Mobile tech changing Brands, consumer relations

Nigeria based Digital Media Agency, Terragon Group, is part of the mobile revolutionists who are currently converging in Barcelona Spain, predicting the size and shape of the new world to comeAs different predictions are flying on what to expect with the bursting mobile revolutions, the Nigerian company through its Group MD, visitors at Terragon stand at the ongoing Mobile world congress in Barcelona, Spain visitors at Terragon stand at the ongoing Mobile world congress in Barcelona, Spain, Mr Elo Umeh has added its own voice.

It says that Mobile technology would be the next step in the marketing evolution and a definitive medium that would redefine the way brands interact and engage their target audiences in Africa.

Incidentally, Africa is a continent where over half of its inhabitants will access the internet for the first time on the mobile device.

Umeh’s prediction is based on his observation that the industry is experiencing a tremendous shift in media consumption by the mass market to mobile like never before, especially in Africa which currently accounts for the highest growth of smart phones globally.

He said that “Mobile penetration in Africa is stipulated to be about 80% in 2013 and growing. Right now there are more mobile devices than there are television sets. Mobile and digital services have the potential to generate significant earnings and boost the economies in Africa”.

He added that a recent research by Gartner Inc, specifically predicted that African Telecoms firms would generate over $1.3 billion in mobile advertising revenue alone by 2016.

His deduction was that “the global market for mobile advertising will reach $18 billion in 2014 and grow to $41.9 billion by the end of 2017, which goes to show the potential that mobile advertising has, not only in Africa but globally”.

Terragon is making its debut appearance and is showcasing its three business units at the Mobile World Congress with the aim of showing the Global community the business potential of the African market. Terragon’s focus is on Digital Media Marketing, Mobile Content Aggregation and Marketing as well as Mobile Advertising.

Terragon Group boasts of Africa’s first indigenously owned mobile advertising network Twinpine, which provides a platform for owners of mobile platforms including mobile sites, mobile apps and social networks, to make money from advertisers by serving ads on their various platforms for the African audience. Part of the exhibition from Twinpine includes a demonstration of the first mobile advertising platform custom built for the African consumers with unique value add and specific market solutions for the African continent.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/03/mobile-tech-changing-brands-consumer-relations/#sthash.MwkEdRF6.dpuf

Nigeria and African video games market

LAGOS (AFP) – It’s a common enough scenario in Nigeria and across Africa: how to get rid of pesky mosquitoes whose buzzing disturbs sleep and whose bites can carry malaria and other diseases.

Two Nigerian start-ups have tapped this — and other aspects and quirks of daily life in Africa — to create online and mobile phone video games that are winning fans around the world.

It’s easy to see why “Mosquito Smasher” — which has earned comparisons to “Angry Birds”, the worldwide mobile app success of recent years — might be a hit.

The graphics are simple, the aim clear and the reward immediate: squash as many of the blood-sucking parasites as possible under your thumb with a satisfying “Splat!”

Another, the highly popular “Okada Ride”, has players guide a motorcycle-taxi driver around roadside street vendors, road-blocks and police in the notorious traffic of Lagos, a sprawling metropolis of nearly 20 million people.

“What I like about Nigerian video games, it’s one: the local content, because it tends to give you that everyday feel,” said Chucks Olloh, 32, a big fan.

“For example the ‘Okada’ hussle, it tells you how you ride on your bike, trying to avoid so many obstacles on your way home or on your way to work,” said the computer programmer from Lagos.

“Two: it’s very simple. All you have to do is to gain as much points as possible and avoid the obstacles.”

- An African flavour -

The worldwide video games industry, worth more than $63 billion (46 billion euros) in 2012, is expected to reach nearly $87 billion in 2017, PricewaterhouseCoopers said in a recent study.

And while the African market has not figured prominently on the radar of game developers, the founders of Maliyo — the makers of “Mosquito Smasher” and “Okada Ride” — and Kuluya are hoping to change that.

Both firms were launched about 18 months ago and draw inspiration from life in Lagos. Kuluya — “action” in the Igbo language of southern Nigeria — has already created some 70 games.

It hopes to reach one million mobile telephone users by the end of June and has fans well beyond Nigeria’s borders.

“In Africa, we have a lot of downloads from Ghana, Kenya and South Africa,” said Lakunle Ogungbamila, who runs Kuluya.

“There was a particular game that a lot of people downloaded in Ethiopia, I’m not sure why. It’s called ‘Ma Hauchi’: it’s a hunter who is shooting vultures. A very simple game…

“Also, we get a lot of downloads from China, India, Thailand, Taiwan.”

- ‘Mobile is massive’ -

Adapting the games to the platforms that Africans use is vital, said Ogungbamila and Maliyo founder Hugo Obi.

Unlike in Europe or the United States, sales of games consoles are low in Africa and there is a preference for playing on-line.

Internet access comes rarely via home broadband hubs but instead — and increasingly — via smartphones.

“Mobile is massive in this part of the world. It has the highest penetration, especially for Internet users. And we are exporting a lot of our games onto mobiles,” Maliyo’s Obi told AFP.

Figures clearly show the trend in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with 170 million residents and nearly 100 million mobile phone users in 2012.

In 2011, it is estimated that 46 million people used Internet, up from 2008 when there were only 11 million Internet users.

Obi, who invented “Mosquito Smasher”, spent 10 years in Britain running a recruitment company before returning home in 2012 to set up his on-line games company.

To share Nigeria’s high operating costs, with daily power cuts the norm and investment in diesel-powered generators a must, his five-member firm shares workspace with eight other companies.

From an office in the Lagos suburb of Yaba, Maliyo now offers 10 free on-line games to some 20,000 users across Nigeria but also in Britain and the United States.

It is preparing to launch smartphone versions of its most popular games.

- Expansion plans -

Kuluya, meanwhile, started with an investment of $250,000 but is now worth an estimated $2 million and employs about a dozen people in its Lagos office.

Sitting behind large Apple Mac screens and armed with giant tablets and light pens, the creative team, all Nigerian, find inspiration from what dominates their daily life but also comb the web for information about other African countries.

Along with the typically Nigerian games, their catalogue now nods to Kenyan culture with the game “Masai” and another called “Matatus”, which features the minibuses that travel around Nairobi. Their “Zulu” game, meanwhile, has clear references to South Africa.

For the moment, Kuluya, which is seeking new investment, earns little money from advertising. Maliyo, for its part, funds itself by creating games for businesses.

The next stage for Kuluya is to introduce payment by text message for more sophisticated versions of its games

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/03/nigeria-african-video-games-market/#sthash.JxpUmNPd.dpuf

N100m IT centre at Landmark University

A N100m IT centre at Landmark University is been opened by New Horizons 

One of the the leading private owned information technology (IT) training institute, New Horizons Nigeria, at the weekend opened an international IT resource centre valued at over N100 million at Landmark University, Kwara State.
The centre is expected to empower students of the institution with the most sought after IT skills and professional certifications.
At the commissioning ceremony, the Pro Chancellor of Landmark University, Professor Yemi Nathaniel who commissioned the IT resource centre alongside the vice chancellor, Professor Mathew Ajayi; the acting registrar, Dr. Mrs. Rachael Adebayo and many other professors, academic and non-academic staff and students enjoined the students to avail themselves of the opportunities that new Horizons brings to their future.
The vice chancellor who welcomed the New Horizons team led by Mr. Tim Akano, its managing director said the journey to actualise the project began four years ago.
“I want to specially commend the New Horizons team for their tenacity and for not giving up even when things seems not to be going the way they were expecting. I know the impact New Horizons is making Covenant University has been wonderful. “That is why when I resumed here I stated that certified IT professional courses must be part of our curriculum.
“I want our students to take maximum advantage of the opportunities available at the IT resource centre. I believe even if you are studying History with the skills and certification programmes offered by the New Horizons/Landmark University you can work anywhere in the world including the oil industry.” He said the role IT plays higher institutions like Landmark University cannot be overemphasized.
Prof Ajayi said right from inception, the school invested millions of naira in ICT connecting the school’s classrooms, lecture halls, halls of residence and offices with fibre optic cables to provide high speed internet to aid instructions. “Every organisation is seeking competitive advantage; I believe with this partnership with New Horizons, we are in for a good time. We are blessed to have New Horizons.
Tim Akano in his brief speech spoke on how the ICT world is being controlled by young innovators who have founded companies like Google, Facebook, WhatsApp etc. He urged the students to empower themselves with IT professional certifications to be relevant in today’s world.
“You can be self-employed after graduation. You can create your own companies and become employers of labour. Some days ago, Facebook acquired WhatsApp, a messaging company founded by two young people for $19bn, that is about 40 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP.”
“Few months ago, Apple Inc. bought a mapping company owned by a young Nigerian by name Chinedu for $1bn. Google also bought a company called WAZE for $1bn. You can begin to do similar innovations by dreaming big” he said. Akano to the elation of the university said he was at Hebrew University, Israel few weeks ago and held discussions on how they can enhance Nigerian higher institutions competencies in agriculture technologies.
He has also held discussion with the Israeli ambassador to Nigeria who has promised to come and deliver a lecture at Landmark University the same topic. He added that New Horizons is committed to improving the skills of the students and lecturers alike. The pro chancellor on his part enjoined the students to make best use of the opportunities available from the partnership urging the students to go out and make names for themselves and the country.

N100m IT centre at Landmark University

A N100m IT centre at Landmark University is been opened by New Horizons 

One of the the leading private owned information technology (IT) training institute, New Horizons Nigeria, at the weekend opened an international IT resource centre valued at over N100 million at Landmark University, Kwara State.
The centre is expected to empower students of the institution with the most sought after IT skills and professional certifications.
At the commissioning ceremony, the Pro Chancellor of Landmark University, Professor Yemi Nathaniel who commissioned the IT resource centre alongside the vice chancellor, Professor Mathew Ajayi; the acting registrar, Dr. Mrs. Rachael Adebayo and many other professors, academic and non-academic staff and students enjoined the students to avail themselves of the opportunities that new Horizons brings to their future.
The vice chancellor who welcomed the New Horizons team led by Mr. Tim Akano, its managing director said the journey to actualise the project began four years ago.
“I want to specially commend the New Horizons team for their tenacity and for not giving up even when things seems not to be going the way they were expecting. I know the impact New Horizons is making Covenant University has been wonderful. “That is why when I resumed here I stated that certified IT professional courses must be part of our curriculum.
“I want our students to take maximum advantage of the opportunities available at the IT resource centre. I believe even if you are studying History with the skills and certification programmes offered by the New Horizons/Landmark University you can work anywhere in the world including the oil industry.” He said the role IT plays higher institutions like Landmark University cannot be overemphasized.
Prof Ajayi said right from inception, the school invested millions of naira in ICT connecting the school’s classrooms, lecture halls, halls of residence and offices with fibre optic cables to provide high speed internet to aid instructions. “Every organisation is seeking competitive advantage; I believe with this partnership with New Horizons, we are in for a good time. We are blessed to have New Horizons.
Tim Akano in his brief speech spoke on how the ICT world is being controlled by young innovators who have founded companies like Google, Facebook, WhatsApp etc. He urged the students to empower themselves with IT professional certifications to be relevant in today’s world.
“You can be self-employed after graduation. You can create your own companies and become employers of labour. Some days ago, Facebook acquired WhatsApp, a messaging company founded by two young people for $19bn, that is about 40 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP.”
“Few months ago, Apple Inc. bought a mapping company owned by a young Nigerian by name Chinedu for $1bn. Google also bought a company called WAZE for $1bn. You can begin to do similar innovations by dreaming big” he said. Akano to the elation of the university said he was at Hebrew University, Israel few weeks ago and held discussions on how they can enhance Nigerian higher institutions competencies in agriculture technologies.
He has also held discussion with the Israeli ambassador to Nigeria who has promised to come and deliver a lecture at Landmark University the same topic. He added that New Horizons is committed to improving the skills of the students and lecturers alike. The pro chancellor on his part enjoined the students to make best use of the opportunities available from the partnership urging the students to go out and make names for themselves and the country.

N100m IT centre at Landmark University

A N100m IT centre at Landmark University is been opened by New Horizons 

One of the the leading private owned information technology (IT) training institute, New Horizons Nigeria, at the weekend opened an international IT resource centre valued at over N100 million at Landmark University, Kwara State.
The centre is expected to empower students of the institution with the most sought after IT skills and professional certifications.
At the commissioning ceremony, the Pro Chancellor of Landmark University, Professor Yemi Nathaniel who commissioned the IT resource centre alongside the vice chancellor, Professor Mathew Ajayi; the acting registrar, Dr. Mrs. Rachael Adebayo and many other professors, academic and non-academic staff and students enjoined the students to avail themselves of the opportunities that new Horizons brings to their future.
The vice chancellor who welcomed the New Horizons team led by Mr. Tim Akano, its managing director said the journey to actualise the project began four years ago.
“I want to specially commend the New Horizons team for their tenacity and for not giving up even when things seems not to be going the way they were expecting. I know the impact New Horizons is making Covenant University has been wonderful. “That is why when I resumed here I stated that certified IT professional courses must be part of our curriculum.
“I want our students to take maximum advantage of the opportunities available at the IT resource centre. I believe even if you are studying History with the skills and certification programmes offered by the New Horizons/Landmark University you can work anywhere in the world including the oil industry.” He said the role IT plays higher institutions like Landmark University cannot be overemphasized.
Prof Ajayi said right from inception, the school invested millions of naira in ICT connecting the school’s classrooms, lecture halls, halls of residence and offices with fibre optic cables to provide high speed internet to aid instructions. “Every organisation is seeking competitive advantage; I believe with this partnership with New Horizons, we are in for a good time. We are blessed to have New Horizons.
Tim Akano in his brief speech spoke on how the ICT world is being controlled by young innovators who have founded companies like Google, Facebook, WhatsApp etc. He urged the students to empower themselves with IT professional certifications to be relevant in today’s world.
“You can be self-employed after graduation. You can create your own companies and become employers of labour. Some days ago, Facebook acquired WhatsApp, a messaging company founded by two young people for $19bn, that is about 40 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP.”
“Few months ago, Apple Inc. bought a mapping company owned by a young Nigerian by name Chinedu for $1bn. Google also bought a company called WAZE for $1bn. You can begin to do similar innovations by dreaming big” he said. Akano to the elation of the university said he was at Hebrew University, Israel few weeks ago and held discussions on how they can enhance Nigerian higher institutions competencies in agriculture technologies.
He has also held discussion with the Israeli ambassador to Nigeria who has promised to come and deliver a lecture at Landmark University the same topic. He added that New Horizons is committed to improving the skills of the students and lecturers alike. The pro chancellor on his part enjoined the students to make best use of the opportunities available from the partnership urging the students to go out and make names for themselves and the country.

Bill Gates: Control-Alt-Delete 'was a mistake'

Bill Gates recounts the history of how Ctrl Alt Del came to be.

(Credit: Harvard/Screenshot by CNET)

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has admitted what quite a few Windows users have been thinking for a long time: control-alt-delete is an unnecessary mechanism.

Give us a single button, Gates said. But it wasn't to be.

(Credit: Harvard/Screenshot by CNET)

Speaking in a broad interview at Harvard over the weekend, Gates said that the control-alt-delete function, which allows users to log in to Windows and access the task manager (you may be most familiar with it as the first step in rebooting), was conceived after an IBM keyboard designer wouldn't give him a single button to perform the same chore. (That part of the conversation starts at about 16:45 in the video embedded below.)

"So we could have had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn't want to give us our single button," Gates said. "So we had, we programmed at a low level -- it was a mistake."

As big a mistake as it might have been, the function lived on through generation after generation of Windows. This marks the first time that Gates has so forcefully acknowledged that the feature wasn't necessarily the best idea.

The function was created by IBM PC designer David Bradley as a way for computer users to reboot their machines. In an interview with CNET recently, Bradley said he didn't understand why Gates and Microsoft decided to make it a login feature, adding that "I guess it made sense for them."

PS4 hits November 15 for $399: What you need to know (hands-on)

The PlayStation 4 is almost here.

Sony's next-gen gaming console will hit stores in the US on November 15 at a price of $399. That price undercuts Microsoft's Xbox One -- also arriving in November -- by $100.

The US launch will be followed by a European release on November 29. The console will cost £349 in the UK, and 399 euros on the Continent.

Along with the console, Sony has also confirmed a large list of PS4 games due to be released before the end of the year.

(Credit: CNET)

With the clock ticking on the PS4's release, we've gathered together just about everything we know about the next PlayStation, and how it compares with its new nemesis, the Xbox One. Read on for the details.

DualShock 4: Hands-on with the new PS4 gamepad (pictures)

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Hands-on
At first glance, it's difficult to see any real discernible difference between the PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 and the DualShock 3 of the PS3, but after a few seconds the differences are readily apparent if you've spent a good amount of time playing PS3 games.

Trigger buttons are improved over the DualShock 3, but they honestly don't feel much more like actual triggers as they're flatter and wider than, say, the Xbox One's. The shoulder buttons, however, are much softer and feel more comfortable than either the PS3's or Xbox One's, in my opinion.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

The D-pad was disappointing, forgoing the tight precision of the Xbox One's D-pad. I honestly couldn't imagine playing a fighting game on it, at least with anything approaching a modicum of success. The lack of tactile feedback when pressing different directions is troublesome.

The controller feels as light as the previous incarnation's, and its handles feature a grippier texture on the back and bottom. The touch pad feels smooth with a slight groove, and depresses pretty easily. I’ve yet to use it in an actual game, however.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

The analog sticks deliver an appropriate amount of feedback; however, the texture on top of the sticks was distracting.

I didn't actually get to touch the PS4 console, so I can't say how light it is or how its buttons or Blu-ray drive work. The system definitely has a look like no other console I've seen. I mean sure, it's black and squarish like most consoles, but it also has this bisected design that looks quite space-age.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Design
About that design: the angled parallelogram design of the PS4 clearly conjures PlayStations of the past. It looks like a PS2 on steroids. It's an attractive look, but it's boxy; it doesn't seem nearly as big as the Xbox One, however.

Also, box design really means nothing. But, hey, at least we know what it'll look like next to our television, and it's fine-looking without being obtrusive.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Used games: Yes (mostly)
The Xbox One had generated controversy because of its onerous digital rights management policies, including requiring daily Internet connections and account verification -- even for single-player games. According to Microsoft's original plan, sales and loaning of used discs would've been limited by policies set by individual game publishers. Microsoft has since reversed those policies.

Sony's policy for the PlayStation 4 appears, at first glance, to be far more traditional, but now that Microsoft's Xbox One policies seem to have come more in line with Sony's, the PS4's original advantage on this front has been largely erased. The PS4 will support used games and won't verify game accounts online. However, Sony will also leave it to third-party publishers toset their own rules on used titles, so it may not be as black and white as originally touted.

Both the PS4 and Xbox One are said to be region-free, meaning games bought in or imported from any region should play on each respective console.

(Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment)

PlayStation Plus and PS4
The PS4 will support the same PlayStation Plus service as the Vita and PS3, with no new subscription price increase: it's all folded together. (Right now, that's $50 per year.) Unlike the PS3, however, a Plus subscription will be required for online multiplayer games. Thankfully, though, you won't be required to have Plus to access PS4's media services (Netflix and the like). You do need Microsoft's Xbox Live Gold subscription to do nearly anything -- including Netflix -- on Xbox One and Xbox 360.

The PS4 will have its own Instant Game collection service; DriveClub PS Plus Edition will be the first free game at launch, with one free game per month after that. Titles will include Don’t Starve and Outlast.

Sony’s been smart to offer up free games via Plus, and you have to wonder if Microsoft is taking notice: a similar offering of free monthly games was announced for Xbox 360 owners subscribing to Xbox Live Gold.

Sony announced at Gamescom that PS4 owners will receive a free 14-day PlayStation Plus trial with the purchase of their console, which includes access to games DriveClub and Resogun.

(Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment)

Video content and services
Leading off the PS4 discussions at E3 was a mention of Sony's video efforts, seemingly aiming for a similar type of video-content approach with the console as Microsoft is with the Xbox One. Sony touted its studio strength and the eventual launch of exclusive videos coming only to the PS4, but it’s unclear what those are.

Video services like Video Unlimited, Redbox, and Flixster are some of the services launching on the PlayStation Network, but it looks like these services will be available on the PS3, too.

The big challenge with fronting content as a reason to buy a console is this: can game systems really become video networks? Microsoft and Sony seem to be betting on this direction, and it’s a dicey endeavor.

New games
Sony demonstrated games at E3 and Gamescom -- as you’d expect -- in a mix of new games and sequels, including exclusives The Order, Killzone: Shadow Fall, and Infamous: Second Son. It was hard to glean what advantages the PS4 was offering these games that the PS3 couldn’t accomplish, but for the most part these games looked pretty.

Sony's also pledging massive third-party support, and a very easy process for independent developers to publish on the PS4.

The list of PS4 games available before the end of 2013 includes 33 titles, a good number of which are independent and available for download only, as opposed to disc-based. Sony's aggressive support for independent publishers could be a point of differentiation from Microsoft.

All the disc-based PS4 games fit to play in 2013 (pictures)

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Sony also says that its augmented-reality experiment Playroom, which incorporates motion control and robots, will be bundled with every PS4.

In a move aimed to ease the pain of transition from one console to the next, people who buy Battlefield 4, Assassin's Creed IV, Call of Duty: Ghosts, or Watch Dogs on the PlayStation 3 will be able to buy the PlayStation 4 digital version for a "significantly discounted price." Other games are likely to join this list soon.

Meanwhile Amazon and GameStop have announced similar promotions where gamers can trade up to the next-gen version of games for $10.

(Credit: Sony Computer Entertainment)

Hardware
The PlayStation 4, as you'd expect for a seven-years-later follow-up, has impressively bumped specs:

• An eight-core X86 AMD Jaguar CPU
• 1.84-teraflop AMD Radeon graphics engine (with "18 compute units")
• 8GB of GDDR5 memory
• 500GB hard drive
• Blu-ray drive
• Three USB 3.0 ports
• 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
• Ethernet, HDMI, Bluetooth 2.1, optical audio and analog AV out

The PS4 will use a 500GB hard drive for storage; the same as the Xbox One. The specs overall match that of a modern PC with integrated AMD processors and graphics, or so it seems. It's not a particularly stunning set of specs for a PC, but it's far ahead of any existing game console. It's just not as ahead-of-its-time on the hardware end as the original PlayStation 3 seemed to be.

Immediacy of response reducing lag time while accessing content is also one of the promised PS4 features (unlike the extremely laggy Wii U, perhaps). The PS4 will allow speedy background downloading, and Sony claims that games will even be playable as they're being downloaded.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Yes, the PS4 will have a Blu-ray drive that can also play DVDs. The PS4 will also have three USB 3.0 ports, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Ethernet, Bluetooth 2.1, HDMI, Analog AV-out, and optical digital audio output.

What about PS3 games playing on the PS4? Sony has so far discussed PlayStation 3 gameplay on the PS4 under the same umbrella as playing PlayStation 1 and PS 2 games, via a digital library in a yet-to-be-determined PlayStation Cloud Service. Whether this would be accomplished via streaming, digital downloads, or emulation wasn't specified, but it sounds like Sony's answer to the Virtual Console.

The DualShock 4 controller.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

DualShock 4 and the new PS Eye: Touch and move
The new DualShock 4 controller feels like a fusion of the PlayStation DualShock with some of the design philosophies of both the Vita and the Move. It has enhanced rumble, a touch pad, a "Share" button, a standard headphone/microphone jack that will accept standard headphones, and light-up bar that looks like a transplanted top of a Move wand. The two-finger touch pad with click, located right in the middle of the controller, has the same look as the pad on the back of the PS Vita handheld. The DualShock 4 also has a Micro-USB port, Bluetooth 2.1, and Sixaxis gyroscope/accelerometers.

Sony finally unveils PS4 (pictures)

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The PlayStation 4 Eye has also been redesigned: instead of the single Webcam-like lens setup before, the new almost Kinect-like bar has stereo cameras, and works with the light bar for motion controls. However, unlike the One's integrated Kinect, it's an optional accessory: you'll need to pay $60 for the Eye.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Online: The new social sharing
Sony promises that you'll be able to scan the last few minutes of your gameplay with the push of a "Share" button on the DualShock 4, uploading screenshots or clips, and even spectate and chat during other people's games like PC gamers already do. One service that will work with the button on launch day is Twitch.TV, and a spectating app for the service will also be available on the PS4.

The Xbox One will also get Twitch.TV gamecast support, but unlike on the PS4, you'll need to subscribe to the Xbox Live Gold program to access the One's sharing features. Sharing will be available on the PS4 without a paid Plus subscription.

Many screens shown at the PlayStation event show what looks like a serious revamp of Sony's social gaming network, using what look like real photos and names for players. Whether video game footage-sharing is a feature with mainstream appeal has yet to be determined.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Gaikai and cloud streaming
Gaikai cloud technology, acquired last year by Sony, was discussed back in February as a possible trial-based way of playing games before buying, working via streaming-game technology. Back then, David Perry, CEO of Gaikai, discussed the many ways that PlayStation Cloud services will potentially reinvent the back end of the PlayStation experience.

Gaikai technology will also be used to power the PS4's spectating experiences, and that aforementioned ability to continually one-button broadcast your game progress via Share. It's certainly the first time a home gaming console has entered this territory, although PC gamers have enjoyed similar types of functions and services (OnLive, for instance). The streaming/sharing technology will also work with Facebook and Ustream.

It doesn't seem to be coming this year, though. Sony announced at E3 that the PlayStation’s cloud gaming service will be available in 2014, offering PS3 games streamed via the cloud. The service will start in the US first. And, interestingly, Gaikai services won't be limited to the PS4; the PS3 and eventually the Vita will benefit from Gaikai as well.

PlayStation Vita and remote play
Can the Vita and PS4 be best friends? Sony promises that the $199 Vita will be very integrated with the PS4, and the two will be wonderful together using Remote Play game-streaming. It sounds somewhat like what the Nintendo Wii U enables on the GamePad, except in this case the experience will be translated onto a fully independent handheld device.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

If this works as promised, it could help make the PS4 and Vita a hardware match worth getting -- improved transmission times between the Vita and PS4, as promised, result in an experience as seamless as what Nintendo achieves on the Wii U GamePad. Sony's aiming to have most PS4 games be Vita-playable via remote play. No further details were given; apparently, that will be discussed "later in the year," too.

Cell phones, tablets...second screens, too?
Whether phone, PC, or portable gaming device, Sony also made big promises regarding integrated gaming that will follow you wherever you go. What that actually entails -- an app, social gaming, or something like true game streaming -- wasn't clearly defined, either, but it sounded like Sony's continuing attempt to broaden PlayStation support via Sony tablets, phone, and electronics. It's important to note that other game consoles like the Xbox 360 already allow this type of integration via certain apps, and many games do as well.

The core social elements of the PS4 are being promised to work on smartphones, tablets, and the Vita as well -- on stage, the clean-looking social browser was shown on various devices, including streaming video of gameplay.