Sony Finally Unveils the PlayStation 5 & Amazing Next-Gen Games

Sony has finally unveiled its most awaited product of the year, the new Playstation 5 gaming console. The device was revealed at the end of an hour-long virtual event dubbed ‘The future of gaming” along with a slate of games, including a few exclusives and a range of accessories to go with the console.

Design and Layout

Since the past year, many questions were surrounding the design of the console, and saying the very least; the unveiling event was very exciting. Although Sony made us wait till the end of the event, waiting to see what the console looked like was totally worth it.

It looks like Sony has made some major changes with the console’s design. Unlike the PS4 that came with a box-like design, the PS5 features a glossy, curved center with white sides and blue accent lights. Moreover, it comes with a sleek form factor that appears to be much thinner than the Xbox Series X.

Talking about the design, Sony said, “For the overall design, we wanted to deliver a console that’s bold, stunning, and unlike any previous generation of PlayStation.” They certainly did achieve that.

However, the biggest news is that there will be two versions of the console; a regular PS5 and a slightly slimmer (and cheaper) all-digital version with no disc drive. This decision makes sense, as most people have already switched to digital only game purchases in the current generation, mostly because of the plethora of online sales and discounts.

We also got a closer look at the already revealed DualSense controller that follows the same design profile as the console itself. The controller comes with much better haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, motion sensors, a touch pad, a built-in microphone, integrated speaker, headset jack, and a USB-C port.

PS5 Specifications

In March this year, Sony, via Mark Cerny, an American video game designer, programmer, producer, and entertainment executive, detailed the PS5’s specifications with in-depth information on the technical make-up of the console and why it is a big deal.

Overall, as expected, the PS5 is a huge upgrade over its predecessor, mainly owing to the switch to SSDs and Sony’s proprietary SSD architecture and the GPU. Both, the digital version and the regular version are equipped with a custom eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU clocked at 3.5GHz with AMD’s RDNA 2 architecture that promises 10.28 teraflops and 36 compute units clocked at 2.23GHz. As far as the memory specifications are concerned, the device boasts 16GB of GDDR6 RAM and a custom 825GB NVMe SSD.

Next Gen Games

Sony started off the event by playing a compilation of PlayStation favorites of the past, including everything from Uncharted 4 to God of War, getting a quick shoutout followed by several first-party games reveals for the console.

The highlights of the event were Horizon Forbidden West, the sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Project Athia, a new title developed exclusively for the PS5 by Square Enix.

In total, 26 games were revealed during the event. Where some games coming to the PS5 already exist on PS4, like the Grand Theft Auto V, most are brand new names, exclusive to the PS5.

The list of games include:

• Gran Turismo 7
• Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
• Stray
• Returnal
• Sackboy: A Big Adventure
• Destruction Allstars
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits
• Goodbye Volcano High
• Oddworld: Soulstorm
• Ghostwire: Tokyo
• Jett: The Far Shore
• Godfall
• Solar Ash
• Hitman 3
• Astro’s Playroom
• Little Devil Inside
• NBA 2K21
• Bugsnax
• Deathloop
• Resident Evil 8: Village
• Pragmata.

Accessories

Sony also revealed that the PS5 will be getting a new wireless headset, a camera, a media remote, and a charging dock for the DualSense controller.

Although details are slim, the conglomerate detailed that the HD Camera is designed to replace the old PS4 camera accessory and is meant to let players stream footage from their living rooms while playing games.

The headset dubbed Pulse 3D will take place in the PlayStation Gold wireless headset. It comes with 3D audio support and dual noise-cancelation.

The media remote comes with a built-in microphone for voice commands and four unmarked buttons on the bottom of the remote with unknown functionality.

 

Last is the DualSense charging station that can charge up to two DualSense controllers at the same time. Interestingly, the dock does not use the regular USB-C port located at the top of the controller to charge but instead connects through a separate accessory dock at the bottom.

Pricing and Availability

The next generation gaming console will be available for sale during the 2020 holiday season. Although the company did not reveal the pricing details, it is expected that the digital version will cost around $500, while the regular version will cost around $600.