After the market close on Wednesday, Sony officially unveiled its next console, PlayStation 4 (or “PS4”), at an event in New York City. Sony will launch the new console during the holiday 2013 season, although pricing remains unknown.

As expected, Sony provided significant detail about the specifications and power of its next console in a presentation that we found impressive. The PS4 will feature a Blu-ray disc drive, as did its predecessor. Its architecture is similar to that of a supercharged PC, and will include an X86 central processing unit (“CPU”), an enhanced PC graphics processing unit (“GPU”), eight gigabytes (“GB”) of unified memory, and a local storage hard disk drive (“HDD”). As a result, conversion of titles from PC should be easier for developers, and it appears that Sony (NYSE:SNE) is intent upon inducing developers to develop multiplatform titles with the PS4 as the lead SKU.

The PS4’s accelerated processing unit (“APU”) will have eight CPU cores. System memory will be graphic double data rate (“GDDR”) 5, a high-performance dynamic random-access memory (“DRAM”) graphics memory card for high bandwidth computer applications capable of producing over one million movable objects. The polygon count of models will increase to over 30,000 polygons from 20,000 in 2012, 15,000 in 2010, 1,500 in 2005, and 350 in 1999. In addition, the PS4 will have a secondary custom chip for background processing, reducing load times and giving the gamer the ability to instantly suspend and resume gameplay. It will also have dedicated always-on video compression and decompression hardware for social functionality that allows the seamless uploading of gameplay video.

The PS4 will have a new controller, the DualShock 4, that will feature a tighter sense of control, with better rumble capability and less latency. The controller includes a Touchpad, a headphone jack, and a “share” button for better social integration. A light bar sold separately will be used for recognition purposes…

As expected, Gaikai streaming functionality will be integrated into the PS4. In July 2012, Sony announced an agreement to acquire the cloud-based gaming company Gaikai for ≈ $380 million. Gaikai will allow exploration of any game on the PlayStation Store, with gamers able to try, share,  and buy. Eventually, gamers will have the ability to play PS4 games remotely using the PlayStation Vita handheld device and other companion devices. Long-term, every PS4 game will be playable on Vita with reduced transmission times. Gaikai functionality will also provide PS4 gamers with more spectating tools and the ability to transfer gameplay to another gamer on the PlayStation Network (“PSN”). Gaikai and Sony are building the fastest video game network ever, with one of the goals being the ability to download digital content instantly.

Gamers will also be provided with a number of multimedia applications, including Music Unlimited, Video Unlimited, Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX), and Hulu Plus, among many others. Long-term, as Gaikai unveils its cloud in stages, gamers will be able to play PS3 and mobile games on the PS4. However, the PS4 will not be natively backwards compatible, meaning that gamers will not be able to play discs from earlier PlayStations on the PS4; instead, they will eventually be able to stream them.

The PS4 will be a much more social console than current generation devices. The “share” button on the PS4’s controller, video compression and decompression hardware, Gaikai functionality, and partnerships with  Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and Ustream will provide gamers with a more connected experience that should rival that offered by smartphones and tablets. Through Facebook, gamers will likely be able to share their likes and potentially show in-game multimedia. Ustream allows the gamer to “show off” through in-game clips.

Michael Pachter is an analyst at Wedbush Securities. 

Don’t Miss: Putting Apple’s Cash War Vault in Perspective.