While gamers are growing anxious for next-generation game consoles, Sony has been greasing up the rumor wagon. Remaining mostly silent, they have recently released a brief teaser online which depicts electricity and neon colored lights flowing through and around the iconic controller's button shapes. It gives us a date as well; Sony is holding a press conference this month on February 20, where many are expecting an official announcement to be made regarding the PlayStation 4 (PS4).
On the other side of the spectrum, Microsoft may be biting their tongues when it comes to their plans for a successor to the Xbox 360. However, there is a countdown to E3 2013 already embedded on Larry Hryb's (aka "Major Nelson") blog indicating that Microsoft's press conference will take place on June 11 and will be important for the company. This could in fact be the launching platform to announce the next Xbox (or Xbox 720).
With two major players in the industry beginning to build hype via the internet, the video game community is already buzzing. It is possible that we see both the PS4 and the Xbox 720 available for the holiday season. Somewhat supporting this theory is that the release of one of this year's most anticipated games, "Grand Theft Auto V," was delayed further. The game was to hit shelves this spring, but is now expected on September 17. Through Trusted Reviews, a senior analyst for Cowen & Company, Doug Creutz has stated:
"... There is an issue in that we expect the next generation of Xbox and/or PlayStation consoles to launch in the December quarter. We think the closer proximity of GTA V to the next cycle could, at the margin, impact lifetime sales of the title, though we believe that a title of GTA's stature will still be a major seller regardless.
We think there also could be some impact on the legs of likely GTA V downloadable content as the next-gen installed base increases through 2014. However, we suspect Take-Two may have plans to eventually publish GTA V on the next set of consoles in some form to offset this."
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