PlayStation 4 Press Conference Live Report
Watch Sony unveil its next generation of hardware here from 11pm GMT.
Updated on
Happy new hardware day! OK, maybe we're getting ahead of ourselves, but seeing as Sony's invited the world's press to its New York-based conference today we're pretty confident this is going to be a little more than the announcement of a new colour range for the Vita.
Tom Bramwell's our man on the ground in New York, and he'll be bringing you updates as and when they happen. The livestream above will let you see all the action as it unfurls, but if you really want to know what Kaz Hirai's fear smells like, then Tom's your man.
We'll also be bringing you all the news as it happens, as well as fresh insight, analysis and commentary from the team. Want to know what to make of Andy House's decision to rock a blue pastel shirt as he unveils the future of the PlayStation? Eurogamer will have you covered.
As you're gearing yourself up for the night, you might want to also check out our brief history of console reveals and roundup of everything PlayStation 4-related we know so far. We'll be bringing you more PlayStation 4 related content in the run-up to tonight's conference.
It all kicks off at 6pm EST, or 11pm GMT. It could be something quite, quite special.
Our live coverage of this event has finished.
Do you own a PlayStation 3? THROW IT IN THE BIN. Tonight we meet its replacement. I've arrived in New York for what Sony is calling "PlayStation Meeting 2013" and what everyone else is calling the PS4 conference. I'll be heading over to the venue in a few hours and things should get going at 6pm EST, which is 11pm GMT in old money. Speak to you then.
HELLO LADYWELL! Tom's currently lining up to take his place inside the venue, and I'm lining up to take my place in front of a computer screen in the heart of South East London where the real magic's going to be happening tonight. We've only got 30 minutes to go, and I'm already getting butterflies and sweaty palms.
Which is actually probably down to the packet of ginger nuts I just got through. Living on the edge here.
Noxia: How long is the conference? I don't want them to beat around the bush, just lay it all on me at once
From my understanding it's going to be a fairly long one - we're looking at around 90 minutes, which gives time for plenty PowerPoint skills to be shown off.
What's everyone's tipple of choice for the next couple of hours? I see a few of you are hitting the beers, which is a brave choice. I've got a bottle of Glenlivet staring me down, but I think I'll save that for any Gran Turismo news. For now it's Rooibos all the way. I'm a tough guy like that.
Phily50: Robinsons fruit and barley, orange motherfuckas
Yeah, keep it street!
frunk: @Martin Chasing down the Leffe with Yamakazi... but just ran out - so eyeing up the Aberfeldy 21 year old... I don't think it will survive the night!
That's someone with real class.
I'm beginning to think these butterflies might be more than just the infinite sugar rush that comes off the back of a whole pack of g-nuts. I think I'm getting excited!
Sony's done a good job of keeping this all under wraps, I think. Although as Wes just pointed out to me we do know the specs, a little on the business model and what the controller looks like.
But it's all about the games, right?
MeBrains: anybody else with lagging / buffering video? how's the servers, Martin?
Everything's holding up well our end! Nowt's started yet, though, so you haven't missed out on anything yet.
X201: Keep it jovial chaps lets stop the one up man ship with the whiskey, or I may have to nick a drop of my dads birthday whiskey to nuke the lot of you. :)
Go on, do it! I'll happily take the blame.
SEVQA: It's official. The Playstation 4 will not have sound.
Sound's a last generation feature, innit.
mal: I'm up for a game of one down man ship, if anyone else is. I'm currently on Lidl own-brand wine. Any offers?
If we're going to play that game I've got some mystery Eastern European liqueurs downstairs that will take on allcomers.
Apparently, wi-fi and 3G will not be next-gen features. Just heard from Tom, who's inside the venue, that there's no connection there. So in a first for EG the following live-blog will be brought to you by a man in his dressing gown.
There is funk, and there is disco. There is the sound of a PlayStation meeting about to commence.
Apparently Larry Hryb just tweeted to say he's in an Xbox conference room "watching the fun unfold".
And we are GO!
20 seconds for the Inception horn to get in there. That's probably not a record.
And some super streaming as Sony trolls the audience with a half-formed PS logo.
A rollcall of Sony's great and good before we get into the event proper.
Lara, LittleBigPlanet, GT - all the usual suspects making an appearance.
BIG FISH LITTLE FISH ANDREW HOUSE!
And here's another mascot - it's Mr. Andrew House!
Loving the facial hair. Very Giovanni Ribisi.
"connectivity between devices" - you can tick that off your conference bingo card.
See also "phenomenal play experiences".
Andrew House says the Vita could bring "significant value" to the living room.
Smartphones and tablets now. We must be just seconds away from Facebook and YouTube.
(Andy came on to the boot up sound for the original PlayStation. Nice touch.)
It's not just about next-gen tech but "reconceptualising" how gamers want to play. Wowsers.
I'm pretty sure he's said "gaming experience" 148 times already. Come on WILL IT BE MORE THAN £800???
"Expect worlds to come alive with greater fidelity and intensity than ever before."
Yes, he just said it "PlayStation 4" - a "significant shift" from a mere box or console.
"PS4 will unleash imaginations"
"An idea with enough vision to lead the ever-changing landscape."
It's all about the multi-dimensional experiences we not only expect but deserve, apparently.
So that's it - PS4. I can't be the only one surprised by that.
We're going to meet some creative minds, including one belonging to someone who joined Atari at 17 and invented Marble Madness...
Lead system architect Mark Cerny is coming on to the tune of the Crash Bandicoot music! jolly.
Mark Cerny takes up Kuturagi's role
His role on the PS4 started 5 years ago. It was all about freeing devs from technological limitations.
He's slightly more confident on stage than poor Ken was back at the dawn of the PS3.
He's talking about how old machines were always devices with single purposes.
But when PS3 launched, all of that was in flux. It's done "pretty well" but there are limits, says Mark.
Cerny's talking about the end of dedicated machines.
He's proud of the achievements of Cell. But this is obviously a fond farewell.
Cross-disciplinary team behind the PS4 had several goals. The first one, hearteningly, is not getting between the player and the game.
And connecting fluidly to a connected world.
Finally, it's about listening to what developers want. An architecture that could facilitate the expression of their ideas.
Talking to devs back in 2008, in a roundabout way. As a result, the PS4's a system by developers for developers.
Must've taken Jack Tretton ages to put this Powerpoint together.
The architecture's like a PC in many ways. With an enhanced PC GPU.
Come on, get to the point. ARE YOU BRINGING UMD BACK?????
There's 8GB of unified memory - which is a new detail.
It's one that Rich L is getting all excited about.
The DualShock 4!
It looks so much better here than it did in those early leaks.
There's the headphone jack, a touchpad and the share button we've all heard so much about.
And a stereo camera. Nobody say Kinect. It's another Eyetoy!
We're seeing the Unreal Engine 4 demo.
This bit's aimed directly at Rich Leadbetter. I'll admit I'm a little flustered by some of this tech stuff.
But I can understand this tech demo powered by Havok, which is effectively ducks 2.0.
Cerny's making a game too.
And this is our first look at a PS4 game proper.
Stylised, Pixar style graphics. And being developed by Japan Studio.
Mac, which I assume will be you, is a cute critter-sized imp who's placed in the middle of an almighty war.
Sorry, that's Knack.
And that's what the game's called. An action platformer, by the looks of it.
I'll be straight - that doesn't really push any of my buttons.
In the UK of course it will be called Knackers. I hope.
Japan Studio, as it was pointed out to me recently, have effectively sat out the last generation - so here's hoping they come out strong for the PS4
The PS4 can suspend and resume play sessions.
Gameplay preserved in Ram. You just have to power up and you can resume. No need to sit through the boot process.
Digital titles will be playable even as you're downloading them. Nice.
Digital titles will be playable even as you're downloading them. Nice.
And we're on to the social - and the shared gameplay feature we've heard about in the past.
A look at the new XMB. It's an evolution of the new look seen in the recently redesigned PlayStation Store.
You can browse videos of what your friends are playing - or spectate famous people playing that game.
You can play anonymously, of course. But the wider worlds there.
Oh good. Another social network thingy. That is what is missing from my life.
Wes, with his eagle news eyes, has spotted that trophies are still there.
Integration with smartphones and tablets - allowing you to interact anywhere.
There's something quite disconcerting about Cerny.
Looking forward to the moment when Sony reveals that actually this entire conference is taking place from Home 2.0.
A successful new platform must not only meet but exceed player expectations, bleeps Cerny's voice chip.
And he's about to power down, and make way for Dave Perry. So here comes the Gaikai bit!
I miss Ken....
Was really hoping he meant David "Games Animal" Perry to be honest.
Nice blazer/jeans combo. Dave's a bit of a hunk.
He's also excited to be working with Sony. obv.
It's about pushing the PlayStation into new territories.
Dave Perry hugged me once. It was like being embraced by a handsome lamppost.
We're creating the fastest, most powerful network for gaming in the world, says Dave.
Press the X button to instantly play a game when you're browsing them. With Gaikai and the PS Store, you can experience anything when you want.
Try before you buy, basically. Gaikai's also partnered with UStream and Facebook.
The PS4 works together with Facebook and Gaikai to create, what Sony hopes, is going to be the first social network with meaning.
The share button plays a big part of this vision.
Friends can post comments to your screen when you broadcast live via the share button.
And if you're stuck, you can ask a friend to take over and assist remotely.
For the devs, there's access to new spectating tools.
Multicasting capabilities as well - so you can broadcast your play at a set time to as many people as you want, thanks to UStream.
PS4 games on second screens.
Remote play's been built into the potential of the PS4
And Vita's the biggest part of that. The best accompaniment to the PS4.
And the shot in the arm that the Vita sorely needed.
So you can play with your Knackers remotely? Yes I am pathetic.
Knack's being shown - it's working on Remote Play on the Vita.
Using the full graphical capabilities of the PS4. Although it really doesn't look all that.
Sony's also doing multimedia stuff too - including Netflix, Hulu and a host of other services.
Backwards compatibility. PS3 titles aren't supported on PS4 - but they're looking at Gaikai being the solution.
Everything, everywhere is the vision of the new PSN.
Cloud services will be rolled out, which is important to note.
Tim Schafer looks well weird without a beard.
So is PS3's slogan now That Was Living?
But, more importantly - here's a bunch of devs saying nice things about the PS4.
We've had Ready at Dawn as well as Double Fine contributing. Oh, and here's Randy Pitchford.
Tameem's shaved his hair. Schafer's got rid of his beard. PS4 does not support full follicles, it seems.
I want to see some games now, please.
Stig Asmussen's part of the reel - and we know he's working on a PS4 title at Santa Monica. Let's hope he returns!
Kaz, godly, heavenly Kaz, is now saying that the PS4's like a blank canvas.
Michael Denny, the starchiest exec in the biz with a luscious set of lips, is up next.
Shark-like eyes, has Denny.
I've also heard he sleeps with his eyes open.
But anyway, he's cueing up some proper games.
Hermann Hulst is here, showing what Guerrilla's up to.
And it's another Killzone game.
Killzone: Shadowfall's the name.
And my my does it look pretty.
Obviously we've all been burned by Killzone presentations before at Sony reveals, but surely they wouldn't pull that trick again?
Best new feature of this Killzone - it has colours!
A slick, shiny futuristic city, and a measured stroll through its security measures.
There's an immense amount of detail here. Although I'd love to see the game in action rather than someone just walking around.
The city's struck by what looks like a terrorist attack. And we've got our first neck stab of the day!
Cripes, what was that - two minutes into the first proper game?
It's a first person shooter alright. It's got the persons and the shooting.
Sorry my stream dropped out for a minute. Is this the new Ratchet & Clank?
Another neck stab to keep everything in check, this one an aerial takedown.
We've got an on-rails section now, and while it's showing off the pretties it's not doing much else that interesting.
Well, there you go. Your first look at Shadow Fall.
In a nice touch, the guy "playing" the game shares the video.
Here's Evolution's game, which definitely isn't a Motorstorm game.
It's called Drive Club, and it's team-based racing.
Ahh, Matt Southern, the most ironically named man in games.
Collaborative gameplay based around teams.
It's not about hardware, says Southern - it's about new gameplay. There's straight-up racing and asynchronous play.
From the looks of that first trailer, there's licensed machines here.
Uses a first person perspective.
There's a Kernelsegg, and a world of other real cars.
This reminds me a little of Project Gotham's garage mode.
And I'm sure this'll have similarly arcade handling.
What time's Beyonce on?
So that's DriveClub. It's got cars in it.
Ooh, it's Sucker Punch.
He's talking about CCTV, and invasion of space.
And this is Nate Fox, who despite this earnestness is quite a lovely man.
Is this another Infamous?
I like how Sony is highlighting how there are too many cameras in public places having just announced they want to put another one in your lounge.
There's a huge tower over a dystopian city. Looks ripe for climbing, that.
Cut to a bank of CCTV feeds.
It looks very, very Infamous. Imagine it'll follow along similar lines. Open-world, comic book action.
It is an Infamous game, and it's called Second Son.
And that's the games, it seems. A mixed bunch.
Actually, I'll say it - quite a lacklustre bunch.
But here's something new!
Do you think Michael Denny irons his own shirts?
Very crisp.
Third party games, I believe.
An indie developer being teed up. And it's Jonathan Blow.
And surely it's the Witness?
And The Witness it is.
And it'll be a timed PS4 exclusive, by the looks of things.
medicineboy: now thats a shirt!!
Yeah, it's the winner so far tonight.
The Witness is an open world game. And it's a puzzle game.
As ever, I'm quite confused as to what it actually is.
Doubtless I'll just play it and realise it's a slightly pretentious Myst.
Here's a trailer that could help explain things though.
No, wait. It's a record player in a tree.
It's being aimed, with some brilliant ambiguity, for the launch window.
well, it's at least quite pretty.
The Krypton Factor is BACK!
Here's Donlan's more eloquent take on The Witness from a while back. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-08-24-the-witness-preview
Cage is up next! Can they announce Singularity before Beyond's even out?
Cage, as ever, is getting emotional.
He's really talking nonsense now. How silent cinema was limited in its expression.
I can't hide my disdain for that opinion, I'm afraid.
More polygons equals more emotion, seems to be where Cage is heading.
Cage David! Met the PS4 on Monday, took it for a drink on Tuesday, and on Wednesday they were developing new emotional entertainment experiences that gamers both want and deserve on all platforms across all devices with maximum connectivity across all social networks in real time
Here's a tech demo showing what Quantic Dream has been up to on the PS4
There's translucency, shading. More importantly, there's EMOTION.
I can smell this old man's pissy pants thanks to the power of PS4.
Dad?
No game to announce, then. Just a tech demo.
Here's Alex Evans, hopefully with something to announce for PS4.
They're a two team studio now, with one small team working on Tearaway while everyone else is working on... Well, hopefully we'll find out in a tick.
"We want to let you record your dreams"
In my case, you really don't. They're super mundane.
Note to video game executives. If you find yourself compelled to utter the phrase "But I mean seriously" during rehearsal, consider not saying the sentence preceding it.
They're working with Move.
Using it to make a sculpting tool.
What we're seeing being created is really, really impressive. Expressive sculptures, all made with the Move controller.
3D sculpting's what it's about - and it looks like it's going to tie into the level creation etc. that MM did with LittleBigPlanet.
Oh, Media Molecule, with your quaint whimsy and your Breton tops. Never change.
We're about to see a live demo. Or at least one that was recorded live.
Using Move to control the sculptures like marionettes to create a performance.
It's a bit like the Muppets Show. I'm not sure if that's a good thing.
Andy's back on stage to take us home.
And now he's talking about third party devs.
There's a whole host of them there. I can't type that fast to give you them all!
Yoshi Ono's on-stage as the first third party rep. And he's not talking about Street Fighter.
He's being typically camp, though, bless him.
Good to see 505 Games' name on that developers slide. NOW I'm excited.
Is this cross-gen Remember Me? Or something else?
Ha, someone's just suggested this could be a Rival Schools game. IMAGINE!
He's here to show off Panta Rhei, an evolution of Capcom's MT Framework engine.
It's a new IP, and it's running on the Panta Rhei engine.
Called Deep Down, it's got a Dragon's Dogma vibe to it
Called Deep Down, it's got a Dragon's Dogma vibe to it
Here's what looks like in-game stuff. Really, really impressive in-game stuff, with a huge dragon being tackled by a single small soldier.
A little email at the end - from Blanka to Yoshi, of course - suggests that you'll be able to call on friend to help you in this.
Square up next. If this is a Ito directed Final Fantasy, you'll hear my screams from wherever you are in the world.
Hashimoto's on stage. Is it another FF7 demo?
Luminous Studio, who handle all the cut-scenes for Square and did the Agni demo, are behind this.
Sadly, it's just a tech demo.
And it's just Agne's Philosophy again.
Well, you've likely seen this before as it was show at last year's E3.
Has anyone got any crisps?
Do you think they'll come out all together or will Kelly and Michelle be separate?
Michelle will be on the right. She always makes Michelle stand on the right.
Shinji Hashimoto is now taking the stage.
So here's a Final Fantasy announcement.
They're preparing development of a Final Fantasy game.
Did that guy just announce there will be an E3 this year? Thanks for that.
Square just announced they're working on a Final Fantasy game. More as it happens.
Guillemot Style!
Well, here's Watch Dogs for a little burst of excitement.
He couldn't be bothered to iron his shirt so he just put a jumper on.
Yves done his bit - his lovely bit - and here's a smiley chap from Ubi Montreal to show off his iPhone.
We've a new live demo - the first new footage since last year's E3.
"The heart of America - feels like somewhere it's skipped a beat" says the moody voiceover, before we cut to a look at some lovely cloth.
Again, this is looking really impressive - an amazing amount of detail in the city, and a load of possibilities suggested by the hacking mechanic.
There's some great free-running action as the hero pre-cogs a crime and intervenes.
Destroying cars, fuse boxes and darting around a convincing Chicago.
And that's Watch Dogs.
And it's another partner. BLIZZARD?
Could this be console Diablo? Well, what else could it be.
Metzen providing one of the first glimpses of charisma of the night.
He's talking big picture stuff, so maybe there's no title announcement - talking about Blizzard's history with console.
I'm wrong, as ever It's Diablo.
They've a version running already on PS4, and they've got a control solution up and running.
There's four player co-op in there
"One couch to rule them all" jokes Metzen.
That's couch co-op for four players, of course.
There'll be more unveiled at PAX East.
In the name of brevity. Phrases that should be banned from all future games conferences: "We're very excited about..."
Activision are up now. Is this a bit more about Destiny?
See also "We're looking forward to sharing more with you in the coming months."
They're supporting PS4 over the launch window.
"launch window"
And the developers are excited about the platform.
And there's one developer who's been alien to PlayStation for a while - Bungie, of course.
We'll get to see some more of the game, courtesy of Bungie's Jason Jones.
Shame Bobby Kotick couldn't make it. There's a lot of bottles of piss with nowhere to go in that audience right now.
Destiny's going to launch on PS3 and PS4.
And with exclusive content to boot.
Andrew House is wrapping up. No Kaz, he's too pimp.
And it's coming "Holiday 2013"
A lot of new games, a lot of new details.
Here's hoping they mean Easter holiday.
There's plenty more questions though. Will it play used games? Will we see it in Europe this year?
Where oh where is Fumito Ueda's magical catweagle? SAD FACE.
We'll be looking to bring you answers to some of those in the next day or two.
And with that I'm going to hit the Glenlivet.
Goodnight everyone, sweet dreams (which Sony is recording on a camera using PlayStation Move across all devices to all social networks in real time everywhere all the time. On Vita).