So FINALLY the PS4 has been announced. Everyone in the forums are talking about how either impressed or dissapointed they are. Gamers everywhere are now asking questions and critiquing all the information that was presented. Most people are concentrating on the hardware specs,used games, social features, price, the controller, the games (or lack there of) what its going to look like and backwards compatibility. I'm not saying that these things are important, but I'm not seeing much about the PSN and more importantly, if its going to be free. 

The lifecycle of the PS3 has been one of  peaks and valleys. A rough start, ridiculous price, losing exclusive franchises, security breach etc...I could go on forever with all the things that went wrong for Sony, but not all things were bad. Despite the difficulties, Sony managed to still sell 70+million units, establish a strong stable of new franchises and studios, and giving gamers a chance to experience online multiplayer for free, while establishing a fee based business model that did not affect online gaming. This was the ultimate reason why I chose to buy a PS3 over Microsofts xbox360. But as Sony president Shuhei Yoshida mentioned in an interview , PSN might be in danger to become the xbox live clone.

This ambiguity is really troublesome. Sure there were a lot of great new features that Sony is planning, but for a lot of gamers, these things are not worth the price of a monthly subscription fee. Not everyone wants to share gameplay vids, talk to friends while playing another game or have a playstation store that predicts a gamers taste in gaming. Some of us want to play games with our friends and Sony made it possible by keeping the PSN free. But is it going to be?

I may just be blowing this out of proportion, and Sony might still offer up free online gaming. I can't move forward until I find out about the fate of PSN. I have no doubt that the PS4 will be an amazing machine that will introduce gamers with an abundance of great features. This next generation will have awesome games, and the controller might be the best controller ever....but that isn't going to determine if the PS4 will be a day one or a year 3 purchase. here's hoping for some good news.