Rumors of PlayStation 4 buzz after Sony releases ambiguous tease

Save the date: February 20, 5 p.m. CST.

#PlayStation2013

Join the Conversation at #PlayStation2013. Http://us.PlayStation.com/meeting2013.

Thursday, the official PlayStation Blog added a post with the simple headline “See The Future,” which included the rather uneventful (but mysterious!) video you see above. The video is titled “#PlayStation2013.” The post also links to this page, where you can sign up to “be the first to know.” (Know what? Who knows!) Related to all of this is a date: February 20, 6 p.m. EST (that’s, what? 5 p.m. Central Time?)

This is a fake PS4 image. Please do not assume the console will actually look like this.

Shortly after, select members of the press (myself excluded. Sad face) and investors received invites to attend this PlayStation Meeting in New York. According to industry analyst Michael Pachter, “that means console announcement.” Logic seems to agree with him, though there is absolutely the possibility that Sony could simply announce something completely out of left-field and less exciting, like the PlayStation Move 2 or, as I jokingly speculated on Twitter, a new Crash Bandicoot game (because why not?).

Assuming it is the PlayStation 4, which sources indicate has been code-named the Orbis (their handheld is called the Vita — life, so “circle of life.” Get it?), it’s an interesting development. There has been lots of speculation on whether or not Sony and Microsoft would blink first, as it were, and announce their next system. We’re all but positive that both companies will have new consoles by the end of 2013 (my bet is around November — a couple months after Grand Theft Auto V acts as this generation’s swan song), but we didn’t know if we would have to wait until the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June to see them or if they’d be revealed sooner.

Are you excited about the possibility of seeing a new console by the end of February? How much of their hand will Sony tip? What do you hope the next generation will bring? Personally, if they don’t deliver more than prettier graphics and more horsepower, I’ll probably be a little disappointed.