Written by-Sarah Peel

Sony is reportedly planning to unveil their upcoming gaming console, PlayStation 4 on Wednesday, February 20, 2013 in New York City. The console is expected to be built differently than the less popular PlayStation 3. With the recent release of Nintendo’s Wii U and Xbox 360’s popular online gaming, Sony has lagged behind. However, they may have a fighting chance with Sony’s newly bought, Gaikai cloud gaming system. Can this save Sony’s dying market share?

Sony has big plans in Manhattan for February 20, which will be the rumored debut of PlayStation 4. The formerly popular gaming console line might have a new lease on life, according to some. Sony is rumored to be pairing up the online cloud based Gaikai gaming service to the colorful generation console. The freshly bought service has been a saving grace for those who wanted major games that cannot be bought on mobile devices or played on older consoles. The website allowed users to stream and play major game franchises without needing the proper hardware. This has saved many gamers, which Sony saw as a potential threat and money making generator. With the purchase made in July, both Sony and Gaikai have remained hushed about what will happen with the new umbrella company.

Sony has been hurting with Microsoft’s Xbox 360’s beloved online gaming and now Nintendo’s Wii U. This has given Sony a run for the money, as well as seeing the PlayStation two stay on top compared to PlayStation 3. So far they have remained very secretive of the PlayStation 4, which does not come as a surprise. However, here is what we have heard on what you can expect to hear on Wednesday.

1. A new chip will be used, which will render older games useless.
2. New games will be stored on optical disc, while it is unsure if they will be also be on the cloud for streaming or not.
3. Cloud based game storage is highly expected. With Sony’s purchase and hint of playing PS games on the go, it would be highly unlikely for it not to be featured on the next generation console
4. No price point for the cloud plan or the actual device has been given yet. Nor have we heard of what the price point will be for the actual game disc as well.

Some of these things will either be confirmed, cleared up or denied during the unveiling in Manhattan.  However, don’t expect much to be released until we are weeks away from a hard release of the console.