Wishful Thinking: Predicting the PlayStation 4
GameSpot staff from around the globe sound off on their hopes and dreams for Sony's new console.
Martin Gaston, News Editor, GameSpot UK Follow
The PlayStation 4 needs to be a great user experience.
Whether we like it or not, gaming's transition into a service-led culture is happening so quickly that it could be travelling at the kind of warp speed that would melt the Enterprise. The next generation of games consoles is clearly going to be about more than just games, and while Sony of course needs to focus on cranking out its great exclusive titles, there are two even more vital battles it needs to get right.
Sony needs to properly understand its place in the world, and embrace all of the non-Sony things I've got sitting in my pockets
Over the past couple of years, Sony has done its best to erect its own walled-garden philosophy around its hardware, linking PlayStation 3, PS Vita, and even one of those PlayStation-certified mobile phones that you almost certainly do not have. But such a firm belief in the lure of this particular ecosystem is damaging to a company with products that simply aren't as desirable as they used to be. Few people are going out of their way to buy PlayStation Move-enabled software, not nearly enough people fancy a PS Vita, and the less said about the Xperia brand, the better. Sony needs to properly understand where it sits in the world now, and embrace all of the non-Sony things I've got sitting in my pockets and lying around my house.
I also feel that the gaming marketplace is homogenising further with each passing year, and there's simply not a first-party publisher in the world that can crank out enough exclusive software for that to be the sole trump card in choosing its primary next-gen system. What Sony needs most is a user experience that's effortless and pleasurable, rather than an outdated nightmare, plagued with system updates and a clumsy UI. That means no XMB, and absolutely nothing like those hideous bubbles on the PS Vita. Sony's next machine needs to be slick.
The PlayStation 4 needs to have a world-class interface, great compatibility with my other non-Sony devices, and be an absolute joy to switch on and use. Someone at Sony must have worked out that the PlayStation 3 missed a trick there. Seeing as Microsoft will almost inevitably burden its new machine with a Windows 8-style interface that's unashamedly peppered with gaudy advertisements, this one is absolutely Sony's battle to lose. I think it will rise to the challenge.
Follow Martin on Twitter: @squidmania




