If there’s one thing that every Wheaton student needs from time to time, it’s a break. We all work endlessly to accomplish our myriad academic, athletic, and extracurricular goals as we jump from class to task and back again before coming to crash in our dorms for a temporary respite. That downtime is used differently by different people, yet in this digital age, many here on campus choose to use that time to become immersed in video games, this writer included. As such, those who share an interest in this artistic medium and the industry surrounding it will be tantalized to learn about the new PlayStation from the Japanese company Sony. While the company’s ubiquitous platform naming conventions suggested as much, the upcoming fifth PlayStation is to be named the PlayStation 5 and will be launching in the 2020 holiday season. While no price is officially confirmed, analyst consensus pegs this machine in the ballpark of five hundred dollars upon release. Needless to say, start setting aside a bit of that work-study money now.
Naturally, the continued success of the PlayStation brand makes the mere existence of a new console a foregone conclusion, so the suite of new features inherent to the device are where the real excitement is derived from. While details are still scarce, allowing Sony the opportunity to truly blow the doors off the machine at an official reveal event, certain facets of the PlayStation 5 are already known.
First, owners of current PlayStation 4 tech can breathe a sigh of relief, as that systems games will be natively compatible with the PlayStation 5.
Bearing this in mind, cost-concerned students can sell their current hardware and put those funds toward the new machine without losing access to nearly seven years-worth of games. Speaking of which, currently the PlayStation 5 does not have any games announced for it, but developer BluePoint Games (responsible for titles such as Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection) has teased the existence of a “big” project they’re working on for the upcoming machine.
While the software side of the PlayStation 5 remains nebulous, the hardware side is far more solidly developed. Literally, in fact, as the PlayStation 5 features a Solid-State Drive (SSD) internally, which will allow games to load faster and render more information on screen. Beyond the SSD, the other new components of the console are being sourced from prolific tech outfits AMD and Radeon. Sony purports that the PlayStation 5 will be able to run its games at an astonishing 8K resolution, which is to say that the machine will be packing some power and serious image quality—far better than whatever TV sits tucked away in the corner of everyone’s dorm. The DualShock controller is similarly enhanced, featuring haptic feedback technology and adaptive triggers. Cutting through the technology jargon, these innovations will provide for more acute vibration and resistance in the controller to further blur the line between the game world and world around the player.
All in all, tech-minded students here at Wheaton have plenty to look forward to with the upcoming PlayStation 5. While the machine is still a way off, the following months are sure to be full of exciting announcements and updates pertaining to the next generation of gaming. The interim is brimming with tantalizing software to boot, spanning both genre and aesthetic, so there will be plenty to keep everyone busy. But, be sure to start planning any prospective PlayStation 5 purchases now so you can impress your floormates with your new console next holiday season.