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Sony asks us to 'see the future' of PlayStation on February 20th (update: WSJ rumors)
What's this? A Sony invite to "see the future" of PlayStation on February 20th in New York City? From the looks of the very tease-y clip Sony's released (found just beyond the break), it's clearly PlayStation related. Perhaps involving a certain codenamed "Orbis" project? The company's official PlayStation Twitter account says "See the future" and pushes followers to this website, where invitees can sign up and everyone can see the aforementioned video.
We'll find out soon enough what the tease is about, as we've just finished up registration. From the video ... well, the future features the same triangle, circle, square, and cross buttons, apparently. A recent report detailed some specs for Sony's rumored next PlayStation, including an eight core AMD64 CPU and an AMD R10XX GPU -- specs that may change dramatically before we hear anything official. Could this be the first volley in Sony's rollout of the next PlayStation?
The evidence points in that direction, but it's unclear how much we'll find out on the evening of the 20th. One Sony VP said we could hear something about "a big secret" ahead of this June's E3 game industry trade show, but Sony head Kaz Hirai recently told UK newspaper The Times that Sony may just wait for its competition -- namely Microsoft -- to make the first move. Again, we'll know much more when we attend Sony's 6PM ET event on February 20th in New York City.
Update: The Wall Street Journal has added more rumors to the mix, citing its always helpful "people familiar with the matter" who claim that not only will Sony debut its next gen console at the event, but that it will be released later this year. Additionally, it claims that Sony will integrate more social features into the console this time around (Home 2.0 anyone?), as well as changes in "how users interact with the machine." Finally, it claims both Sony and Microsoft had considered discless consoles this gen, but are keeping physical media in the mix for at least one more go-round. Of course, whatever the truth is, we're just a few weeks away from finding out.
