First impressions of the PS4
It's safe to say that Sony left E3 on a bit of a high. After a poor start in February, E3 saw the PS4 take a notional lead over the Xbox One. It's a compact and well-designed box at a reasonable price, and Sony's open approach to PS4 game sharing and used games has gone down a whole lot better than Microsoft's rather restricted take.
Since E3 the PS4 has continued to ride a wave of positivity, albeit with a few bumps in the road. The news that the PS4 won't support MP3 playback, external hard drives or DLNA at launch has put more than a few noses out of joint. Sony has made some noises about looking into adding it in future, but not firm a committment, which is odd considering the PS3 was such a good media hub. It's also lost a key launch title in Driveclub, which has been pushed back to 2014 having been due to be available at launch.
This leaves Killzone to shoulder much of the burden as a 'system seller', though Sony can claim to be the best next-gen console for cross-platform games due to its superior power. Numerous third-party developers have confirmed their games run at higher resolutions on the PS4, which only the most ardent Xbox One supporter can spin away.
We'll be publishing a full PS4 review next week ahead of the UK PS4 release date on 29 November. Until then, here are our first impressions of the new consoles.
SEE ALSO: PS4 Pre-orders: Best deals and bundles available now
See our first look at the PS4 from the PlayStation Summer showcase
Sony PS4 hardware
The PS4 design seems a bit conservative after the high-gloss curves of the original PS3, but the console is a relatively compact and stylish unit, a little slimmer-looking than the Xbox One and capable of standing on its side.
In many ways it's reminiscent of a PS2, perhaps harking back to Sony's glory days. The front houses the Blu-ray drive and a pair of USB 3 ports, while the rear hosts another, plus HDMI and Ethernet sockets and a digital optical out. Frankly, these are all so cleverly concealed amongst a mass of grilling that there might be other sockets in there that we didn't spot while peaking at the unit through glass.
By now the specification of the PS4 is pretty well-known (read our Xbox One vs. PS4 comparison for details) and this time the use of GDDR5, as opposed to DDR3 RAM, and a more powerful AMD Radeon GPU makes it pretty clear that the PS4 is, physically speaking, the more powerful of the two new consoles.
Microsoft's hope is that its architectural enhancements and cloud-based systems will balance this out, though that remains to be seen. For now, what we can say is that both consoles are capable of running some spectacular games, even if some of the PS4's upcoming titles have a slight edge when it comes to visual splendour.
Sony PS4 DualShock 4 controller
You can read our DualShock 4 hands-on for more detail, but it's comfortably the best PlayStation controller yet. It's wider than the old DualShock 3 to accommodate the central touchpad, and not quite as nicely balanced as the excellent Xbox One controller.
However it feels very comfortable in the hand, the triggers sit nicely under the fingers, and the analogue sticks have a slightly raised ring around the edge of each pad, helping your thumbs maintain traction.
We've now seen proof that the glowing bar at the back works as a reference for software using the new PlayStation Eye camera, and that - like the PlayStation Move's glowing orb - it can be set to a huge range of colours.
Like the DualShock 3, the DualShock 4 also has tilt sensitivity, and we even suspect that the analogue sticks are more sensitive than they were before, with a smaller central dead zone than the DualShock 3's sticks.
There will be grumbles about the placement of the start, select and share buttons - they are a bit of a reach - but overall this is a slick, comfortable and very versatile controller.
Sony PS4 software and services
We'll have to wait until we can really get to grips with the PS4's new UI, but it's a big departure from the old and dated XMB interface, with a clean and modern look and nicely integrated social features designed to get you sharing and competing with your friends.
Where Microsoft's approach seems focused on the Xbox One's position as an all-in-one entertainer, the PS4's UI still puts games centre stage. However, Sony has confirmed that its Video Unlimited and Music Unlimited services will put in an appearance on PS4, and we can be sure you'll also see LoveFilm, Netflix, Mubi, Flixster and a few old PS3 entertainment stalwarts, too.
PlayStation Eye
As we saw in February, PlayStation Eye has had a bit of a revamp. It looks a little like a miniaturised version of the Xbox One's new Kinect sensor, and now features two high-sensitivity cameras with 85 degree wide-angle lenses, and it can now gauge depth without having to make calculations based on the size of the Move's glowing orb.
We've seen Eye being used in a couple of ways at E3, from simply taking photos of racers while playing DriveClub, to a sophisticated and extremely funny demo called 'PlayRoom' that saw tiny robots and water sprays emerging from the PS4 controller with a crisp, 3D detail that the old PS Eye could never have matched.
Clarity, image quality and low-light performance seem much better than before, which should make augmented reality apps of this nature that little bit more appealing and practical. It's going to cost £44.99, bringing the price of the PS4 with Eye closer to the price of the Xbox One with Kinect, but it's an option rather than a necessity, bringing extra features to PS4 and its games, but not really needed if you just want to play your favourite games.
