Sony details PS4 features

Mark Cerny, the lead system architect on the PS4, has revealed a lot of the new features on the PS4.

System-wise, the PS4 will have an X86 CPU, a "highly enhanced PC GPU", 8GB of unified RAM, and "supercharged PC architecture."

In terms of actual features:

• A suspend button, so that you can suspend play immediately and then restart it by pressing the button again.
• A share button that lets you select part of your recent gameplay, trim it into a video, and upload it while playing. (Sony has stated they wish to make sharing a video as important as sharing screenshots is today.)
• The ability to browse live game videos, so you can see what your friends - or even famous people! - are playing right at that moment. You'll even be able to take control of their game to help them out, although they'll presumably have to let you do this.
• Dashboard personalisation and the terrifying ability to learn your preferences. To quote Mark Cerny: "If we know enough about you to predict the next game you'll purchase, then that game can be loaded and ready to go before you even hit the button."
• Background downloading, reworked to the point that you can purchase a game, download the first part of it, and start playing it before the whole thing is on hard drive.

Dave Perry of Gaikai then appeared to relate some more details on what the PS4 can do. There's full partnership with Facebook and UStream, so you can multicast gameplay live, for instance! You'll also have remote play functionality with the PS Vita, which can be used as a second screen. If you need to vacate the living room while playing, for instance, you can just stream the play directly onto your Vita and continue on that.

Oh, and there's also Netflix and Hulu and so on, surprising no-one.

One possible surprise is that the PlayStation 4 will not support backwards compatibility - but Gaikai may be the key to solving this, with older games being streamed. Sony are still being cagey about this, though, so no real confirmation yet.

We've also seen talking head appearances from gaming luminaries like Tim Schafer and David Cage, so it looks like there's a fair bit of developer support for the new system.