South Africans should be getting their gaming mitts on Sony’s PlayStation 4 before the end of the year, with no release date for Microsoft’s new hardware in sight for the country (yet). While the games on the way have come across as impressive on the whole, there’s very little that we actually know about the console itself.
Sony have accounted for that, coming out with a handy FAQ explaining just what the console will and won’t be capable of at launch. Worryingly, Sony’s list opens with a collection of launch dates from around the world and South Africa… isn’t on the list of PAL launch territories. This may just be an oversight, since the list is from the EU, but we’re querying the launch with Sony at the moment.
The PlayStation 4 will not be supporting external hard drives, sadly, meaning that users will have to put up with the 500GB standard drive unless they opt to swap in a larger compatible SATA II hard disc drive. All PS4 games will need to be installed to the HDD, making a large drive an attractive proposition considering that you’ll be installing data from a Blu-ray disc.
Some games will still play while installing, others will not (which is which hasn’t been detailed) but players will still need the disc in the drive to get a retail game to function. The system will support DVD and Blu-ray playback but this will require a downloaded update and online activation before the PS4 will play movies off a disc. Audio discs, oddly, are not going to be supported.
DLNA and media server support is being dropped, though Sony have not specified why this is happening. Er… oops. Considering how many gamers use the PS3 as a media player, this could be very bad.
Sony have also detailed the full list of EU launch titles. These should carry over to SA audiences as well. The list is below.
SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT WORLDWIDE STUDIOS TITLES
Flower
Killzone Shadow Fall
Knack
Resogun
Sound Shapes
Escape Plan
FlowTHIRD-PARTY TITLES
Angry Birds Star Wars Activision
Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag Ubisoft
Call of Duty Ghosts Activison
FIFA 14 EA Sports
Battlefield 4 Electronic Arts
JUST DANCE 2014 Ubisoft
Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
LEGO MARVEL Super Heroes Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Madden NFL 25 EA Sports
NBA 2K 2K SportsINDIE TITLES
Contrast Compulsion Games
Pinball Arcade FarSight Studios
Regarding the missing South Africa listing, Stuff has contacted Sony’s local representatives and will update once they have gotten back to us.
UPDATE: Ster Kinekor Interactive have confirmed that South Africa’s PS4 release will be taking place on 13 December.
