Sony hosted the announcement even live on YouTube to announce 2 new consoles - PS4 Pro and PS4 (Slim). The show was shot at PlayStation Theater in New York and went live about an hour ago. The whole event lasted for about an hour and the main speaker of the evening was Andrew House, Global CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment. Other notable speakers include the lead architect, Mark Cerny.
Before I go further into the details, I am just going to let you guys know about the price and release date. As I already said two consoles have been announced during the Live Event - PS4 Pro and PS4 (Slim), which had been rumored under the name PS4 Neo.
Price and Release Date
PS4 Pro will be available in most markets on November 10, 2016 for $399.
PS4 (Slim) will be available in most markets on September 15, 2016 for $299.
PS4 Pro
The main focus of the evening was on the features of the PS4 Pro. Andrew House made it clear that Sony aims to bring forward future proof gaming development for both gamers and developers. Some of the areas and features highlighted during the event are as follows:-
1. 4K
Both Andrew House and Mark Cerny made it clear with the help of certain pictures, gameplay videos and realtime gameplay that 4K was indeed the "next big thing!" Andrew said that "4K could deliver a level of detail and visual precision that's unprecedented." This was made clear with an image comparing a 720p, 1080p and 4K image by Mark Cerny. During the event, it was made clear that not every developer currently developing games for PS4 has made their games 4K compatible, but with the level and rate of development, we could soon be in an era of "only 4K gaming."
2. HDR (High Dynamic Ranging)
HDR mainly concentrates on color, luminance and the other finer details of the image, thus providing images that are far more realistic. Mark Cerny took the courtesy of showing the difference between a 4K HDR Image and a 1080p image of San Francisco Sunrise. Mark Cerny explained about the huge variety of colours and shades human eyes could see and how "conventional" TVs were not able to expose the human eye to it's maximum potential. But, according to him, HDR does exactly that.
3. HDTV
While their focus was mainly on gamers with a 4K HDR TV, both of them didn't forget to remind the gamers that even if they had an HD TV, PS4 Pro would automatically adjust to the environment.
4. PlayStation VR
The event also showcased PlayStation VR, Sony's Virtual Reality Technology on PS4 Pro. The VR tech on PS4 Pro was demonstrated with the game Far Point which had been in the limelight for sometime due to its VR capability. Mark Cerny also mentioned that with the new PSVR technology, developers could actually choose for higher frame rates and tweak the performance for the best possible results.
5. Upgraded GPU and Better Clocked CPU
Mark Cerny also told that the GPU on PS4 Pro has been upgraded along with a CPU that's clocked to a higher rate for better gaming.
6. Forward Compatibility
Nearing the end of the announcement, Andrew House claimed that they were planning to bring every PS4 gamer under a single community and with PS4 Pro, They're planning to do that by making the PS4 Pro compatible with PS4 Launch model games. So, the discs and digital downloads stay the same for PS4 Launch, PS4 (Slim) and PS4 Pro. But, for the old games, the developers are working for patches to enable PS4 Pro users to have a better experience.
Moreover, Andrew also said that moving from a PS4 Launch Model to PS4 Pro or PS4 (Slim) will be made very easy with a simple wizard.
Gameplay and Realtime Videos
The Event was filled with many gameplays and realtime videos on PS4 Pro. You can watch the video above. If anyone's interested, here's a list of games showcased:-
- Spider-Man
- Watch Dogs 2
- Rise of the Tomb Raider
- Days Gone
- For Honor
- Uncharted 4
- Call of Duty Infinite Warfare
- Horizon Zero Dawn
The announcement was concluded with Andre House placing a PS4 Pro in his hands and informing everyone about it's price and release date.
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