Sony
Sony announced the first details on the next generation PlayStation system. The PS5 has some exciting features such as supporting 8K visuals, ray tracing, more storage and the new gaming console will continue to use physical discs.
The upcoming PlayStation 5 has some new hardware that gamers have been asking for including super speedy SSDs, plus the gaming device will offer 3D audio and backwards compatibility with existing PS4 games. The details of the PS5 were released in a Wired article with an interview with Mark Cerny, the lead system architect for the PS4.
The PlayStation 5 is not just a spec-upgrade like the PS4 Pro, there is all-new hardware in the PS5. The performance will be enhanced thanks to an eight-core CPU based on third-generation AMD Ryzen processor line and boasts the company’s latest 7nm Zen 2 microarchitecture and is paired with a custom Radeon Navi GPU.
The PlayStation 5 will support ray tracing graphics, which traditionally has only been privy to Hollywood special effects studios. Ray tracing is a “rendering technique for generating an image by tracing the path of light as pixels in an image plane and simulating the effects of its encounters with virtual objects.”
“If you wanted to run tests to see if the player can hear certain audio sources or if the enemies can hear the players’ footsteps, ray tracing is useful for that,” Cerny said. “It’s all the same thing as taking a ray through the environment.”
The graphics will be extraordinary as long as you have an 8K TV. There is a custom 3D audio component for state-of-the-art sound, especially for those wearing headphones. Sony confirmed that the PS5 will work with the PSVR headset. The PlayStation 5 will replace the typical hard drive with “a little more specialized” SSD, which allows Spider-Man to load from 15 seconds on the PS4 to 0.8 on the PS5.
To recap, here is what you can expect from the PlayStation 5:
- 8 Core AMD Processor
- Radeon Navi GPU
- Ray Tracing
- SSD and More Storage
- Still using Physical Media
- Backwards Compatible with PS4 Games
Sony won’t be participating in the 2019 E3 show, so when we’ll actually get to see this new console is still up in the air. Cerny did say that the PlayStation 5 won’t be out in 2019. He also said that developers already have access to devkits to develop games for the PS5, so you can expect the device to launch sometime in 2020.
[Forbes]