PS4 News & Specs; Sony Says PlayStation Plus To Play 'Prominent Role', New Images Leaked of Home Screen
Sony's new PlayStation 4 will reportedly require users to have a PlayStation Plus account.
The company's president and CEO of Sony Europe Jim Ryan told The PlayStation Blog that the subscription service will be closely linked to the next-generation gaming console but did not give any specific details.
"We definitely see [PlayStation Plus] as a core part of the way forward," Ryan said. "We're not yet in a position to disclose our plans for the future of PlayStation Plus but there will definitely be a prominent role to play for it in the PlayStation 4 landscape."
A year membership with PlayStation Plus that works for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita is currently offered at $50. The service gives users early access to demos, automatic updates, various discounts, and access to the Instant Game Collection.
Sony unveiled the next-generation console's capabilities at an event on Feb. 20 but did not reveal the new look of the device.
New images were posted by Gematsu on Wednesday that give a peek to the sleek home interface screen for the PS4.
The photos appear to show that users will be able to have a bit of customization power for the overall design of their individual home screens with difference colors and themes for easier navigation.
There are a few new categories for the home screen that includes a tab for Start, Invite Friends, Overview, Friends Who Own This, Trophies, New Feeds, Shared Media and Add-ons.
Downloadable content add-ons are expected to be released when the console is first made available for users.
The specs for the PS4 were show that the device will have an x86 processor, a customized graphics processor and GDDR5 memory, according to ExtremeTech. The console will be capable of 170GPBS bandwidth and will include a Blu-ray/DVD drive, as well as USB 3.0, Ethernet and Bluetooth. There will also be a PS4 eye accessory that will have two cameras and four microphones and be capable of 1280 x 800 video at 60fps, 640 x 400 at 120fps and 320 x 192 at 240fps.
Sony's PlayStation 4 will reportedly hit the market in December, according to PC Advisor.
