When I wake up on a Tuesday morning, I usually expect some light gaming news, maybe a few reviews for the week’s new releases, and that’s about it. What I don’t expect, is Sony casually announcing the official title of the PlayStation 5, a release window, and new details in the form of a few new articles.
What used to be saved for a big event and massive fanfare has been instead relegated to a random Tuesday in October. It’s odd, to be sure, but I’m not complaining. Let’s break down this exciting news!
The PS5 is Official, Coming to Your Living Room in Holiday 2020
The biggest confirmations here come in the form of the official name for the console and a release window. It’s not surprising that the system is called the “PlayStation 5,” but it’s always nice to know that for certain so we can move on to juicier details.
The second confirmation we received, courtesy of The PlayStation Blog, is that the PS5 is launching in holiday 2020. This puts it in line with Microsoft’s plans and in line with our own predictions from several years ago (had to brag, feels good to be right!).
Wonderful news all around, and if they stopped there it would be enough to keep us hyped well into 2020, but Sony was apparently feeling generous today. We also received some new updates regarding discs, the specs, and even some new details about the next DualShock controller!
New PS5 Details: Hardware Details, Discs Confirmed, and A Fancy New DualShock!
System Architect Mark Cerny and Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan sat down with WIRED magazine once again to deliver an exclusive article posted on the morning of October 8th. This is the second time the magazine has been used as a vessel to deliver PS5 news.
Right off the bat, Mark Cerny clarifies something about the Ray Tracing that broke the internet when it was first mentioned. Specifically, this is not a software-based technique. Today he confirmed that “there is ray-tracing acceleration in the GPU hardware.” Nice!
Physical discs are confirmed as well, and installs will be mandatory once again. This allows the SSD drive in the new console to work its magic and eliminate the need for long load times or needless developer magic to make things work.
The optical drive will use 100GB discs and is confirmed to double as a 4K Blu-ray player as well. Another victory for physical media. Cerny also confirmed that you’ll have more control over what you install. If you just want to install multiplayer, that’s fine. You can also install and delete just the single player campaign when you’re finished, which is more flexibility than we’ve seen.
The WIRED author also got hands on the new controller prototype. It’s not called the DualShock 5 yet, but he did mention what looked to be a microphone, which points to the recent patent regarding a virtual assistant. Sony declined to confirm or deny this feature, and instead just said they file patents all the time and some may become features later on.
Mark Cerny chose to highlight a few specific aspects of the controller. The first were “adaptive triggers” that give you different levels of resistance for things like pulling back a bow. The controller also has haptic feedback in the form of programmable voice-coil actuators. Say goodbye to the old rumble, this is the new hotness.
Some demos shown to the WIRED author demonstrated how the control can offer different feelings for moving across varying surfaces. Sand actually feels thick and slow, while mud feels slower and wet based on the feedback you feel from the controller.
Even something like jumping in water has a bouncy feeling, according to the author. This also extends to a racing demo that let you feel the difference between driving on a road or on the dirt. Apparently, Sony has been working on haptic feedback for some time and decided to save it for the next-gen console.
A larger battery and USB-C charging is confirmed as well. The controller will be heavier, but the report says it will still be lighter than your average Xbox One controller (got ‘em).
A wonderful wave of news, and an official name. The PlayStation 5 is official, fellow gamers, lets us know what you think in the comments!
Article by – Bradley Ramsey
Insert date – 10/8/19