancy light bar on the front, and a speaker much like the Wii Remote - along with a USB lead, HDMI lead, and a headset for online chat. The console itself will come packing a 500 GB hard drive, along with 2 USB 3.0 ports, a 6x Blu-Ray drive, and built in Wi-Fi for connecting to your home network. In order to keep the cost down for those who don't want it, the pictured Playstation Eye camera will be sold separately for £44, while extra controllers will cost an eye-watering £55.
While a specific date this Christmas wasn't specifically mentioned - or even a month - we'd expect the console to surface in late November, going head to head with Microsoft's Xbox One. With a £100 lead on Microsoft's console, you'll be able to buy two games and a PS4 for the price of the Xbox One alone - so it's a good job Sony have bought the games to match. Confirmed to be launching alongside the console are first person sci-fi shooter Killzone: Shadowfall, cute robotic platformer Knack, and socially charged racer, Driveclub - and those are just from Sony.
With both publishers having now shown their hands, and both launches set to be pretty much head to head, it's clear that this November is going to be an exciting - if rather expensive - time for players everywhere - and that's without even mentioning the Wii U, which is bound to go into Christmas with a range of must buy games. We'll be keeping you updated with all the news about the latest PS4, Wii U, and Xbox One games as the months role by, in order to help make your decision that much easier.
