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Sacred Symbols – The PS5 Hardware Analysed

Following the ‘future of gaming’ live event from Sony, the PlayStation 5 has been revealed, and many are already getting ready to buy one when it comes out this holiday season. Want the latest on the PS5 console, its different versions, and all of the accessories/peripherals that you will be able to get to go along with it? Read on to find out more.

The Console

Upon launch, PlayStation 5 will be available in two different variations:

  • The standard edition of the PS5 will feature an upgraded 4K UHD Blu-Ray drive, as opposed to the lesser Blu-Ray drive found in the PS3 and PS4 consoles. While it will allow you to play disk-based games and many of the PS4 disk titles that you already own, it will also probably be the more expensive option of the two, due to the added part.
  • The surprising ‘digital edition’ of course will have no disk drive, and will rely on purely downloaded games; it’s indicative of the way the gaming landscape is going at the moment, and many people are already buying games exclusively digitally in order to save shelf space.

Aside from the drive omission, it is unclear yet as to whether there will be any other changes (such as a compensating hard drive storage boost, for example), but one thing that’s for sure is that the design looks much sleeker and smart than the standard version. It’s as if this is the design that Sony went for, and had to tack-on the physical disk drive after the fact.

Aside from the two SKUs that will be available to purchase at launch, some key features of the PS5 box itself include its custom SSD, allowing games and data to load in an instant, and a state-of-the-art GPU, allowing for stunning graphical fidelity and things like ray tracing reflections in titles.

The console will also support backwards compatibility, being based on the architecture and blueprints set in place by the PS4, and it will run the majority of big games at launch, either in a PS4 ‘legacy mode’ or a PS4 Pro ‘legacy mode’.

Developing your game – This new hardware from Sony, and the Xbox’s new hardware from Microsoft for that matter, provides game companies and developers with a new opportunity to create ground-breaking experiences, and tools are already being built to help those with ideas to bring their visions to light.

Epic Games, for instance, have already shown off their impressive Unreal Engine V toolset, built for helping to, as CEO Tim Sweeney stated, “make developers’ lives easier and more productive”. This means that any team, given the time and right amount of practice/training, will be able to develop something exciting for the platform, from American games studios, to Dutch games studios, to Japanese games studios and more.

Accessories and peripherals

Aside from the console itself. Sony showed off a range of interesting additional peripherals and accessories. Here’s what you can expect to see taking up shelf space next to the white box come this holiday season:

  • The Controller: The impressive DualSense controller looks to be a significant improvement from the previous DualShock 4, with haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, a touchpad, improved grips and a refreshed design, and even a built-in microphone. It will likely cost a pretty penny to replace, and so try not to take out your anger on it as much when your friends are beating you at FIFA.
  • The HD Camera: Sharing and streaming have become a huge part of video game culture in the modern-day, and so alongside the ‘create’ button on the controller, aspiring streamers will be glad to hear that a new camera is on the way for the PS5. It shares the same sleek white design and sports dual 1080p lenses.
  • The Headset – Helping you to reach full immersion and make the most of the new 3D audio of the PS5, Sony will, of course, be launching an official headset for the PlayStation 5. A fully wireless over-ear option with dual noise-cancelling microphones, it should help you to get engrossed when grabbing the controller to sit down and play.
  • The Charging Station – Perhaps one of the less interesting add-ons but still a necessary option, the DualSense charging station provides both somewhere for you to stylishly store two of your controllers when you’re not playing on the PS5, charging them up in the process ready for the next session.
  • The Media Remote – As a console that will act for many as a 4K media streaming device also, for films and television (and particularly those who have a 4K Blu-Ray collection), the media remote provides a great way of controlling the system when using it for alternative means. This might also make it easier for family members that don’t play the console to operate it when you’re not around to help navigate the DualSense controller.