A new poll, conducted by a leading UK money saving website, showed that PlayStation owners want backwards compatabilty as the top feature for the next generation

The survey, carried out by VoucherCodesPro.co.uk, asked 1,245 UK gamers for their opinions on what they desired from the forthcoming release. The question asked by the survey was “With the announcement of the PlayStation 4 on the horizon, what features would you like to see included in the design of the new console?” to which people were given a choice. The poll found the following information:

1) Backwards compatibility – 71%

2) Smaller size – 68%

3) Affordable price -62%

4) Touch-screen controller – 54%

5) Recordable game play – 52%%

6) Bigger hard drive capacity – 49%

7) High level voice control – 47%

8) Free online gaming – 42%

9) Super HD – 41%

10) Downloadable games – 40%

People who selected backwards compatibility were also asked why to which 48% said that they had ‘spent a lot’ on previous generational games so still wanted to play them on the new console.

Ok, were going to weigh in on this one. We 100% agree on the Backwards compatability option, but not so much the smaller size. Maybe keep it to the size that the slim model from 2009 was as shown below

As far as the bigger hard drive is concerned, thats a tough one as it’ll then mean the price will be driven up. Also the fact that free online gaming was so low with only 42% was surprising, maybe PSN users can see how paying a subscription fee could improve the service, as long as PlayStation Plus was included.

The affordable price is another big thing, and if Sony want to get the jump on Microsoft in terms of sales then they need to keep it at the price of the current gen, with a Super Slim model only costing €279.97 including FIFA 13, compared to when the PS3 launched costing £425/€599 for a basic 60GB and trying to justify that with a Blu-Ray player.

Don’t forget Sony is due to announce the something big next week, February 20th, so check back here then and we’ll give you the full scoop.