PlayStation 5 is coming for Christmas

The PS5 is ready to drop

The new Sony PlayStation 5 comes with a space agelooking controller, DualSense. It is appropriately state-of-theart. A built-in microphone means you’ll no longer need to play with a headset. “Haptic feedback” will simulate movement and replicate touch. So, to quote Sony’s examples, you’ll be able to feel the “slow grittiness of driving a car through mud” and experience actions like “drawing a bow to shoot an arrow”.

More prosaically, it’s covered in a textured finish that should stop it slipping out of your hands. That could be useful given the number of sweaty palms waiting to get hold of one: Sony has announced it will be limiting its new console to one unit per customer.

Meanwhile, an online reveal this summer became the most watched gaming live stream in the history of YouTube. But then a new PlayStation is an event. It has been a cultural force since first colonising living rooms and bedrooms in 1994. Each iteration brings leaps in capability and the PS5 is a powerhouse. Its processor is more than twice as powerful as its predecessor, as is its graphics engine. It also uses a solid-state drive, which will make it feel way, way faster — goodbye loading screens.

Dozens of games have been lined up, including a new Spider-Man title, a Horizon Zero Dawn sequel and Resident Evil 8, and the PS5 is also compatible with PS4 titles. Christmas has been the traditional launch for new PlayStations, but as this issue went to press prices had yet to be announced. And in keeping with tradition, arch-rival Microsoft is also launching its similarly high-spec Xbox machine at the same time, the Series X. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

○