E3: Sony's PlayStation 4 Will Be Available This Year for $399

The company says it will not impose restrictions on used games, allowing selling, trading and lending. 

Sony announced that its PlayStation 4 -- unveiled Monday at E3 -- will be available this holiday season for $399 ($100 less than Microsoft’s Xbox One) alongside a host of exclusive games.

The company put special emphasis on the fact that they would allow players to lend, trade or resell used disc-based games in any manner they choose. This is in stark contrast to Microsoft, which has said it will put restrictions in place to limit the sale of used games for its new console. Microsoft will also require games on its system to "check in" over the Internet once every 24 hours to ensure the console is authorized to play a given game. Sony has said its games will not need to check in ever and will be fully playable offline (assuming online access is not critical to the title's intrinsic gameplay.)

Some of the games that will be exclusive to PS4 include The Last of Us, Puppeteer, Beyond: Two Souls, Gran Turismo 6, Kill Zone, Shadow Fall, Drive Club, Infamous: Second Son, and Knack. Sony also previewed Square Enix's Final Fantasy XV and Disney’s Kingdom Hearts 3.

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In addition, Sony revealed that it has signed a host of titles from notable independent studios, including Don’t Starve, Transistor, Mercenary Kings, Secret Ponchos, Ray’s Dead, and Galax-Z.

In launching PS4, Sony plans to capitalize on its brands, emphasized Andrew House, president and group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment.

To that end, Michael Lynton, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, made an appearance, saying that the studio is “hard at work on new original programming plans and content that will be available exclusively on PSN and PS4.”

Sony also is expanding its entertainment offering with Flixster and Redbox Instant, as well as pay-per-view live events.

The company spoke briefly about its plans for integrating the Gaikai cloud gaming service it purchased in 2012. The service, which will be available for U.S. PS3 and PS4 owners in 2014, will use Gaikai's technology to stream games to players, allowing for backward compatibility with Sony's vast catalog, as well as enabling "instant play" of games that a consumer has bought, but not yet downloaded.