UPD Virgin Media is Official UK Broadband ISP Partner for Sonys PS4 Launch

Sony has announced that its forthcoming PlayStation 4 (PS4) video games console, which is officially confirmed to arrive in the United Kingdom on 29th November 2013, has chosen broadband provider Virgin Media to be its main ISP partner. Rumours of a new 200Mbps product are also floating around.

The cable operator, which isn’t always the first choice for multiplayer fans due to some variable issues with latency (ping) performance (though it’s usually still good enough), has promised “loads of exciting benefits for our customers“. But unfortunately Virgin also wants to “keep the details under wraps for the time being“.. booo!

In the meantime, Virgin Media has said that anybody who wants to give the PS4 an early try via one of their business grade 1Gbps (1000Mbps) ultrafast broadband connections can do so by visiting the Eurogamer Expo between 26-29th September 2013 in London’s Earls Court (assuming you can get a ticket in time).

The console itself is expected to cost around £350, which is significantly less than Microsoft’s forthcoming Xbox One at around £429; this is also due to launch sometime in November and will come with the Kinect2 motion capture system included. So what about the launch games?

Sony’s PS4 Launch Games

* Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag (Ubisoft)
* Battlefield 4 (EA)
* Call of Duty: Ghosts (Activision)
* Driveclub (SCE)
* FIFA 14 (EA)
* Killzone: Shadow Fall (SCE)
* Knack (SCE)
* Just Dance 2014 (Ubisoft)
* LEGO Marvel Superheroes (Warner Bros.)
* Madden 25 (EA)
* NBA 2K14 (2K Games)
* NBA Live (EA)
* Need for Speed: Rivals (EA)
* Skylanders: Swap Force (Activision)
* Watch Dogs (Ubisoft)
* Outlast (due just after launch – before Xmas)

As above we don’t yet know what Virgin Media has planned to help support Sony’s console but it’s a fair bet that they’ll leverage some of their prowess in TV content and related media services in order to hopefully take good advantage of the new hardware. Special offers or bundles for new broadband customers are also a distinct possibility and Sony itself has separately hinted a special offer

The PS4 is known to have extensive video streaming, media and internet capabilities (here), such as video sharing, real-time video game streaming (remotely play games that you haven’t downloaded), an ability to remotely control your friends game and the possibility to start playing your game while it’s being downloaded. As a result it makes sense for them to team-up with a big broadband and media giant.

It should be said that Microsoft’s Xbox One will also launch with an almost identical batch of games, although they’re likely to have some different exclusives (details have yet to be unveiled). We also suspect that BT or Sky Broadband might now end up being Microsoft’s chosen partner for their XBox One launch, assuming they partner with anybody.

UPDATE 8:51am

Here’s the full list of “launch window” games for the online PSN service. Not all of these will be out on launch day but most should follow by the end of this year or early 2014.

PlayStation Network – PS4 Launch Window Games:

◾Basement Crawl
◾Pool Nation Extreme
◾Contrast
◾Warframe
◾Pinball Arcade
◾War Thunder
◾N++
◾Minecraft
◾DC Universe Online
◾Planetside 2
◾Counterspy
◾ResoGun
◾Flower
◾Doki-Doki Universe
◾Hohokum
◾Tiny Brains
◾Super Motherload
◾Blacklight Retribution

UPDATE 10:03am

Sony has reportedly suggested that Virgin Media’s gamer exclusive broadband bundles might offer download speeds of up to 200Mbps (Megabits per second), which is a product that the cable operator has run under trial before.

It’s now nearly three years since Virgin first hinted at a late-2012 launch for the 200Mbps package, although it also warned that this would depend upon demand and obviously that date has subsequently passed.

As it stands Virgin are remaining tight-lipped but they certainly have the ability to offer a 200Mbps service, although realistically there wouldn’t be much benefit to having that above their 120Mbps option. Certainly games would download faster (assuming Sony’s servers can keep pace) but most other internet services still can’t take full advantage of 100Mbps+ connectivity.