Gamescom 2013: PS4 UK launch date and PS Vita price-drop announced by Sony

Microsoft yet to confirm the launch date of their rival console, the Xbox One

James Vincent
Thursday 22 August 2013 10:18 BST
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Sony have confirmed the release dates of the PS4, with Europeans getting their hands on the console on November 29, two weeks after Americans on November 15. It’s not yet known when Microsoft will be releasing the Xbox One, but it is known to also be in November.

The news was delivered during the end of Sony’s Gamescom briefing, where clips of known games and new titles were played to audiences. 15 new titles for the PS4 were announced, many of them PS4-exclusive indie titles, with the console’s lead system architect Mark Cerny calling it Sony’s “strongest launch lineup in Playstation history”.

There was also good news for fans of the PS Vita – Sony’s well-received but poor-selling handheld games console – dropping the price for the Wi-Fi only version to €199 (that’s £170 – though North America are getting it for $199 or £127).

The price-drop probably means that Sony won’t be offering a PS4/PS Vita bundle, but with the company promising “significant reductions” in the price of memory cards for the handheld system, perhaps this will be enough to persuade customers to buy both. Sony also reiterated that nearly all of the PS4’s games will be playable on the Vita using the consoles Remote Play feature.

Sony’s announcements followed a string of updates from Microsoft to the forthcoming Xbox One console, including details of the next game in the Fable series named Fable Legends; the launch of a new scheme to encourage indie developers named ID@Xbox; and the news that customers pre-ordering the Xbox One before Christmas will received a free digital download of Fifa 4.

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