By Jeff Somogyi, dealnews Media Editor
Last night, Sony held an event to announce its upcoming PlayStation 4 console. Outside of several big hardware upgrades (like an 8-core x86 CPU and 8GB RAM replacing the current-gen's proprietary chip and 512MB of memory), the major focus was on how the next-gen device is going to be more of an entertainment hub, with a distinct slant towards social and sharing features. Now, along with streaming movies and music, you can interact with friends by sharing live video of your in-game play and connect with Facebook directly through the console. Another big feature is the ability to stream a game from the console to a PSP Vita.
Sony also upgraded the controller. Called DualShock 4, the new handheld includes a small touchpad and a "share" button that will give you immediate access to the new live streaming features of the console. It also acts as a PlayStation Move controller, so there will no longer be a need to have a second "wand" to interact with the games that require one.
Proving that you can never have everything you want, Sony says that there will be no native backwards compatibility with PS3 games; however, PlayStation Cloud will give you access to a library of old games that you can play via streaming from their servers. Sony was overall vague with the details; it is unclear how it's all going to work or even how many titles will be available to play through the service.
Glaringly not mentioned at the event: how much the new console will cost, nor what it will look like. Further, the only availability date given was "Holiday 2013." These points are surely important to the consumer, and though Sony has chosen to withhold such information thus far, we wonder if the lack of such specifics will hurt or help the marketing of this latest gen console. Tell us what you think about the PS4 announcement by answering our short poll:[COLOR="Silver"]
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