Sony announces new gaming console

By Kyle Winfield, Technology Editor

Originally published October 19, 2019.

 

On October 8th, Sony announced the release date and title for it’s new gaming console, the PlayStation 5. This announcement comes at an odd time, as there usually is a time and place for such an announcement, that being the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or “E3.”

 

That aside, in a blog post written by Jim Ryan, and posted on the official PlayStation blog site, the announcement revealed that the current release date is sitting somewhere in the 2020 holiday timeframe.

 

Also revealed was the new controller, and how Sony is working to expand immersion, by way of this new controller. “Rumble” or the traditional vibration usually felt while playing a game will be replaced by “haptic feedback”. As stated in the blog post “With haptics, you truly feel a broader range of feedback,” and that “crashing into a wall in a race car feels much different than a tackle on the football field.”

 

Feelings of textures will also be included in this new haptic feedback feature. The second new addition is what Ryan refers to as “Adaptive Triggers.” These will be integrated into the L2/R2 spaces on a controller and will allow developers to “program the resistance of the triggers so that you feel the tactile sensations of drawing a bow and arrow or accelerating an off-road vehicle.”

 

While these new controller additions were announced along with a release window, the one thing many people are wondering about, i.e. the price has not been announced. It is also interesting to note that the release window will coincide with the release window for Microsoft’s Project Scarlett, their new console project.

 

While not revealed in the PlayStation blog post, Mark Cerny, an executive with Sony among other things, gave an interview with Wired. In this interview, the PS5’s specs were detailed. Interestingly enough, the concept of “ray tracing” was brought up. Peter Rubin of Wired noted that “ray tracing is a staple of Hollywood visual effects” and that “no game console has been able to manage it. Yet.”

 

This could spell an interesting and very advanced future for fans of Sony’s products. But it should be kept in mind. With all this advanced tech going into this console, it certainly won’t be cheap.