PlayStation 4 to hit S’pore stores on Dec 19

SINGAPORE — The Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) video game console will be available in Singapore in time for Christmas, the Japanese company announced yesterday. The console will go on sale from Dec 19 and will retail from S$639.

Twenty-three games — including KNACK, FIFA 14 and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag — will be available at the launch. Of which, two titles, Battlefield 4 and Killzone Shadow Fall, will be included in bundle sets which cost S$709 and S$699 respectively. A bundle which includes the PlayStation Camera will also be available from Dec 19 and retail for S$689.

The console can be pre-ordered today at all Sony shops and official distributor Focus Stores. Pre-ordering will close on Dec 12. Customers who pre-order can receive up to two months free PlayStation Plus membership and a S$10 PlayStation Network (PSN) Money Voucher, depending on which bundle they choose.

For those who want hands-on time with the console before buying it, Sony will, for the first time, set up a pop-up store outside Wisma Atria from Dec 19 to Jan 1.

The first of two major next-generation consoles to hit Singapore, the PS4 promises to be much faster than its predecessor, the PlayStation 3 (PS3), thanks to its AMD Jaguar processor with 8 cores. It also has an AMD Radeon Graphics Core Next engine GPU that should provide superior graphics as compared to the PS3, and a hands-on session showed that the console was capable of extremely life-like graphics: The PS4 version of NBA 2K14 looked amazing, and the details rendered, from the court to the player uniforms, were life-like.

The PS4 will also be able to mirror gameplay from the console onto the handheld PlayStation Vita, allowing users to continue gaming in any room in the house even after switching off the television.

All bundles will come with the new DualShock 4 controller, which has an integrated touch pad, headset jack, share button, and LED player identifier. The controller — available in Jet Black, Wave Blue and Magma Red — also features the same two stick, eight button, one D-Pad configuration as previous DualShock models.

Some hands-on time with the new controller showed that it was more comfortable than before, bringing it closer to the comfort of the Xbox 360 controller.

While the PS4 will not be able to play PS3 games for now, games from previous PlayStation console generations are expected to be made available on the PS4 sometime next year via cloud streaming technology. For a fee, certain PS3 titles, including Call of Duty: Ghosts, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Battlefield 4 can also be upgraded to their PS4 versions.

For the first time, PlayStation gamers who battle online with their friends will need to pay a fee (US$9.99 monthly, US$49.99 annually), just like gamers currently do on Microsoft’s Xbox Live.

Sony also announced a new one-year free repair warranty service for the PlayStation, where gamers who buy Sony consoles in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand or Vietnam will also have a valid warranty in any of these countries. The service starts on Nov 14, the same date as the launch of Sony’s PlayStation Vita Wi-Fi model, which will retail from S$299. A related product, the PlayStation Vita TV, will be launched on Jan 16 with prices starting from S$149.

Microsoft’s competing next-generation console, the Xbox One, is expected to reach Singapore late next year, giving the PlayStation 4 what is potentially a year’s head start.