the tech. the games. the future. P RESENTS
T H E ultimate G U I D E T O
unlock PS4’s hidden power With our tech tips
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New PS4 Games Inside
What’s next? 2015 Preview special
and tricks FAQ
20
Sony’s AMAZING VR headset tested PS4’s future indie hits HUGE 2015 release planner PlayStation now: Spotify for games
Must-play games you can buy today
METAL GEAR SOLID V
Open-world stealth epic
UNCHARTED 4
The reason you bought PS4
NO MAN’S SKY
Explore the infinity of space
THE WITCHER 3
RPG legend thrives on PS4
plus 18 page - the making of The Last of Us
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The Ultimate Guide to PS4
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T H E ultimate guide to
CONTRIBUTORS Writers Louise Blain, Matt Elliott, Dave Houghton, Joel Gregory, Matt Hill, Leon Hurley, Phil Iwaniuk, Jason Killingsworth, Dave Meikleham, Rob Pearson, Dom Reseigh-Lincoln, Matthew Sakuraoka-Gilman, Ben Tarrant, Iain Wilson Designer Andrew Leung ADVERTISING For Ad enquiries please contact Michael Pyatt, michael.pyatt@futurenet.com MARKETING Laura Driffield Group Marketing Manager Kristianne Stanton Marketing Manager Production & Distribution Production Controller Vivienne Calvert Production Manager Mark Constance Printed in the UK by William Gibbons & Sons Ltd on behalf of Future Distributed by Seymour Distribution Ltd, 2 East Poultry Avenue, London EC1A 9PT, Tel: 0207 429 4000 Overseas distribution bySeymour International CIRCULATION Trade Marketing Manager Juliette Winyard – 07551 150 984 Subscriptions UK reader order line & enquiries 0844 848 2852 Overseas reader order line & enquiries +44 (0)1604 251045 Online enquiries www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk Email pom@myfavouritemagazines.co.uk LICENSING International Director Regina Erak regina.erak@futurenet.com +44 (0)1225 442244 Fax +44 (0)1225 732275 Management Content & Marketing Director Nial Ferguson Head of Content & Marketing, Film, Music & Games Declan Gough Group Editor-In-Chief Daniel Dawkins Group Art Director Graham Dalzell NEXT BOOKAZINE ON SALE March 2015 The ABC combined print, digital and digital publication circulation for Jan-Dec 2013 is
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New-gen now… There’s never been a better time to own a PS4, and over the next 145 pages you’ll find out exactly why – whether you’re a firsttime console owner or a newgen veteran since, er, late 2013. We’ve got all the tech tips you need to make the most of PS4, plus the Top 20 games to start, or hone, your games collection. Look ahead and you’ll see the competition can only get more ferocious. 2015 is going to be an
amazing year. We’ve got 54 pages of previews, digging into the best upcoming titles. It’s not just quantity, either: from the Kevlar-coated brutality of Batman: Arkham Knight to the celestial scale of No Man’s Sky, PS4 offers a breadth of choice unrivalled by any other platform. Want more? Morpheus and PlayStation Now are on the horizon, offering bold new ways to play. Truly, the future is now.
Contents highlights questions answered
006 PS4 FAQ 004
Morpheus, PlayStation Now and more: every new-gen question answered. see the future
020 best of 2015 How amazing will 2015 be on PS4? Find out over 54 bulging pages of incredible new games. nate escape
022 uncharted 4 Naughty Dog bring PlayStation’s most iconic hero to PS4, but is this the end of Nathan Drake? Find out in our preview. info overload
074 the ps4 directory Inside every port, behind every perhiperal: it’s your complete guide to the PS4. score attack
079 best 20 games on ps4 Our definitive breakdown of the essential PS4 masterpieces you can’t afford not to own.
the Ultimate guide TO PS4
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We’re going deeper and richer. It’s going to be a rollercoaster ride. Naughty Dog creative director Neil Druckmann on Uncharted 4, p.22.
THE Games index 096 alien: Isolation 088 assassin’s Creed IV 030 batman: arkham knight 064 battlefield: Hardline 044 bloodborne 122 destiny 107 diablo III 031 the division 115 don’t starve 102 driveclub 100 the evil within 048 evolve 106 final fantasy XIV 033 flower 107 doki-doki universe 106 don’t starve 060 the elder scrolls VI 046 evolve 066 fallout 4 108 fifa 14 067 fifa 15 112 flower 072 hotline miami 2 084 infamous: second son 128 the last of us 040 metal gear solid V: The Phantom Pain 108 metro redux 094 middle earth: shadow of mordor 121 minecraft 071 mirror’s edge 2 058 mortal kombat x 114 nba 2k14 046 no man’s sky 072 nuclear throne 032 the order 1886 118 pes 2015 114 rayman legends 056 resident evil hd 120 resogun 052 rime 060 silent hills 072 soma 068 tearaway unfolded 070 the tomorrow children 116 towerfall ascension 022 uncharted 4 062 until dawn 072 volume 063 wild 073 the witness 026 the witcher 3: Wild hunt 090 wolfenstein: the new order
005
PS4 faq
Everything you need to know about PS4 PS 4 speci a l – FAQ
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All those scorching new-gen conundrums solved – along with a stack of hot tips in order to max out your gorgeous new machine
PS4 faq
Should I buy a PS4? Yes. Turn the page and move on.
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PS4 faq
What’s in the box? DualShock 4
Say hello to the best Sony controller to date, with new touchpad, speaker and Share button. Red, blue, and white versions are also available.
Dream machine
Yes, it’s the most powerful console to have ever existed. With a 500GB hard drive, better graphics and all-round grunt, you’ll be playing in a whole new gaming world, not just a generation.
Get connected
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In the box are a micro USB cable to charge your pad, a mono headset for voice chat, a 1.5m power cable and a 2m HDMI cable.
Future Manual stimulation
Look, we know you’ll skip past these in the crazy rush to plug it all in, but don’t forget that here lies your guarantee.
The
Your freshly departed £350 gets you a cardboard structure stuffed with wonders. Aside from the delightful black box itself, you also get a DualShock 4 bundled in – caress those
oh-so-beautiful triggers. Unlike PS3, Sony now throws in a mono headset for easy online chat with friends while you blast fools on Call of Duty. All the connections you’ll need are also
included, with an AC power cord, a micro USB cable to charge your pad and an HDMI lead. Yes, Sony has finally ditched those nasty composite cables for a proper hi-def connector. Huzzah!
e
PS4 faq What’s the cheapest I can expect to pay for a PlayStation? Most online retailers are selling the console for £319.99 or less. If you go the high street route, prepare to pay more, as certain shops are cheekily only flogging PS4 in bundle deals. Still, some of these packages are actually great value. At press time in November, Amazon were offering a PS4 and Far Cry 4 or GTA V for £350. Shop around and you’ll easily get the machine and a couple of games for under 400 quid.
Has the way I play games online changed at all? While the mechanics of wasting someone with a headshot in Call Of Duty: Advanced Warfare on PS4 haven’t changed, the way you interact with others on the new console certainly has. The DualShock 4’s Share button transforms everything, as collaborating together to forge exciting experiences is as important as competing. Not only are you be able to record your last 15 minutes of gameplay and share it with a single click, but you can watch your friends play live and even jump into their game and take control if they’re struggling. More than ever before, this generation will be defined by how you interact and combine with your online pals.
Does PS4 upscale DVDs? Yes. Considering PS3 enjoyed this feature for years, it was highly unlikely Sony would remove it from PS4 with DVD still holding such mass saturation. Happily, it upscales even more competently than its predecessor, with the previous machine’s occasional graininess in this area gone for good.
Will games from the US and Japan work here? The vast majority should work as PS4 is region-free, meaning it will play games from all territories. However, that doesn’t mean some publishers won’t region lock their titles. In theory, certain developers could place code in their games that means they only work on PS4s from specific countries. This is unlikely to be an issue, though, as only a truly minuscule amount of PS3 games were ever region-locked. PS4 is not region-free for Blu-ray movies, however, with units in Europe locked to Region B. The Blu-ray Disc Association has final say on whether certain discs will work in all territories, so look for those marked with Region B or Region-free coding.
Is online gaming free? Accessing the PS Store and sending your friends messages are still gratis, but to play games online you need a PS Plus account. Sony is currently offering the subscription service for £39.99 for a year, £11.99 for three months or £5.49 for 30 days. When PS Plus offers such outstanding value, it’s hard to grumble too much. For a few quid a month you get free titles through the everexpanding Instant Game Collection, which has already included titles such as Resogun, Towerfall: Ascension, and Velocity 2X. All PS4 owners can access a free two-week trial of the service from the day you pick up the new machine.
Can I still use my old DualShocks? Unfortunately you’re going to have to kiss goodbye to your PS3 pads – DualShock 3s are very much not compatible with PS4. It’s hardly surprising, considering plenty of games are making use of the raft of new features exclusive to the DualShock 4, including its touchpad and built-in speaker.
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PS4 faq What file formats are compatible with PS4? Well, something not deemed worthy of new-gen is the ability to play audio CDs, though you can play MP3s and AACs via a USB drive, or stream your favourite tunes through Sony’s Music Unlimited subscription service. Media playback via DLNA has also been scrapped, meaning music and movies can no longer be streamed from a computer. Boo!
What’s the best way to really show off my PS4? 010
A native 1080p HDTV is damn near essential to best display those insanely hi-res textures. You want a set with a pixel count of 1,920x1,080 as most developers are targeting 1080p resolution as standard on PS4. For a list of six sweets sets that we recommend, flick on over to p.81 – we’ve something to suit all budgets.
Can I use a keyboard and mouse? Thanks to its ample supply of connections you’ll be able to use a USB or Bluetooth keyboard just like you can on PS3, and mouse support has recently been added. There isn’t much use for these inputs at present, but over time certain games are expected to work with traditional PC inputs, including keyboard and mouse support.
Can I change or customise the way my XMB looks? Yes you can. The firmware 2.0 update provided the option to change your XMB theme, either by altering the colour scheme of the standard ‘Flow’ display or switching to one of several other designs that are available to download for free from the PS Store. You can also choose to limit the number of content items shown on the screen to avoid unnecessary clutter, with the remaining items tucked away in the Library section at the end for easy access. Rumour has it that a future firmware update will allow users to set up folders, to further organise content items.
What are the best games on PlayStation 4 right now? Er, hello? The top 20 essential PS4 games are included in this very volume. But if you’re looking for a second opinion, Metacritic ranks The Last of Us: Remastered as the best game on the machine with an average score of 95, followed by Flower (91), Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition, Rayman Legends, and Fez (all 90). At the other end of the spectrum, steer well clear of the shonky Air Conflicts: Vietnam Ultimate Edition (30) and the actually broken Basement Crawl (27).
Can PS4 be infected with a virus online? Rest easy, recent new-gen adopter. As was the case with PS3, Sony’s machine isn’t vulnerable to online viruses, something the company confirmed to us for this feature. Even if hackers were able to breach Sony’s mightilysturdy security measures, a speedy firmware update would eradicate any unwanted naughtiness.
Exactly how powerful is PS4?
PS4 faq
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Very. In short, as powerful as a muscly green dude who’s just been irradiated by a nuclear blast. The core tech bringing PS4’s stupendously sexy visuals to life is the x86/64 AMD Jaguar eight-core processor, backed up by a GPU capable of running at a staggering 1.8 teraflops and 8GB of unified GDDR5 memory. For the non-techy types, even high-end PC graphics cards usually only have 2GB of RAM, while PS3 allocated a piddling 256MB to its GPU. With 16 times the raw memory of its predecessor, your previous Sony box looks like a toaster next to PS4.
PS4 faq
What can my PS Vita do in tandem with PS4?
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Stream The majority of PlayStation 4 games support remote play, meaning you can play them on your Vita. Unlike PS3, where you had to enter a separate mode on the XMB, you’re able to access remote play at any time on PS4. President of Sony Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida fulfilled his promise that you’d be able to stream from launch day, and the experience is defintely one worth sampling.