The PlayStation 4 unveiling Wednesday night proved to be just as much about the games and publishers already planned for the system as it was the new hardware. Sony took the time to trot out several different companies to showcase what each had been working on in secret for the console.

The PlayStation hardware will be powerful enough to run beautiful games; that was one thing made clear from the presentation. The system's powerful x86 processor and 8 gigs of memory should lead to some splendid graphics and simulation.

Epic Games showed off its Unreal 4 engine for the PlayStation 4. While gamers had seen a tech demo of this engine at last year's E3, it was on PC hardware. Epic says the demo shown represented in-engine footage shot on prototype hardware. Epic's Unreal engines are known for powering games across platforms, including PC, console and mobile, so the below demo is meant to illustrate what lots of different PlayStation 4 titles that utilize the engine would look like.

Also introducing its own next-gen game engine last night was Capcom, Producer Yoshinori Oro took the stage Wednesday night to show off Capcom's Panta Rhei engine with a early demo of Deep Down. The game showed a knight evading, then facing an awesomely rendered dragon.

Publisher Square Enix also showed an impressive video of what it could do with the PlayStation 4 hardware. While the video wasn't associated with any game in particular, Square Enix Chief Technology Officer Yoshihisha Hashimoto said it represented things to come. The company also confirmed it would produce a new Final Fantasy game for PlayStation 4, but wouldn't have anything to show until E3.

Probably the most anticipated demo of the night came from publisher Ubisoft, which confirmed its 2012 E3 darling Watch Dogs would be coming to PlayStation 4. The new Watch Dogs trailer, below, got the biggest response from the crowd.

Two other big announcements from third parties included an appearance by Blizzard, who confirmed its PC and Mac exclusive Diablo III was coming to PlayStation 4, and Activision, who showed off more of the MMO-style shooter Destiny, created by former Halo developers Bungie.

Sony Loves Developers

One of Sony's biggest messages from the event was its commitment to developers large and small when crafting the PlayStation 4. About five minutes of the presentation was devoted to a video montage of developers heaping praises on the new PS4 features, and how they would be useful for gamers.

One developer Sony brought on staget to further attest to this was Jonathan Blow, creator of the indie darling Braid. He and his team had been working on their next game, The Witness for several years, and Blow showed off a trailer filled with quirky puzzle solving on a cell-shaded island. He then confirmed The Witness would be a PS4 exclusive at launch.

Sony also showed off several its own first party games created by its stable of studios. Guerrilla Games showed off Killzone Shadow Fall, a vivid looking update to the first person shooter. There will be another entry to the Infamous series, giving players a third chance at playing around superpowers in Infamous: Second Son.

Gamers also saw a trailer for Knack, an inventive looking action-adventure starring a robot with unusual powers. The game is being directed by Mark Cerny, chief architect for the PlayStation 4.

Evolution Games, another Sony studio, showed off a hyper-realistic racer that utilized the PlayStation's power to render cars in perfect detail. Driveclub is more than just a pretty sim; it's gameplay surrounds forming racing "clubs" with your friends and creating challenges for each other. The game will support cross-platform play, including mobile and tablets.

Tech Demos and Speculation

Not everything demonstrated was tied to any game. Along with the previously mentioned hardware demos by Square Enix and Epic Games, other studios came on stage to present the power of the hardware.

Media Molecule, the studio behind the magically inventive LittleBigPlanet series, showed off something equally whimsical, but also unnamed. Media Molecule's Alex Evans said the studio was working on a game that would allow players to "record their dreams". Players would be able to use the PlayStation Move controller to create sculptures and then bring them to live. To demonstrate, he showed a video of a group of marionettes being manipulated by players welding Move wands while they rocked on guitar, keyboard and drums.

The other technical demo was by David Cage of Quantic Dreams, the studio behind realistic games like Heavy Rain and the upcoming Beyond. The studio is known for trying to makes games as realistic as possible, to make them more like emotional experiences. They showed a character model rendered using PlayStation 4 technology: an old man whose face filled the screen with haunting realism.