Following the hugely successful reveal of the PS5 console on the 11th of June, the PlayStation 5 console has been shown to the public in all its abstract, dual-tone glory, alongside a slew of extremely promising exclusive titles within the launch slate for the next year.
Excited to get your hands on a brand-spanking-new piece of Sony hardware in the fall, and want to know more about the PS5 console? We’ve compiled a short list of key features that the PlayStation 5 has that you can look forward to.
Digital Vs. Physical
In a surprise move for many, Sony revealed at the PS5 event that there would be multiple versions of the PlayStation 5; these were not just colour variations or incremental hard drive space bands, but a completely different model depending on how you prefer to purchase and play your games. The standard edition will feature an upgraded 4K UHD Blu Ray Drive, which juts out in quite an ugly bulk at the right side of the console, while the ‘digital edition’ is much more symmetrical, and will be download only.
Many are already buying all of their games digitally, and in years to come it seems that digital will be the way that we’re going, although some still like to purchase their games on disk, and with backwards compatibility a component of the PS5, some will want to ensure they can still comfortably play their physical PS4 catalogue. While the pricing for the PS5 has yet to be revealed, many are speculating that the digital version of the PS5 will more than likely be cheaper than the standard PS5 system, due to the removal of the expensive drive part.
The Game Lineup
PS5’s game lineup seems to be as exciting, if not more exciting, than the first look at the console itself. Some of the highlights include Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Gran Turismo 7, Project Athia, Stray, Returnal, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and even Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, which showed the console’s power in it’s trailer by jumping between different worlds in a pinch, something that the PS4 would likely have struggled to pull off outside of a pre-rendered cutscene.
For porting and converting games, development studios such as Abstraction games specialise in different platforms and hardware types, and should adapt to the new challenges presented by the Xbox One and PS5 quickly. Over time, we’ll start to see studios other than immediate first-party teams mastering the hardware and providing breath-taking results on screen for us to enjoy. The future is bright for gamers, that’s for sure!
The DualSense Controller
The PlayStation 5 console or ‘box’ garnered a lot of the attention from media articles and social media posts for its stark, interesting design choices – and the DualSense was also revealed earlier than the console itself, meaning that fans have known what their new control scheme will look like for a while now. However, at the end of the day, the successor to the much-loved DualShock 4, PS4’s trusty pad of choice, is perhaps a much more important piece of the kit, as it’s what you’re going to be spending at least the next few years grasping firmly in your hands when gaming.
Here are some interesting and key features coming to the PS5’s controller, the DualSense:
- Haptic Feedback – Nintendo’s Switch Joy-Cons have gotten a lot of praise for their ‘HD rumble’ feature, which is a high-quality vibration and feedback solution, and Sony seem to be adopting the same sort of idea into the DualSense through haptic feedback. A step further than the simple vibration that we’ve seen in controllers over the years, this advanced feature will give more realistic and immersive feedback when diving into the latest and greatest games.
- Adaptive Triggers – Particularly in first-person shooter games, these upgraded triggers will make the world of difference, and it’s an upgrade that many third party controllers have already implemented, so it’s great we’re finally getting them on an official controller. Adaptive triggers can adjust from a normally spongy response to something more tactile and firm against your finger pressure, again helping with immersion depending on the game and the situation.
- Built-in Microphone – Fitting more essential features into the controller itself, the PS5’s DualSense controller will now contain a microphone, rather than providing a small attachment headset as the PS4 did. Of course, you can still set up and use your own headset as you prefer, and you can disable the microphone if you want, but it’s a great feature that will allow anyone out of the box to enjoy party chat with friends and get competitive in online games.
