The event is being held on September 7, 2016 in New York City, at the PlayStation Theater in Times Square. Business Insider is attending, and Sony is streaming the event live on YouTube.
We're expecting a lot from the event: two new PlayStation 4 consoles, a ton of information about PlayStation VR (the PlayStation 4 VR headset which comes out in October), hopefully some new games, and a broad look at the future of the PlayStation platform.
The only information we have from Sony about the event is from the invitation we received, which says, "We can’t wait to share details with you about the PlayStation business." Not very specific!
After leaks detailed a new, more powerful PlayStation 4 — codenamed "Neo" — earlier this year, Sony confirmed the console in an interview with The Financial Times.
PlayStation 4 Neo is "intended to sit alongside and complement the standard PS4," Sony's head of PlayStation, Andrew House, told the FT.
The PlayStation 4 Neo is slightly different internally from the current PS4. It's not a gigantic jump in power, but it is a notable lift. Here's the full rundown, care of leaked specs:
—It's got the same main processor, but it has been tweaked to run slightly faster.
—It's got a new graphics processor that's far more capable than the current PS4's graphics processor (just over twice as powerful).
—It's got the same amount of memory, but it's also been tweaked to handle more equations.
All of which is to say: No, you don't need to replace your current PlayStation 4 with Neo.
Despite what you may've heard, the PlayStation 4 Slim is the real deal. A bunch of them are already in the wild, even though Sony's not said a peep.
It looks like the console was received early by several retailers who were willing to sell the console ahead of its planned launch date: presumably very soon.
UK freelancer and LetsPlayVideoGames.com co-EIC Laura Kate Dale got a PlayStation 4 Slim from, "a retail store manager who sold the unit on eBay." She went on to review the console favorably:
"Overall, I really have no complaints about the PS4 Slim, besides the removal of the optical port which I have not ever personally used. It’s smaller, thinner, quieter, cooler, features a nicer controller with additional features, and I personally love the new matte curved design. It’s not an Xbox One S-style upgrade with additional 4K functionality for those using ultra-HD screens, but I won’t be upset seeing this replace the current model."
The headset is comfortable and easy to use. It plugs into a small box, and that small box plugs into your PlayStation 4. To be clear, that means you're gonna have a wire running across your living room.
Since VR is dependent on precise motion tracking, the PlayStation VR headset needs to be tracked carefully using the PlayStation Camera. That's how games on the PlayStation 4 know that you've moved your head, thus displaying the right image in front of your eyes.
And since the goal of many VR experiences is immersion, the PlayStation Move motion controller is being used by many games. These are also sold separately, though a bundle with the VR headset, the Camera, and the PlayStation Move is in the works.
Which is:
-One PlayStation Camera,
-Two PlayStation Move motion controllers
-One copy of "PlayStation Worlds" (a collection of VR minigames made by Sony)
Really!
Both Sony and Microsoft are pushing toward a more iterative game console release schedule. The PlayStation 4 Neo from Sony and Project Scorpio from Microsoft are both attempts at changing their respective consoles — PlayStation and Xbox — from boxes you buy once every 5-10 years into boxes you buy every 2-3 years.
So the logic goes: consumers (you and me) get more choice, and console makers don't have to live and die by game console launches. Instead of focusing on hardware, the focus would be more on "platforms" — think iOS and Android in place of iPhone and Galaxy S7. Sony's made moves in this direction in a number of ways. Most notably, the PlayStation Now streaming service, which enables people to play PlayStation games without even owning a PlayStation. They're streamed, like Netflix, directly to your TV — no PlayStation required. If that isn't the future, I don't know what is.
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