PlayStation 4 Unveiled: Sony Announces The Next Generation Of Gaming

Sony unveiled the PlayStation 4 today at a press event in New York City. The new console is Sony’s first major release since the PlayStation 3 was released in 2006.

Andrew House, President and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., said:

“Our vision for the future is consumer-centric, developer-inspired, and characterized by an unwavering commitment to phenomenal play experiences. Today we are revealing the genesis of an expanding ‘idea’ about the future of play – an idea with enough potential to satisfy the insatiable appetites of our creative community of developers and gamers.”

Sony bragged about the “unprecedented power” of the PlayStation 4 but the new console’s main appeal are new features like social interaction, remote play, and live game streaming.

Acclaimed game designer and industry veteran Mark Cerny said:

“We wanted to ensure that nothing would come between the platform and the joy of play … We also wanted to be sure that the system architecture could fluidly connect the player to a larger world of experiences, and provide easy access to everything PlayStation® has to offer – across the console and mobile spaces, and PlayStation®Network. And we were able to create, in PS4, a platform by game creators for game creators.”

Sony didn’t get into too many specifics about the hardware (it will have a “highly advanced” graphics processor that uses GDDR5 memory and x86 CPU) and the world will have to wait to get its first look at the actual physical console.

Sony did, however, show off the new controller (looks a lot like the old one with the addition of a social share button) and give a glimpse into upcoming PlayStation 4 titles.

The most exciting news probably came at the end of the presentation when Sony announced the released date for the PlayStation 4. The new console will be available during the 2013 holiday season.