Sony has announced its next-generation gaming console - the PlayStation 4 - at an event in New York.
Its new hardware is designed to offer superior graphics as
well as new social features including the sharing of recorded gameplay
clips.
It will succeed the PlayStation 3, which went on sale in 2006 and has sold about 75 million units.
The PS4 will eventually compete against Microsoft's still-to-be-unveiled Xbox 360 successor and Nintendo's Wii U.
Ubisoft's WatchDogs was among the titles confirmed for the PlayStation 4
Sony also confirmed a range of big-name software for the machine
including Bungie's upcoming "shared-world shooter" Destiny, which will
include exclusive content for the PS4. The developer's previous title,
Halo, helped drive sales for the rival Xbox platform.
A successful launch might spur on sales of Sony's new
televisions and other consumer electronics, helping turn around its
fortunes.
Sony posted a 456.7bn yen loss ($4.9bn; £3.2bn) in its last financial year, marking the fourth year it ended in deficit.
But the firm has forecast a 20bn yen profit for the current financial year ending in March.
Sony said the console was "coming holiday 2013" suggesting it will go on sale in at least some countries in or around December.
It did not give any indication of its price nor did it show what the console would look like.
The new controller features a touchpad and a light so its movement can be tracked by a camera
There was also no mention of whether the console would support
4K - or ultra-high definition - video. However, Sony told the BBC it
would have more to say on this matter "at the appropriate moment".
PC-based chip
Sony described the machine as being like a "supercharged" PC.
It runs off an x86-based CPU (central processing unit) -
similar architecture to that found in most desktop computers - and an
"enhanced" PC GPU (graphics processing unit). Both CPU and GPU are
designed by the US firm Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
It comes with the new DualShock 4 controller, which includes a
touchpad, a "share button" and a lightbar, which allows a separate
camera to track its movement.
"This is a complete controller upgrade with touch, share and
better responsiveness," said Brian Blau, an analyst at the tech
consultancy Gartner.
"The new controller is the key to a better PS4 experience. It
has the ability to share content easily, and brings in a component of
touch that allows even more ways to interact with games."
The console also includes new hardware dedicated to video compression to make it a more social device.
Users will be able to pause a game, select a
few minutes of recorded video of their most recent activity, and
instruct the clip to be uploaded to a social network.
This will then occur in the background while they can return
to their game. The firm said it wanted to make sharing video clips as
common as it is today to share screenshots.
Another new feature is that gamers can let one of their
friends connect to their machine and take control of their character to
help if they have got stuck, or allow several friends to watch their
live progress as spectators. This facility uses technology from Gaikai -
a cloud-based service Sony acquired last year for $380m.
Gaikai's technology is also being used to allow PS4 games to
be streamed and played via the PlayStation Vita handheld console, which
may boost its sales.
Sony said it was also exploring the possibility of using its
Gaikai unit to allow PlayStation 3 games to be played on the new machine
as well as other devices.
However, at the moment PS3 games will not run on the new console.
"The decision to not make the PlayStation 4 backwards
compatible is disappointing and means the 5.5 million plus people who
own a PS3 in the UK will essentially have to start their gaming
collection from scratch," said Alex Simmons, UK editor-in-chief of the
gaming site IGN.
"PlayStation 3 games - and indeed PSone and PS2 games - will
be available to download at some point, but most likely at an additional
cost, which might turn consumers off."
The PS4's lead system architect outlines some of its new social features
'More important'
Sony invited developers on stage to preview some of the PS4 games
being worked on. They included Killzone Shadowfall - an addition to its
bestselling Killzone science fiction first-person shooter series; the
racing game Driveclub; superhero game Infamous: Second Son; and Diablo
3.
Developer Ubisoft also confirmed that its much-discussed
title WatchDogs, which involves a hacker taking control of a smart
city's systems, is indeed being developed for the PS4.
Jim Ryan, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe,
told the BBC that his firm's shift to an x86-based processor would make
it easier for other developers to create games for the platform.
"One of the fundamental design principles was to make the
PlayStation 4 considerably easier to develop for than some of its
predecessor platforms," he said.
Previously unseen footage from Bungie's big-budget title Destiny was shown at Sony's event
"It is much more of a generic PC environment. It's not a
bespoke development environment as was very much the case with the
PlayStation 3. So it's something developers are aware of, are
comfortable with and they don't have to relearn the rules."
Improved graphics
While the graphics shown during the demonstrations were more
advanced that those in current games for Nintendo's Wii U, Sony must
also convince gamers to choose its platform over PC-based systems.
PCs will be capable of offering increasingly impressive
visuals as the PS4 ages thanks to their ability to have their processors
and other hardware upgraded.
US firm Valve, in particular, has been vocal about its ambition to bring PC-based gaming to living room TVs.
Even so, Stephen Totilo, editor of the gaming site Kotaku, was broadly impressed with what he had seen.
"The PS4 games we saw today don't look that much better than
the best beauties on the PS3 - until you look for the smaller details,"
he said.
"It seems like you can see further into the distance in these games' worlds. More sparks fly, more smoke swirls.
"This is nice, but it has the feeling of the spectacle of visuals alone is reaching a point of diminishing returns.
Developers say they can create more realistic looking in-game characters, making it easier to convey emotions
"More impressive is how much more social the PS4 seems - to be
able to capture video of what you play while you play and share that
with people brings console gaming closer to the cutting edge of modern
gaming on a PC. This system seems smarter and more connected - it
doesn't seem like a dinosaur."
How much?
Sony did not announce how much it plans to charge - perhaps
holding the news back for the E3 gaming conference in Los Angeles in
June or a later announcement.
The PlayStation 3 was initially sold at a loss, so if that
practice is repeated with the new model its launch may initially put
fresh strain on the firm's finances.
Even so, one analyst suggested that Sony would be willing to take the pain to maximise early demand.
"Without the established user base and community of PS3 and
PlayStation Network, Sony would be without a significant home
entertainment foothold allowing it to connect many of its other consumer
electronic devices, products and services," said Piers Harding-Rolls,
head of games at IHS Screen Digest.
"Sony's next generation device is likely to take on more importance not less."
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