Ready to PLAY?

Last night, Sony provided the first look at the PlayStation 5 and developers showcased new games, giving viewers an idea of the new technologies present in Sony's next gen console. The event was streamed live on various platforms. At its peak, the PlayStation YouTube channel had almost 2 million live viewers! Stick around till the end for all things PS5.

What was the event about?

The event showcased 26 upcoming PlayStation 5 titles, exclusives and others. The footage boasted the technologies present in the PS5 such as ray-tracing and instant transition in game worlds through portals in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, showing PS5's new, capable SSD. The games that stole the show were Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Hitman 3, Resident Evil 8: Village and last but definitely not the least, Horizon: Forbidden West. GTA5 made its appearance again, promising an enhanced edition. Who wants GTA5 anymore?

Next gen? What are the specs?

CPU: The new PS5 will feature AMD's eight Zen 2-based CPU cores. Zen2 is AMD's 7nm architecture (Ryzen 3000 series on the PC side of things and also the best bang for buck chip available). 

GPU: The graphics powering PS5's demanding titles is AMD's GPU based on the custom-made RDNA 2.0 architecture with GDDR6 memory. The headline of this GPU's feature is Ray Tracing, previously exclusive to NVIDIA's GPUs on PC. What this means is PS5 will boast a significant change in lighting quality as rays of light are simulated as they hit objects and not to mention, better overall textures.

Storage: PS5 will have SSD (Solid State Drive) as its primary storage options. SSDs have significantly faster read speeds. What does this mean? Less time spent on the loading screen as opposed to plain old mechanical hard drives.

VR: PS5 will support PlayStation VR as well.

Audio: PS5 will have 3D audio.

Will my PS4 games work on the PS5?

Sony clarifies that PS5 will support "overwhelming majority" of PS4 games and that PS5 would support "almost all" of the top 100 PS4 titles and many more.

What are the other improvements?

PS5 comes with Sony's new DualSense controllers. The controller features USB-C charging. The company claims progress on the ergonomics with better grip, thumb sticks, adaptive triggers and providing better vibration using improved haptics. The controller also has a microphone built-in as well. The DualSense controller is evolution done right!

The PS5, as of now, has been shown to have two versions. The difference? The standard version has a 4K Blu-Ray disc drive while the digital does not. The digital version has a symmetrical curvy structure with no hump on the side. The digital version is expected to have a lower price tag than its standard counterpart.

The PS5 is expected to have better, more dynamic home screen layout and animations, allowing players to see available missions, select activities and other info in real-time!

I'm hyped! When is it releasing?

Sony has announced that the new console will be available from the "Holiday 2020" window.

Expect it to hit the stores no earlier than November 2020. Sony has also claimed that the pandemic will not delay their release of the console.

How much does it cost?

Unfortunately, Sony has yet to announce the pricing. Everything else is rumour to say the least. We can expect more news to come by as days pass. The reasons can be competition or otherwise.

Osaman loves to procrastinate and play games all day. To team-up on Valorant, add BrainSpiller#5315.Cool name, aye?