If you were hoping to see an actual console after Sony's PlayStation 4 launch event -- or even to learn how much it will cost -- you're sadly out of luck.
The much-hyped two-hour event, watched by hundreds of thousands online, turned out to be long on game demos and short on details about the actual device, which is set to launch sometime in the holiday season.
Most of the press and other invited guests in the audience expected that the demos were leading up to an unveiling of the console itself. Instead, after one final game demo -- Bungie's Destiny -- and another quick look at the controller, the event ended.
Reaction on Twitter ranged from bemused to vitriolic:
Rather odd to debut a console in a two hour event that covers neither what it looks like, nor the price.— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) February 21, 2013
Wait, seriously? The #PS4 "one more thing" was that... there is no thing?— Tim Bradshaw (@tim) February 21, 2013
No console, no pricing, no ship date. Thank you for your time and attention and it’s deeeeeeeeefinately not an imaginary product— Verifiably Mat Honan (@mat) February 21, 2013
So this #PlayStation4 event was just to pre-empt Microsoft. But if they actually have an Xbox to show, that will suddenly look impressive— petersvensson (@petersvensson) February 21, 2013
What you just witnessed was Microsoft winning the console wars once and for all.— MattRosoff (@MattRosoff) February 21, 2013
No release date, no price and how about a look at the console? Brilliant. And you got us to watch this bloviationfest for two hours. Yay!— Charles Cooper (@coopeydoop) February 21, 2013
Maybe Sony was trying to resurrect #eastwooding with its PS4 no-show? Look at our cool console guys!— Roger Cheng (@RogerWCheng) February 21, 2013
The PS4 announcement is more evidence that consoles will die with this generation. Wii U is doing poorly too. iOS & Android are the future.— Matt Galligan (@mg) February 21, 2013
So what do we know about the PlayStation 4? The full details are here, but in short:
We know some of the specs (X86 processor, enhanced PC GPU, and 8GB memory). We know the new DualShock controller has a touchscreen built in, and a headphone jack. We know a Kinect-like 3D camera will track the controllers, and that Facebook is integrated into the OS. We know it's supposed to transfer games seamlessly to and from the handheld PSP successor, the Vita.
On a more sour note, we also know that the device won't play your PlayStation 3 games (although there are hints of cloud-based backwards compatibility, it isn't clear how that will work).
We also don't know what kind of media the new console will use: regular optical discs, or fully downloaded content. And if Sony isn't announcing the price, that doesn't bode well for those hoping for a cheap console.
What do you think the PlayStation 4 will look like, and how much do you expect it to cost? Are you more or less interested after Wednesday's launch event? Give us your take in the comments.