Footage has appeared of Sony's Gamestop Expo 2013, where Sean Coleman of Sony Computer Entertainment America made a few announcements about the PS4 and the PlayStation brand – including the fact that PS4s are now in production and being readied for shipping when released in November this year. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HVuinq4g7A']
Along with a look-in at the hardware of the console a little more, including the fact that the controllers will not require batteries and can be set to charge while the console is in standby, we also heard that Sony has made over 21 partnerships with developers to bring their games to the machine. These include companies like: Sumo Digital, Capcom, Ubisoft, Square Enix, Warner Bros, Sega, Disney, Activision Blizzard, Rockstar, Nordic Games, Bethesda and many, many more.
The PlayStation camera can handle voice commands and facial recognition, just like the Kinect and even comes with built in games like the PlayRoom, which is designed to teach people about some of the capabilities of the motion control aspects of the console and its camera.
This was the only user interface shot, but it looks clean and simple.
The new user interface is also on show, offering curated content for the games that you play most frequently, as well as games that Sony thinks (based on your library) that you'll like. This involves news, updates and videos of other people playing said games.
Vita remote play witll be compatible with almost every game at launch, letting you play your games around your house, streaming over WiFi – in the same way as Nvidia's Shield does with PC titles.
There's also some footage of some upcoming games, including Infamous Second Son, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Watch Dogs and Destiny. Unfortunately, the video quality isn't too hot, so you can't really appreciate the fancy visual effects of the new system, but any new insight into these upcoming games is exciting to see. Most of the footage is in-game too, though all of it seems to be in-engine, so even the bits where a player isn't directly controlling the action, there's not really any pre-rendered cutscenes to be exasperated with.
Sony also showed its commitment to indie devs, with the support of games like Octodad: Dadliest Catch, Rays of the Dead, Mercenary Kings, Outlast and Transistor. Some of these will be exclusively on the PS4 for a short period of time.
PlayStation Plus will give players access to some very specific apps too, most of which will augment gaming experiences, by working across PS4, PS3 and Vita consoles. It will also give access to cloud saves and early access to PS4 beta programs.
KitGuru Says: You guys were all on board with the PS4 (and PC of course) when the Xbox One hate was at its peak, but how are you feeling as we get closer to release?
[Thanks AGB]