Sony said that they were content to let Microsoft make the first move, but instead they jumped into the pool first and caused quite a splash.

Weeks ago Sony announced to the world that it would be holding an event on Feb. 20, and though they did not give out any details on the event itself, speculation was pretty concise that the event had one purpose: announcement of the PlayStation 4. All of the reports indicated that both Sony and Microsoft planned on announcing the release of the next generation of gaming consoles before this year’s E3 event in June. Sony dove in first, officially announcing the PS4, showing off its new features, and previewing some of the games.

Held on Wednesday Feb. 2, at 6 p.m. in New York City, Sony announced the upcoming arrival of the PlayStation 4. The announcement was streamed live online across the world on websites such as IGN, and 1,250 reporters were invited to join Sony as they announced the end of the current 3rd generation of gaming consoles. The PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii, spanned the last seven years of gaming history, the longest generation in home console gaming, and from their ashes rise the Wii-U, PS4, and new Xbox.

There has been a lot of speculation revolving around the PlayStation 4 and the new Xbox, and it has gotten a lot of gamers worried: reports stated that the next generation was scanning disks (eliminating the ability to play used games or play on a friend’s console) and that systems were going to require a constant online connection in order to play any game. Sony used this event to answer all of these questions and to give us a glimpse in to the future of their home consoles, and the new games to come with them.

Mark Cerny, lead architect of the PS4, came out guns swinging and showed off everything that the new system has to offer, but is it worth purchasing on opening day?

PlayStation promises to bring the future to the living room; it brings the social media we love, the capability to surf the web, the ability to watch movies and TV shows and to jump into games we buy online immediately. The new system is confident in itself and boasting about everything it will do. To back it up its bringing with it the software of a high-functioning computer hoping to kill the doubts that consumers will have.

The new social functions and applications sound great, but if the PlayStation wants to succeed, it will have to play better than its predecessor and give the consumers what they’ve been promising. The cloud of games from the original PlayStation to our beloved PS3 sounds amazing too, but consumers do not want to have their PS3 games sitting around gathering dust.

The PlayStation 4 is bringing a lot to table; the next generation system offers social and online applications, boasts a new PlayStation profile page to interact with your friends, the new share button and the software of a high definition computer. With it comes a new arsenal of PS4 games, all of which look beautiful and bring back some of the most beloved PS3 series, but many of these games will be released on PS3 and PS4.

All in all this system is superior, it will run better than the PS3, handle games of higher graphics and memory, and provide a social experience like gamers have never seen. But will it sell?

It’s certain that games will handle better on the PS4 than the PS3, but that higher quality of play will not truly draw in customers until games become PS4 exclusive. At first many gamers will not make the PS4 jump, and that is Sony’s fault because they are delaying the backward compatibility for PS3 games. While the PS4 will offer a better experience, it does not have enough believers yet to support huge sales on whatever large price it will cost.

At first, the PlayStation should expect a low sales rate, as it will take consumers some time to gather the courage and money to switch systems. As it gains momentum and improves itself, however, the PS4 will be the technology and gaming console of the future, and from that games will improve for the better.

Consumers should be ready next holiday season for the system to drop, because once the PS4 comes out, the PS3 will be inferior technology.