So much more with Sony's PS4

Sony’s new PlayStation 4 game console is truly powerful, even more than most desktop computers when it comes to chewing through heavyweight video-game graphics.

Sony says the graphics power of PS4 allows game developers to unlock their creativity and push the boundaries of play. The power comes from a powerful custom chip that contains eight x86-64 cores and a state-of-the-art 1.84 TFlops graphics processor with 8GB of ultra-fast GDDR5 unified-system memory.

This power results in games with rich, high-fidelity graphics and deeply immersive experiences.

PS4 comes with a new joystick, the Dualshock 4 wireless controller. The controls are familiar while incorporating new ways to interact with the games and other players. Best of all, it has a capacitive touch pad that opens up endless potential for new possibilities when playing.

The TouchPad is on the top of the controller, offering completely new ways to play and interact. 

The controller also provides three LEDs for a simpler way to identify players and see useful game information, as when your character is low on health or has taken major damage, for example.

The controller’s share button lets you brag about victories, streaming live to Ustream or by uploading recorded videos to Facebook.

What I like most about the controller is the built-in speaker and its sound effects. There’s a stereo headset jack for connecting a bundled headset so you can chat with friends while playing online, and enhanced vibrations thanks to multiple vibration motors. You get a greater degree of expression and it heightens the sense of immersion. There is only one Dualshock controller, so if two people are using the same machine, you have to buy another one. It costs Bt2,590.

The PlayStationCamera comes with one PS4 set or can be bought separately. 

It lets you add a picture-in-picture video of yourself in gameplay live streams or create and share narrated game walkthroughs in HD video and voice chat through four built-in microphones with the camera.

It can also function as the 3D depth-sensing camera to work with the controller’s light bar for enhancing game control. You can even use it for logging in with facial recognition. During my test, however, I had no camera.

The PS4 has a 500GB built-in hard drive for storing games that you download or buy at the PlayStation store. The package comes with a Bt250 voucher to spend.

You can play online with friends via the new PlayStation Plus membership service. 

With this console you get a month’s membership.

To go online, connect the console to your router with a LAN cable or get wireless access with your Wi-Fi router. Sony says the system “learns” your preferences and, once online, shows you game-related information shared by friends, friends’ game plays, and recommended games, TV shows and movies.

The home screen has a Web browser as well.

The PlayStation app is for connecting to your smartphone and the PlayStation Plus network for purchases or downloads and pushing them to your PS4 hard drive. Use the app to enter text when required, such as a Web address, for example.

An HDMI output connects to your LCD TV or a home-theatre system. In the latter case, you can enjoy immersive surround-sound that the PS4 decodes into multiple channels.

I connected to my 5.1 home-theatre system and enjoyed the fully enveloping sounds of the game. The PS4 can also play Blu-ray movies with 5.1 sound channels as well.

For my test I tried the bundled Battlefield 4 game. It played smoothly, without problem. The graphics and video cuts were fluid and crisp and I enjoyed the “force-feeding” feature, which really pulls you into the game.

Sony Thai offers four packages. 

The console alone is Bt19,990 and the PS4 with camera is Bt20,990. The PS4 plus the game Kill Zone Shadow Fall sells for Bt21,690 and PS4 plus Battlefield 4 is Bt22,190.

 

Key specs

_ Main processor: Single-chip custom processor

_ CPU: low power x86-64 AMD “Jaguar”, 8 cores

_ GPU: 1.84 TFlops, AMD Radeon Graphics Core Next engine

_ Memory: GDDR5 8GB

_ Hard disk: 500GB built in

_ Optical Drive (Read only): BD 6xCAV, DVD 8xCAV

_ I/O: 2 Super-Speed USB (USB 3.0), 1 AUX

_ Communication: Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T), IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (EDR)

_ AV output: HDMI, Digital Output (optical)

_ Dimension: 275x53x305mm

_ Weight: 2.8kg

 

 

 

Ready for battle?

 

Battlefield 4 is a first-person shooter game involving modern military warfare and it’s packed with fast action, beautiful graphics and great sound effects.

Developed by Dice and published by Electronic Arts, it offers three modes. For Multiplayer and Premium, you need a PlayStation Plus account with and have to log in. Multiplayer can handle up to 64 users at once.

In Campaign mode, offline, you’re in the midst of hostilities between Russia and China in 2020. The game China Rising Pack comes with the purchase.

You get four classes of characters to choose among – Assault, Engineer, Support and Recon.

It’s a little tricky to play at first, but it gets easier once you’re familiar with the controls. And there are stunningly beautiful graphics. Driving a car along a coast, for example, even has waves splashing across windshield and dripping off in gorgeous reality.

This game was built using the latest-generation Frostbite 3 engine, so it delivers unmatched visual and audio fidelity, superior character animations and dynamic destruction, running at a smooth 60 frames per second.

The Levolution technology changes the landscape in real time – interactive environments react to your every move.

The basic edition costs Bt1,490 and the deluxe is Bt1,780.