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Sony Reveals 20 Things You Didn't Know About PlayStation 4

by Matt Helgeson on Jul 15, 2013 at 02:58 PM



While the title is a bit of a fib – many of these facts had been discussed before – this new promotional video does tease some interesting functionality, including instant app switching similar to what Microsoft has promised on Xbox One.

You'll also get a further look at the new PlayStation user interface, the PlayStation Dynamic Menu. It's intended to better unify the experience, from games to social features. It also confirms the news that you'll be able to access your downloadable games from other consoles. Other notable facts include the revelation that the 500GB hard drive is replaceable and upgradable (good news) and that the system is not region locked (yay!).

It also says you'll be able to switch between apps like Netflix and gaming, which sounds a whole lot like the functionality that Microsoft has made so much of in its promotion of Xbox One. In any case, there are some more facts to learn, so watch below.




Our Take
It's interesting to see how Sony continues its frontal assault on Microsoft, this time by duplicating the instant switching technology that Microsoft feels is the cornerstone of Xbox One. However, I did hear the words "in most cases" in reference to the instant game/app switching, so we'll have to wait and see how buggy it is. One thing I love is the fact that the system is not region locked. In this day and age of the global Internet, region encoding is a silly and archaic tradition that has no place in the world of modern media. If people want to import obscure manga DVDs, I say go for it.