Can’t say I approve of this general system-level shift toward the gamification of video games that started with Achievements in 2005.
With the PS5 dashboard/menu, it seems the platform holder is encouraging the splitting of games into these distinct meta-chunks each with their own completion percentages and making every little thing in a game a “thing to do” that the developer optimises for the highest completion across the playerbase.
That’s all well and good if mandatory happiness is the highest goal for people playing video games, but it all feels like a fake, scientific, manufactured enjoyment, where the games are, in fact, playing us.
Concerns aside it’s clearly a really well programmed piece of engineering, the picture-in-picture stuff surprised me, in general it feels like this is what Microsoft should have put their engineering efforts toward with Xbox One’s original dashboard, which was well engineered but ultimately the wrong product.
What Sony has produced at the platform level with PS5 is absolutely the right product for today’s big games, especially service games.
The outrage that the XSX UI is “low resolution” 1080p is hilarious to me.
That said, I wasn’t too interested in PS5 or XSS/X upon reveal. However I may be coming around to the XSS. I skipped this gen and was thinking of getting a Switch, but for $300 and $10/mo for console Game Pass I may bite. With the Switch Pro rumors still swirling, and joy con drift-gate, I may get a new xbox and wait on the Switch. If I did it would be my first Xbox since the OG.
I’m trying to go the cold storage route and having a ton of space is vital for me. I don’t want to spend 200+ bucks on an M2. Nvme drive just for storage. I rather get a cheaper external hard drive with more space and alternate between games I would want to install on the main Nvme in the PS5 or maybe even put it on the extra M2 Nvme drive that is certified to work on the PS5.
For me, I would get an extra Nvme to add space to play PS5 games, and then get a 4TB or more external hard drive to store all the games I would want and switch between so I don’t have to keep downloading/redownloading them, definitely if the games are huge in file size.
I wonder if it would be possible to trick the PS5 into thinking a local NAS box is connected like a normal USB drive. Then you could have 30tb of storage!
Lol. But as for the 4TB Nvme, well, it would need a read speed of 7000MB/s to work on the PS5 for playing PS5 games on it. If it’s less than that like the usual 3000MB/s then it can only be used as storage for PS5 games, and at that point I would want more space for a cheaper price for that.=O
I just read that the PS5 won’t support expanded storage at launch and even worse it won’t have the cold storage option to store PS5 games on to an external hard drive for later use which is simply absurd IMO. I can’t believe they won’t allow that but the XSX does, they need to fix that.
I assume some of those things would be fixed soon after launch, but then again they made us wait for ages for folders, too.
Because I have so much else going on and didn’t intend to buy either of these boxes this year, I haven’t paid much attention to the hardware details. I see the PS5 reviews are pretty positive though, especially for the controller. I finish my master’s degree next August and feel like that’s a good time to reward myself with some shiny new hardware…
I’m glad PS5 BC delivers, going from Digital Foundry’s video. Presumably the warning messages at boot on games that otherwise seem to run fine are just there because they haven’t been tested yet and there’s a verification check against a list of games that have been tested (bit like Vita TV except they don’t block you from booting the game)
The new consoles do look like impressive approaches to engineering, but I really do get the impression that a lot of software and even updates were pushed back due to companies struggling amidst the pandemic. Bit of a catch-22 for the platform holders, you’ll want to get hardware out there since there’s an increased appetite for home entertainment, but at the same time production has been hampered on the software side.
Just feels like a bit of a non-event overall these two console launches, like the hype has been a direct result of marketing rather than anything of substance like previous new generations have (or have tried) to deliver.
Meh, I feel standardized SSDs and quick resume are already a much more substantive leap in term of usability than anything the HD Twins 2, which were the HD Twins But (not enough) Better, did.
It depends, the current generation saw both onboard storage and memory increase massively, which enabled a new generation of popular games built around service models and updates.
The SSD is pretty much just clawing load times back to what they were like on the older disc based consoles, let alone cartridges. It’s a big deal but it’s hardly enabling new types of games. It’s a bit like going from a slow UMD drive of a PSP-1000 to the PSP go, which enabled drastically faster loads but it also had quick resume (for one game only, mind).
It supports expanded storage for PS4 games though, which means I’ll just put all my PS4 stuff on there and only use the PS5 storage for PS5 games. It seems like all you have to do if you already use an external drive is swap it to the PS5.
With the PS5 only having 667GB for it’s main SSD and games already going over 100GB that space won’t last long at all. It’s why it needed the cold storage option so you can store PS5 games on there and not have to worry about redownloading and if you have data caps, and since the XSX does cold storage for XSX games the PS5 should do it too. There’s no excuse for the PS5 to not allow you to store PS5 games for cold storage considering not only XSX does it but the file sizes, how many games you would get and such.
Can’t wait for my Series X to come this week. My OG Xbox One died a month ago so I’ve been playing a bit of Rocket League on my Switch which is fine but I really want to get back in to Tony Hawk again and try some of these optimised games.
While I do agree it will become a problem, I also think they’ll rectify it relatively quickly. One thing I think both manufacturers are counting on is the price of SSD coming down so people can more cheaply upgrade. With them forcing this standard, that’s probably a good assumption.
It’s a concern, but we’ve been playing musical installs on PS4 and Xbox One for awhile now already. I’m just glad I can put all the PS4 stuff on the external. I’m already moving things in preparation for Thursday.
Yeah that should fix that within some months hopefully at the earliest, because I plan to use an external hard drive and 1 possible expanded Nvme with a PS5.
Maybe I’m more disconnected than ever from the enthusiast realm (which is probable) but it feels like it is not as hyped to me. I’ll admit I’m not taking in all the news and videos and reveals like I did the last two generational changes. Still … I’d like to jump in relatively soon, next summer.
I’m super pumped for both systems. I’ve got the PS5 coming today.
I’m stuck at work so I probably won’t be able to play it tonight.
Also what external hard drives is everyone using?
Currently I’m using 1TB on both my PS4 and One X but both have been full for awhile and with all these “Free” games they are giving us I’m considering getting some enclosures and putting some 4TB drives in them. I’m getting sick of deleting things and with SSD space being a premium I’m going to keep all my last gen games on external drives except for fighters since I need quick load times on those.
