Don’t worry. You’ll know in advance when you’ll be able to pre-order the PlayStation 5, Sony confirmed on Friday. During The Game Awards, creator Geoff Keighley’s hands-on demo for the PS5’s DualSense controller, Eric Lempel, Sony’s worldwide head of marketing, stated that the company would provide ample notice for people.
Keighley asked if Lempel was ready to press a button after rumors swirled on social media earlier in the week that PS5 pre-orders were imminent. Lempel insisted that he and PlayStation had no clue as to where those rumors came from. He was even getting messages from his team that people were already lining up in stores for it.
Lempel assured viewers that they weren’t going to release PS5 pre-orders without a moment’s notice and that everyone could relax.
Lempel then went onto explain that if it weren’t for the coronavirus pandemic, Sony would have had a hands-on marketing plan to get the PS5 into gamers’ hands before launch to test out the console.
The rest of the video showed Keighley going hands-on with the controller testing out Astro’s Playroom, a small game that will come pre-installed on the console to showcase the functionality of the controller.
While platforming as AstroBot, Keighley moved the character through different environments such as a sandstorm and snow-capped mountains. Depending on the type of ground that AstroBot was walking on determined the sensation that the haptic feedback provided. This was combined with a more far-reaching and deeper speaker in the controller, further immersing the player.
To show off the adaptive triggers, the game had AstroBot don a frog costume with a spring at its base. How much Keighley pressed on the trigger determined the amount the spring would compress. The deeper it squeezed, the more tension that was applied to the trigger. Tilting the DualSense left or right aimed the character in a direction, and releasing the trigger allowed it to jump to another platform.
At the end of the level, Keighley collected a PlayStation 3, with elements of the environment comprised of actual hardware components that are a part of the PS5. The title is not only designed around the DualSense’s features but is a celebration of PlayStation’s history.
It’s a shame that players won’t be able to try the PS5 and its new DualSense controller for themselves before launch, but at least they’ll be prepared to acquire one when the time eventually comes.
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