Coming to the end of the Playstation 4 cycle, Sony has announced its successor, the Playstation 5 is slated to launch during the Holiday season of 2020. And as expected of a giant conglomerate like Sony, there are a few leaks here and there regarding the design, its controller, as well as the overall architecture. Listed below is what we know so far on the brand’s next generation console.
Price
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) will launch PlayStation®5 (PS5™) in several countries in the holiday season of 2020 and will make PlayStation®5 (PS5™) available in North America on November 20, 2020 at a recommended retail price (RRP) of $499 pic.twitter.com/fe4jKlHmrH
— PlayStation (@PSErebus) November 19, 2019
The Playstation 5 is slated to be priced at USD 499 (approximately RM 2050) when it first launches in North America, which is about USD 100 more than the Playstation 4 when it first launched. There were also rumours that the console could reach a stratospheric price of around USD 1000, but Sony themselves have already confirmed that it won’t be priced in such a way, presumably to keep in line with the Xbox Series X.
Playstation 5 Pro
Picture Credit: Lets Go Digital
As reported by WCCFTech, journalist Zenji Nishikawa has suggested that Sony may very well launch the base model PS5 and PS5 Pro together as the brand recognises interest in the higher-end model and wants to give the customers the option to buy straight from launch. These are just rumours however, and may or may not occur depending on the timeline that Sony has set.
Revamped Controller
Credit: Japanese Patent Office
While the leaked designs suggest that the controller will still retain the shape of the Dualshock 4, its the changes under the hood that make for the most significant changes, one of which is the replacement of the rumblers for haptic feedback to deliver a more tailored response when it comes to interacting with the game environment. Adaptive triggers (the L2/R2 triggers) will be included in to allow programs to adjust resistance for a more varied feel whether it be pulling a bow and simulating trigger feel.
Backwards Compatibility
Sony has also been working on a remastering engine that allows the PS5 to play virtually any game from the PS1 all the way to the PS4.
PS5 Specs
The PS5 will run on a bespoke 8-core AMD chipset with NAVI GPU, similar to the third generation Ryzen architecture, while storage capabilities are handled using a SSD. More importantly however, is that AMD’s new combo allows for ray tracing technology to be implemented, meaning more believable and detailed lighting in game, translating to a more vivid image.
The PS5 will also support 3D audio and 8K TV support, for a true immersive experience that comes close to a full cinematic experience.
The Optical Disc Reader Will Stay
For those wanting for a physical touch, physical CDs are here to stay, inserted into the Optical Disc Drive which doubles as a 4k Blu-Ray player should the user wants to watch movies.
