A real phenomenon for nearly nineteen years, PlayStation has managed to keep the favour of an audience of experienced players throughout its various evolutions, despite its multimedia positioning and its opening to the general public, which is more pronounced on PlayStation 3. A “gamer” philosophy that continues with the new PS4 Emulator Mobile, as evidenced by Sony’s slogan, “It’s for gamers”, which is the opposite of Microsoft’s, which is betting as much on multimedia as on gaming with its Xbox One. Is the PS4 Emulator Mobile keeping its promises and is it armed enough to last and stand up to the competition?
PS4 Emulator Mobile Presentation
To put all the odds on its side, the PS4 Emulator Mobile doesn’t make the mistake of arriving on the market at a high selling price (600 euros for the PS3 at the time) and comes in at 400 euros in the basic version, with a controller. That’s 100 euros less than its main competitor, the Xbox One, which is sold with Kinect and often with a game. So you have to add 60 euros to get the PlayStation camera if you want to converse in a video on the Internet, or use games in augmented reality or compatible with motion detection peripherals, for example.
A well-placed tariff, which without being cheap either, means that Sony does not lose money on each console sale this time around; the estimated production cost ($381) is lower than the selling price. This can be explained very simply by the architecture of the PS4 Emulator Mobile. It is based on components usually found in the PC world. No complicated chip like the PS3’s Cell could be, but an AMD APU, which combines CPU and GPU, combined with a very fast GDDR5 memory (more details in Our PS4 Emulator Mobile presentation news). The detractors of game consoles will say that we are dealing with a simple medium performance PC disguised as a game console, while others will see it more reasonably as a machine designed for gaming, with a fixed architecture for several years, which can be fully exploited by developers, through optimization. If the games at the launch are never very impressive, there’s no doubt that the beast has some under the bonnet and that there will be no shortage of good surprises in the years to come, as was the case with the PS3, which once again pleasantly surprised us this year (The Last of Us, Beyond: Two Souls, GTA V…).
A revised and corrected joystick
Mythical controller and adored by many players, the DualShock is here upgraded to version 4 (DS4) and finally dares to make more pronounced ergonomic changes. Its shape evolves, with handles that are longer and fit better in the palm of the hand. Its weight (213 g) increases by 40 grams compared to the DS3 (173 g). Without any hesitation, we prefer this new version, which seems better thought out and comes close to the comfort of the Xbox 360 and One controllers. The PS4 Emulator Mobile also takes up the idea of the concave analogue sticks of the latter, which nevertheless retain a small domed shape in their centre, as a nod to the older generations and probably so as not to confuse the regulars of the older versions too much. Once again, it’s a success, the thumbs grip well and the non-slip material is pleasant. The same goes for the triggers on the back, whose small edge prevents fingers from slipping.
The directional cross is even more comfortable and maintains its precision, while the right-hand buttons change little, which is no bad thing. The start and select buttons nevertheless disappear, replaced by an “options” button and above all a touchpad on the front!
Despite being significantly smaller than the PS Vita’s touchscreen surface, this click pad is designed to be used in games, which is already done in Killzone Shadow Fall. While we didn’t think it was essential at the moment, the new feature is nice and we can’t wait to see what the developers do with it. The same observation about the luminous zone located in front of the controller. It can’t be deactivated, but it doesn’t bother during games and it’s easy to forget it. Here Sony uses the principle of the PS Move and its lighting, which is used to locate the controller in space, thanks to the PS4 Emulator Mobile. At the moment, this function is used in the PlayRoom mini-game, which exploits augmented reality. No doubt other games will exploit this function, as developers are at least sure to find this light zone in the hands of all PS4 players; this was not the case with the PS Move on PS3, sold as an accessory in its own right, which also explains the lack of compatible games. In fact, it’s hard to believe in the future of the Move despite its compatibility with the PS4 Emulator Mobile.
The PS4 Emulator Mobile GUI
The PS3’s Xross Media Bar interface, with its horizontal scrolling of icon columns, has been replaced by a redesigned menu, divided into “levels”. Each floor actually consists of a row of different icons, which can be opened by pressing the down arrow to It is simple to navigate and the GUI is very good.go down the menu. This operation can be found in the PSN menus, which have also been modified for greater clarity.
Above all, the PS4 Emulator Mobile is completely multitasking so you can switch from one activity to another very quickly and play by downloading a game, as shown in a video presentation of the PS4 interface put online by Sony.
Finally, the emphasis is on social, with a connection to social networks, making it easier to get in touch with other players and join them in a game; not forgetting the sharing options that allow you to view other players’ game excerpts or send your own excerpts by simply capturing a sequence with the “Share” button on the controller, designed for this purpose.
