Play Station 4 fascinates while no news on Xbox

Last month, more than 23,000 games-makers gathered in San Francisco for the annual Game Developers Conference – GDC. It's an industry-focused event that has recently become the place where savvy gaming fans can keep pace with the pulse of the development business.

Sadly, anticipation over what Microsoft might reveal about its next console was met with silence, but Sony did reveal new specifications for the PlayStation 4 that confirm the device will be monstrously powerful. It emerged, too, that the console's Blu-ray drive will be three times faster than the current PS3 version, that the machine will be able to optimise multiplayer games dependent on where each player is in the room, and that its controller will support dual inputs on its touch-sensitive front.

Developer Hideo Kojima took to the stage to reveal that Metal Gear Solid V is under way, while Electronic Arts lifted the lid on Battlefield 4, with both games looking every bit the full-on glossy experiences expected.

Elsewhere, the new "unconsoles" – gaming hardware developed outside the major manufacturers that is more open to developers and a little experimental in their form and architechture – such as Ouya, Gamestick and Oculus Rift received plenty of attention, and strapping into the latter's headset, it seems that finally virtual reality is set to impress.


/The Guardian/