Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) Senior VP and Business Division President Masayasu Ito took the stage at Tokyo Game Show 2013 this morning, during his company’s keynote speech, to talk about development and the PlayStation 4 hardware itself. He also stressed SCE’s commitment to indie developers.
“PlayStation 4 was designed to be easy for indie developers,” Ito said. “They have the freedom to launch products and choose a platform. We are always trying to heed the opinions of these indie developers, and we’re grateful to have their interest.”
Ito showed a side-by-side comparison of the DualShock 4 controller and its predecessor. He claimed that the controller was designed with “much help from developers.” The handles appear longer on the DualShock 4, and the thumb sticks also look a bit smaller than those on the current DualShock 3. Ito also said that the “light bar” color – shown as blue in press images – can change to a different color for each player. It can also adapt to colors in a game, and will flash when the battery gets low. It also has a speaker that can add a bit of additional depth to gameplay.
Ito said that the PlayStation 4 was designed to be “immediate” – loading times will be shortened and users will be able to play a game before it is finished downloading.
He also said that a “real name registration” will be emphasized for light users. “Users get so many game invitations and requests from people they don’t know. With real names, you can identify your real friends. This will make it easier for light users to join the PlayStation network.”
Of course, using your real name will be optional.
Ito also said that the new PlayStation Camera will support voice and facial recognition
Shuhei Yoshida, SCE’s president of worldwide studios, joined the keynote to demonstrate the PlayStation App. Using an Xperia Z1 smartphone, Yoshida sent a game invitation to a friend to connect on PS4. He then demonstrated how smartphones and tablets can become second screens for certain games, creating an augmented reality experience.
Yoshida showed a screen filled with small white robots that reacted to his hand moving in front of the PlayStation camera. Then, using his finger to draw a character from the upcoming PS4 title Knack, he swiped the image toward the robots – causing it to appear on-screen in 3D, as the tiny robots dove out of the way to avoid it, then pushed it off screen.
The SCE keynote concluded with a demonstration of the PS Vita TV’s remote play. Yoshida asked the audience to imagine that his wife had come home and asked to watch TV in the living room where he was playing PS4. He simply paused the game, moved to another room, and continued his game flawlessly via the PS4 Link app on the PS Vita TV. There was zero latency in the live demo.
Editor's note: The text has been changed from the original version.