Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

David Perry, CEO of Gaikai, left, speaks as Mark Cerny, demonstrates remote game play on the PSVita during a news conference to announce the Sony Playstation 4 Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Sony is sharing the PlayStation 4 with the world.

The Japanese electronics giant unveiled the new gaming system Wednesday, hyping the machine as a "supercharged PC" with the ability to effortlessly share interactive experiences, by instantly broadcasting video of gaming action or virtually handing out health potions to friends online.

"Today marks a moment of truth and a bold step forward for PlayStation," said Andrew House, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment.

Sony said the system will feature an eight-core processor that can juggle more tasks than the PlayStation 3 and be part of a new digital ecosystem that's "the fastest, most powerful gaming network."

"Our long-term vision is to reduce download times of digital titles to zero," said Mark Cerny, Sony's lead system architect on the PS4.

The PS4 is Sony's first major game machine since the PlayStation 3 went on sale in 2006. Wednesday's unveiling is Sony Corp.'s attempt to steal the spotlight from rivals Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co., at least until Microsoft unveils its next Xbox in June, as expected, at the E3 video game expo in Los Angeles.

But one thing Sony neglected to do: show the actual device.

Instead, the two-hour event involved executives from Sony and its video game partners touting features and showing demonstration video on stage.

There was no word on price or availability, other than a flash on the screen saying "holiday 2013."