The Future? Or Unintended Hype Train?

Alright alright, everyone calm down. Just because Sony left us an eerie message on the PlayStation blog yesterday doesn’t mean that we’re getting the announcement we think we are. If you haven’t seen the video yet watch it here:

Yup, a 45 second video filled with a whole lot of nothing, but promises of a whole lot of something. Many people are speculating that this is the long awaited announcement for the next generation of console. Recently though, Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai was quoted as saying that he has no intentions of announcing a new console before Microsoft does, “Why go first, when your competitors can look at your specifications and come up with something better?” Seeing as Microsoft has not even hinted at announcing their new console in the next weeks, let alone next few months, this really puts a hamper on the idea that Sony could be announcing their new console. 

Still, many gaming news outlets have been reporting that they believe this is the new console announcement:

•  Engagdet updated their original post to say that they have “sources” confirming that this will be a console announcement and that they will also announce that it will be released this year.
• VentureBeat speculates that “If this Feb. 20 event is not about the next PlayStation home console, then someone at Sony goofed up.”
• Edge even goes so far as to say that the PlayStation 4 “has been reveled” and lists specs they believe will be on the system.
• Forbes is trying their absolute best to squash the rumors that this is going to be a console announcement, but to no avail because Sony invited investors to this event and according to Forbes investors won’t be invited for anything less than a huge hardware announcement.
• And finally, Wall Street Journal has “confirmed” that this will be a console announcement.

The Forbes article brings up a good point as to why this would not be a console announcement that I think is worthwhile to bring up. Sony just absorbed Gaikai, a cloud-gaming company, leading to rumors and speculations that they will be offering up a new streaming game service. Could his event be Sony letting us know about this new service and all that it will have to offer on the current system generation? This seems like a lot of hype for something that we basically already know, and Sony did say that when they announce the new system it will be in a “Apple-like” event. All we can really say at this point is Sony wants to keep you guessing, and guessing we are. No matter what this announcement ends up being, I am riding the hype train because if this ends up being a new console I don’t want to be blind sided.

What do you guys think? Do you think Sony would hype an event this much for the Cloud? Or are we going to see the new console prior to E3 and a release date for this coming Holiday season? What are you excited for in the next generation of consoles? Sound off, we love to hear your thoughts!