After many months of rumour and speculation the Playstation 4 has finally been officially announced. The Sony event kicked off showing the history of the Playstation brand which got me excited as I have many fond memories from the PS1 and PS2 era.

The specifics of the machine are very impressive featuring a Supercharged PC architecture, (Whatever that means) an x86 CPU, Enhanced PC GPU, 8GB RAM and a Hard drive.  The system is supposed to give out 2 terflops of cpu performance and the memory is GDDR 5 for super fast memory and performance. Now that all sounds super impressive but as a novice who doesn’t understand tech specs terribly well I get the feeling that this is just going to be a super powerful PC in a box.

Other cool features include no boot up or load times, you hit the power button and you can be right where you left off in the last game you were playing. Games will be available to download on the day of release and can be playable as they are downloading.

One feature that got many people very excited is that the console saves the last 15 minutes of gameplay and you can share it with your friends just by hitting the share button on the controller, there is also an option to stream your gameplay to your friends and they can comment in the chat box. The interface looks very sleek and user friendly and for noobs there is the option to give control of the game to one of your friends. There was also mention of maybe being able to watch live streams from your mobile device using the Playstation app.

Many of the above features are utilized using Gaikai the streaming service that Sony purchased last year, it seems very onlive like but it will be interesting to see if the PS4 will be streaming games to your tv.

The Playstation dashboard has had a massive and much needed overhaul and is completely customizable, the screenshots looked like Windows 8 tiles. Sony came out and said that the ‘Playstation Network is the most powerful gaming network in the world’ and all I have to say to that is that it better be good if it wants to knock Xbox Live from the top spot.

The controller has had a re design with a sleek new look and triggers much like the xbox 360′s, it also features a touch pad on the front and a headphone jack. A sensor bar accompanies the controller and uses the light bar to detect the depth and location on the duel shock 4 for use with move games. I am keen to see how the controller feels in the hand because the thumb sticks seem to be in the same position as the previous duel shock and that doesn’t make for a comfy position when playing first person shooters.

The PS Vita got a mention with it being able to remote play all PS4 games.

Now enough with the boring stuff, you didn’t come here to fall asleep and read about tech specs, if you are a real gamer you want to hear about the games so here is what got me really excited.

First off a sequel, Killzone Shadowfall looks absolutely gorgeous, the graphics and lighting effects just blew me away. This is one game that will show some of the horse power of the console.

Drive Club got me super excited mainly because I love racing games but this had a new twist. The game is an online persistent world where you and your friends join a club and race other clubs but it doesn’t end there, you can set up races from your mobile device and set the time of day or night to race. The graphics blew my mind with the in game footage showing the character walking around a super car, looking into its engine in great detail before getting into the car, closing the door, strapping himself in and then starting the engine before actually racing. This game demo had my jaw on the floor. Am I excited? Damn right I am.

Infamous Second Son looks pretty much like the previous titles in an open world city as a super human causing carnage.

The Witness a download title looks epic. It is an open world puzzle game that looks very reminiscent of Myst.

The power of the Playstation 4 was shown with a tech demo from Quantic dream with an old mans face which looked cool.

Media Molecule showed us the Playstation Move being used to sculpture things and bizzarely play in a band.

One of the best bits of the show was Capcom showing us its new engine Panta Rhei and their new game Deep Down which utilizes it. Some of the video looks in game as you can see some menus for changing weapons. If it is in game then I am very excited for this game and the next generation as this is leaps and bounds beyond anything I have seen.

Square Enix took to the stage to show a trailer for a new up and coming game. They didn’t give a name for it but it looks to be set in the desert featuring mages and people with guns. They also announced that the next Final Fantasy will be showcased at E3.

My personal highlight of the event was Ubisoft showing off actual gameplay of Watch Dogs. Showing the character walking around the city, hacking into people’s phones, stealing their bank details and looking into their history and criminal records. The graphics look amazing.

Other games announced are Diablo 3 for the PS3 and PS4 and that Destiny will be coming to PS4.

The release date in USA and Japan is this Holiday but nothing official yet for Europe and I am guessing that Europe will be sometime next year.

MASSIVE news is that the Playstation 4 will NOT block the use of preowned games or rentals which will bring a huge sigh of relief to many of us. The actual console was not shown which was slightly disappointing but perhaps it hasn’t actually been designed yet as the tech specs are probably just running on PC’s at the moment.

Overall I am excited that the next generation is finally upon us after all these years of waiting for something new. The PS4 looks to be a very powerful machine with a great online service to go with it. It looks like we will finally get cross game party chat among other social networking features that make xbox live so great. The Playstation Network is free of charge and will be giving us all the features of Xbox live and more. What will Microsoft do now to counter this news?