You lucky bastards, us Aussies will probably have to wait 'till 2014 (my guess anyway). Also - I should say this is "Almost Certainly Confirmed" rather than Confirmed.

"That is the text from a full page advert hidden in the sports section of today’s Metro newspaper."

Source:

http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2013/05/24/advert-confirms-ps4-launch-in-the-uk-this-year/

Yes! Now all I need to know are the SKUs and pricing so I can place my preorder.

@seppli said:

Hopefully you guys don't get ripped off on the "conversion" between USD and Euro/Pounds. My hopes aren't high, but if y'all get a break on the usual BS, maybe we will.

@selfconfessedcynic:You've made my day. I do actually hope Sony can release the console worldwide, as the ps3 launch dates were insane if you didn't live in the US and Japan.

@wwfundertaker said:

Man, I hope so.

On the one hand a 2014 release will give me some breathing room to save up for the console + games, and give me an idea of what games to buy since the reviews will have hit by then.

On the other hand, I want that thing all over my body right fucking now.

Guess it's your average 30% mark-up in comparison to the UK/US. I guess we get off easy in comparison to you Aussies, or other such exotic locations like Iceland.

Nice. I just read somewhere yesterday that it would only launch in the US and Japan this year and thought "DAS NUTS SONY!"

Cool, can't wait to get mine summer 2014, since I'm going to be abroad most of the winter 2014 and it would make no sense buying a console I won't be able to play on.

Wait until a month before it actually launches to say "confirmed" :)

I live in the UK and I'm going back to PlayStation this generation.

But I STILL won't be buying it launch.

Wait, so it won't launch in Canada? If so what the fuck is up with that? US and Canada aren't different enough to hold back our release date.

They had to pick one of the worst angles of the new controller to put on that image didn't they...

That's nice but I hope there's more at launch than Watch Dogs and Black Flag. (and other enhanced ports)

Each store gets half a dozen and the system sells out instantly.

Sorry yeah it was probably NA rather than US.

Cool, I doubt I will end up buying one at launch though.

It's pretty much confirmed. Massive advertising all over the Champions League since Sony is the official sponsor. Bit weird they're announcing it like this without a big presentation, but I suppose the lure of the Champions League is too big to hold off.

From the official EU Playstation Twitter:

https://twitter.com/PlayStationEU/status/338327969154093056/photo/1

https://twitter.com/PlayStationEU/status/338367744145780737/photo/1

https://twitter.com/PlayStationEU/status/338331486455488512/photo/1

@zero_: Yeah, most of all I'm surprised that they didn't make a straight up TV ad.

Probably holding off until after they reveal the form factor, but still - I have no idea if this comparatively low-key ad campaign will work well. Are side-line ads usually a big deal?

Definitely more excited about PS4 than Xbox One, although it's still way too early to tell what will be 'better'.

Let's just hope the price isn't too crazy.

@selfconfessedcynic: 'Big deal' in the sense that hundreds of millions of viewers all around the watch that watch the Champions League will be seeing these scrolling banners for ~90 minutes. It's very strong marketting despite the lack of fanfare, especially considering the association of Playstation with Europe.

I don't fret over launch dates, it has always taken every console ever at least a year to have games released for it truly worth while and they're always available worldwide within a year of their first region release.

@zero_ said:

That's an interesting point - the worldwide thing. There's no way that they want to imply the PS4 is coming out worldwide in 2013, are they? I want to keep my hopes down since I have yet to not be either ripped off or disappointed here in AUS by any of the big 3.

Then again, I would assume that the largest audience for football is Europe itself (in terms of sheer population and density) - so that'd be the largest target for this ad.

Ah well, only 2 weeks until more questions are answered. I'm hoping for price / release date like they revealed for the Vita but who knows.

@selfconfessedcynic: yeah, this ad is specifically targeted at the UK market and probably Europe. My money is on a joint NA and Europe launch in November 2013, and early 2014 launch in Japan and other countries. Japan just isn't that huge compared to the rest and the Japanese loyalty will keep Sony going there.

Heh, I'm also from Australia and there's no doubt we'll get screwed as usual. Even though Australia is managed by the Europe division of Sony SCEE, we're just too damn small for anything to count. My bets on an early 2014 $700 launch for us.

@zero_ said:

Yup, that's what I'm thinking too - Feb 2014 for around $700. BUT, my guess for the US price is $399-$499, and if you look at our prices compared to theirs for SCE hardware we're only sitting on a $70-100 markup across the board nowadays.

You never know - could you imagine a $5-600 PS4? I'd be there fucking day one if it's $500.