PlayStation 4 Pro Feature Image

PlayStation 4 Pro Feature Image

Sony held a special Press Event today, September 7, 2016, in New York City. During the event the console formerly known as the PlayStation NEO was finally revealed in full detail. For all those who speculated at the release name, we now have the answer, and it is the PlayStation 4 Pro. There were a lot of rumors going around that Sony may pivot from their previous announcements for this device in order to compete directly with Microsoft’s next console, code named Scorpio. That turned out to not be the case.

PlayStation 4 Pro Features

PlayStation 4 Pro Comparison Image

Here is the price comparison between the new model of PlayStation 4, and the PlayStation 4 Pro. And this was possibly the largest surprise of the entire Press Event. The rumors going around started at $499 and went up from there. So to have the new model release at $399 was a bit of a shock. Second on the surprise list is that it will release this year, November 10th. That means that it will still be in the Christmas shopping season, and it will be right around the release of the PS VR.

Other than that, all the rumored aspects of the system proved to be accurate. It does make the PS VR games work better, it is compatible with 4K televisions and HDR televisions. And the developers will be able to patch previous PlayStation 4 games to make better use of the better rendering and lighting. None of this was particularly surprising, especially if you pay attention to the gaming press. But not everyone does follow gaming news that closely, so this may be completely new to them.

Of course, this move may be seen as controversial to some. It may seem like they are taking a more PC or even a more Cell Phone approach with step upgrades. But for now Sony has assured that the games will only look better on the upgraded console. There have been no announcements for games that will be exclusive to the system. And it looks like any optimization for the console will be from the developer’s end, similar to the way gaming works on PC. Let us know in the comments your own reactions to this news. Sony is my normal beat reporting for Operation Rainfall and I’m quite neutral on this one, so I’m interested to hear what our audience thinks.

William Haderlie
Born in the 1970's, I've been an avid participant for much of video game history. A lifetime of being the sort of supergeek entrenched in the sciences and mathematics has not curbed my appreciation for the artistry of video games, cinema, and especially literature.