After 
seven years, Sony is ready to pull the plug on the PlayStation 3, clearing shelves this fall for the PlayStation 4.
As expected, the PS4 features improved graphics performance over its predecessor, but unlike the PS3, which relied on hardware superiority to woo customers, the new system will focus on other elements as well to lure players away from competing consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo — as well as platforms from Apple and other companies. No price has yet been disclosed.
After 
almost a year of rumors and whispers, Sony has finally revealed the worst kept secret in gaming: The PlayStation 4 is on the way.
At a lavish press event in New York, the company showed off its next-generation console, a system it hopes will lure people away not only from competing machines from Microsoft and Nintendo, but from smart phones, tablets and other new gaming platforms. It will be released this holiday season, though the company didn’t announce a price.
What 
does tonight’s announcement of the PlayStation 4 spell for Sony’s next-gen fortunes? Chris Morris takes a look at what has been promised — and ignored — and predicts what it means for the platform holder’s future.
The reveal was just the beginning.
Sony’s unveiling of the PlayStation 4 Wednesday was the start of a long, carefully planned marketing campaign that will culminate in its release this holiday season. And while the company might be focusing gamer attentions on the new hardware, the touchscreen controller and several big name games, what’s really at stake is a whole lot bigger.
Q*bert 
is having something of a renaissance these days. After playing a pivotal role in last year’s game-friendly film Wreck-It Ralph, the big nosed video game icon is at the center of a pair of new video game records.
George Leutz has broken the reigning Q*bert high score, a record that stood for 30 years, by playing the classic coin-op for nearly 85 consecutive hours. He pressed play right before noon on February 14 and didn’t finish playing until 12:38am on February 18th.
Ubisoft 
is opening up its closed gate community to other publishers. Effective immediately, Uplay, the company’s digital distribution service, will begin selling games from competing publishers – including Electronic Arts and Warner Bros.
The cooperative deal, which will also see Ubisoft games appear on EA’s Origin distribution service, is meant to broaden the avenues for players to find games and expand points of sale for game makers.
Video 
game consoles, typically, spend about five or six years in the spotlight, before stepping aside for the next generation. The current cycle, though, is now entering its seventh year — a longevity that many analysts and publishers blame for the malaise that has affected the shares of game makers.
Sony, on Feb. 20, is expected to unveil the PlayStation 4, its entry in the next generation battle. The system is more than the start of a new cycle, though; it’s an essential step in rebuilding Sony as a corporation.
Nintendo 
has a problem on its hands.
The Wii U, in its second full month of availability, sold a paltry 57,000 units in the U.S. according to data from The NPD Group. That’s substantially fewer than its predecessor and well under half the number analysts were expecting for the month. And it props opens the door — and perhaps issues a warning — for Sony and Microsoft, which are both expected to roll out new consoles this year.
It’s 
much too early to dub Nintendo’s next-generation videogame system a failure, but it’s certainly off to a lousy start.
The Wii U sold just 46,000 hardware units in January at brick and mortar locations — a shockingly low number for a console that was just released in late November. To put it in perspective, the Wii sold 348,000 units during that system’s comparable period in 2007.
If 
you look at the raw numbers, it would appear that the video game industry halted its two-year sales decline in January — but numbers can be deceiving.
Video game software sales were up 1 percent in January as compared to a year ago and hardware sales climbed 4 percent, according to the NPD Group. Before you break out the bubbly, however, this is an apples-to-oranges comparison.
According 
to the Chinese calendar, 2013 is the year of the snake. But in Kyoto, Japan — the headquarters of Nintendo — it’s officially the year of Luigi.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata made the announcement in a direct broadcast to fans, even going so far as to wear Luigi’s trademark hat throughout his segment of the broadcast. (Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime, it should be noted, declined to wear the headgear, denying Luigi some Valentine’s love.)
Chris Morris: Journalist 