Sony has announced the successor to its mega-popular PlayStation 3 console.

The PlayStation 4 will make use of an eight-core AMD "Jaguar" CPU, Radeon HD graphics chip and features 8GBs of super-fast GDDR5 RAM, Sony confirmed in a spec sheet.

In terms of connectivity and media, the new console features a 6x Blu-Ray drive, USB 3.0 ports, ethernet port, WiFi and Bluetooth.

Although the company didn't show off the console itself, it did take the opportunity to unveil the new controller.

The Dual Shock 4 controller differs from its predecessors in terms of the basic shape, while introducing a small touchpad, as well as "share" and "options" buttons.

Other new Dual Shock 4 features include concave analogue sticks, tweaked L2/R2 shoulder buttons, a new six-axis sensor and an earphone jack (echoing Microsoft's Xbox 360 controller).

What can the PS4 do?

Social integration is a big part of the PlayStation 4, as the "share" button implied, with users able to upload their gameplay clips and images to YouTube and Facebook. Live streaming of gameplay to Ustream is also supported.

One of the more innovative features touted by Sony is the ability to pick up games right where you left off thanks to PS4's "suspend mode", minimising load times for your saved game. Additionally, gamers can also play digitally downloaded titles as they're downloading.

Games?

A variety of titles coming to PS4 have been confirmed from Sony and its partners thus far, and they are: Killzone: Shadow Fall, Infamous: Second Son, Knack, Driveclub, The Witness, Deep Down, Diablo 3 (for PS3 as well), Destiny and Watch Dogs.

As for backwards compatibility, Sony is working on a cloud streaming solution for PS3, PS2 and PS1 games.

Release details

The new console hasn't received any pricing as yet, but is scheduled to be released in the fourth quarter of this year.