So there we have it, Sony unveiled their new console. Interestingly, every single rumor that surfaced the last two days was correct, so there weren’t any big surprises. Still, it’s a solid console that has huge potential. I’m not going into all the details, these can be found on almost any tech or gaming website, but these features really strike me the most:

Gaikai integration. 

After Sony bought the startup we knew it was coming in some way, but this is better than I thought. Sony will use the streaming service to allow remote play with the Playstation Vita (nice for those who actually bought a Vita), make the back catalog of PS1, PS2 and PS3 available (instead of backwards compatibility and emulation) and allow the users to play any PS4 game via streaming before they have to buy it (Boom!). Now that’s really a true killer feature. It’s like an online video game rental shop with instant play. Go into the store, pick a game, play it within a minute, like it, buy it, download it. Good bye boxed titles, good bye used games market. And the best for Sony: Microsoft is very unlikely to have the knowledge to copy this anytime soon (poor OnLive, this could have been your chance).

Improved DualShock.

The new controller is almost revolutionary for Sony, compared to their latest iterations of the DualShock. It has a touchpad included but not a touchscreen, so I can’t estimate how useful this actually will become. What I like though is the integration of the move controller (light bulb) and the corresponding camera. It’s nothing fancy or even new technology, but its available for every player on day one. That’s a big deal. History has shown that additional hardware only gets good support when its available during launch phase. So this time we might actually get some decent games with move support.

PC architecture.

I could imagine it took quite some balls to convince the management at Sony to drop their Cell Chip and go for more standard hardware. Respect for that. It was neccessary. This makes it easier (and therefore cheaper) to develop and go multiplatform with PC and the next XBox. Its an architecture developers already know.

Other cool features like “resume play”, watching friend’s play session online and joining them anytime or playing a game while still downloading it are really promising, whereas others like the deep social integration or the user behaviour and interests prediction system leave me uninterested, annoyed or even concerned.

To sum it up: Sony makes some really interesting promises with the new Playstation 4. It will be a powerful gaming machine which puts the player in the center of attention. The smart use of the new streaming technology could be a killer feature for the next generation. Social integration doesn’t wow me at all, but nowadays even wrist watches come with that, so I guess its unavoidable.

How awesome is that. Remember the WiiMote experiments from Johnny Lee? This has now be done with a webcam and Javascript only.

Check it out.

With only one more week until the unveiling of the Playstation 4, it’s more than understandable that rumors about the next Xbox spike. This time Kotaku has some precious info:

• Multitasking: Can run multiple games at once
• Blu-Ray
• Installation of games needed, but works in the background
• Much more advanced Kinect sensor build-in
• 500 GB internal drive
• 8 core, 64 bit 1.6 ghz CPU
• 8 GB memory
• build-in WiFi

Let’s see how that plays out. I’m a bit suspicious, the specs look almost too good to be sold at the usual price range of 399 to 599.

Nintendo just announced (in another extremely awkward Satoru Iwata Nintendo Direct show) a HD remake of the GameCube classic “Legend Of Zelda: Wind Waker”. That episode of the franchise always was my favorite, I loved the cell shading and the friendly, cute look of Link (compare him to the one in the latest “Skyward Sword” and you see the difference).

The adventure itself wasn’t the most epic of them all, but for sure it was the best looking in terms of art style. Nintendo got quite some negative feedback on the cell shading look back in the GameCube days, I never understood why, especially after the more mature and far more boring looks of it’s successor “Twilight Princess”. The atmosphere of “Wind Waker” was unbeatable, with bright, positive colors, the blue ocean, sounds of waves dropping onto the beach, the wind blowing the sails of the small boat that takes Link from one adventure to the next. Wonderful and relaxing. You could almost smell the salty air.

So, I’m looking forward to the remake, scheduled for late Q3 this year. A “regular” new Zelda title is in the works too, so don’t be afraid that the remake is the only Zelda title you can play on the Wii U. But it might be for a long time.