TOKYO, April 20 — An adjustment to the PlayStation 4’s retail configuration means that the standard console is now shipping with a 1TB hard drive, double the size of its previous internal storage.
Swapping out the PlayStation 4’s hard drive for a larger model is unusually easy, thanks to accessible screws and a slide-out drive bay, but even fewer owners will have cause to bother thanks to a revised retail bundle.
Sticking with a US$299 (RM1,315) price point, the standard PlayStation 4 will now come with a 1 terabyte hard drive installed, an improvement over its previous 500 gigabyte capacity.
The new package is to arrive in stores this month, according to PlayStation social media accounts, and means that the PS4 now equals the Xbox One for storage without after-market adjustments, however straightforward.
Boosting the console’s perceived value could become a key strategy for PlayStation over the coming year.
Like the mobile phone manufacturers who have changed the landscape of consumer technology, there are currently two versions of the PlayStation 4 available to purchase.
The standard PlayStation 4, often referred to as the PlayStation 4 Slim, is a smaller, revised edition of the original model that launched in November 2013 to considerable success.
Mindful of advances in technology and expectation, a more powerful PlayStation 4 Pro followed in November 2016.
It adopted the PS4’s introductory price of US$399, with the more compact edition available at US$299.
Those advances will soon bring pressure on PlayStation in another way.
After a slower start, Microsoft is preparing its own improved home console for launch later in 2017; the Xbox One and its Xbox One S revision lay the way for what is currently being referred to as Project Scorpio.
Hardware specifications for Scorpio indicate that it can comfortably challenge not only the PS4 Pro but also a proportion of cutting edge PC gaming technology.
A price point has not yet been made known, with estimates putting it at upwards of $499, a tag that had helped handicap the PlayStation 3 back in 2006. — AFP-Relaxnews
