There is little doubt about the PlayStation 3 as a superior gaming console, both in terms of quality and power. While Sony was hard at work creating a mean gaming and multimedia machine, unfortunately the rest of the company didn’t get the memo. There is little doubt in Sony’s lack of proper marketing for the console and its challenges with embracing online gaming. Sony promised that things would be different and this time around, they did right by their words. When the PlayStation Vita was announced, it was hailed and championed by gamers and developers alike. A fresh UI and all the power you could want. Yes the PlayStation Vita has not done the sales that it should and can still do but the fact is that Sony’s tempo was different this time around. Now, on the verge of Microsoft’s next Xbox console, Sony continues to show signs of a new life and energy behind the long time console maker.

The PlayStation 4 was announced on February 20th to much fanfare. Unlike past console reveals where the latest PlayStation was shown off in Japan with many Japanese devs backing the console, this time around, the PS4 was shown off in the US. While there were your traditional Japanese developers like Capcom and Square Enix, the main focus of the event was games developed by Western companies like Activision, Blizzard, Bungie, Sucker Punch, and Guerrilla Games to name a few. While the console itself was not shown during the event, it became evident early on that, this time around, Sony had gone to developers and asked them what they wanted in a next gen console. In iterations prior, Sony and other console makers have created new hardware with a top down approach.

To many gamers’ and media vets’ surprise, there was little leaked about the event and there continues to be little information about the PS4 until Sony releases it. This by itself is a huge change of pace for Sony whose products tend to be revealed in advance thanks to leaks. For Sony, this has proved to be a powerful asset as they can control the excitement around the PS4. In fact, for many months, prior to the PS4 reveal, many high level Sony execs had gone on record about no new console in sight, leading many to believe that the PS4 might not debut till 2014. Some have even suggested that these comments were more directed towards Microsoft and the reason why MS has had nothing to announce about their next generation console till weeks before E3.

Which brings us to today. If gamers had one gripe about the PS4 announcement though misplaced was that the console was never shown off. In the past, I argued why this matters very little. Now, we’re on the eve of the next Xbox reveal as Microsoft will use May 21st as their launch date. While impossible to prove, there has been much rumbling that Sony did indeed catch Microsoft off guard and the tech giant had to scramble a bit to get their reveal in order. It should be noted though that even if true, no company can preform a full directional shift in such a short time and many of the announcements that you will hear about have likely been in the works for many months, if not years.

With the Xbox 360 a highly popular gaming machine, it sits to reason that hype for the next generation would be sky high the day before but you’d be wrong. To help drive attention back towards the PS4 which will be fully revealed at E3, Sony today released a new video, teasing the console’s design.

Sony has brilliantly chosen to release a video that basically tells us what we already knew. That we don’t know what the PS4 looks like and won’t know till E3 and yet and other gamers have probably watched it a dozen times. Unlike the old PlayStation who would have little to announce since we’d seen so much or would bore the average gamer with technical specs, the new PlayStation is skipping to a new beat. They are back on the offensive and are in tune with gamers, developers, and the indie scene more than ever and it shows. While usually on the receiving end, it’s nice to see Sony dishing it out again and gamers are responding as well. In fact, not only is the PS4 once again trending on Twitter, but it’s also out trending the next Xbox which will be revealed tomorrow.

I don’t know who this new Sony and PlayStation are but I like them. Buckle in folks as we’re going to be in for an interesting reveal tomorrow and an exciting E3, no matter your console of choice. Unless you’re a Nintendo fan. Sorry guys.

Discuss:

What do you most want to know about the PS4?

[Images via rcoutant]