Sony opens up on absence of actual PS4 console

Last night, Sony officially announced the PlayStation 4. In a perfect world that means we'd see everything there was to see for the console: the logo, the specs, the games, and all of the branding that would go alongside the next-gen system. Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. And while we did see some promising games and impressive specs, there was one noticeable thing missing from the event…the actual PlayStation 4 machine.

Sony revealed the PS4 without actually revealing the PS4. Tech demos were shown, games were displayed, concepts were talked about, but not once was the design of the actual PlayStation 4 console shown to us. For me, it wasn't a big deal. I care more about the specs and the overall potential of this next-gen system. The design is nothing but a plastic shell encasing something much more important.

Still, there was quite a bit of chatter about the console's absence from the show — most notably by Microsoft's very own Larry Hryb, aka Major Nelson, who directly called out Sony for its approach. So why didn't Sony show the console? Probably because it isn't yet finalized. Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida had a different reason, however.

"Why do you care?" he jokingly answered Kotaku. "It was almost the other way around. When we planned for this event, obviously we discussed what we should show and talk about." One of the things that was shown off was the DualShock 4, the brand new controller featuring a built-in touchpad and intriguing share button.

"As far as the DualShock 4 is concerned we wanted to do the live demo," he explained. "And we were like, yeah, we have to show the controller, because it's awkward not to show the controller when someone is doing a demo. And also the feature that the DualShock 4 has, the share button, is a very key idea behind the design of the PS4…"

"We really wanted to explain what we've done with the DualShock 4, but as far as the system itself we have to keep something new for later," he concluded. "Otherwise you'd get bored." By not revealing the look of the console, we now have something really exciting to look forward to at E3. And if its half as sexy as the DualShock 4, then we are in for a real treat.

[Kotaku]