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

The COVID-19 pandemic still ravages the world, and its effects are still being felt in the game industry. With games like The Last of Us Part II now indefinitely delayed, and just about every event cancelled or moved online, it’s only a matter of time before the next generation feels the heat. A report from Bloomberg claims that Sony is going to manufacture fewer consoles than they normally would for a launch like this. They aren’t directly blaming the pandemic, but it’s easy to connect the dot here. The report also mentions potential pricing, so let’s see what’s new! The PS5 Will be Incredibly Hard to Find at Launch Numerous gaming outlets have broke the news, originally reported by Bloomberg in mid-April of 2020, that Sony may not be manufacturing very many PS5 consoles for launch compared to other major product roll outs. Sony is quoted as saying they will only manufacture between 5 and 6 million PS5’s between the launch and the end of the fiscal year (March 31, 2021). The PS4, which was notoriously hard to find at launch, sold 7.5 million consoles in the first two quarters of its release. While the pandemic isn’t the immediate reason for this, the real issue is that certain components are difficult to find in high quantities right now. This could be due to ongoing shortages, but it’s most certainly a partial result of the constraints on global supply chains due to the coronavirus shutting down manufacturing centers. The report claims that the price will be higher than expect at launch, due to the technical specs of the system, and the scarcity of the parts. Speculation points to somewhere between $499 and $549, which lines up with our pricing predictions. Production for the system is scheduled to begin in June of 2020, but it remains to be seen if the pandemic will have any effects on the release date (which remains simply “holiday 2020”). Sony’s goal remains to have a worldwide launch of the system, but the pandemic could change this, as well as the availability of launch titles. We don’t know anything for certain yet, and that’s perhaps the scariest news of all. Stay safe out there fellow gamers. Article by – Bradley Ramsey Insert date – 4/16/2020

During the PS4 generation, Sony has absolutely crushed it with their exclusive titles. This strategy could easily give them an edge in the next generation, specs be damned. Even if the Xbox Series X has an edge in raw power, it’s the games that really matter. To that point, a new rumor claims that Sony is considering a purchase of the Metal Gear, Silent Hill, and Castlevania licenses from Konami, who has been content to let them rot, or use them in Pachinko Machines (I wish I was kidding). Let’s see if this rumor holds water! Bringing Metal Gear, Castlevania, and Silent Hill Back Home As part of this rumor, Kojima Productions (who recently released Death Stranding), would handle development of both a new Metal Gear and a new Silent Hill. This is all on the heels of yet another rumor that suggests there are already two Silent Hill games being developed for PS5. The sources of these rumors come from a Twitter user by the name of Aesthetic Gamer, Rely on Horror, and a Konami leaker known as JackofallControllers. It’s a delicious rumor, to be sure. We do know that Kojima and team are hard at work on their next project, based on little tweets and teases online. We’ve also heard from Kojima himself that’s he’s ready to get back into the horror genre. If Sony were to buy the rights to these franchises, the rumors state that Kojima Productions would take the reigns for a Silent Hill and Metal Gear project. Castlevania is up for a reboot, but a different developer (unamed) is on deck for that one. The other Silent Hill project would come from SIE Japan Studio, where the original director and writer, Keiichiro Toyama, would be working on it. The original creature designer, Masahiro Ito, along with the composer, Akira Yamaoka, would also be on board. Another interesting thing to note is that the rumor claims one Silent Hill project would be a soft reboot. The other is episodic. I myself would love to see Kojima pick back up where P.T left off, but as always these rumors could amount to nothing. One can hope. The franchises would most certainly be safer in Sony’s hands than Konami’s. They should sell the rights to Sony, honestly. It’s the least they can do for cancelling Silent Hills in the first place. That’s my two cents, but what about you? Would you like to see these franchises on PS5? Which one would be your top pick? Let us know in the comments! Article by – Bradley Ramsey Insert date – 3/25/2020

Learn all about the PS5 Specs below (click play). Prepare your inner Playstation Nerd. It is very detailed! Welcome, one and all! We are here to for the first major PS5 event, this happened at 9AM pacific on March 18th, 2020. In this stream, titled “The Road to PS5,” Sony’s System Architect Mark Cerny gives a deep dive into the system’s architecture. Major Highlights Here are some quick highlights from the event! Less than a month for developers to get comfortable with PS5 hardware, compared to much longer times in the past SD was a major focus, developers wanted it as their top priority. 1GB can take anywhere from 10-20 seconds to load from a disc or hard drive. The new hardware can do 2GB in 0.2 seconds! Current hard drives hold back the vision of developers. The ability to stream in data hampers how fast players can move through the world. Current patches on a hard drive require us to create a new file with the new changes. The SSD removes the need for this, meaning no more long installs the way we know them. 16GB of GDDR6 RAM on PS5 is able to store the next second of gameplay at all times, and it’s far more utilized than the RAM on PS4. Fast booting, no load screens, high-speed streaming, and no more patch installs. Multiple priority levels for loading data, such as audio before textures. This is done through a custom flash controller. The new system utilizes a compression/decompression system called Kraken, with some custom changes, that can process up to 22GB per second. The goal is to address and remove any and all bottlenecks of data that could affect performance. Sony will support readily available SSDs in an internal port on the PS5 for expanding data. An external hard drive can be used to store and play your PS4 games on the new system. SSD M2 drives have differing heights and capability, so don’t go buying one yet. After launch Sony will share which models are okay for expanding your internal storage. GPU supports ray tracing, but it’s not required for every game. The same goes for other features, giving developers flexibility. The GPU is a custom AMD chip using RDNA 2 technology. Some features may find their way into PC GPUs as part of the collaboration with AMD, but the two cannot be compared due to the custom nature of Sony’s chips. PS4 backwards compatibility is confirmed, with at least the top 100 titles playable at launch, but it has to be done on a title-by-title basis. Ray tracing is optional, but can be used for audio, global illumination, shadows, reflections, etc. One PS5 title is already using ray tracing reflections in a complex scene without a major cost to the system’s power. Another focus is going to be power consumption and system heat. The idea is to minimize fan noise and heat overall. The new GPU has 36 RDNA 2 CUs which are larger in … Read More