Last night the entire gaming world came to a standstill as we waited with bated breath to get our first look at the upcoming PlayStation 5. I thought I would wait until now to give my thoughts rather than join in with the millions of knee jerk reactions online as the showcase was going on.
PlayStation 5 Hardware
Unlike Sony, I am not gonna wait an hour to get to the actual console itself. Let’s dive straight in and take a look at what is possibly the most coveted consumer item in the world right now
Whilst my initial reaction last night was one that the PS5 looks like an oversized router. After having slept on it now I feel just sort of “meh” about the design. It isn’t necessarily bad it just doesn’t blow me away.
There are indeed two versions of the PS5 at launch. The physical edition which includes an ultra 4K blu-ray DVD drive and the digital edition which doesn’t.
I am sure there are plenty of arguments happening in gaming groups across the internet right now over which is better. Whilst I am a predominantly digital gamer and actually own no physical media at all anymore I personally lean towards the digital edition. Also the blu-ray drive just tacked on to the side of the physical edition looks bloody awful!
That been said it is more probable that I will end up getting the physical edition purely for work reasons. I buy all my games digital now and most review’s we carry out here at Stoffel Presents are usually thanks to receiving digital codes. However, occasionally we do get sent promotional copies of games on disc. While I expect this to be a lot less frequent in the next generation but still feel like I would be better off hedging my bets.
Other than revealing the look of the PS5 and the existence of the two versions of the console we got absolutely nothing about the PS5. We saw a tiny glimpse of the boot up screen but were told nothing about its features.
Even worse than this is we got absolutely no clarity on the PS5 price. With Amazon place holder listings doing the internet rounds showing pre-order prices at £599.99 last night would have been a great time for Sony to reveal the price.
Media Remote
The reveal of the PS5 Media Remote was a weird addition for me. It instantly harks back to the PS3 being touted as a full media system rather than just a games console.
Looking at the picture above the main things that jump out to me are that the remote looks like its designed for viewing streaming services such as Netflix and Disney +
The button in the middle of the top row looks like it is used to activate voice commands. A criminally underused and largely inaccurate feature on the PS4.
Finally, there are four unmarked buttons at the bottom of the remote that we have absolutely no idea what these are used for. I am sure we will hear more closer to launch but for now, we have no choice but to see what crazy ideas the internet comes up with.
Pulse 3D Wireless Headset
The Pulse 3D Wireless Headset is designed to take the place of the current PlayStation Gold headset. Sony has been pushing the audio advancements of the PS5 quite heavily in the build-up to the console’s launch.
Honestly, the audio capabilities of the PS5 excite me the most. I was never expecting massive graphical leaps in the next generation of consoles and I think we saw that in the game trailers last night.
I feel that the next generation of consoles are more about the gameplay experience than the aesthetics and the Pulse 3D Wireless Headset is going to be at the core of that immersion.
The new HD camera that is designed to replace the current PS4 camera has dual 1080p lenses and makes me wonder if Sony are including an HD camera for streaming will the PS5 come with OBS integration?
Lets be honest the current streaming layout on PS4 right now is down right horrible. By simply allowing streamers to use OBS while streaming direct from PlayStation 5 will be a massive draw for amateur streamers who are saving up hundreds for a PC set up to better their streams.
Conclusion
As a PlayStation gamer I am still incredibly excited for the release of the PS5 but last nights reveal was fairly underwhelming. I wish Sony would have given us a launch date, a price and shown a few of its features.
That been said I believe that the audio features linked with the Haptic Feedback of the DualSense controller are going to provide a unique and immersive experience. How can you portray that experience on screen?
If gaming events like Gamescom and EGX had gone ahead this year I truly feel we would know a lot more about the PS5 now. People the world over would have played carefully selected Demonstrations of the PS5 and would be sharing their thoughts with the world.
Not being able to put the PS5 direct into the hands of gamers has stunted the PS5 ‘s hype building and Sony look to be flopping about has they go silent, play coy and release tiny bits of information at a time.
Sony are trying to look cool and mysterious. Attempting to look like they are above competition and pressure but in reality we all know that the current world pandemic has completely destroyed their marketing campaign and they have no plan B.
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