By 
Gamers around the world are giggling with excitement as the announcement of the upcoming PlayStation 5 nears and as much as some people may argue that it is still early, the rumour mill has no timeline, here’s everything we know about the Sony PlayStation 5:
Putting an End to Explicit Content
It has been disclosed of Sony’s plans to carry out strict crack down on content that is sexually offensive on their gem, the PlayStation and more specifically, the games that come with it. Reports point to a statement by a Sony representative that this decision was mainly made on the rise of the #MeToo movement that has seen individuals in powerful and prestigious positions in entertainment and tech industries mostly stripped off in shame amid accusations of harassment and sexual assault surfacing.
The spokesperson reported that the new “in-house” standards would be executed so that creators/developers, and also make certain that the video game experience, does not become a block to sound growth and development to young people.
Start off your week with tech news recap and trending conversations in your inbox
But Sony may not just be concerned with their users’ welfare and the ethics surrounding game development like this also ruins their general image of the platform. With the flip of a coin that has been going on in these industries due to the cases arising over time, it is understandable that Sony does not want lawsuit papers dropped at their doors. This then makes them introduce the stricter policies for developers of their PlayStation games.
These new measures come years after a controversy dubbed “Gamergate” that went viral all over, seeing game developers go down the list of sexual harassment campaign targets. This is especially after two of them (Brianna Wu and Zoe Quinn) were criticized on how they poorly represented women in video games. It is however ironic that they chose to take action now after so long.
SSD and 8K Resolution
Courtesy of a game designer who is also the lead architect of PS4 and Vita, Mark Cerny, the new console will first feature a solid state drive (SSD). Moreover, he also combed through the idea of it being compatible with some of its PS4’s games such as 2018’s Spider-Man. This was made a little clear as he used the fast travel system on both systems to further explain how this would speed up load times.
The next generation console loaded up in less than a second whereas the PS4 did that in 15 seconds. This may turn out to be a real selling point among gamers as it will apparently maintain graphical quality as well. Some of these hardware upgrades mentioned may actually sound like marketing flattery as they sound too good to be true. This means that gamers will find it hard to tell how the hardware will directly benefit them with an example that the console will support 8K graphics. Not many people have 8K graphics TVs for that matter. Nevertheless, cutting load times is a feature that will be sweet for everyone.
Reverse Compatibility
The compatibility will be something to watch out for as it will come with backwards compatibility, based on PS4 architecture. This means it will be able to read PS4 discs and will also connect with the PSVR system. This is questionable given that a Sony executive previously hinted of this feature’s lack of use despite its high demand. But this would seem to me like more of a marketing and publicity strategy especially with how much Microsoft earned by just making the Xbox 360 compatible with original Xbox games and the Xbox One.
I would say that these words sound too good and decent but its general performance will have to be tested extensively when the console is finally revealed and put into practice. It is still vital to note that the gadget has not been officially named so I just preferred calling it “PS5” in the meantime. If it, however, came with just those two upgrades, would you still think of it as a good gaming evolution?
Comments