At GDC 2013 at the end of March, a room full of would-be PS4 developers and press got some new details about the hardware, controller, online and social functions of the forthcoming PlayStation 4.
Senior Staff Developer Support Engineer Chris Norden unveiled the news under an overarching theme of a "frictionless and seamless" gaming experience.
We've known that the PS4 will track both the controller in a gamer's hand, as well as their face, since the console's launch in Feb. But during his GDC talk Norden revealed some interesting ways that this technology will be implemented in games.
For example, the old multiplayer standby of split screen, divvying up television real estate when two or more players go at it, will be aided by this tracking tech. If a gamer gets up and moves right or left, his section of the screen will automatically be swapped.
So here's everything we know about the PlayStation 4 so far...
PS4 release date
The PS4 release date is "Holiday 2013" for the USA. That's the only official detail Sony revealed at the launch in February and it's unclear which other territories it applies to, if any.
However, latest rumours regarding the PS4 release date are that the console will in fact launch globally in 2013, not just in the USA or Japan. This comes from GameStop's Michael Hogan who said the only question is whether the Xbox 720 will also launch this year.
Indeed, in an interview with editor of Outside Xbox and TechRadar contributor, Mike Channell, Assassin's Creed 4 boss Gene Guesdon hinted in March that his game would launch on all platforms simultaneously... at the end of October this year.
When discussing the PS4 and the next Xbox, Guesdon said: "We have a strong engine and we are always pushing the limits so this year again we are ready to support such new capacities, new abilities so the game will be ready for that but also you know we make it for current gen obviously from a starting point," said Guesdon.
At that, Channell asked, "Is there going to be any delay in the versions or are they all going to release at the same time?"
"Same ship" was the definitive response.
After the internet melted at the news, Ubisoft rushed out a clarification saying that Guesdon was not talking about PS4 or Xbox 720, but was instead referring to Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
We asked Mike what his view of it was and he had this to say for TechRadar: "If you look at the answer in context, from 5:05 onwards, it's part of a discussion that's specifically about PS4 and equivalent next generation consoles. I don't think there's any misunderstanding there. He's saying both current and next gen versions will ship at the same time, which implies the consoles will launch before the game's publicly announced release date."
