The future of gaming — or maybe its past — will be unveiled late Wednesday.
Sony is expected to reveal its new PlayStation 4 at a press conference in Hammerstein Ballroom at 6 p.m. — the opening salvo in a new round of console wars against rivals Microsoft and Nintendo.
But Sony may be showing up at the wrong party.
he next generation of costly console systems will have to compete against existing, and ever expanding, games on cellphones and social networks, which are cheaper and more likely to attract casual gamers.
The PlayStation 4 is believed to cost more than $400 — but one telling detail suggest Sony is aware of the challenges: the PSP4 unit will allow users to stream games online.
Sony hopes the new system will spur a comeback for the company, which had its glory days following the release of the PlayStation 2 in 2000.
That system was the highest-selling console of all time, with more than 150 million sold.
The PS2’s successor, PS3, never achieved such dominance, and was overtaken in 2006 by Nintendo’s Wii, which reeled in a family audience not typically associated with games.
The new system, analysts expect, will have to keep PlayStation’s devoted “hardcore” gamers satisfied while attracting the much larger audience of casual fans who enjoy whimsical fare like Angry Birds and FarmVille.
Microsoft is widely rumored to be working on its own next-gen system, often referred to as the Xbox 720.
