Shuhei Yoshida Explains PS4’s User Interface And Social Features

Sony’s Shuhei Yoshida has spoken about the ease of use of the upcoming PS4. He explained how the new user interface and social interactivity will create a new user experience.

“What I showed was only a small portion of the UI. Obviously the system software is still in development. We really wanted to show off the social aspect of the UI. The minute you boot up, you’ll see all the information about games you own, what your friends are doing, whether there’s any new DLC coming out, or if your friends have shared a video or screenshot. And you can also spectate anyone playing PS4. The demonstration was to show that my friend Eric was playing Killzone.

I was able to spectate, but also join the game. All PS4 games allow you to take screenshots, so I pressed the share button to automatically take one. And PS4 also records the last 15 minutes of gameplay, so I had the choice of either uploading the screenshot or the video. So I tweeted out the screenshot to my actual Twitter account. And if I chose to, I could have posted the video to my Facebook. It’s very easy to do.”

When asked about the increased friend list capacity and his excitement on receiving an influx of friend requests on release day:

“I have maxed out all the friends lists of all the consoles I have! The thing about friends lists though, is that you might meet a person in a game and make friends with them, but then after a couple of months you might forget who they are.

So I’m really excited to be able to add the real names of friends, like on Facebook, so you can see who that person is and bring your own friend network onto your console. Of course, it’s optional, so you don’t have to do it if you don’t like it, but I’m the kind of person who enjoys a game much more if I know who I’m playing with. So I’m really looking forward to this!”

Regarding what aspects of the PS4 he is excited for gamers to discover:

“The discoverability of things. It’s like checking your social media every day. I really like that people can find out about new games, information, and what their friends are doing, without even booting the game. For example, you can check out whether you have had new challenges from friends from the home screen of every game. All the important information is presented to you immediately. The same game might come out on PS3 and PS4, but playing the game on PS4 will be much more fun, I would expect.”
On how he feels about the launch of the PS4 relative to previous Sony console launches:

Do these new features appeal to you? Let us know in the comments section below.

Via: PlayStation Blog