Now that the dust is starting to settle from the aftermath of the PlayStation Meeting on Wednesday, it’s time to delve into the details of the news without too much uncontrolled emotion we’ve seen over the last few days, about one of the worst kept secret in gaming history – Sony came out and unsurprisingly confirmed 2 new consoles; the PlayStation Slim and PlayStation Pro.
Images on the Slim had leaked to the internet for a while now, and they turned out to be true. The console will become the standard PlayStation 4 model from here on in when it launches next week on the 15th September, and does exactly as we thought it would; it’s slimmer, lighter and more efficient than its predecessor. Sony state the console is 30% quieter, 16% lighter, and uses 28% less power. It comes with an updated DualShock 4 controller that has a light bar on the front touch pad, as well as USB 3 & Bluetooth connectivity; the latter being a feature many PC gamers have been after for a while now. The console also touts a new chassis design, including physical buttons in place of touch sensitive ones. It’s due to retail for £259/$299, which as Sony say is “great value for gamers who haven’t joined the PS4 community just yet”.
Next up is the PlayStation Pro, the console that Sony will be hoping to bring 4K gaming to the masses. Due out on 10th November at a price of £349/$399, the console has a 1TB Hard Drive, faster CPU and double the GPU power, allowing support of High Dynamic Range (HDR), smoother frame rates and 4K resolution. The Pro also has a new design, opting for 3 tiers with the continued slanted sides. At the conference, Sony showed off preview footage from a number of games in 4K HDR including Horizon: Zero Dawn, Spider-Man and Watch Dogs 2. The footage was rendered using the PS4 Pro Hardware, and whilst the games did look incredible, the big mystery remains to see if it will be running the games natively in 4K, or upscaling to 4K for those with compatibles TV’s. Those with 4K HDR capable TV’s will see the best results, however there is also going to be improved graphical clarity for 1080p HD TV’s as well, which is good news for those who have not yet invested in 4K.
A number of current PS4 games will receive a patch to improve HD quality from the Pro, whilst every PS4 since will benefit from HDR support via a firmware upgrade next week. HDR technology increase contrast meaning deeper blacks and brighter whites can be displayed, giving truly revelatory results on screen. All PS4 games will work on each console, with Sony encouraging developers to take advantage of the increase power of the Pro with hardware specific support. Both EA and Activision have already announced support for this – FIFA 17, Battlefield 1, Mass Effect Andromeda, Call of Duty Infinite Warfare & Modern Warfare Remaster will all support the PS4 Pro Hardware, whilst Call of Duty Black Ops III will get the patch to show performance and graphical improvements. Players can capture screenshot in 4K, however video recording will be limited to 1080p at 30 frames per second. Whilst this may be disappointing for some, it is still an enhancement, with the original PS4 allowing 1080p screenshots and only 720p video recording.
The PlayStation 4 Pro will have 4K streaming, with a new 4K HDR Netflix app available when the console launches, offering 600+ hours of 4K video by the end of the year; streaming is getting bigger and bigger, and it’s clear Sony sees this as a winner for them. The controversial news from the conference is that there will be no 4K Blu-Ray to go alongside the 4K Streaming. This left many fans upset and bemused, with price one of a number of factors for the omission, according to PlayStation’s global head of marketing and sales Jim Ryan. The company want to keep it positioned primarily as a gaming device, at a good price that could still make a profit. It would have been interesting to see the reaction of gamers should the console have included the 4K player, but come in more expensive, given that standard HDTVs are still the most prevalent in households today. Still, it is an interesting stance from Sony, given the Xbox One S also has 4K streaming and 4K Blu-Ray and is priced at $349 for the 1TB model. Streaming may be the second biggest use for the systems user base so far, however not everyone has broadband capable of streaming 4K content comfortably.
The big question to come from this is how the PS4 Pro will fare against the Xbox One S, and Project Scorpio when it finally releases next year. The Xbox One S does everything the Pro offers, assuming it won’t be running native 4K gaming, but also has the addition of the 4K Blu-Ray at a lower price. The big advantage Pro has over the One S is PlayStation Virtual Reality, and against Scorpio it launches a year earlier, and likely at a much better price than Scorpio will be able to offer. The omission of 4K Bu-Ray could prove crucial in how well the console succeeds, although it could be fair to say it will end up being a big moan over nothing, much like the groans we heard with backwards compatibility when the PlayStation 4 was originally released – the console went on to smash Xbox One in sales for numerous months on end.
I for one am excited with the 4K console Sony has placed before us. It is unlikely to offer native 4K gaming on only but a handful of titles at best, but in reality this was always likely to be the case given the price of the console – many gaming PC’s struggle to run native 4K and they can be priced over 3 times the cost of the Pro. The omission of 4K Blu-Ray is of little concern, and whilst it would obviously be better to have it than to not, I can’t see it being an issue that will affect a high majority of gamers, and the inclusion of it would have no doubt increased the price of the console. The console itself still looks sleek (although I am not liking the PS4 Slim due to its lack of symmetry in the front bars, and odd gap between the USB ports), and the 1TB Hard Drive is a nice addition (albeit a necessary one due to the Xbox One S). The switch up may not be necessary for gamers who already own a PS4 and are not looking to get into 4K just yet, but for those of us who have made the investment into 4K TV, or who are looking to finally join the PlayStation family, the Pro seems like a solid choice at a very decent price.
The PS4 Pro has a head start on Project Scorpio, so it will be exciting to see how things turn out in a years’ time for both companies. The competition won’t boil down to which has a 4K Blu-Ray player, but which has the best exclusives, best VR offering, and best overall price for what you get.
By Matthew Timberlake
Sources: PlayStation Blog, Polygon, Eurogamer
