NEW YORK, Oct 9 — Sony executive Jim Ryan has announced a Holiday 2020 release window for the PlayStation 5, with system architect Mark Cerny outlining the advantages of solid-state disk drives, modular game installs, and adaptive gamepad triggers.
The PlayStation 5 is to launch during Holiday 2020, according to Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan and the official PlayStation Blog.
Ryan and system architect Mark Cerny elaborated on some details in conversation with Wired magazine.
That pegs the PlayStation 5, as Ryan named it, for November 2020 onwards.
The Holiday season runs from the United States’s Thanksgiving holiday, the last Thursday in November.
However, the PlayStation 4 and subsequent PlayStation 4 Pro both released two weeks before that — the PlayStation 3 a week ahead — suggesting the PlayStation 5 will do the same.
System architect Mark Cerny, who led hardware development on the PlayStation 4, spoke about the PS5’s optical disks, built-in storage, main menu system, and controller.
The PS5 will accept 100GB optical disks via a disk drive that also functions as a 4K Blu-ray player.
It’s a description that stops short of labelling the disks as Blu-rays, even if triple-layer Blu-ray disks have the same 100GB capacity.
Whether acquired through physical disk or digital download, games will need to be installed on the PS5’s Solid State Drive. Players will then choose to install a game’s single-player campaign, multiplayer mode, or both.
This saves SSD space and allows developers to make games that load faster.
From the PS5’s main menu, players will be given info on a game’s single-player progression, missions, and rewards, as well as the multiplayer matches they could join. No need to open the game to find out.
Finally, Cerny spoke about revisions to the PS5’s game pad. It’s to provide a new level of precision regarding built-in, haptic touch force feedback mechanisms.
It appears that Sony has seen the level of granularity available through the Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Cons and is applying something similar for the next PlayStation controllers.
That means mimicking different surfaces with a novel level of accuracy — sand, mud, ice, water, wooden bridges, tarmac road and dirt track were Wired’s examples, with the PlayStation Blog mentioning a race car crash, football tackle, running through fields and grass; shoulder buttons could feel like an archery bow being stretched or a vehicle accelerating through rocky terrain.
Like Sony’s PlayStation division, Microsoft’s Xbox brand is releasing a new console in 2020 and focused on aspects of its Project Scarlett prototype during June 2019’s Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Google is expanding its presence in the gaming space through online streaming service Stadia, which begins a staggered roll-out in November 2019, with a wider expansion planned for 2020. — AFP-Relaxnews
