It has been said plenty of times in the past, but it’s worth repeating that console power is not everything. The architecture, flexibility, ease of development, and overall design are huge factors. Say what you will about Mark Cerny and his obsession with your ears, but the man knows how to design a console. Simply look at his resume, which includes designing the PS4. Now, it seems, developers are really getting excited about what he did with the PS5. Developers Love The PS5’s Architecture Thanks to some new information from Jeff Grubb over on VentureBeat, we’ve learned that developers have been saying that PS5 has a better architecture “than any console in history.” Not only does that make it easy to develop for, but it also helps developers get the most out of the hardware without excessive difficulty or needing to make sacrifices elsewhere. Jeff Grubb mirrored this sentiment on his personal Twitter as well: This is true. Lots of fawning over the work Cerny did. I think part of this is that PS5 dev kits got out earlier, and Cerny did a lot of work highlighting the efforts. But still, devs seem gaga for it. https://t.co/2xFp5vHpJy — Jeff Grubb (@JeffGrubb) May 31, 2020 This doesn’t necessarily mean that third-party games will be significantly better on PS5 versus Xbox Series X, but it could result in some noticeable things, like how many games this generation hit 1080p natively on PS4, but only 900p on Xbox One. Personally, I like to game on a big screen TV, so small differences like this will be noticeable. Ultimately, it just means that more developers will want to make games on PS5, exclusive or otherwise. In the end, that’s a win for me. What do you think? How big of a difference could a superior architecture make in the next generation? Let us know in the comments! Article by – Bradley Ramsey Insert date – 6/4/2020

Quick Highlights From The PS5 Reveal (Updated Live During The Event) PS5 owners get GTA Online for FREE on PS5 in 2021 Spider-Man: Miles Morales announced for Holiday 2020! Gran Turismo 7 announced with a sleek new trailer. Gameplay showcases photo-realistic graphics. Ratchet & Clank are back! Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart featuring a female Lombax! Project Athia is a new title from Square Enix and Luminous Productions that looks like an excellent fantasy epic! Stray from Annapurna Interactive looks to be a unique new title staring a cat possibly? Housemarque’s new exclusive Returnal looks to be a sci-fi horror exclusive with a third-person shooter gameplay experience. Sackboy: A Big Adventure from Sumo Digital gives the character his own platformer. Destruction All-Stars brings some chaotic driving and on-foot action to a competitive futuristic sport. Kena: Bridge of Spirits combines excellent looking gameplay with a charming world and stunning graphics. Goodbye Volcano High offers up a beautiful style and a heartwarming story in 2021. Oddworld is back! Oddworld: Soulstorm keeps the classic side-scrolling gameplay and gets a fresh coat of next-gen paint. Ghostwire: Tokyo shows off gameplay on PS5 that looks to be terrifying in every form of the word. First-person combat seems to have plenty of slick moves. It’s coming 2021 Jett: The Far Shore comes holiday 2020 with a focus on space exploration. Godfall shows gameplay for its release in holiday 2020! Solar Ash from the creator of Hyper Light Drifter is coming in 2021. Hitman III coming January 2021 to PS5! Gameplay shown in Dubai with some excellent visuals. Astro’s Playroom keep the fun rolling with the Astrobot characters. Little Devil Inside has a great art style and some slick third-person action. NBA 2k21 shows off next-gen graphics in a big way. Even more detailed than ever. Bugsnax is a cute new game from Octodad’s creators where you are literally what you eat. Coming Holiday 2020 Demon’s Souls Remake is confirmed! Looking incredible and coming from Bluepoint Deathloop from Arkane Studios pits two rival assassin’s together in a time loop for some epic Dishonored-style gameplay. Resident Evil Village, otherwise known as Resident Evil VIII is coming 2021! Pragmata looks to be a new sci-fi title coming in 2022. Horizon Forbidden West is the sequel to Zero Dawn and it just looks incredible! For the big finale, a full reveal of the PS5 console! Two versions as well, digital and physical disc-enabled! Original story follows: The world has never been a perfect place, but recent months have brought several issues to the surface that have been stirring beneath the surface for long before 2020. While we were all certainly excited for the PS5 reveal on June 4th, Sony has made the decision to postpone the event: pic.twitter.com/ZAY8StN0EU — PlayStation (@PlayStation) June 1, 2020 While the Coronavirus continues to wreak havoc and cause unprecedented damage and tragedy, the ongoing protests around the world against racism, inequality, police brutality, and the murder of countless innocent people of color, are an even … Read More

With the PS5 releasing in holiday 2020, we know a PS5 reveal event is going to happen eventually. The question is when, and will we see gameplay for new exclusives? A new rumor, and more importantly, a comment from Sony’s CEO, seems to indicate that both things are coming “soon.” Let’s see if we can dig up any more details. PS5 Reveal Coming ‘Soon,’ With a Game Lineup in Tow VentureBeat’s own Jeff Grubb, posted a story that shows upcoming events around the typical E3 season. Grubb is known as a connected insider, and has correctly predicted dates for things like Nintendo Directs in the past. Originally, he claimed the PS5 reveal would happen on June 4th, but he now claims that Sony is “moving it around.” Despite this, he still believes we will see our first glimpse of the PS5 and next-gen games in early June. Specifically, it seems like the focus of the event will be on the games, but I think it’s high time we saw the box. All of this, while Microsoft recently showcased some next-gen titles with mixed results. Still, they are promising monthly events for the rest of the year, so I hope Sony will open up about what they are planning. Going Beyond Rumors Industry insiders aside, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida had this to say on an earnings call the week of May 22nd: “We will soon be announcing a strong lineup of PS5 games.” The word “soon” doesn’t give us much to go on, but it’s better than nothing. Combined with the rumors above, I’m willing to bet we will have some new PS5 news to talk about within the next few weeks. Stay tuned, and let us know what games you want to see in the PS5 reveal in the comments! Article by – Bradley Ramsey Insert date – 5/22/2020

In early May of 2020, Microsoft hosted an event where they promised to reveal “next generation gameplay.” While the games on display were pretty awesome, there was very little in terms of actual gameplay. On May 13, 2020, we finally got the look we’ve been waiting for. PS5 graphics are here! Check out the video below for a quick look at the highlights from the demo. Remember, this is all running directly from a PS5 development kit. No CGI here. The Unreal Engine has always been one of the most widely used and high quality game engines out there. I don’t know about you, but that demo had my jaw on the floor. The demo here is called “Lumen in the Land of Nanite.” It’s not a game in development, but it is something you could play with a PS5 console. The developers made this short demo to show off what could be done with next generation technology. Don’t believe me? Here is the full video where you can see some of the creators playing through this incredible world in real-time: Those who watch the video will also learn more about some of the amazing things that make Unreal Engine 5 a game changer. For starters, the name “Lumens” refers to a new dynamic global illumination tool in the engine, allowing for incredible light and shadow detail in real-time. “Nanite” refers to a new type of virtualized geometry that allows artists to import their full, film-quality art and assets into the Unreal Engine 5. In the past, developers had to create things like normal maps or reduced quality versions of these models because the system couldn’t handle rendering them all in full detail. PS5 does this without issue, displaying “hundreds of billions of triangles” over the course of the tech demo, according to the creators in the video above. Epic Games VP of engineering, Nick Penwarden explains how this helps developers, saying: “The interesting thing is a lot of times artists are having to make super high-poly models anyways, they just have to take an extra step and build the low-poly model, put a lot of time and care into that, and then bake all the high-quality details into a normal map.” Removing this extra step means that, on PlayStation 5, they can simply import their film-quality models into the game without fear of crushing the performance. Over the course of the demo, we see some exploration, some climbing, and it all finishes with a stunning flight to the portal at the far side of a canyon that would make Naughty Dog shed a tear. Epic Games CTO Kim Libreri interviewed with IGN and discussed the demo further, saying: “I think a lot of people will ask, ‘oh, is the demo?’ But, you know that demo was grabbed from the back of a PlayStation 5 development kit. An HDMI cable went into a disc recorder and played out real-time. No editing, no tricks, that’s what comes off the box.” Epic … Read More

Right now, the only news we have about the PS5 release date is that it’s coming in holiday 2020. Both Sony and Microsoft have been quiet about any further details. We don’t even know the price of either system yet. Things got interesting in May 2020, though, when a listing on a Japanese recruitment site claimed that the PS5 was coming in October 2020. The worst slip-up in history, or simply a placeholder? Let’s find out. Sony Quickly Weighs in on October 2020 Speculation While this story is fairly short-lived, the entire thing started with a job posting on a Japanese recruitment site. They were looking for someone to work with Sony on the PlayStation platform. A quick translation to English reveals a line that claims the PS5 is releasing in October of 2020. Specifically, it says this: “PlayStation 5 scheduled to be released in October 2020.” Now, this would be a lot earlier than past console releases. I’m all for earlier releases, but Sony quickly told Famitsu that the date is an error on the part of the website that posted the job. They didn’t say anything else, which leads me to believe it could have been true at some point, but complications with the Coronavirus could have changed their plans to later in the year. As always, if you’re looking for the latest news on the PS5’s release date, you can find it on our Release Date page. In the meantime, let us know if you think this error is just that, or if there’s some possible truth behind this “accident” in the comments! Apologies if you’re not prone to conspiracies, I just have a hunch about things like this. If you disagree, let us know what you think the PS5 release date is in the comments! Article by – Bradley Ramsey Insert date – 5/12/2020

As a day one PlayStation VR owner, I am a big fan of virtual reality. I’ve also see how far this little headset has come since launch. Tracking has always been a mixed big, however, thanks to a single camera and those Move controllers that haven’t been redesigned since the PS3 era. We finally have some news on PSVR 2 tracking, however. While the recently released Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, for example, is some truly groundbreaking stuff for VR, it’s looking like PSVR 2 will enjoy full finger tracking and possibly even face tracking as well. Let’s dive in! The Next Big Leap For Virtual Reality The biggest problem with the current PSVR setup is the PlayStation Move controllers. With only a set of face buttons, a main button, and a trigger on each, the lack of analog sticks is noticeable. Meanwhile, other PC headsets (admittedly a lot more expensive) have the ability to track your fingers individually which gives you far more immersive and agency over the virtual world. We all knew Sony would offer a new solution for PSVR 2 tracking, but a recent patent spotted by 91 Mobiles shows us that Sony may indeed be working on a finger tracking design. A combination of fingerprint and infrared sensors along the main side of the controller allows the design to detect where your fingers are along the sensor area. All of this is relayed to the console via infrared transmission. Because the design uses a range of space, it also allows for different sizes of hands and fingers without risk of it not working properly. In the image above, you can see the fingerprint sensors along the right side, along with a top trigger and a wrist strap to hold everything in place. The design here is interesting because most other controllers like this rely on the headset’s cameras to track fingers. Here, we have dedicated sensors for that purpose, which could lead to more accuracy overall. Things like the player’s head movement wouldn’t affect the accuracy of finger tracking, for example. Take a look at this video to see an early prototype in action: Tracking Your Face in Virtual Reality Tracking your fingers is cool and all, but Sony is also going even further with their patents. Another patent spotted by UploadVR in May of 2020, describes the use of camera on the underside or nose gap of the headset to observe the player’s mouth and facial expressions. This data could be used in a virtual avatar, or in online multiplayer. Finally, you can see the look on someone’s face when you crush them in a match. This patent also mentions eye tracking, which offers its own interesting possibilities. Facebook, who owns Oculus, has shown off this kind of tech in the past with their headsets: While there’s no confirmation that his kind of tech will show up in time for PSVR tracking solutions, the fact that Sony is considering it shows just how much of … Read More

Some things are temporary, but the internet is forever. When you say something bold, even if you take it down, people will find a way to keep it alive. In fact, taking something down just makes it all the more suspicious. A Crytek programmer is learning this first-hand. Ali Salehi, a rendering engineer at Crytek, sat down with a Persian gaming website called Vigiato, and proceeded to declare that the PS5 was the better console for a number of reasons, not the least of which was how easy it is to program for. The article was later taken down and his statements rescinded. Smell that? There’s more to this. I think we have a lot to talk about. The Article is Gone, But The Story Lives on This all started when a Twitter user by the name of @man4dead translated the article on Vigiato from Persian to English and shared some quotes from it. In the interview, Ali Saleh said he prefers to work with PS5 over Xbox Series X (XSX). This is despite the fact that the XSX has more computing power on paper than the PS5. Parts of the translated interview are available on Tom’s Guide, which is how we are able to see what the Crytek engineer said in the interview. Ali Saleh goes on to share his thoughts, saying: “As a programmer I say that PS5 is much better, and I don’t think you can find a programmer that could name one advantage XSX has over PS5.” This statement alone is pretty bold, but the entire argument comes from the fact that the XSX is sporting 12 teraflops of computing power, and PS5 has 10.28. It’s a difference, surely, but true performance comes out of how the different pieces work together. Raw power isn’t everything. He goes on to mention this, saying that “many factors must work together, and each part feeds another and gives the result of one part to the other. If any of these factors don’t work fast enough, then it causes lower performance in another part.” He specifically called out the situation with PS3. That system was more powerful than Xbox 360, but development ran into complications and memory bottlenecks to the point where it never truly reached its potential, especially in third-party titles. To go into more technical detail. Saleh specifically pointed out the fact that the XSX using RAM with two different bandwidths, which is not an issue on the PS5. He says that coding for two different bandwidths could be challenging. This reason for this is because developers want to store their code and assests in the highest bandwidth of RAM available to them, especially when rendering in 4K. Having to split their efforts between two levels of bandwidth means they won’t be able to get the maximum performance out of the GPU, where the teraflops reside. So, it really comes down to doing more with less, and in that regard the PS5 has the edge. The real question … Read More

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to create chaos in all manner of industries. Gaming is not immune to this, as we’ve seen delays and a shift towards virtual events in the wake of social distancing and quarantine efforts. Among all of this, the announcement of PS5 news from Sony has been sporadic and usually done through a blog post. We still have yet to see a traditional showcase of what the next generation could look like. Now, a new source is hinting at a shift towards a PS5 reveal in May of 2020, but like most things in the world, it’s up in the air. PS5 Reveal in May? The coronavirus has thrown everything into chaos, resulting in cancellations, delays, and countless changes behind the scenes while both Sony and Microsoft seek to navigate their upcoming console launches. We have multiple sources on this. VGC, for example, spoke with a person who supposedly has knowledge of Sony’s plans. They claimed that Sony was already planning a full PS5 reveal in May. Another reputable source, Daniel Ahmad, who is a Senior Analyst at Niko Partners that tweets often about the gaming industry, elaborated on the situation in a tweet: This is the one time I will actually add a caveat, for the last sentence in this case, as we are living through an unprecedented situation and this is the one time where external factors such as COVID-19 could actually change plans right at the last minute. But we’ll see. — Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) April 19, 2020 It makes sense that, with E3 2020 officially cancelled that plans would be moved around. Of course, Sony was already going to sit out E3, but Microsoft had plans to do a showcase, all of which was most likely on Sony’s radar. To get ahead of the June event, a May reveal for PS5 makes a lot of sense. Given how the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the indefinite delay of The Last of Us Part II, I would venture to predict that Sony needs to get people excited about PS5 to keep themselves at the forefront of people’s minds. The DualSense reveal, done in a blog post, ignited fires for a few days, but we need some sort of livestream event to really get people’s attention. As Daniel Ahmad said in his follow-up tweet, all of this could change at any moment as the health crisis continues to develop. Would you like to see a full PS5 reveal in May? What are you hoping to see in terms of launch titles or pricing? Let us know in the comments! Article by – Bradley Ramsey Insert date – 4/16/2020