Sony is finally ready to lift the curtain on the PlayStation 5 this morning.
The livestream begins at 9 a.m PT/12 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 18, on the PlayStation Blog. It will mark the first real look at the system beyond a previous logo reveal during Sony’s Consumer Electronic Show 2020 presentation.
The company announced on social media on Tuesday that Mark Cerny, the PS5’s lead system architect, will “provide a deep dive into PS5’s system architecture and how it will shape the future of games.”
Tomorrow at 9am Pacific Time, PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny will provide a deep dive into
PS5 ’s system architecture, and how it will shape the future of games.Watch tomorrow at PlayStation Blog: https://t.co/bgP1rXMeC8 pic.twitter.com/BSYX9tOYhE
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) March 17, 2020
The move comes after Microsoft unveiled the full Xbox Series X specs at the beginning of the week, on March 16. Both systems will use solid-state drives and are based on AMD’s Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures, graphics chips that focus on delivering ray tracing and variable rate shading.
Microsoft boasted that the Xbox Series X has 12 teraflops of power and called it “the most powerful” console ever made. Expect Sony to rebuff that statement before both consoles release this holiday season.
Cerny, who also served as the lead system architect on the PlayStation 4, previously spoke about the design philosophy of the PS5. Similar to Microsoft, Sony will focus on lowering load times by using a solid-state drive and making sure games perform at higher resolutions and frame rates than on previous consoles.
“We’re very used to flying logos at the start of the game and graphic-heavy selection screens,” Cerny said in an interview with Wired in 2019. “Even things like multiplayer lobbies and intentionally detailed loadout processes, because you don’t want players just to be waiting.”
While much about the console is currently unknown, the company did detail some changes to its DualShock controllers. Haptic feedback will replace the current version’s rumble technology, which Sony claims will deliver a more expansive range of feedback to players. In effect, doing things like driving a car on the grass or slamming into a wall will feel different in a game like Gran Turismo. The currently unnamed controller will feature adaptive triggers that will allow developers to program the resistance the L2 and R2 buttons offer up players. The controller will also feature an improved speaker from the current DualShock 4.
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