PS4 Launch Only Days Away!

It is finally that time ladies and gentlemen. The moment we have all been waiting for since the rumors began to circulate. The home gaming console/entertainment system that will now own your social life for the next 2 years. The long awaited, brand new, sexy PlayStation 4. The launch of a new, or "next gen" console is literally better than Christmas for some gamers, yours truly being one of them. Although I am a Sony fan myself, the Microsoft lovers have something to look forward too as well with the upcoming launch of the new Xbox One. But as is customary for every next gen console launch, a new console war will ensue and it looks to be something of a tech bloodbath this time around. Lets take a look at what the PS4 will be offering us.

Lets start with the new DualShock 4 controller. This new controller keeps things a bit familiar for PS3 fan boys by remaining wireless, lightweight, and as the name would suggest, "shocking". But here is where the difference comes in; the share button. The new controller actually has the ability to record game play, then share it to the PS4 online community or straight to Facebook and other social media sites. It is one of the best and most impressive features that Sony and the PlayStation 4 are utilizing to keep the gaming market fresh and ever expanding. Having an integrated touch pad along with the previous model's SixAxis feature is going to make this bad boy something to look at no matter what type of gamer you are.

What about the actual console though? Well the overall exterior has done away with the curved look and gone for a more hard cut, but still sleek, and slanted shape. But the exterior is really just the icing on the cake. Lets look at the guts. We are talking an x86-64 AMD "Jaguar" single chip processor clocked in at around 1.6 Ghz with 8 cores. This already sounds like a monster and the AMD Radeon next-gen graphics engine sitting in the GPU department is only going to make you more confused on if you are playing a game or playing a movie. The stock 500 gigabyte hard drive will be removable as was the hard drive on the PS3, but 500 gigs is a really nice starting point. As later, more slim models come out, it would be expected that the stock storage will increase with each version.

So here is the verdict (as if you couldn't tell already). This system, I feel, is going to mark a very big milestone in gaming history, mainly due to the huge push for community sharing with its gaming. This is something that Xbox fans may not be getting if you happened to watch the E3 press conferences. Nevertheless, this beautifully elegant and incredible machine is a MUST buy for any hardcore gamer, or even someone new to gaming. Sony has put in countless hours into making this machine something to talk about for while now, and with the $399 starting price tag, it would seem almost ludicrous to not put this under the tree this year. This starting price is also actually $100 cheaper than the new Xbox One. But to wrap this up, I will put this as contritely as I can. Buy. This. System.

New Xbox to Debut at E3 2012?

So, this current generation of gaming consoles has been around for quite some time, six years to be exact, and a lot of people are wondering just how much life the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii have left in them. Many gamers are calling for a new wave of consoles and the newest Xbox could be revealed sooner than anyone might have thought.

E3 2011 has come and gone and any announcement of a new console would have been given at the event. Aside from Nintendo's Wii U, which I still can't figure out if it's a new console or a new controller, nothing about the next generation of consoles was talked about. Everything was based in the present and focused mainly around motion controlled gaming with the PlayStation Move and Kinect.

However, it has just been revealed that the highly anticipated successor to the Xbox 360 will be revealed at E3 2012. It has also been revealed that Crytek is making a next-gen Timesplitters 4 game. That is, of course, if the sources speaking on Videogamer.com are correct.

According to Videogamer.com, a "high-ranking industry source at Crytek" told the site that even though specifications for the next Xbox have not been finalized, Crytek is using Microsoft's DirectX11 for next-gen game development. The "source" also stated that Microsoft will announce the new console next year, most likely at E3.

According to the source, "Crytek believes that Microsoft will announce and launch its new machine ahead of rival Sony, though the developer is also investing resources into next-generation PlayStation development."

In addition to that, the source also claims that Timesplitters 4 is currently in development and using the CryEngine 3. It was also said that the game is already being demoed internally. Timesplitters 4 was also supposedly shown off in private last week at E3 2011. If that is true, then it is the best kept secret from E3.

The source went on to say, "As for the game itself, the new Timesplitters is reported to focus on the series' branching paths and exploratory nature, with sandbox-style gameplay elements a big priority. The current goal is for levels to feature multiple routes that lead to the same overall conclusion."

Naturally, both Microsoft and Crytek declined to comment on this news. While the announcement of a new Timesplitters game isn't too crazy, the thought of a new console at E3 2012 is insane. If this is true, and not some well developed hoax, and Microsoft does manage to pump out a console before both Sony and Nintendo, then Microsoft can easily sweep the competition in the next-generation console wars.

Source: IGN - Report - Next Xbox Debuting in 2012?

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