Recently, the PlayStation 5 has been on everyone’s mind. No, it’s not because Sony said something about its inevitable release, it’s because a major analyst named Damian Thong predicted that Sony would be releasing the PS5 in 2018 to record breaking sales. Where does this leave new PS4 Pro and VR owners? Is Sony really moving on this quickly? The answer is no. Releasing the PS5 in 2018 would be a foolish move, and it’s not likely that Sony would make such a grave mistake when they’re doing so well. Join us for five reason why this prediction absolutely will not happen. 5 Reasons Why We Won’t Be Seeing The PS5 in 2018 (Despite Predictions) While I respect the opinion of Damian Thong, I don’t believe the PS5 will be coming in 2018. Beyond the obvious reason that it’s too soon, I’ve compiled my top 5 reasons why PS5 needs to come out later. Holiday 2020 seems about right, given the evidence we’ve compiled on our PS5 Release Date Page. Let’s take a look: 1. Sony is Winning in Sales Sony has literally zero reasons to rush the PS5 out of the gate. The PS4 has sold over 60 million consoles and that number continues to grow. Furthermore, Microsoft has only pushed between 25-30 million consoles to date, according to estimates. Even with Project Scorpio (Xbox 2) looming over the horizon, there’s still no rush. Even if Scorpio sold like crazy (which it won’t because it’s going to be expensive), it would take years for Microsoft to catch up. With Sony dominating the market, it just doesn’t make sense for them to compromise their lead by rushing out a new console. So, why did Damian Thong predict this? Well, it’s hard to say, but I would venture to guess that he say Microsoft’s upcoming console, how it was more powerful than Sony’s PS4 Pro, and threw in some other numbers to get to his prediction. I can understand that side of things, to an extent. The PS5 would, and will, sell like hotcakes, but it will sell better if people are ready for it. For this reason and all the others, that’s simply not the case. 2. PS4 Pro is Still Young The PS4 Pro hasn’t even been out for a year and we’re already talking about PS5? Sony committed to this concept of a mid-generation hardware refresh and said that it would be their focus for the foreseeable future. Two years (2018), is within the foreseeable future. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that gamers would be utterly enraged if they found out that their brand new console was about to be obsolete. It just doesn’t make any sense from a customer service perspective. Not to mention, look at the power that developers have managed to squeeze out of the PS4. The games continue to increase in both size and scale, and graphics have never looked better. Even though the PS4 Pro isn’t as powerful as … Read More
The Top 9 Features Gamers Expect On The PS5
It’s well known that gamers have a loud voice when we band together. Companies like Sony listen to us when we tell them what we want from our consoles. That feedback is what makes PlayStation such an amazing console. Well, we decided it was time to ask you, the players, what you want on the PS5. The results from our poll ( Vote! ) are in! It’s time to look at the top 9 features that you want on the PS5! We’ll also weigh in on how these features could manifest themselves on the next generation console from Sony. Let’s dive in! The Top 9 Features Fans Expect to See on The PS5 We asked you to tell us what you expect to see on the PS5, and you delivered! The many came together to form one voice. Let’s find out which features are most important to you on the PS5! 1. Backwards Compatibility With about 28% of the votes, backwards compatibility won the top spot by a 6% margin! In a world where Microsoft is touting backwards compatibility on their new Xbox 2/Project Scorpio system, the pressure is on for Sony to match that with the PS5. Of course, when we talk about backwards compatibility, we have to consider how far back we want. PlayStation has a lot of classic titles from PS1, PS2, and PS3. In fact, the PS4 has already racked up several titles that will no doubt be remembered fondly by history. PlayStation fans want compatibility as far back as we can get. There’s so many games we want to have access to on our latest console. Sony has made some progress here with PS2 Classics on PS4, and they’ve certainly done plenty of remasters to bring games like The Last of Us and God of War III to the new console. For PS3 games, we have the streaming service known as PlayStation Now, but that’s yet another thing to pay for, and it’s selection is good but not overwhelmingly great. Meanwhile, Xbox players are getting more and more 360 games on their system for free if they already own it. I have to give them a point for that, because it is the right way to handle backwards compatibility. Ideally, PS5 will take this approach where you can keep the games you own and play them on the new system. Digital titles will be accessible, and physical games can be inserted to validate them and add them to your library like Xbox does. This feature deserves a top spot, so let’s hope it shows up in a way that benefits us all. The ball’s in your court, Sony! 2. Graphic Processing Power Second up is graphics processing power with 22% of the votes. Any time there’s a new console, graphics are a major point of discussion. After all, power is the selling point of any next generation system. How much better will make games look and play on this system? Microsoft’s upcoming console boasts 6 … Read More
Sony Will Win The VR War on The PS5
Virtual Reality has finally gone from a pipe dream, to something you can buy and experience on a PlayStation console. Competition has been fierce from the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, but Microsoft has been lagging behind in this department. Meanwhile, more and more companies are coming out with epic experiences on PlayStation VR as the catalog grows by the week. Recent sales numbers are showing strong adoption of this new hardware, and while Microsoft is finally discussing VR in more detail, it’s clear that Sony is ahead of the pack. When PS5 releases, it will have the power (and possibly the VR headset) to beat them all. Join us as we look at all the evidence pointing to a future where Sony rules the VR playing field. PlayStation VR Selling Strong, Competition is Lagging After its launch in the final months of 2016, everyone wanted to know how PlayStation VR was selling. Would it soar high and break Sony’s track record of under-performing peripherals (sorry PlayStation Move)? There were plenty of naysayers who wanted to shoot it down, but in early 2017, Sony started talking numbers. Andrew House, global chief executive of Sony Interactive Entertainment, spoke with The New York Times and mentioned some specifics about the sales of their VR headset and how they stacked up against expectations. Andrew House himself was concerned about how quickly the market would jump on the VR bandwagon: “It’s the classic case in any organization, the guys who are on the front end in sales are getting excited, very hyped up. You have to temper that with other voices in the company, myself among them, saying let’s just be a little bit careful.” They decided not to manufacture as many as you would expect, and as a result, there was a major shortage in stores everywhere, Japan especially. During his interview with The New York Times, Andrew House revealed that as of February 19th, 2017, PSVR had sold 915,000 headsets in four months since launch. The internal goals for Sony were a million headsets in the first six months. Andrew House mentioned in his interview that “You literally have people lining up outside stores when they know stock is being replenished,” when he was describing the atmosphere in Japan. Clearly Sony is set to meet or exceed these expectations. These numbers also place Sony at the forefront of VR success. In terms of premium headsets, PlayStation VR is the lowest price point at $399. While Oculus, Facebook, and HTC haven’t shared their sales numbers yet, research from SuperData Research has estimate that Oculus Rift sold about 243,000 and HTC Vive sold 420,000 by the end of 2016. Comparing all of this to other technology launches, one of the most successful launches was the iPhone first three months in 2007 in which it sold 1.4 million units. On the software side of things, Sony is enjoying massive engagement with VR since the launch of Resident Evil 7, which supported the entire game in … Read More
Michael Pachter: Sony Will Wait on PS5 Until After The Next Xbox Releases
Hardcore gamers have probably heard about Michael Pachter. He’s an analyst at Webbush Securities and famous for his gaming predictions. He’s right every once and a while, but I wouldn’t call him gaming’s Nostradamus. Even so, it’s always interesting to see what he thinks and compare it with our own thoughts. To this end, he has revealed yet another prediction during a podcast. He seems to believe that Sony is going to wait and see what happens with Project Scarlett before they go public with PS5. How does that make you feel? Is that even something we think is possible? It’s time to discuss. Pachter’s Prediction: A Hint of Truth? Pachter’s predictions are often met with mixed reactions from the community. Sometimes he’s pretty close, but other times he makes a vast majority of the community’s eyes roll. We’ve got a new prediction from him, courtesy of an interview with GamingBolt where he mentioned a new prediction about the PS5. According to Pachter, they could be waiting on Microsoft: “I’m sure Microsoft intends to launch first, and I am equally certain that the new Xbox will be backwards compatible with any Xbox One X software. I agree that it’s hard for Xbox One X purchasers, but they should know 4 years into a cycle that there is another one coming. My guess is that Microsoft intends to launch in 2020, but if they think Sony is going to launch the PS5 then, they will launch early.. Let’s dive in and see how I feel about these predictions. Michael Pachter’s Vision For The PS5: Releasing in 2019? Michael Pachter spoke with Gaming Bolt in the wake of Shawn Layden’s PS5 comments, and of course, the analyst had some predictions to throw out for those interested in his wisdom. Pachter confirmed his beliefs that the PS5 will indeed be backwards compatible, but he also mentioned a release date: 2019. In Pachter’s words: “The PlayStation 4 Pro is better (from a technical perspective) than the PS4, so I think that’s a half step towards the PlayStation 5. I think the PS5 will another half step. It will surely support 4K. Will it support 240 frames per second? Great. Will it play games that were made for the PlayStation 4 Pro? That’s the question. I think it will. So I think they will build a console that will be backwards compatible with the PS4 Pro. So I think it will be perceived by the consumers to be a half step and I think Shawn is telling the truth when he says it will be a full-fledged console.” Pachter went on to explain his prediction, saying that Sony is waiting for the 4K market to mature more before they release their new console. He admits that it could be 2019 or 2020, but leans towards the former. According to his predictions, Sony already has the PS5 nailed down, they’re just waiting for the timing to be right. Breaking Down Pachter’s Claims: A Few Hits and … Read More
Why The PS5 Will Run at 8+ Teraflops For True 4K
When new consoles are announced, people want to know what it can do, and how powerful it is. While the typical consumer isn’t interested in RAM, GPU, or teraflops, hardcore games absolutely want to know what’s under the hood. Knowing the specs of a system empowers us to make a lot of predictions as to what it will be able to accomplish. Today we’re going to look at the teraflop, and what it does for a console’s power. Then we’ll look at the PS4 Pro’s specs, and why the PS5 will hit the fabled 8 (Actually 10.28) teraflops to play games in native 4K. Uh, Remind Me Again: What’s a Teraflop? The term “flop” refers to a floating point operation. This is a basic measurement of computational power. At the heart of both Sony and Microsoft consoles are chipsets manufactured by AMD. To calculate the teraflops of a console, you follow this formula: multiply the amount of shader cores by the clock-speed, then multiply that by two. That last step is to account for each clock (one multiply, one accumulate operation) that runs simultaneously. This will get you a huge number, so we divide that by one million and that will give us a teraflop measurement. Let’s look at an example, using the Xbox One and PS4: Xbox One: 768 shaders (x) 853MHz (x) 2 instructions per clock = 1,310,208 megaflops or 1.31 teraflops PS4: 1280 shaders (x) 800MHz (x) 2 instructions per clock = 1,843,200 megaflops or 1.84 teraflops So how does this apply to games as a whole? Well, we have to remember that teraflops are a very basic measurement and only apply to computational power. You have to consider several other factors before you can make a prediction on the performance of a machine. The software drivers and architecture of the GPU also contribute to the overall performance. It’s about efficiency as much as it is importance. On paper, for example, the PS4 Pro is 2.3x more powerful than the PS4, but a 40% increase in computational power doesn’t necessarily equal out to a 40% increase in performance. When it comes down to it, teraflops alone cannot define a console or PC’s performance. There are other factors like the GPU’s memory bandwidth that play into the equation. Thus far in the console war, the Xbox One’s 1.31 teraflops has been at a distinct disadvantage when compared to the PS4’s 1.84 teraflops. This is also a result of the Xbox One’s lower memory bandwidth. Developers have been very good at handling the difference in specs over the course of the generation, but we’ve seen resolutions swing wildly between the two consoles. What the PS4 runs in 1080p runs at 900p or lower on Xbox. The same situation may become the case with Xbox 2 (Project Scorpio) and PS4 Pro. Microsoft is targeting native 4K and 6 teraflops with their new console, but how they will manage that remains to be seen. There are some who believe that 6TF … Read More
Virtual Reality is The Future (Sorry 4K TVs)
When a new technology emerges, it can go one of two ways: either it will claim a place in the halls of gaming greatness, or it will be doomed to fade into history. We’ve seen it time and time again. HD-DVD vs Blu-ray, motion controllers vs standard inputs, and so on. Now we’re in an age where your TV can have 4K resolution, and if you’re really feeling lucky you can also have a virtual reality headset. Virtual reality is nothing new, but this is the first time we’ve seen it hit a mainstream stride. In fact, the concept of VR has been around since the 1980’s when the term was first coined. Quite a fad to have lasted this long, but that does that mean that this attempt will be the one that sticks? Will the steady advancements in VR finally win over the masses? Join me as we discuss the future of gaming. A Brief History of Virtual Reality According to the Virtual Reality Society, virtual reality was a term that came into the public eye in 1987 when a scientist named Jaron Lanier coined the term. The concept became the focus of science fiction and other forms of film and literature as time went on. We all remember Nintendo’s foray into this realm with the Virtual Boy in 1995. After numerous headaches (quite literal ones), this attempt flopped. Since then, virtual reality has still appeared in all kinds of fictional work, but beyond some amusement park rides, it didn’t seem like something that would ever come home. I remember my first experience with VR at the popular Disney Quest attraction. Looking back, I realize how crude this technology was, but man was it awesome. It was pretty uncomfortable, though, as the headset was huge and the only sizing option was a massive crank on the back of the device that squeezed your head like it was in a vice. Jump forward to 2016 and virtual reality has finally come to fruition. You have the higher-tiers like the HTC Vive that, combined with the cost of a capable PC, will cost you one of your kidneys, and then you have the slightly less expensive Oculus Rift. Sony came out with PlayStation VR in October of 2016 and brought the most affordable option to the masses. It works with your PS4 and even better with a PS4 Pro. While still expensive, it brings real VR to your living room. Yes, the screen isn’t 4K, but we’ll get to that in a moment. At this point, VR is still very young in terms of a mainstream option. Meanwhile you have wildcards like augmented reality and Microsoft’s HoloLens. Not only that, but now Microsoft is bringing Windows 10 VR headsets out from a variety of partners. While it certainly seems like major publishers like Sony and Microsoft are all embracing VR, along with the mobile options from Google and Samsung, is this a clear sign that VR is here to stay? … Read More
The 4K Dilemma: How PS5 Will do What PS4 Pro Won’t
The PS4 Pro (previously known as the PS4.5 or PS4 Neo), releases in November of 2016. For the first time in the gaming industry, we’ll have a new console release with better hardware and more capabilities that still exists within the same generation. That’s right, the PS4 Pro is not the PS5, it’s something new. Furthermore, the extra power isn’t able to run games in native 4K as of yet. Instead, Sony has opted to upscale games to this higher resolution. Combine this with the lack of a 4K Blu-Ray player, and you have to wonder how all of this fits together. Today, we’ll break down the details of the PS4 Pro and ultimately use it to peek into the future and find out what Sony is planning for the PS5. Mark Cerny Breaks Down the PS4 Pro Mark Cerny is the system architect for PlayStation. He’s also been involved with countless other game franchises like Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted, Spyro, and even Ratchet & Clank. He worked on the PS4 and now he’s sat down with The Verge to talk about the approaches he took to PS4 Pro. It’s safe to say that Mark, and his wonderfully smooth voice, will also be the architect on the PS5. Moments like these offer a lot of great insight into what he and Sony are thinking. For starters, the PS4 Pro is indeed 2.28 times more powerful than the PS4. The first caveat, even with this power, is that not everything will run in native 4K resolutions. When asked about the new GPU, Cerny revealed that it’s not actually new. Instead, they decided to install a second GPU that’s almost identical to the first one with a 14% boost to 911MHz. The standard PS4 hits 1.8 teraflops, but the Pro is bringing 4.2 teraflops to the table. The same eight Jaguar CPU cores are being used, but they’ve been clock at higher speeds. Furthermore, the RAM has a higher bandwidth, and they’ve also added an additional gig of conventional RAM to boost the speed of menu applications and switching between them. This power allows the system to hit native 4K in certain situations, and what Cerny calls “extremely close to 4K” in others. For games like Call of Duty and Horizon: Zero Dawn, the system uses a workaround called checkerboard rendering. This allows the system to reach 2160p resolution by changing the way pixels are arranged so the resolution is in fact higher. Other games will use this same technique to run in 1080p. As you may already know, a shocking amount of titles only run at roughly 900p on PS4, so this will also offer a boost for 1080p television owners. Games will require a “Pro” mode or a patch to take advantage of the extra hardware. This means that games will run the same on the new system unless modified to use the extra power. For 1080p television owners, the difference won’t be huge, but developers can use this power to … Read More
PS5 Confirmed by Sony Executive: 2018? 2019? 2020?
If the announcement of the PS4 Pro had you worried about the future of PlayStation, and ultimately a PS5, it’s time to put your fears to rest. Sony Interactive Entertainment America boss, Shawn Layden, has confirmed that PS4 Pro won’t be the last we see of the PlayStation brand. Furthermore, new rumors are pointing to a possible 2018 release date for the PS5. While PS4 Pro is going to ease the market into 4K, it’s clear that it’s simply a means to an end. Let’s find out what Sony’s planning, shall we? Sony Exec: “There Will Be More PlayStations.” Sony gave us all a collective heart attack when President Shuhei Yoshida said the PS5 is an “if,” signifying that Sony was unsure of the PS5’s future. Thankfully, we can put those rumors to rest. After the PlayStation Meeting, The Verge caught up with Shawn Layden, head of SIEA and the PlayStation Worldwide Studios group. During the interview, Shawn was asked about future PlayStations in the wake of this new announcement. Specifically he was asked if the next step is a PS5. Here’s his response: “Right now we were concentrating on how do we iterate within this PS4 life cycle. The technology and improvements behind PS4 Plus are our way of articulating where we think the market wants to go. People will want to have greater fidelity of images and graphics. Where we go from there, we’re going to have to wait and see. It’s our first time innovating within the life cycle, so I’m not exactly sure what impact that will have on our plan going forward. But there will be more PlayStations.” That right there is enough to confirm we’ll see a PS5 at some point in the future. The showcase at the PlayStation Meeting for the PS4 Pro didn’t appear to be a massive upgrade, so the biggest question about the PS5 will be how it pushes the boundaries of graphics and gameplay. Will the next PlayStation be another small step forward, an iteration as it were? Or, will we see a generational leap worthy of the name “PS5?” That is certainly the question, but PlayStation boss, Andrew House, has said in the past that he’s not too keen on shortening the console lifecycle. In an interview prior to E3 2016 with The Guardian, House made it clear that PS4 Pro isn’t a generational leap, but he also cautioned against shortening life cycles: ”I’m not suggesting we want to bring the games industry to an 18-month-two-year cycle because then you would lose an awful lot of the fixed platform benefits we’ve enjoyed that allow for these really great leaps in game experience. However, we did think there was an opportunity to reflect on the traditional lifecycle, and on 4K technology, and say maybe there’s an opportunity, within the course of a normal lifecycle to offer something else. Something a little bit better, for a segment of the market that feels that this is important.” So, it’s fair to … Read More
PS4’s System Software 4.0 Update Means The PS5 isn’t Coming Anytime Soon
Sony has been teasing the big 4.00 firmware update for the PS4 and now that have information on what it will add to the current PlayStation experience, it’s clear to see that the PS4 and the upcoming PS4 Neo are here to stay. The PlayStation 5 may still be a few years off, but this update showcases a renewed interest in refreshing and redesigning the PS4’s features, and that’s fine with us. Today we’ll look at the features coming in the 4.00 update and how they signal a reboot of the PS4’s cycle in the wake of the Slim and Pro models that are on the horizon. PS4 System Update 4.00: New Features and a UI Refresh PS4’s upcoming update is codenamed Shingen, according to the PlayStation Blog. Users who signed up for the beta will get a taste of the new features, but let’s take a look at everything that’s coming in this new update: 1. A User Interface Refresh The term “refresh” is used in gaming when a new model comes out or an update overhauls the current standards to set a new precedent for the future. It all starts with new system backgrounds and a redone “What’s New” tab on the main menu. The system icons and the popup notifications have also seen changes. It’s supposed to be similar to the look and feel of the original design, but it should be a little easier to use. 2. New Quick Menu Normally when you hold the PS button on the DualShock 4, you get a quick menu that covers the whole screen. Not so, with this new update. Now you’ll still be able to see most of the screen, thus removing the need to leave your game entirely. With this new quick menu, you can see which friends are online, access your party, and you’ll have the ability to customize what it shows. 3. Share Menu Updates The Share Menu has also seen some love. It will now only cover a portion of the screen and save the last network you shared a screenshot or video to. In addition, video clips can be uploaded up to 140 seconds in length on Twitter (it was previously 10 seconds). 4. Folders and Organization Features A huge request people have been asking for, myself included, are folders to organize your content on the PS4. This update wil allow you to group games and apps together for quick and easy navigation. The library has been given a separate section for purchased titles and one for content you have installed. You can also search for items in your library as well and choose from sorting options. 5. Trophy Changes You’ll be able to view you trophies offline in this new update, and you can also see the contents of hidden trophies. The rarity level of trophies will also be represented with a pyramid icon that fills and shows ultra-rate trophies at the top. 6. User Profile Changes The user profile will now … Read More
The PS5 Will Be Backwards Compatible, Thanks to Microsoft
Every time a new console is announced, the first question on everyone’s minds is “will it be backwards compatible?” We are happy to tell you that on 4/16/19 Playstation’s Mark Cerny confirmed the PS5 will be backwards compatible with PS4 games in an interview with Wired Magazine. That being said the fear of a new generation invalidating all of our purchases from the previous one is very real in gamers everywhere. The very structure of the PS4 was completely different than the PS3, which was the basis for why Sony said the PS4 could not be backwards compatible. Even so, they’ve made concessions here and there. Looks like they are getting it right for the PS5. Meanwhile. Microsoft is making more and more Xbox 360 games compatible on the Xbox One every week. Sony’s been backed into a corner. It’s time to bring out the claws and make backwards compatibility a feature on PS5. Thankfully, rumors are pointing to this being the case. PS5 Backwards Compatibility: All The Latest Evidence The PS4 is absolutely killing it this generation, with millions of consoles now comfortably sitting in gamer’s homes. That’s an impressive install base, but if Sony releases a brand new console without backwards compatibility, they would essentially starting from scratch. Yes, the PS4 would continue to exist for several years, but when it comes time for the PS4 to go the way of the dodo bird, all those gamers will have a huge library of games that they can no longer play on PS5. It doesn’t make sense any way you slice it, and with Microsoft already offering backwards compatibility on Xbox One X, so Sony had to step up. Here is what some of the evidence was that Sony was going to include backwards comparability: Software Testing Patent If you’re feeling like you need more technical documentation in your life, you should check out this full patent listing from Sony. If you’d rather get to the point of it all, here’s a quick excerpt: “If the CPUs of the new device have lower performance than the CPUs of the legacy device, many errors in a legacy application may arise due to the inability to meet real-time deadlines imposed by display timing, audio streamout or the like. If the CPUs of the new device have substantially higher performance than the CPUs of the legacy device, many errors in a legacy application may arise due to the untested consequences of such high speed operation.” Breaking this down, the excerpt describes an issue with running legacy software on more or less powerful CPUs. If the hardware is more powerful, such as the case with PS5, there could be unintended consequences of throwing an older game into this new environment. The goal of this patent is to create a timing testing mode that can “disrupt” the processors and test for errors while in this mode. On it’s own, this doesn’t guarantee anything, but it does prove that the concept of backwards compatibility was … Read More