Sony’s Yoshida confirms all PlayStation 4 games work with Vita via Remote Play (with minor exceptions)

Posted on 29/05/2013 by Ben Gilbert

Sony's PlayStation Vita is getting a major content boost when the PlayStation 4 launches later this year, as all PlayStation 4 games will run on the Vita via Remote Play. The only exceptions offered by Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida were, "unless the game requires specific hardware like the camera [PS4 Eye]." It also stands to reason that PlayStation Move-specific titles won't run via Remote Play, nor anything else that requires peripheral hardware (the Buzz! series, for example).

The PlayStation 4's Remote Play functionality with the Vita is said to be far more robust than its previous PlayStation 3 / PlayStation Portable iteration. Developers can even put Vita-specific controls in their PS4 games, enabling Wii U-esque second screen functionality, Yoshida told us earlier this year. We'll have our Vitas on-hand at E3 in a few weeks when we expect Sony will offer first hands-on with its next gaming console.

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Peripherals, HD, Sony

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Via: Joystiq

Source: Twitter

The DualShock 4 is ‘near final’ hardware, Remote Play is more than an afterthought, and other notes from Shuhei Yoshida

Posted on 21/02/2013 by Ben Gilbert

The only hardware shown on-stage during Sony's PlayStation 4 event was the retooled DualShock controller, the DualShock 4. No box. No PS4 Eye. No new version of Move. As for the console itself, its absence makes some sense in light of today's news from SCEA prez Jack Tretton that the console's internals are "still in development in terms of final specs and design." So, how final is the only piece of hardware Sony was willing to trot out? "It's near final. It's just gonna be small tweaks being done," Sony Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida told us in an interview this morning.

Sadly, he also admitted we won't be able to touch any of it anytime soon. "By E3, I think" was the best he could offer. He blamed Sony's hardware folks for not allowing access, despite him pleading with PR to give hands-on time. "I was just asking our PR team can we just let you touch this stuff. Our hardware guys don't want you to find out some detail that ..." he said, trailing off. "Some dirty secret?" we asked. "Of course," he responded with a smile.

Moving on to Vita and the Remote Play functionality on PS4 (which allows you to play any PS4 game on your Vita, via streaming), Yoshida said that -- unlike with the PlayStation 3's Remote Play functionality -- Sony's asking devs to try their game via Remote Play on Vita before submitting final code for publishing. He also said that, using Remote Play, developers could implement Vita-specific controls. "Some PS Vita games make use of the edge of the screen to add contextual buttons -- that works really well, I think, and it's easy to see. So that kind of thing I'd like to see developers do on PS Vita over Remote Play," Yoshida explained.

He also apologized for not showing the final box, getting out ahead of the inevitable question from the room full of journalists. But hey, we sympathize -- Sony's gotta save something for E3, right? PlayStation Plus on PlayStation 4 may also be on that list; when we asked Yoshida about its presence on the next Sony game console, he coyly answered, "I know the answer, but we're not talking about it. I'm a subscriber, so I'd like to see it." Us too!

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, Software, HD, Sony

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Used games will function on PlayStation 4, but there’s a mysterious caveat

Posted on 21/02/2013 by Ben Gilbert

Sony head of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida is a gregarious, smart, talkative interviewee. And that's exactly why it was so weird that he fully waffled when we asked him to address whether or not the newly unveiled PlayStation 4 will play used games. "That's my expectation, that PS4 games will work on [the] hardware. That's my expectation," he told us in an interview this morning. When we pushed to clarify what he meant, Yoshida stuttered. "Ummm ... yeah. We have to really name our system services to explain more about it," he added.

That's a similar answer to what he told Eurogamer last night at Sony's big PlayStation 4 announcement event, vagueness and all. Yes, used games "can play on PS4," but does it require a license repurchase? Perhaps you have to belong to an as-yet-unidentified PS4 online network? It's not entirely clear, but there seems to be a caveat to the statement, "Used games work on PS4." Sony, however, isn't saying what that caveat is just yet. Of course, current-gen consoles all support buying any used, physical copies of games and playing them on their corresponding game consoles

Yoshida also confirmed that games will launch at retail as well as digital, but, well, you probably already guessed that from the included Blu-ray disc drive.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Sony

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Sony isn’t cutting the Vita price in North America due to international exchange rates

Posted on 21/02/2013 by Ben Gilbert

Despite the PlayStation Vita getting a recent price cut in its home country of Japan, Sony says it isn't getting a similar price adjustment in North America. The Vita recently dropped from 30,000 yen (3G) and 25,000 yen (WiFi-only) to 19,980 yen, but Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida tells Joystiq that that same price drop won't happen in the US. He cited exchange rates as the primary reason -- Japanese Yen has dropped in value to (currently) 0.93 cents to every US dollar, meaning Sony actually loses money in exchange on products sold outside of its home territory.

The Vita launched in February 2012 and has suffered from poor sales throughout the past year -- Sony's hoping to revitalize that a bit with PlayStation 4 connectivity. Via Remote Play, all PlayStation 4 games are streamable on Vita. Whether that'll be a feature that consumers use is another question altogether; Remote Play exists on PlayStation 3 already, and it's not what we'd call a great experience.

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds, HD, Sony

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Source: Joystiq

The PlayStation 4 can output in 4K, but not games

Posted on 21/02/2013 by Ben Gilbert

Yes, the PlayStation 4 is capable of pushing out a 4K video signal. Sony president of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida confirmed as much to Joystiq in an interview this morning, where he said that the PlayStation 4 will play video that was recorded in the super high-def resolution, but the games currently being made for it aren't in 4K.

Sony made a big 4K push at CES 2013 -- it was all Sony president Kaz Hirai would talk about in our interview, and Sony's booth reflected the company's 4K initiative. It seems that the company's not getting too far ahead of itself, however, recognizing that few consumers buying a PS4 this holiday will own the still-nascent TV tech.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony

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Source: Joystiq

Sony reveals how the PlayStation 4 Eye works

Posted on 21/02/2013 by Daniel Cooper

Sony's Shuhei Yoshida has dished the dirt on how the company's latest camera accessory will work. The PlayStation 4 Eye comes with a pair of 1,280 x 800 cameras, four microphones and an 85-degree field of view. The two lenses are designed to be used in a variety of ways, including triangulating the 3D space, gesture recognition, Kinect-style body tracking, and in conjunction with accessories like the Wonderbook or DualShock 4 controller. "It's not just a way to identify your player number, it also works like a PS Move," Yoshida said of the new DualShock's light bar. "It's an extension of the PS Move technology that we incorporated into the DualShock so that the camera can see where it is."

The Sony Studios chief used a PS Eye-style AR game as an example, saying that with the original camera, one lens had to do everything. With the new unit, one camera will concentrate on capturing the action and ensuring good picture quality, while the other is dedicated to motion tracking. Another reason that the Move functionality was incorporated into the DualShock is to enable the console know where you're sitting in relation to the TV (and your on-screen character). The company is also aiming to enable users to take 3D pictures and video and store it on the console. As for the microphones in the new Eye and how that'll impact interaction with the PlayStation 4 on a system level, Yoshida wasn't giving up any details. Though he said it'll be incorporated into games (a la Kinect voice commands on Xbox 360 games), he wouldn't give up whether you could use your voice to control the PlayStation 4 on a system level.

Ben Gilbert contributed to this report.

Filed under: Gaming, Sony

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Sony’s Yoshida: ‘used games can play on a PS4’

Posted on 21/02/2013 by Richard Lawler

In news that should keep parties going until the early morning at Gamestops everywhere, Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida tells Eurogamer that used games will still play on the PlayStation 4. Despite some issues with the translation, he stated clearly that "used games can play on a PS4." That appears to clearly put the issue to bed, despite rumors or patent misinterpretations passed around the internet recently. Now, we wait for our own chance to ask a few questions of Sony about its upcoming console like "what does it look like?", and the competition over at Microsoft goes on the hot seat with secondhand-loving gamers.

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Source: Eurogamer

Sony rules out PS Vita price cut in 2012, works to lower the price later

Posted on 16/08/2012 by Jon Fingas

It's time to get realistic about the prospects of a PlayStation Vita price drop. Sony Worldwide Studios' head Shuhei Yoshida dampened the fires of speculation at GamesCom this week by telling Eurogamer that it was simply "too early" to slash the price on the gaming handheld -- it was only just launched this year for every active region beyond Japan, after all. That's not to say Sony is determined to keep the PS Vita at $249 forever. Much like what it did for the PS3, the company is working to bring down the price by streamlining part costs. The cuts might be necessary given the mismatch between the warm reception to the quad-core, OLED-packing hardware and the actual sales; Sony would "like to see more uptake" than what's been seen to date, according to Yoshida. In the meantime, we'll have to be content with bundles like the European LittleBigPlanet combo if we want to eke out a little more value at the game store counter.

Filed under: Gaming, Handhelds

Sony rules out PS Vita price cut in 2012, works to lower the price later originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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