Sony and Microsoft to unveil next-gen consoles at E3

It doesn’t matter how many times Sony denies the existence or development of the PlayStation 4, the hardware successor to PlayStation 3 will arrive at some point and rumors and speculation will continue to swirl accordingly until the big reveal.

Case in point, current online whispers suggest Sony Computer Entertainment will follow the February launch of PlayStation Vita (in the U.S and Europe) by whipping off the PlayStation 4’s covers during the summer’s E3 Expo.

We are, of course, unsurprised to learn that Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida has nimbly dodged said rumor during an upcoming interview with videogame magazine CVG.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Yoshida, when asked directly about the company’s next home console. “We are still very excited by the PlayStation 3.”

Ever keen on keeping grain churning through the rumor mill, the Gaming Herald would like to direct your attention to recent talk of Microsoft using next week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to provide a brief sneak peek at its ‘Xbox 720’ technology.

If that should happen, the Redmond-based software titan would again steal something of a march on the PlayStation brand, which is something Sony has said would be “undesirable” given the full year’s head start Microsoft nabbed with the Xbox 360 in the home console market.

“Execs at the PlayStation firm have made it clear to third-parties that they will not be left behind this time,” offered trade magazine MCV in a report claiming Sony will unveil the PlayStation 4 during this year’s E3.

The same report also posits that Sony and Microsoft will officially unveil their respective next-gen consoles at E3 in an attempt to deflect the limelight from Nintendo’s Wii U device, which will also be front-and-center during the show.

Image used courtesy of: coolio-claire/Flickr.