Sony’s PlayStation 5 was one of 2020s most anticipated releases and it sure lived up to the hype.
The next-gen console was released on November 12, 2020. Most of the units were sold out through pre-ordering even before the product was released and the remaining units were out of stock by November 20. Big companies like Walmart, BestBuy and Amazon have not been able to restock the product to date.
People who were able to get their hands on the console are making a quick buck by listing it on sites like eBay for double or triple the retail price.
So why the buzz around this new console? Is it any better than the previous model? For starters, the specs of the PS5 make the PS4 look like it was developed by Neanderthals in 2013 BC: Before COVID.
The next-gen console is powered by an AMD chip with eight Zen 2 central processing units (CPU) and an RDNA 2 graphics processing unit (GPU) which is eight times more powerful than its predecessor.
This allows the PS5 to push out mesmerizing 4k graphics at 120 FPS and 8k at 60 FPS. For those who might not be familiar with gaming jargon, FPS stands for frames per second, an upgrade that gamers have been longing for as the PS4 was only capable of pushing out 60 FPS. Better frames equals more responsive gaming, more responsive gaming equals happier gamers.
The PS5 boasts an 825GB SSD internal storage. That’s a 65 per cent increase from the original PS4’s 500 GB HDD internal storage. This allows users to save more games and game files on the console and reduce load up time for a smoother experience.
People upgrading from the PS4 to the PS5 do not need to throw out their old game CDs.
The next-gen console is capable of backward compatibility, allowing PS4 games to be run on the PS5. Hideaki Nishino, the senior vice president of platform planning at Sony said in a blog post that, “more than 99 percent of the 4000+ games available on PS4 will be playable on PS5,” with shorter load-up time than the old console.
The PlayStation 5 comes with an all-new controller titled DualSense, an upgrade from its predecessor DualShock. The new controller boasts a better battery life, haptic feedback and the brand-new adaptive trigger feature.
Adaptive trigger is a concept wherein the user will feel varying resistance when pushing down the trigger buttons. Pressing the trigger to pedal a bicycle in game will feel very different from pressing the trigger to accelerate a race car. Similarly, firing a pistol will require its own unique resistance while firing a shotgun will feel like you are firing a 12 gauge.
This is the first time Sony is selling two models of the same console at launch – the standard PS5 which retails at $629 and the digital edition for $499, which as the name suggests can support games bought from the online PlayStation store and not actual disks.
The next-gen machine is a huge leap from its predecessor and is a must-buy for avid console gamers, well, if you can find one available.