It feels like we are nearing the point of total convergence. Just as PCs are entering the living room and hosting an increasing number of games and genres that prefer gamepad over mouse, the next generation of consoles powered by x86 PC architecture are essentially PCs with a custom operating system. If the PS4 could be cracked open and stuffed with Linux or Windows, it would be a totally viable gaming PC, having enough processing power and memory (8GB!) to play any modern games designed for those open platforms. Although naturally Sony would rather you stay in their walled garden and purchase all of your games from the Sony Entertainment Network where your money goes to them.

The PS Vita was a strong indication that Sony is done producing home-grown exotic hardware. Vita uses the ARM architecture which is ubiquitous in the mobile world, and now the PS4 is going with an AMD x86 design which is almost certainly also inside the forthcoming rival Xbox. This is probably the best thing they could have done since differentiation in hardware is now barely noticed by consumers, and programmers would much rather use something that is standard and well known and requires no relearning. The battle of number-crunching prowess is truly over, and now we are seeing the battle of ecosystems take centre stage.

The PS3 was always a bit crippled in its ecosystem battle against the Xbox 360. Lack of foresight meant too little resources were reserved for the OS and background operations, preventing some highly requested features from ever appearing, and making XMB menu access during gameplay a very sluggish experience. Sony have clearly learned their lesson and are coming out strong with the PS4, even laying down a gauntlet which may be difficult for Microsoft to overcome. The interface is snappy; multi-tasking is in; updates come in stealthily with no interruptions to the user; game data is structured in such a way that you can play the start of a game while the rest is still downloading.

Most impressive of all is the deep cloud integration to the user experience. You can demo a game instantly, streaming from a server. You can see what your friends are doing, even when you don’t own the game they are playing. I think this is profound and a feature which will be underestimated until people really experience it. In previous generation systems, you really only have a kind of status update of what your friends are doing — a small amount of text that tells you what game or app they are currently playing. With the PS4, you will be able to tune into your friends’ live gaming sessions like TV channels, see exactly what they are doing, every action they make, every victory or defeat.

Cloud streaming tech will significantly enhance the social side of play, and Microsoft will be at a major disadvantage if they cannot match this feature on Xbox Live. Additionally Valve has expressed little interest in doing something similar on their Steam network. The only people currently doing this are Onlive, although they are otherwise crippled by a lack of compelling games and small user-base. Sony’s PS4 is to become the first platform to bring cloud gaming to a mainstream audience.

As for the games, public reaction to the first PS4 game trailers seems to be positive but not mind-blown rapturous applause. The law of diminishing returns is good news for Nintendo whose Wii U console is comparatively weak. Nintendo at least made the most important graphical transition, the jump to HD, and will have a strong line-up of undeniably pretty games available by the time PS4 and the next Xbox are just getting started. Above all else, it is the quality of the games that will always ultimately decide the fate of a platform holder.