Sony’s Jim Ryan took to the stage at CES to give us highlights of the PS4’s performance, including surpassing the 106m units sold milestone and PSVR reaching sales of 5m units, but in amongst this we had some new information and the highlights of the PS5’s key selling points, and while it’s nothing new to anyone who has been following, it’s an indicator of where Sony is targetting development for the next generation.
Official PS5 Logo revealed:
Yes, it looks exactly like we all thought it would.
PS5 Key Features:
3D Audio Sound: This isn’t so much a new feature as it is already available for PSVR. How this will be implemented in the next generation remains to be seen though. We recently reviewed the Audeze Mobius which utilizes Waves NX processing and head tracking which allows you to move your head around within the sound space. While it was useful for multi-screen PC setups, it isn’t as effective on single screen arrangements as you don’t really want to be looking away from the screen. It does sound amazing, however, so we’ll chalk this up as an interesting proposition for now.
Haptics/Adaptive Triggers: Haptic feedback through the triggers is something Xbox gamers have been enjoying since 2013, and it does genuinely bring something useful to the experience (even if it can be a bit loud and rattly sometimes). The adaptive side of this equation is the interesting part, as if they can customise the amount of resistance through the triggers it has many practical applications where it could greatly enhance the experience. Variable resistance on triggers can be applied in shooters, racing games… In the hands of developers, we can expect some unique usage ideas to surface.
Ultra-High Speed SSD: It goes without saying this is one of the most important features for the new consoles. How they tackle the problem of game install sizes remains to be seen, and whether you can easily transfer games even play them from external storage. Games from the PS4 era will no doubt run fine from an external drive, albeit without the improved loading times, but we imagine PS5 games may require the SSD for them to run as intended. With games already pushing over 100Gb installations, some clever solution needs to be developed.
Hardware-Based Ray Tracing: Vaunted as the next big thing in gaming graphics, ray tracing creates more lifelike use of lighting and reflections, and from what we’ve seen so far it’s very impressive. The caveat is that it takes a lot of processor and GPU power to run at a decent frame rate, with only current high-end gaming rigs able to do it justice and keep it ticking above 60fps. This is definitely something we’ll be reporting on as we find out more.
Ultra HD Blu-Ray: While many argued it should have been included with the PS4 Pro, seeing how Microsoft made it available for both the One S and One X, it clearly didn’t hurt sales of the console. Thankfully, Sony’s newest offering will indeed have a UHD Blu-Ray player as standard. In today’s era of 4k streaming, it may only have limited appeal, but it’s a no-brainer that they put one in the PS5, especially as Sony were the original champions of the Blu-Ray format.
With around eleven months until the actual release, we can expect the hype to build for Sony’s powerhouse new console, and with the official reveal surely not far away, we’ll be bringing you all the PS5 news as it happens!
