What do people think, specifically, about the Social/Sharing/Broadcasting features of PS4? A lot of it is exactly what I've always wanted -- especially being able to stream and jump into viewings of other people playing games. I find that entertaining.

However, how likely is this to take off, when considering a lot of people's PS3 networks? By which, I mean, I've had the PS3 almost since launch and I only have three people on my Playstation friend's list. One of them is someone I don't even know and the other two are people I bought the consoles for.

So this seems like an awful lot of features that will go to waste unless everyone you know buys the PS4 andi/or you are a heavy social network user (which I am not, because I find nothing interesting about spewing everything I think and do to a bunch of semi-strangers -- or reading their blithering about their sonogram or what they had for lunch today).

I found everything about this conference to be very compelling. I love that they focused on hardware, like I said they should (hah! -- to everyone who kept telling me that 4gb or 6gb of ram was more than you could ever need -- and DDR5, at that!). A number of the games were very interesting. The graphical fidelity. The focus on gamers, rather than "this is the family device, let's watch some ten year olds and their grandmothers dance with a move controller, now!". But . . . I just can't help but think I'm going to end up buying one or two of these at launch and have a very lonely experience.

I'm especially concerned, since they kept saying "you can watch/join/whatever people in your social network". If you could actually just browse random strangers (or people geographically, or by selected groups -- like a GiantBomb community group), then that'd be fantastic. If I can only watch live real time playing by the two or three people on my list (only one of which is likely to buy a PS4 in the first few years), then . . . I don't see having any opportunity for it.

Yes. Okay, I'll add more.

I like the small social things the Vita does so what they say the PS4 will do with it's social sounds amazing. I have 50 friends. My number jumps around because I'll delete people who don't play much and add new people, then probably delete them. So I'm excited. Time to scrape up pennies!

I'll use the fuck out of the share button. Sick headshots man. Big ass ramps, fast cars. Whenever something awesome happens. I'll push that button. Even if I'd just be doing it for myself.

The spectating feature was absolutely my favourite part of Onlive. To have that native in a proper console, sounds great.

They said a lot of things that made me excited, especially in terms of hardware specs that sound more powerful than my 2+ year old pc, but I do not give a shit about social integration. It's great that it's there for people who want to use it, but it doesn't sway me either way. They went way in on games and I'm curious to see if MS pushes back with a big games focus, or further down the entertainment box path

I would definitely use the streaming feature if it works properly. I have always wanted to stream gameplay.

The xbox has sharing capabilities, HERE IS MY VIDEO GAME ACHIEVEMENT,

I think that part will depend on the video quality and how much time is recorded/clippable. I'm always disappointed when a game only lets me upload shitty and poorly encoded content from it and only ten or thirty seconds at a time. If they offer the right functionality, it would be a nice substitute for the shitty capture-boxes (Elgato and Hauppage) or a dedicated capture rig jammed into your home theater with a high end capture card in it. :/

I think its pretty cool, not sure if I'm gonna use them compulsively, but its sure nice to have them.

My dream situation is one where I can instantly watch any human being playing any game, live, any time I feel like it and anyone in the world being able to spectate me.

I think I'll use the share button for video a whole lot - I wish that was a feature in all games. I ended up making like 5 videos of Noby Noby Boy just because I could.

I can't see myself spectating people much though..

I went and took a leak during that part the moment I heard the words "social media" so I'm kind of ignorant about the whole thing. I do have one question about it, does it always have to be on or can you just ignore it and tell it to shut up? Because I could not give less of a fuck about Facebook (which I never use) or Twitter (which I hardly use) integration. It's nice that it's an option for people that want it, but I just don't care about it. I don't need people seeing when I got a trophy/achievement and my apparent lack of a life.

Their only focus on social networks was in that they seed your social-gaming experience from your contacts on them. However, I only have any social networking accounts so that I can claim my name (except for LinkedIn) and since I don't "friend" people I work with and don't follow or allow to be followed by anyone in my family, my contact lists are meaningless to me.

These seeded sets of contacts are for things like arranging gaming sessions, watching what your friends are playing, in a live stream as they're doing it. And even joining in with a press of the button.

Probably only using the "classic" friend list features and maybe the video stuff, but all the social media integration is not for me, as I don't use all those stuff (Facebook etc.).

Well - they said it had dedicated hardware in there, and if that Killzone presentation upload is representative of the codec used, it seems to be high enough quality to fit the HD-quality streaming bill. If rumours are true, the PS4 buffers the last 15 minutes of gameplay at all times, and there's likely options to record for even longer sessions, if that's something the player wishes to do.

Wait, did they say something about party chat?

Yeah I'm super pumped to share and watch all the crazy shit people do.

I love being connected with all my friends and seeing what they are doing in games. This sounds perfect to me.

@branthog @seppli Makes you wonder how big of a hard drive is in that thing if it's recording 15+ minutes of HD footage.

I say now that I won't use any of it, but I said the same thing when Steam upgraded their community features and I use those a lot now so who knows.

I really don't see the video streaming/sharing taking off the way Sony thinks it will.

Sure watching someone else play though a game or uploading something awesome that I recently did in game sounds like something I should use.

I think using Ustream over Twitch was a dumb move. I haven't used Ustream in a long while now, but I remember it being pretty bad in comparison to Twitch. Also, can you just watch your friends playing games, like at anytime even if they didn't really want an audience, or does the player have to allow people to watch him first? It could get real awkward when I start checking out the female game models in a game and someone decides to watch me.

And someone needs to photoshop a picture of Cher's face to the PS4 controller, because that's the image I get every time I think of the Share button.

Yes, I will. Just for crazy stuff that happens though games though glitch of otherwise, being able to record that stuff and save it to a My Videos folder us pretty awesome, in 20 years to be able to have a collection of the cool things that you did in games sounds pretty cool. Being able to watch games my friends are playing for example showing up late for a Pro Clubs game of FIFA, being able to watch them play the game out while I am wating 20 minutes in the lobby for the next game to start. It is actually pretty awesome, they pretty much took any thing that made the Wii U interesting and made it way better.

I would use it a little I think. I find myself taking more screenshots on steam since they indegrated that feature. It's not even for showing friends, sometimes something funny or cool happens and it's fun to keep the memory.

I only have a passing experience with either of them, but I thought Twitch.tv and Ustream were the same thing? Or is that twitch and justin.tv?

@branthog: Twitch and Justin.tv are/were the same thing. Ustream is a completely different company. Twitch is pretty much the go to website when it comes to video game streaming and I just think it's weird that Sony wouldn't try and get partnered with them instead.

Zero.zero.

And the point of having someone finish a level for me, never.

Still, as this generation has passed, Sony and PC are the only ones i have any interest. I also have seen and heard enough that it will be the first console i pre order as soon as it is available.

Will definitely use it for fighting games, games with high skill barriers make for entertaining viewing. Unlike Halo 4 / CoD replays.

Yeah, having someone play my game for me sounds ridiculous, but watching other people play sounds like a blast. I can just imagine the market that is going to be created by saying "For fifty-cents per minute, I will play through parts of games you are stuck on, for you".

If I get a PS4 I will definitely use the video sharing functionality. I have zero interest in letting people know I beat a chapter in Uncharted or something on twitter, but I am absolutely interested in being able to record cool/dumb stuff that happens while I'm playing games and share it with my friends.

Assuming I even get a PS4? Not high.

I'm not into streaming things, but, you know, if it's that easy, I could see myself giving it a try.

If they support groups then this could be a fun feature. Seeing duders playing games is way more interesting than randoms.

Probably won't use much of those features. I barely use social media as it is. I'm a "i hate people" kinda guy.

I'm very excited to see what new developments and details will be given out in the coming months leading up to the launch of this system. I love the new share system so far from what I've heard of it. The games look amazing so far as well.

I think it looks like like it could be pretty interesting. I wonder though if it'll be one of those things that's cool at first but then you don't bother with it anymore after that.

I think the streaming stuff is pretty interesting. I probably wouldn't use it but i wouldn't mind watching other people play but i wonder how it works. Can you just watch anyone or do you have to be on their friends list or sent an invite or something? EIther way, I think its pretty interesting stuff.

the share stuff seems like a really cool idea that i'd never ever use.

it was a bit weird because when they were explaining it and revealing it and all that, i was really interested in it all, and thought it was awesome, but actually thinking about it practically afterwards, i'd NEVER use the damn thing.

i mean the Share button on the controller is a bit much now that i thought about it. i really dont think a majority of gamers are going to be bothering with the feature at all, so pushing it onto the controller seems a bit presumptuous, i mean for the niche audience it appeals to, thats awesome.

with the PS4 be prepared for a flood of "check out my sick head shot broz! SICK!!!!!!!!" crap.

the share thing is the PS4's gimmick, i guess they all gotta have one. luckily it seems pretty minor and easily ignored and wont really interfere with your gaming experiences

I'm assuming the cheapest SKU will come with at least 1 TB of storage. Anything less just doesn't have the right *next gen* ring to it. Also storage is cheap, and they don't really mass produce smaller harddrives anymore really.

i share screenshots on steam all the time, and check out twitch occasionally- this seems like an extension of that, so while i don't anticipate broadcasting my games, it could be pretty cool.

Yes even though it seems to mean anonymity is out of the window, though I believe in ~10 years anonymity will be mostly gone from the internet any ways.

I am wondering how this will clash with copyright laws. And yes, I love the idea and definitely gonna use it if it works.

Eh, I can do just about all of it on my PC but choose not to

I doubt I'll be uploading my gameplay to any social media sites. But I'm sure I'll be watching friends/strangers play games as that's all I ever used onlive for. Might be a little weird for me when I start to notice people watching me though. I'll probably be gazing at a wall texture or prodding at some esoteric gameplay system, realize how boring that would be to a spectator and feel pressure to "get on with the show".

It'll go both ways... like glitches and exploits will be online so fast... devs will love that haha ... I don't know if it's for me, but it may produce some cool stuff from the people who do care.

I think i'll end up using it as long as it's easy to use as it seems it will be, I already upload videos to youtube and stream occasionally PC games on twitch, so having these things at a touch of a finger(literally with the share button) I don't have any reason not to.

My thoughts exactly. There have been a ton of times in a game where I wish I could have uploaded it to show off to my friends. Bugs, crazy coincidences, the amazing water in the first Army of Two game (best videogame water evar) or just an amazing combo I managed to pull off, all will be uploaded.

I think the streaming will be PS4s PSHome. There will be a small fanbase that loves it, but mostly ignored by the masses. The problem is pretty much that people are already doing it. Anyone that's "professional" enough to actually make a show is already streaming PC and console games and don't need the feature and anyone else that's just gonna put up a stream of their gameplay is gonna get completely ignored and grow tired of it quick.

Making an entertaining gaming stream takes more work than you think, and the hurdle of having to set up some hardware of doing it is pretty negligable. For everyone else it's gonna be a fun little toy to play with once in a while, but mostly ignore.

Ye, I bet they wanted to partner with Twitch though, but the guys over there are pretty business-savvy and probably wanted a way bigger cut than Ustream.

I think it is awesome. Now the whole world can witness my DOMINATION.

Sure, I'll livestream the entirety of my Persona 5 playthrough.