Will Sony unveil 'super-fast' PS4 on Feb. 20?

BANGALORE, INDIA: After nearly seven years, Japanese electronics giant Sony Corporation might showcase to the world its latest PlayStation console - succeeding PlayStation 3 (PS3) - at an event scheduled for this month.

"The Japanese electronics giant Thursday unveiled plans for a special PlayStation-themed event set for Feb. 20, teasing fans to "see the future" at the event. People familiar with the matter have said the new device will make its debut there, beating Microsoft to the punch in announcing its own next-generation game machine," stated The Wall Street Journal.

As of now, it is believed that the new home videogame gadget - presumably, PlayStation 4 (PS4) would hit the market in the second half of 2013, thereby setting up the stage for a battle against Microsoft's new gaming device on Xbox platform.

"Sony is 100 per cent certain to announce the PlayStation 4' at a February 20 event, Michael Pachter, an analyst with Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles, said, citing his checks with game developers and retailers," The Sydney Morning Herald, too, attested.

"They'll be able to put a lot more characters on the screen and allow for hyper-realistic games," Pachter was quoted saying.

The report added that Sony's new console, as Pachter predicted, will feature graphics chips developed by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and processors capable of rendering games at 240 frames a second, which is about four times more than the current-generation games.

Even in the likelihood of the new device unveiling, Sony is expected to continue producing and selling PS3.