"Just accessing all of the game data"

It’s probably no coincidence that three PlayStation 4 titles have been added to the pre-order section of the North American PlayStation Store today. Regular readers will know that we’re hours away from the next-gen system’s latest firmware update from deploying, and one of its key features is the ability to pre-load games.

What this means is that you’ll be able to download titles in their entirety prior to release, meaning that they’ll be ready to play the minute that they officially deploy in your region. And it stands to reason that EA Sports UFC, Wolfenstein: The New Order, and Watch Dogs – all three of which can be purchased digitally right now – will support this feature.

Alas, contrary to conflicting reports, that probably doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to start your download of any of the abovementioned titles overnight. To our knowledge, none of the listed games have gone gold yet, and they’ll need to be completed before you can kickstart your download. As such, we’d expect pre-loading to be made available around a week before release.

Still, it should prove a useful utility for those of you that have moved away from physical media, and speculation suggests that you’ll even get to ogle a countdown clock while you wait for your game to become available. Do you intend to take advantage of the pre-load functionality, or are you going to be sticking with Blu-rays for the foreseeable future? Think ahead in the comments section below.

Update: That countdown clock that we hinted at? Sony's just confirmed it. Now we just need to wait for the first title to support this feature before we get to see it in action.

[source mp1st.com]