It’s the moment millions of fans have been waiting for ever since Sony first announced that its new console would be in our hands by the end of 2013: the PlayStation 4 has finally been revealed for the world to see!

And it looks…

… like this!

Andrew House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, briefly introduced the console at the Sony press conference at E3 today, describing the console design as “sleek and visually impactful wherever it is placed.”

With a somewhat minimalist design, the console appears to be made of two-tone plastic and features a single, indented blue strip that is somewhat reminiscent of the original PlayStation 2 colour scheme. Compared to previously released Sony hardware, however, the PlayStation 4 is much smaller than we expected, and would likely slip in among other home entertainment hardware relatively unnoticed.

Update: We have just come into possession of a series of images showing the console in detail. While the PlayStation 4 is indeed a sleek and simple-looking machine, little did we know that it also features a rather peculiar, some might even say ugly, slanted design…

▼ Viewed from the side, the PlayStation 4 is a relatively simple box

PS4 1

▼Alongside its controller, the console appears quite small

PS4 2

▼ With its PlayStation Eye camera accessory

PS4 3

▼ Woah! Didn’t see that coming! But then Sony has always liked unusual designs…

PS4 4

But today wasn’t just about how the machine looked–fans were also keen to know whether they would be free to share and trade their games, not to mention how much the console would retail for. Thankfully, towards the end of its presentation, Sony not only shared the crowd-thrilling news that PlayStation 4 owners were free to do with their software as they liked, but also that the console would be available for US$399 at launch, undercutting Microsoft’s new console by $100.

Whether you’re a fan of the final PlayStation 4 design or not, today was a seriously big day for Sony.

Sony PlayStation 4 images via Sony