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Xbox Series X: Microsoft’s eXciting new console eXplained Xbox Series S: Cheaper at what cost? PS5 vs Xbox Series X: Nitpicking next-gen Xbox Series X Games: Best on the box PS5 Games: What we’re playing
The flagship PlayStation 5 console costs $749.95 in Australia, and the disc-less PlayStation 5 Digital Edition costs $599.95. Pre-orders sold out at a break-neck pace when they first went live on the 22nd of September 2020. Unfortunately, 2021 hasn’t been much kinder to PlayStation 5 hopefuls as global stock shortages have persisted (and will continue to persist) throughout the year. While more stock has been released sporadically throughout 2021, pre-orders continue to sell out within minutes. Sony has reportedly informed analysts that its stock shortages will likely continue into 2022 (Bloomberg). While there have been bona fide component shortages that have limited the production of units, the situation hasn’t been helped by scalpers and opportunistic online retailers like Wish and Expansys that are selling PlayStation 5 consoles at an inflated price (as high as $1,502 from Wish). The PlayStation 5 is priced to match Microsoft’s $749 Xbox Series X, but the Digital Edition comes at a higher cost than Microsoft’s $499 Xbox Series S. Importantly, the only difference between the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition is the lack of a disc drive. Otherwise, the two consoles share the same technical specs. The Xbox Series S, on the other hand, has some notable downgrades from the Series X, which help drive the price down. Ray tracing is the latest advancement in light and shadow rendering. Ray tracing technologies used in video games, TV, and film simulate and track every ray of light in a scene. It takes a light source and uses an algorithm to trace that light and calculate how light interacts with the in-game environments and character models. In short, it makes lighting and shadows in games seem much more natural and lifelike, which goes a long way in reproducing realistic graphics. You can learn more about it in our guide to everything you need to know about ray tracing. Unlike the HDR upgrade of PlayStation 4’s mid-gen jump to PlayStation Pro, the difference made by ray tracing is night and day. Take a look at NVIDIA’s in-depth video on ray tracing in Cyberpunk 2077 in the video below to see the results for yourself. When the Digital Edition was first teased, we had high hopes that PlayStation might be finally ready to compete with Game Pass in Australia but it’s yet to offer a serious competitor. PlayStation 5 owners with a PS Plus subscription do have the PS Plus Collection, a library of first-party PlayStation 4 classics but it’s not quite the same value offering and Sony hasn’t shown much interest in expanding the collection. There’s a long list of storage and download/delivery advantages that an SSD allows for but the most obvious advantage to the PlayStation 5’s high-speed SSD is shorter load times. Load time improvements vary between titles but, on average, you can expect start-up and menu-to-game load times to be roughly 50% faster on the PlayStation 5, compared to the PlayStation 4. The only issue with the internal SSD is its limited 825GB storage. It might seem like a lot but recent titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Call of Duty have unprecedented file sizes and fill up the storage fast. Sony has confirmed that you will be able to expand your internal storage using the empty M.2 expansion slot by mid-2021 via an upcoming firmware update but at the time of writing your only option is to use an external drive if you need more space. At launch, Sony said the “100 most-played” PlayStation 4 games run smoothly on the PlayStation 5, but not every single game has been tested. Due to the significant power boost in the PlayStation 5, it’s hard to say with confidence that every title will run as expected but if you already own the titles, it’s worth trying out. The raw power of the PlayStation 5 also had some people hoping it would be able to play PlayStation 3 games via an emulator but the PlayStation 3’s unique and complicated architecture makes it almost impossible for its titles to run via an emulator.
Astro’s Playroom (Japan Studio) Demon’s Souls (Bluepoint Games / Japan Studio) Destruction AllStars (Lucid Games / XDEV) Sackboy: A Big Adventure (Sumo Digital / XDEV) Returnal (Housemarque / XDEV) Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales (Insomniac Games) Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered (Insomniac Games) Oddworld: Soulstorm (Oddworld Inhabitants/ Just Add Water)
GhostWire: Tokyo - Console exclusive (Tango Gameworks) Forspoken - previously Project Athia (Luminous Productions) Gran Turismo 7 (Polyphony Digital) Horizon Forbidden West (Guerrilla Games) Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Insomniac Games)
Besides the feedback improvements, there are also a few more design changes. The lightbar is now positioned on the front of the controller, and the DualShock 4’s Share button has been replaced with a Create button (though it ostensibly offers the same functionality). There’s even an in-built microphone array, so even players without headsets can jump into party chat. Lastly, and most importantly, the DualSense 5 charges via USB-C, rather than micro-USB, which became a particular pain point for PlayStation 4 users as the console began to show its age. The PlayStation 5 DualSense controller is retailing at $109.95 in Australia and, unlike the console it connects to, you can actually find stock at most retailers.
