Posted in: Games, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Video Games | Tagged: playstation, playstation 5, sony

Sony Officially Announces The PlayStation 5 For 2020 Holidays

Published Tue, 08 Oct 2019 08:40:38 -0500

Last updated Tue, 08 Oct 2019 10:31:32 -0500

Sony dropped a light bombshell this morning, announcing that the PlayStation 5 will be released during the 2020 holiday season. The news comes after Sony gave WIRED an exclusive look at the new console, also confirming that PlayStation5/PS5 will be the official name of the console, like we had any doubt. It was also confirmed that the PS5 will be backward compatible with PS4 and PSVR games, but no word on any other previous-gen consoles. The company also took to their own blog to confirm that the console will be getting a new controller but didn't show what it would look like and only gave a brief description of the new "adaptive trigger" buttons.

Sony Officially Announces The PlayStation 5 For 2020 Holidays — Credit: Sony

To that end, there are two key innovations with the PlayStation 5's new controller. First, we're adopting haptic feedback to replace the "rumble" technology found in controllers since the 5th generation of consoles. With haptics, you truly feel a broader range of feedback, so crashing into a wall in a race car feels much different than making a tackle on the football field. You can even get a sense for a variety of textures when running through fields of grass or plodding through mud.

The second innovation is something we call adaptive triggers, which have been incorporated into the trigger buttons (L2/R2). Developers can program the resistance of the triggers so that you feel the tactile sensation of drawing a bow and arrow or accelerating an off-road vehicle through rocky terrain. In combination with the haptics, this can produce a powerful experience that better simulates various actions. Game creators have started to receive early versions of the new controller, and we can't wait to see where their imagination goes with these new features at their disposal.

We're guessing that we won't find out more until one of two things happens. Either Sony relaunches PSX in San Francisco this December like some have rumored they will be. Or we'll get a preview on one of their State Of Play videos sometime in the near future. Either way, the company has now given themselves a 14-month countdown, meaning we're finally going to see more in the months to come.

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