I considered starting this post with my juggernaut-like history with video games, but I feel like that’d force you to read
I’ve got a pretty lengthy history with ye ol’ trusty Playstation. Lets take a minute and highlight the crafty beginnings with Sony’s fun box.
I pretty much spent my entire 3rd year of Computer Science playing Metal Gear Solid 2 on PS2 in 2001. Actually, I’m in firm belief that failing out of university can be directly co-related to Metal Gear Solid 2. I was living in Fredericton at the time, and I built an insurmountable collection of games that made programming assignments a last minute to non-existent duty.
Eventually I brought the black box of educational danger to Toronto; I went on a mission to Craigslist to try out a mod chip. Don’t trust those bastards. Especially if his name is Mike and he lives in Vaughn. Never got the unit back, which kind of sucked.
Fast forward to 5 years ago: Grand Theft Auto 4 is nearing release for PS3, and unfortunately my TV experience was still restricted to 19″ tube television. $2000 later, I setup my new 32″ Sharp LCD 1080p, PS3, and booted up a fresh new copy of GTA 4.
While I’ve experienced a couple outages of the YLOD, including a loss of 160 hours worth of Skyrim save files, I managed to continue my PS3 experience whole heartedly.
And now, PS4 is nearly here.
A small group of video game hungry bloggers/writers were invited to the new little condo at 650 King West, a building that I originally considered living in had income and standards of living were more in sync. I’m really digging these events hosted inside condos/hotels. Super bored of redundant event spaces, and the coziness and seclusion is far more appealing to an exclusive-seeker like myself.
Lets face it: the graphics on the PS4 are incredible. We were treated to a short presentation on the new features and notable facts about it, followed by some game play with Kill Zone: Shadow Fall and Knack.
Both games had their merit; Kill Zone: Shadow Fall‘s graphics put nearly every sci-fi shooter I’ve seen to shame. The daylight brightness was nearing reality and resembled playing within the confines of the new Total Recall movie’s landscape. Plus it didn’t exactly feel like Kill Zone’s super dark shooter anymore. Felt more like Mass Effect (which I think is a great thing).
Knack, on the extreme other side, is a kid friendly game where you’re a magical device (?) of some sort that collects relics and artifacts that make you grow from a little ball of might to a HULKING SLAUGHTER MACHINE. Can’t lie, it’s not an easy game, as one hit deaths are seriously difficult for anyone. Fortunately you can scale the difficulty to match your playability.
I did have the opportunity to play indie developed Sound Shapes for PS4 at GamerCamp on the weekend, which features really sweet tracks by deadmau5 and other artists. Your gameplay actions affected the track by adding sounds to it and increasing in tempo at high risk moments. Awesome party game.
It’s super easy to poke around on Google and find the technical specs of the PS4, so I’m going to jump into the features that I found most appealing.
Sure, I was blown away by the visuals. But what really took my attention was that the PS4 can load the entire map/game and have it running in the background simultaneously. So you could be on one side of the map goofin’ off, and on the other side of the map, life is continuing for the little NPCs – and not just waiting for you to “get near” either. Incredible power.
The controller is much more ergonomically sound, and feels better in your hand. It’s funny what small adjustments can do to keep your filthy hands going for another few hours. Plus, it has a light indicator to identify which player you are, if you’re playing with other people, and will flash from green > yellow > red > flashing red when you’re losing health. It’s a neat addition.
Speaking of the controller, they’ve added a “Share” button as well. I was a bit skeptical at first, because I generally avoid the “hey look at my awesome life accomplishments at the age of 32” thing, but I love how the PS4 records the past 15 minutes of gameplay and allows you to share whatever-cool-shit-you-did to Playstation’s internal social network. So now your friends can watch you drive off a bridge, doing a 1440 degree spin before smashing into a pack of Tuesday morning mall joggers.
Broadcasting is also another feature I found pretty legit. Too lazy to pick up the controller and play? You probably need help in life. But if you find yourself in such depressing rut, all you have to do is watch your friends play. Yes, you can broadcast your games to your friends for them to watch. Getting inspired? No problem, just press “Join game”, and if for instance they look like they need help in ze Battlefield, you’ll be pulled into their match.. all within a matter of seconds. That’s right, seconds.
That cloud saving option that Playstation Plus offers would’ve came in handy when my fat PS3 hit the dirt (twice). Another must.
Lastly, I can honestly say I’m not a handheld video gamer. I killed that part of my life like rapping. Gameboy fanatics can agree that it was the greatest invention for mobile children in the 90’s, but I’ve since left portable gaming to free iPhone downloads and 3 minute attentions spans prior to deleting. However, I’ll explain why the PS Vita got my damn attention: You can play and stream your PS4 to your PS Vita. BOOM.
Playstation 4 comes out November 15th. Make sure you preorder it at any of the fine establishments near you. In the meantime, I’m going to pop into GTA V and fire rockets from my attack chopper at those pesky mall joggers.
