Sony Details PlayStation 4

Sony Details PlayStation 4 Processing Specs, DualShock 4, and Eye

 

 

New light shed on the system's internals and peripherals.

tonight's event we were offered a brief overview of the PlayStation 4's powerful new hardware and a few quick glimpses at its new peripherals, the DualShock 4 and Eye. Now, the company has released additional information about the console's internals and more detail about the controller and new camera.

 

Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation 4 will be powered by a custom 8-core AMD "Jaguar" x86-64 with integrated graphics APU and "next-generation" AMD Radeon graphics processor capable of driving 1.84 teraflops. As detailed at the event, it will come paired with 8GB of dedicated GDDR5 memory, making it competitive with most gaming-focused PCs on the market. As expected, the system will ship with a Blu-ray drive, built-in 80.211 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1, as well as HDMI, Analog-AV, and optical digital output. Sony is giving I/O options a boost with the inclusion of USB 3.0 ports and a mysteriously vague "AUX" port. Each system will ship a "Mono Headset" for cross-game chat and other social features.

What's more, we've gained new insight into the DualShock 4. As we know, the controller sports an integrated touch pad, headset jack, share button, and LED player identifier, but we've now learned that the touch pad features a mechanical button and supports "capacitive type." In addition to the obvious size and ergonomic changes, the DualShock 4 is expectedly gaining a bit of weight, going from 6.77 ounces on the DualShock 3 to 7.4 ounces on the DualShock 4. In addition to helping track a player for motion-based controls, the built-in LED can also be used to represent in-game elements, like a player's overall health.

Details were remarkably scant at the event regarding the PlayStation 4 Eye, which has been revealed as having a 1280x800 pixel sensor capable of capturing video at 60 frames-per-second — a significant gain over the Kinect's 640x480 30fps sensor. It can also be used to automatically detect players, though Sony hasn't detailed the exact application of the feature.