PlayStation 5 revealed, new games and features detailed

After months of questions and a few delays, Sony has officially revealed the PlayStation 5. 

The next-gen console was revealed alongside a slew of different titles including Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Resident Evil 8, and many more. Sony made the reveal in an online event that was streamed on YouTube and Twitch, which garnered over 1 million live viewers across both streaming platforms.

Response to the event was generally positive, with the long list of titles and broad appeal giving gamers of all sorts something to look forward to. Included in the reveal was a teaser trailer for NBA 2K21, which was tailor-made to show off the extra power of the PS5.

PlayStation 5 new features, release date, price

News on the PlayStation 5 has been released slowly for over a year now, with small leaks and reveals being made every few months. 

From a technical perspective, the PlayStation 5 will set itself apart from the PlayStation 4 through its solid state drive. Though the PS4 is a powerful piece of technology, the HDD has held the console back from both a user experience perspective and a game development perspective, giving players long load times and placing tight restrictions on developers in terms of how much of a game can be loaded in a given amount of time.

The side-by-side comparison that was used in 2019 to demonstrate the power spike offered by an SSD was the popular Spider-Man title released in 2018. The game itself was optimized for the PS4 in order to have the city load at a rate identical to Spider-Man’s movement speed. With a SSD, the city loaded in at a speed that could accommodate a fighter jet.

The other major advancement is the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller. Though the controller looks largely similar to the DualShock controllers of the past, the DualSense has a few new features including a built-in microphone for online gaming as well as dynamic sensitivity for the triggers. It also has an improved rumble feature that will likely be more in line with that of the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Cons.

Interestingly, there were two PlayStation 5 models revealed including a standard and digital-only console. Digital-only consoles is something Sony has been intrigued in for years, starting with the PSP Go in 2009.

Unfortunately, a number of key questions were not answered. No exact release date was announced, with the game’s tentative “Holiday 2020” launch window not being narrowed further. No price point was given for either model of the PlayStation 5, or its accessories. And no explicit information was given on backwards compatibility.