Updated 3/27/13 with new information from GDC 2013

Contrary to rumors stating that Sony would abandon the numbering structure for its next-gen console, the next PlayStation will, indeed, be called the PlayStation 4. Not only that, but it appears that it'll be using the same basic branding that the PlayStation 3 has been using as of late, going as far as to simply replace the "3" in the logo with a "4."

But that's not all we learned from Sony's "Future of PlayStation" event. While there are still plenty of questions, the console-maker revealed more than anyone anticipated, talking about the specs, the release date, the games, and even the streaming plans. We've gathered everything we know about the PlayStation 4 into one place so you can get up to date.

Sony didn't spend too long talking specifics about the system, so we don't know the price, we don't know what it will look like, and we don't know the exact date it will be released. What we do know, though, is that it'll be out in 2013.

Near the end of the event, Sony revealed that the system would be out "Holiday 2013." Holiday is a fairly ambiguous term, but we can assume that it means the system will be out in either November or early in December--as is almost always the case with new home console releases.

Sony put a large emphasis on games at the event, but also took a good amount of time to put forward the people that are making the new console possible. The main name they threw around was Mark Cerny, industry veteran who worked on a slew of games ranging from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to Jak & Daxter. Cerny was named lead system architect for the PS4, proving Sony's newfound commitment to putting games first.

Cerny discussed the "five key principles" guiding the system's design: simple, immediate, social, integrated, and personalized. He also discussed how Sony was working with developers to make the system easy to develop for--something Sony never put much stock into in the past.

Though the actual system wasn't shown, Sony did detail what we can find under the hood on the PlayStation 4. During the event, it was said to run on a supercharged PC architecture, 64-bit X86 CPU, an Enhanced PC GPU, include 8GB of memory, and have a local storage HDD. Afterwards, though, Sony released much more detailed information. Our friends over at PC Gamer crunched the numbers, and said that the system's specs compare to an approximately $600 gaming PC--but that doesn't factor in the custom parts made specifically for gaming, nor the likelihood of Sony eating some of the cost.

If you want the full, detailed specs, they are as follows:

Main Processor: Single-chip custom processor
CPU : x86-64 AMD “Jaguar”, 8 cores
GPU : 1.84 TFLOPS, AMD next-generation Radeon™ based graphics engine
Memory: 8GB 256 bit GDDR5
Hard Disk: Drive Built-in
Optical Drive (read only):
BD 6xCAV
DVD 8xCAV
I/O: Super-Speed USB (USB 3.0) 、AUX
Communication: Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T)
IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth® 2.1 (EDR)
AV output: HDMI
Analog-AV out
Digital Output (optical)

The PS4's 64-bit x86 CPU architecture is broken down into two clusters that contain four cores each. Each of these clusters boasts 2MB of L2 cache, and Sony says the way its CPU is set up will minimize power consumption and heat output. It's GPU is equally beefy, clocking at 800MHz and 1.843 TFLOPS. Also, the company is making it easy for developers to run non-graphics-related code on the GPU, a feature it said which is not currently possible on PCs.

And then there's the 8GB 256 bit GDDR5 RAM, which Sony has emphasized as being a "big deal." It's something you're going to find on very high-end PC graphics cards, and that's because it's really expensive. It runs at a bandwidth of 176GB/s. To, marginally, put that into perspective, DDR3 RAM runs at about 40GB/s. Also, the PS4's Blu-ray player will be about three times faster than the PS3's drive.

What's all this mean? In short, better everything. More realistic characters models, flashier special effects, bigger environments... the list can go on.

One of the biggest pieces of speculation leading up to the announcement of the PlayStation 4 was whether or not it would block used game sales. The current generation has slowly rolled towards making Online Passes commonplace (and nearly every first-party Sony game had some sort of day-one code), so it would make sense that gamers were worried that next-gen would flat-out block them. Shuhei Yoshida, boss of Sony Worldwide Studios, has confirmed that this isn’t the case.

"That's the general expectation by consumers. They purchase physical form; they want to use it everywhere, right? So that's my expectation," he said. We followed up with Yoshida, and he confirmed it again: "That's my expectation, that used PS4 games will work." While we expect there might be an addendum to this later in the year, right now Sony is saying that it is not blocking used game from playing on the PS4. GameStop, you can breathe a sigh of relief.

The PS4 controller will sport a number of enhancements over its PS3 counterpart. Yes, you'll still have the PlayStation button, directional buttons, face buttons, and triggers. However, gone are the Start and Select buttons, replaced with "Options" and "Share." Options is essentially a new Start button, but Share provides something totally new: the ability to instantly share screenshots or videos of the game you're playing on Facebook or stream it live over Ustream.

To take it a bit more technical, Sony said that the analog sticks have been tightened up, which should result in more input precision. It also said the L1/R1, face, and directional buttons are now digital, though the L2/R2 buttons will remain analog (which is to say, pressure sensitive). The practical result of this change is less latency from the time a player presses a button to when the action happens onscreen. Also, those L2/R2 buttons now have a curved design, which Sony hopes will eliminate accidental button presses such as when you, say, are watching Netflix, place your controller on the coffee table, and then inadvertently skip forward a scene.

The biggest change to the PS4 controller is the new touchpad, which sits front and center on the device. It's got a 1920x900 resolution analog input surface, and can read two different touches at once. It also offers tactile feedback, which is to say, it makes a clicky sound when you press it.

As suspected, the Light Bar takes the place of the player indicator lights on the DualShock 3. The player color scheme reflects the face buttons, so player one will be blue, player two will be red, three is green, and four is pink. The light itself is an RGB LED, and it'll always be on when the PS4 is on or the controller is charging. Developers will also be able to take control of this light, with Sony offering the example of having the light flash to mimic muzzle fire in an FPS.

With today's technology, livestreaming your gameplay is, shall we say, a process. The Share button changes all that. For one, it lets you stream out live gameplay to your friends, and because the functionality is on the hardware side, you can do this with absolutely every game playable on the system. And much like Twitch.tv, those you're livestreaming to can type comments to you in a realtime, and via PlayStation Eye, you'll even be able to broadcast your face in the lower right corner of the screen.

The Share button also lets you record footage or take screenshots directly from your game, and the upload them easily to social networking sites like Facebook. What's better, the hardware is constantly recording the last several minutes of your gameplay, irrespective of whether you're pressing the Share button, so you won't need to worry about missing a particularly awesome moment.

Though the new controller doesn't look that different from the old one, you'll still need to get new controllers if you're looking to play PS4 games with multiple people on one system. Sony’s President of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, confirmed that while Move controllers would be supported (yay?), old PS3 controllers wouldn't.

No prices were given for the new controllers, but if you're looking for local co-op or multiplayer be prepared to shell out some additional money. Sorry, DualShock 3s and Sixaxises, your time is nearly done.

Announced alongside the PS4, the new PS Eye features two 60Hz dual-color wide-angle lenses, at 1280x800 resolution and captures at 12 bits/pixel. Its 85-degree diagonal angle views aim to better recognize depth of space. And, it supports face detection and identification, which means, for example, players can sit down and the PS4 will automatically know who you are and login to your PSN profile. You'll also find a four-microphone array, which allows for speech recognition ala Microsoft's Kinect.

The Light Bar also factors heavily into the new PlayStation Eye. By tracking the Light Bar and associating it with faces, games can identify which player face is connected to which gam avatar. Possible use? The camera can track players so that split-screen multiplayer can auto-adjust based on how people move about the room. Handy. Another possible use? Characters in-game look directly at the player, or back and forth in multiplayer. Creepy.

And lest it not be said, this whole setup supports the PS Move, and Sony indicated that movement with the controller will be more precise.

One issue Sony ran into with the PlayStation 3 was getting gamers to pick up their own headsets. Sure, making it so any Bluetooth headset works sounds ideal, but it doesn't work as well as just giving people headsets when they buy the console. This time around, Sony is handling things different.

The controller comes with a built-in speaker and stereo headset jack, letting gamers choose where they want the game's sound to come out of. More importantly, every system sold will come bundled with a mono headset, allowing you to easily call anyones moms whatever you want to. As with the PS Eye, the headset will also support voice recognition.

There isn't too much information on this, but what was described sounds enticing. Apparently, you'll have the ability to turn off your system while playing a game, and then turn it back on to resume play exactly where you were. Though Sony didn't come out and say it explicitly, this sounds like a sleep mode of sorts, letting players essentially pause their system instead of totally turning it off.

There are other implications for this sleep mode, too. Being able to partially power-down the console could potentially make background downloads easier, or allow for you to access your system via the cloud without actually turning it back on.

Sony is going all-in on streaming thanks to its new partner, Gaikai (who it purchased last year), with many of the console's major features involving the ability to stream games over the internet. The first, simplest example is with game demos. Creating game demos is a pain. Developers need to spend weeks or months essentially creating a miniature version of their game, taking time away from actually working on the game itself. This won't be the case for the PlayStation 4.

Instead, you'll just... start playing the game. The game will be streamed to your console, and you can just play a predetermined section of the game. This means that every single game can have a demo, and developers won't lose out on development time making them. Everybody wins.

Streaming technology will make downloading games much easier. Sure, it's already simple to click a button and wait a few hours for it to finish downloading, but the wait can be grueling. There's no instant gratification in sitting around and watching a download bar slowly fill up. Sony's PlayStation 4 has a solution that lets you get the best of both worlds. You click download, it starts downloading, and you start playing. Said another way, game data will be split into multiple chunks and will enable the user to start playing once the minimum amount of data has been downloaded.

This function is especially genius when you incorporate the PlayStation App and the fact that all games will be released simultaneously digitally and at retail. As outlined by Sony, here's the best case scenario. A gamer sees a new game has been released on their commute home. From their phone, they bring up the PS App, buy the game and have the download start on your PS4. When you get home, enough of the game will have downloaded for you to immediately boot it up and start playing.

So you'll be able to start streaming demos and games immediately. We sort of guessed both of those, though--they are the most basic implementations of streaming technology. One thing we didn't see coming is the ability to use game streaming to watch friends play, or to actually play their games for them.

Imagine you're stuck on a boss battle and can't seem to beat it. The first thing you'd do is go to GamesRadar and check out a walkthrough or guide (naturally), but if that doesn't work you might want to ask a friend. Instead of being coached over the phone, your friends can actually just take control, streaming the game to their consoles and beating the boss for you. Will you be able to do it without owning a game? How will it work? We don't know, but we can't wait to find out.

Right now, you can play specific PlayStation 3 games on the PS Vita using Remote Play. It works... alright, but it's not supported by that many games, and is obviously only half-implemented. With game streaming, Sony plans to take this concept to fruition, allowing you to play any of your console games on the go.

This feature's also being given an upgrade for the PS4. Whereas currently, if you're using Remote Play with the PS3, you can only see the action on one screen, the PS4 version will allow for the PS Vita screen and the TV screen to be mirrored. Which is to say, you can see the action on both screens. Also, Remote Play can be activated at any time, from within the game itself.

But playing on the Vita is only the beginning, apparently. Sony hinted at being able to play your PS4 games on mobile phones, tablets, and even computers, accessing everything online.

While it's unclear whether players will be able to control games using mobile devices, it's an absolute certainty that non-Sony devices will interact with the PS4. This functionality comes courtesy of the PlayStation App, a piece of software that can be downloaded for the iPhone and iPad, as well as Android-based smartphones and tablets.

Much like Microsoft's SmartGlass, the PlayStation App will allow mobile devices to operate as a "second screen." From there, gamers will be able to, according to Sony, "see maps on their second screens when playing an adventure game, purchase PS4 games while away from home and download it directly to the console at home, or remotely watch other gamers playing on their devices."

Sony is totally revamping its approach to UI with the PlayStation 4. Gone is the PlayStation 3's XrossMediaBar (yeah, that's how you officially spell it), gone are the little circles of the Vita's interface. Instead, Sony showed off the PS4's interface, which... looks a lot like Windows 8's.

It has tiles, it has big icons, and it looks really easy to use. We still don't know all of the details about how the new interface will work, but it looks pretty sleek.

During the show, Sony teased that the PlayStation store would adapt to include games you were interested in and filter out ones you wouldn't be. Download a lot of shooters? Shooters will be pushed to the top of the store! Hate fighting games? Good news: they'll likely be hidden. This is a nice idea, and would help you find the games you want, but it's part of a larger, more interesting strategy that sounds sort of... creepy.

In some of the press releases sent out after the conference, Sony revealed some strange plans for the PlayStation 4. Beyond predicting what you might like and prioritizing visibility it, Sony will also let the system pre-download games it thinks you'll like--even if you haven't clicked on it, or even looked at it.

Where there are games, there are game engines, and a handful of the preeminent middleware creators were quick to pledge their allegiance to the PS4. Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4 featured during Sony's debut of the new DualShock 4, with PS4 lead architect Mark Cerny showing how the controller would let players look around at their environments, sans right thumbstick.

What wasn't as expected was the presence of Capcom's Panta Rhei game engine, which was shown running the just announced fantasy hack-and-slash Deep Down. Square Enix took the opportunity to confirm that its previously seen Luminous Studio tech demo did, in fact, run on Sony's new hardware.

Sony wasn't prepared to talk too much about the launch of the PlayStation 4--it's still too soon, we suppose, as we've only just learned about the system's existence--but we do know about some of the games we'll be playing when the PS4 hits shelves later this year.

Knack, developed by Mark Cerny, is one launch game, and was actually the first game shown off for the PlayStation 4. It's a hack-and-slash adventure game that looks like a Jak & Daxter-style platformer wrapped in a Pixar shell. It's cute, it's shiny, and it looks cool. The other game is Watch Dogs, which is now officially a "next-gen" game.

Knack and Watch Dogs aren't the only games in development for the PlayStation 4, though. Other titles were shown off, including the absolutely beautiful Killzone: Shadow Fall (which was, apparently, running in real-time), DriveClub (a racing game by the developers of the Motorstorm franchise), and Infamous: Second Son.

Some third-party games were shown off as well. Jonathan Blow's The Witness will hit PS4 before Wii U or Xbox 720, Deep Down is Capcom's new Dragon's Dogma-style game, Square confirmed it's working on a Final Fantasy game (or something), Diablo III is in development for the PS3 and the PS4, and Destiny will also hit the PS4 at launch. Oh, and Media Molecule and Quantic Dream are working on something, but they only showed off tech demos.

But that's not all! Several developers and publishers took the stage to talk about their games, but there wasn't time to show everything. Instead, Sony threw up a screen with a bunch of logos, talking about all of the people currently making games for the system.

Who were they? Well, to name a fewL Activision, Tri-Ace, Capcom, Chara-Ani, Atlus, Artdink, From Software, Keen, Sumo, Saber, Granzella, Imageepoch, Mages, Nixxes, SOE, Splash Damage, Genki, Falcom, Kadokawa, Spike Chunsoft, Team 17, SystemSoft, Level 5, Rebellion, EA, WB Games, Marvelous AOL, Rockstar, D3 Publisher, Yager, Zen Studios, Square Enix, Sony Computers, Lucasarts, Ubiosoft, Bathesda, Climax, CDProjekt, Ganbarion, Bohemia Interactive, Star Breeze, Ninja theory, Avalanche Studios, Grasshopper manufacture, Hello games, 505 Games, Stainless games, Peak Vox, Dimps, Platinum, Yukes, Namco Bandi games, D3, Codesmaster Racing, Konami, Lucid, Disney, C2 games Studios, 2K, GungHo, Double Fine, Tell Tale games, Xing, Sega, Ascii Media Works, If Idea Factory, Acquire, Crafts and Meister, Paradox Interactive, Imageepoch, wiW, ARC system works, Blitz Games Studios, Kakukawa Shoten, Nippon Ichi Software, Gust, and Tose Software

The backward compatibility drama that unfolded during Sony's transition from PlayStation 2 to PlayStation 3 was truly a sight to behold. First it was hardware emulation, then it was software emulation, then it was screw-you-guys-go-buy-PS3-games non-emulation. Sony didn't mince words on the backward compatibility front this time around: The PlayStation 4 will not natively run PS3 game discs.

That said, Sony may just have the best backward compatibility solution yet. By way of the Gaikai cloud, Sony intends to allow all PlayStation games--be they from the original console, the PlayStation 2, or the PlayStation 3--to be streamed onto the PS4. Sony has since confirmed that this functionality will be "mostly ubiquitous" for PS3 games, and that it's implementation will be rolled out over time.

Though we already knew that the PlayStation 4 wouldn't be able to play PlayStation 3 games natively (since Sony wasn't shoving a Cell processor into the new console just to let it be backwards compatible), we still held out hope that PSN downloads would be excluded. This, sadly, is not the case.

"There is no native compatibility for PS3 on PS4," Shuhei Yoshida repeated when asked about transferring PSN games to the PS4. "We are looking at other ways for the future to offer some of our library of games--one way is to provide games on server side, like with Gaikai," he said, elaborating that Sony's long-term plans are to let you play any Sony game on any device. That sounds awesome, but Yoshida wasn't ready to explain how it would work. "We are still developing our tech and service plans, so we are not ready to talk about any of that stuff."

We know a lot about the PlayStation 4--a lot more than we thought we would--but there are still a lot of questions. What will the system cost? When, exactly, will it launch? What games will be available on day one? Hopefully we find these answers soon, because Holiday 2013 is going to be here before we know it.

And if you're looking for more PS4 news, check out everything we know about the PS4 controller and all the PS4 games announced so far.