Worried about those PlayStation performance downgrade rumors? Things aren't quite as grim as they appear.

Last week, reports surfaced that Sony is briefing developers on a new "low energy" mode for the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Pro consoles. While these rumors do appear a bit concerning for the future of Sony consoles, they could actually hint at the upcoming PlayStation 6 handheld.

As we've previously reported, the PlayStation 6 is rumored to come in a home console and a handheld variant.

Thanks to the initial report from Moore's Law is Dead and follow-up comments by veteran AMD leaker KeplerL2, we now know more about the AMD APU that will be powering the rumored PlayStation handheld. And it looks more cutting-edge than expected.

But don't just take my word for it. Here are the PS6 handheld specs we know so far.

Sony's performance "downgrade" hints at a cutting-edge handheld instead

The PlayStation handheld will be powered by an upcoming AMD APU that will have AI upscaling features, with 16GB of DDR5 onboard memory, and 4MB of L2 cache and 16MB of MALL cache on the APU's graphics tile.

The unnamed AMD APU will allegedly be based on the gfx13 (RDNA5/UDNA) architecture.

"But, Madeline", you ask, "what does that actually mean?"

AMD's current-gen Radeon RX 9000 GPUs use RDNA 4 graphics architecture. The PlayStation 6 APU's use of the next generation of AMD architecture aligns well with the console's expected launch date in fall 2027.

The AMD APU powering the current gen of PlayStation consoles (PS5 and PS5 Pro) has 4MB of L2 cache, but no MALL cache.

So, even with a constrained 16GB of memory bandwidth, the PS6 handheld would have additional graphics power, thanks to the 16MB MALL cache, which can reduce the need for a large memory bandwidth on a GPU. Essentially, it gives the PlayStation handheld more leverage over its lower RAM specs.

Based on these initial specs, it does not appear that the PS6 handheld will be powered by AMD's recently updated Ryzen AI Z2 lineup. Instead, this will likely be a next-gen chipset.

When can we expect the new PlayStation handheld console?

Earlier reports pegged the PlayStation and Xbox "Gen 10" launch to 2028, though new rumors have moved that timeline up. Currently, the PlayStation 6 console is expected to launch in September 2027.

The alleged PlayStation handheld is expected to launch in tandem with the home console.

Of course, none of this is confirmed, and we're over two years from the expected launch date, so plans can always change.

Sony could even go the same route as Microsoft and cancel its plans for a proprietary handheld console.

However, Sony is far less likely to work with a PC manufacturer like Asus on a Windows handheld, so there is a higher chance that Sony will come out with a proper handheld console.

It wouldn't be the first Sony handheld by far, after all.

More from Laptop Mag

• PlayStation fans can only dream — I hit 316 fps in 'Stellar Blade' on my RTX 5090 laptop
• I used the Asus ROG Strix G16 for a week, and it may be the best value in gaming laptops right now
• Should the new Maingear Ultima 18 laptop replace your gaming desktop? Just look at the specs.

One of the major downsides of console gaming is the pricey push to migrate to new hardware at the end of each generation. Thankfully, each console generation has a fairly generous lifespan — even if mid-cycle refreshes like the PlayStation 5 Pro can complicate matters for gamers seeking maximum performance and the best visual experience.

Having released in November 2020, the PlayStation 5 is steadily approaching the same seven-year generation window that both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 enjoyed, with its successor the PlayStation 6 rumored to arrive as early as 2027.

While that still leaves another two years of quality gaming on the table for PlayStation owners, is it enough to justify a console purchase by late adopters, or is it better to hold off for now and invest in Sony's 10th-gen console in two years' time?

There is, of course, no definitive answer to such a question, with a console's real worth and value stemming from the enjoyment you gain from it on an individual basis. However, late adopters wondering if they've left it too late to enjoy the PlayStation 5 may be spared some potential buyer's remorse after former Sony PlayStation exec, Shu Yoshida, shared what year "feels right" to expect the PS6 to release during a recent interview.

Shu Yoshida's PlayStation 6 release date prediction "feels right"

Yoshida, a 38-year veteran of Sony, was recently interviewed by GamesBeat, sharing a retrospective look at the 31 years he spent working on PlayStation Projects dating back to the original PlayStation launch in 1993.

Since then, Yoshida has been involved with multiple hardware releases and featured as an executive producer for games like The Legend of Dragoon, Ape Escape, and Gran Turismo, before taking the helm as SIE Worldwide Studios President between 2008 and 2019.

While Yoshida left SIE in January, there are very few people who can claim to have the same familiarity and experience with Sony PlayStation, and the insights he shared about the PlayStation 6's eventual may have shed some light on a potential launch date for Sony's future console.

When asked about the lifespan of Sony's console generations, Yoshida said, "It’s getting longer. The last cycle was seven years. If it’s seven years, we’ll see a new one in 2027."

While he was quick to temper expectations by stating, "I have no information about the next PlayStation," Yoshida also pointed out, "It feels a bit too early for me to say. The PS5 generation was slowed down because of manufacturing issues. If the next PlayStation comes out in 2028, that feels right to me. Microsoft had their leak about a 2028 plan. Maybe both of them will come out then."

While Yoshida's initial predictions for the release of the PlayStation line up with previous reports, his thoughts on Sony expanding the PS5's lifespan would make it the company's longest-serving flagship console to date.

Pushing the release of the PS6 to 2028 could also give Sony longer to work on its rumored handheld, with Bloomberg reporting in late 2024 that the company was in the early stages of developing a new portable game console.

Is it worth buying a PlayStation 5 in 2025?

Whether the PlayStation 5 has three or four more years ahead as Sony's flagship console, there are still plenty of reasons to pick one up, with upcoming PlayStation-exclusive titles like Death Stranding 2, Marvel's Wolverine, Ghost of Yotei, and Naughty Dog's Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet all still the arrive on the platform — not to mention former Xbox exclusive games like Forza Horizon 5 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle also on their way.

Regardless of when the PlayStation 6 arrives, console gaming's 10th generation may have a very different feel than others, with Xbox seemingly ready to pull back from the rivalry that has persisted since the original Xbox and PlayStation 2 went head-to-head in 2001.

During a recent episode of the XboxEra Podcast, CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer hinted at a shift in the company's perspective on how its games will be made available in the generations ahead, declaring, "I’m not trying to move them [PlayStation and Nintendo owners] all over to Xbox anymore. People were all so invested in where our games are. Let’s just allow more people to play."

More from Laptop Mag

• Avowed gave me these 3 things that Skyrim never could
• I downgraded from a 1440p to a 1080p monitor — here's what happened
• Will I ever get to use PlayStation Plus on my laptop? The new State of Play gives me hope

Did you miss out on Black Friday deals? Cheer up; we've got good news.

Yes, Black Friday and Cyber Monday — and the frenzy that comes with them — are behind us. But as the rolling waves of discounts on sought-after tech like the PlayStation 5 show, the supposition that if you miss Black Friday sales, you're out of luck is maybe the biggest myth in commerce. If you've ever wondered if Black Friday deals are really better, we're here to say the answer is not always.

In fact, there are still some great deals on PS5 gear and games. To help you out, I hand-picked the top 5 to help you save this weekend and bust the myth that Black Friday is your only chance for deep discounts.

For instance, you can save $75 on the PlayStation 5 Slim at Amazon right now. The PS5 is a pricey console, but this deal makes it a little more affordable. That discount is enough to cover a game or two! Plus, this version has the coveted disc slot.

A ton of great PS5 games are also on sale right now. You can pick up Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown for just $14 on Amazon. This slick platformer makes a great addition to any game library (or the perfect gift for a PS5 player).

Those deals are just the tip of the holiday sales iceberg! Here are this weekend's top five PS5 deals to help you save on gifts, games, and gear.

Hello there, proud non-owner of a PS5 here. Not because my allegiance lies with Xbox or Nintendo, but because I've been lying in wait like a soap opera villain, waiting to menacingly cackle at those foolish enough to spend $499 on Sony's ninth-generation console — and when the PS5 Pro launches on November 7, that wait finally comes to an end.

I've been a console gamer for decades now, and that kind of historical knowledge has allowed me to see one thing quite clearly: The writing is on the wall, game consoles are falling off.

But stick with me, because there is an alternative.

Game consoles: How the mighty have fallen

What was once the bastion of uncomplex gaming, consoles are now adopting all of the laborious elements of maintaining a well specced PC, though somehow losing out on any of the benefits.

Game consoles used to be simple, a multi-year platform that required you to put as much thought into upgrades, specs, and graphics settings as you would to blinking, breathing, or improvising the next logical kitchen utensil you'll use to eat cereal with when all the spoons are dirty (it's a fork, you can drink the milk once you're done).

The most mentally taxing part of owning an Xbox or a PlayStation was thinking up replies to mean-spirited PC gamers who would mock you for your limited frame rates and lower resolutions on social media.

Nowadays, the game console landscape has shifted considerably. The pustule of paid online multiplayer has proliferated and spread, snowballing into microtransactions, $70 games, and digital-only consoles that shirk the responsibilities these platforms held as the final stand for physical media.

Yes, it may eventually work out better for the environment to some degree (though there are arguments to be made about the impact of server upkeep for digital downloads versus the once-and-done production of plastic cases and computer discs), but if a few dolphins have to die every year to make sure I can play Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (and the myriad of other de-listed games of the digital era) as and when I please, then so well be it.

Mid-cycle console refreshes: The straw that broke this camel's back

Perhaps the most egregious of sins in the modern era is the mid-cycle refresh — a way for some console kings to mock their most loyal subjects by rewarding their crucial support during an initial launch window with the option of buying a new, more expensive model at an even larger asking price (or accept their fate as owners of a second-class console).

Take away its improved graphical potential that developers will be hamstrung to take full use of thanks to the existence of the base PS5, the option to make all of your games faster and fuzzier thanks to Sony's DLSS-like PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution or its enhanced ray-tracing, and what's left?

I'll tell you what. A $699 hardware remake of a console that came out four years ago (sans optical drive) that will let you buy remakes of games that you bought and completed ten years ago which were originally released on a console you previously bought that came out 11 years ago.

Or, if you're really gullible, all of that, wearing the skin suit of a beloved console that was released 30 years ago, including themed controllers and a PlayStation Portal for the low-low price of just $1,000 — while stock lasts.

It feels like Sony's playbook for making money this generation is short enough to fit inside a fortune cookie, and if we were to crack it open and unfurl the note inside, we'd be met by only one word: "Nostalgia."

Handheld gaming PCs are everything consoles used to be

However, this corruption of the game console market has me feeling nostalgia for something entirely different — the youthful nights of hiding under my duvet and searing away my corneas into the early hours while glued to my Game Gear.

While something like the PS5 Pro has me turning away from consoles, I'm finding myself more and more attracted to the prospect of owning a handheld gaming PC like the Steam Deck or ROG Ally X.

Handheld gaming PCs now represent everything consoles have lost or failed to implement, they're open, untethered from the living room setup, offer customizable gaming experiences through a wider selection of mods, and won't lock you into any one platform or ecosystem.

Furthermore, they have a library of games that dwarf other platforms, while giving access to them at much lower prices from multiple sellers. And if that's not enough, PC gamers get treated to all the free spoils from storefronts like Good Old Games and the Epic Games Store on the regular.

There will never be a gaming PC 2 like there might be a PlayStation 6

Before you call me out for it, I'm already well aware of my own hypocrisy. While I can look at the PS5 Pro and be turned away from mid-cycle refreshes, handheld gaming PCs like the original ROG Ally are already receiving their own just one year on in the form of the ROG Ally X.

Well, to counter that: There'll never be a gaming PC 2 that I have to worry about sneaking up over the horizon like I would the PlayStation 6. Something that completely switches up the ecosystem and leaves me needing to adopt a whole new game library that features exclusive titles I won't have access to.

Plus, while I admit that the fast and frenzied releases in the handheld gaming PC world can make it a little harder to know when it's safe to jump on the bandwagon, I can say that, whether I were to wait to invest in the upcoming Lenovo Legion Go 2 or pick up the slightly aging but reliable Steam Deck, I know that either way I'm buying a gaming laptop lite.

I won't be expecting the performance found in the best gaming laptops, but I will be expecting console convenience with a gaming PC foundation to fall back on.

What's next

For the moment, I'm done with consoles. In their place, I'm holding up handheld gaming PCs as my recommended go-to. Until the industry churns things up and out so thick and fast that their products turn to butter and slip through the interest of consumers, anyway.

Even if a new refresh comes along that tempts me, I feel like there's more value in a gaming handheld. Those upgrading to a PS5 Pro from the PS5 will have potentially paid around $1,200 to do so.

Meanwhile, paying similarly for a handheld gaming PC and its refresh, the money you'd save on game purchases and PlayStation Plus membership alone would likely see things work out as the much wiser investment within a year.

Sure, I may miss out on those expanded resolutions and faster frame rates. But what can I say? I'm a console gamer. I've had plenty of fun without all that in the past, and I'll have plenty more in the future.

More from Laptop Mag

• MIT's FutureYou is the AI version of a motivational cat poster
• This tech can resurrect lost loved ones, but the AI afterlife is far from paradise
• How to win friends and irradiate people: The secret Fallout MMO you never knew you needed

A re-stock of Sony's limited edition 30th anniversary PS5 is upon us.

On Thursday, October 10, the gray PS1-inspired console — complete with the rainbow PlayStation logo — will return to retailers, this time in a $500 Slim digital edition variant, as opposed to the nearly $1,000 Pro bundle sold previously.

This article was updated at 9:55 a.m. Eastern to add more details about Walmart+ and the PS5 Pro re-stock.

If you were left out in the cold during the initial 30th-anniversary launch last month via PlayStation Direct, now is your chance to scoop one up, even if it's not the Pro model.

All sales will go live at 10 a.m. Eastern on Thursday, so be ready to relive your '90s PlayStation nostalgia in next-gen fashion.

Unlike the first 30th-anniversary preorder event on September 26, which limited the PS5 Pro to 12,300 individually numbered consoles, the restock set for Thursday seems to only apply to the 30th-anniversary edition of the PS5 Digital. The PS5 Pro consoles set for restocking on Thursday are the standard white-and-black models.

Unless you want to bargain with scalpers for ungodly sums of money in the secondary market, you'll have to be on time and cross your fingers.

Where to buy a 30th anniversary PS5 Slim

Okay, let's cut to the chase. If you want to buy a PS5 Slim 30th anniversary console, you'll need to head over to one of a few retailers. While these pages for orders are currently live, you won't be able to actually start using them until the aforementioned time.

If they're anything like the previous PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary bundles, you can expect them to sell out fast.

Luckily, you'll have more chances this time around since not everything is being funneled through PlayStation Direct. If you're really determined to get in on the nostalgia, I recommend opening all off the below retailers and taking a shotgun approach.

A major note if you're ordering from Walmart: you'll only be able to preorder the PS5 30th Anniversary console if you have a subscription to Walmart+. That's a bummer if you don't feel like shelling out the $13 subscription fee to Walmart, but also it should help mitigate the success of bots and raise your chances of actually snagging a console.

Additionally, if you just want the PS5 Pro and not the 30th Anniversary edition, you can order from all the same retailers. I suspect that competition won't as high there — the $700 PS5 Pro isn't limited edition and lots of people may not want to shell out that much money for a performance upgrade.

Either way, it's going to be a mad dash, so happy hunting.

Walmart

Best Buy

Target

Amazon

Where to buy the PS5 30th Anniversary DualSense controller

If you're not in the market for a whole console, but still want to snag the corresponding PS1-inspired DualSense controller, you can also check the same retailers tomorrow to see if there are new shipments back in.

The controller retails for $79.99 which is a lot to spend on a regular controller, but this is limited edition after all, so paying a premium is expected.

• PS5 30th Anniversary Dual Sense controller at Amazon
• PS5 30th Anniversary Dual Sense controller at Best Buy
• PS5 30th Anniversary Dual Sense controller at Target
• PS5 30th Anniversary Dual Sense controller at GameStop

I'm a sucker for nostalgia, and apparently Sony knows that.

Yes, I already have a PlayStation 5, and yes I still want Sony's surprise-announced 30th anniversary edition PlayStation 5 that looks just like a PlayStation 1. I mean, just look at it.

Sony's 30th anniversary PlayStation 5: Price, release, date, design

Alright, I know you probably want to own this thing too, so let's get right to the nitty-gritty. You can throw multiple levels of money at Sony to own a slice of '90s PlayStation nostalgia, one of which is a pro bundle. With that, you get:

• A limited edition PS5 Pro console with 2TB SSD, Wi-Fi 7, and matching limited edition accessories
• DualSense wireless controller, DualSense Edge wireless controller, DualSense charging station, and a console cover for a disc drive
• A vertical stand
• A PS1-inspired cable connector housing
• 4 PlayStation-shaped cable ties
• A PlayStation sticker
• A limited edition PlayStation Poster — there are 30 designs in total
• And finally, a PlayStation paperclip

If you're not that hardcore, you can go with the digital bundle, which includes:

• A PS5 digital edition console with 1TD SSD and matching limited edition accessories
• DualSense wireless controller and a console cover for a disc drive
• A Vertical Stand
• Original PlayStation controller-style cable connector housing
• 4 PlayStation cable ties
• A PlayStation sticker
• A limited edition PlayStation poster
• A PlayStation Paperclip

Basically, you get to choose your flavor between Pro and non-Pro PlayStation 5, depending on your preference — the main differences being drive size and WiFi 7 compatibility.

And if a PS1-inspired console wasn't enough for you, there's also a PS1-inspired PlayStation Portal. Here it is in all of its grey glory. 

You’ll have to wait until November 21 to get your hands on any of this, and when Sony says “limited edition,” they mean “limited edition.” Only 12,300 of the consoles will be made and sold — a number that Sony says is an homage to the date and month of the iconic console’s release.

Sony says that — in regions where direct.playstation.com is available — you’ll be able to pre-order the digital edition console, the Portal, and the DualSense controller from Sony starting  September 26.  If direct.playstation.com isn’t available near you, pre-orders start September 26, but at participating retailers. 

Laptop Mag contacted Sony to verify the price of each bundle and will update this post with information as it arrives.

People are sounding off about the price of the PS5 Pro, and yes, $700 is a ridiculous jump from the current $450 PS5, but there's more to be concerned about than the price itself.

There are features you're gaining and some you're losing, and there's the price-to-performance ratio. Then there's the overall fallacy of attempting to keep up with frame rate and resolution standards.

Let's dive into why the PS5 Pro may have a tough road ahead.

PS5 Pro: Numbers aren't adding up

Let's get the price itself out of the way. Yes, the PS5 Pro is $700. That's $250 more than the PS5. More importantly, it breaks away from the PS4 Pro's setup, which sold at the same price as the PS4 when it launched. No matter how you spin it, that's a big ask from consumers.

Before we get to the graphics, let's get into the other hardware. The PS5 Pro doesn't have a disc-drive and it doesn't come with a vertical stand. Sony sells these two items separately for the original PS5, so we cannot guarantee the price would be the same for the PS5 Pro. Currently, the disc drive costs $80 and the stand costs $30. That puts the PS5 Pro up to $810, and that's before tax.

Then there's time. If the life-cycle of the current console generation persists with its predecessors, then you'll get at least three years out of the PS5 Pro. Maybe four years. It's likely that the PS6 will launch at a cheaper price, too. I cannot imagine a world where the standard game console rises to $700. At least I don't want to imagine it. Sony shot for a higher price with the PS3 and it's one of the reasons the Xbox 360 sold so well, it was cheaper.

But the price is just part of the problem.

PS5 Pro: The real problem

There's a fallacy in the video game industry that is perpetuated by increasing graphics and increased developer ambition. If you give the masses stronger hardware, developers will continue to push the envelope in terms of graphics and performance.

So where does that land us? At 30 frames per second. Think about it. Some AAA games are still capped at 30 fps, and even those that feature customizable graphics will cap you at 30 fps when on a higher resolution. The PS5 Pro claims to fix this issue with a 45% graphics boost and its PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), which is an AI-driven technology that enhances resolution and image quality without sacrificing performance.

PSSR, like Nvidia's DLSS, can go a long way to improve performance. But how long will that last? We saw a demo of The Last of Us Part II running at a high resolution at 60 fps. That game launched four years ago. There was also Alan Wake 2, which was likely running at a similar speed, but again that game launched in 2023. Sure, it's recent, but that doesn't account for the development time, which takes years.

You might get a year or even two out of the PS5 Pro before games like GTA 6 break the console's ambitions. The only way to stop this is to put standards in place that make 30 fps the new 15 fps. Remember the Cyberpunk 2077 launch? It got stripped from the PS Store pretty quickly. We need to hold that standard when it comes to game development.

Developers being able to step back and focus on performance rather than fidelity is not only beneficial to the consumer but maybe also to the developers. I don't know what a development cycle looks like behind closed doors. But I'd like to imagine that if you're not focusing on the detail of every grain of sand, you'll have a more lax development process. Forcing people to work to the bone on something as simple as that is the reason why unions are popping off.

The PS5 Pro outlook

So, am I buying the PS5 Pro? Well... I want to, but it's tough. I'm an avid gamer; I play all of the PlayStation exclusives and I also play a ton of AAA games on my PS5. I'll get the most out of it in its lifetime. This way, I can use my original PS5 as a hand-me-down for my wife (sorry, not sorry).

However, not everyone is in my situation. I find it hard to believe that Sony is going to sell many PS5 Pros. The way these price increases stop is by speaking with your wallet. And if the PS5 Pro sees a small, niche audience, it could even see massive discounts in the new year.

The PS5 Pro is here and it's asking for a lot. Lead Architect of the PS5 console Mark Cerny gave a presentation showing off the technical wonders of the new PS5 Pro, and we learned that it's going to cost $699 with a launch date of November 7.

What does that mean for the average gamer? What are you actually getting out of the PS5 Pro for that much money? And most importantly, is it worth it?

I think it's going to be about the games more than anything else, and that might leave you in an interesting place depending on what type of gamer you are. Let me explain.

What's new about the PS5 Pro?

The PS5 Pro is designed to break the barrier between performance and fidelity. The GPU is supposed to be 45% faster and the ray tracing is calculated at double or triple the speeds of the PS5. Then there's PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), which is an AI-driven upscaling, similar to Nvidia's DLSS.

We got a demo of The Last of Us Part II, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and Rachet & Clank: Rift Apart running at 60 fps at a 'Fidelity' resolution. Then there's performance mode, which showcased sharper graphics than usual at an even higher frame rate. Horizon: Forbidden West reveals how the PS5 Pro adds more detail to the skin and hair of the characters. 

There's a boost in ray tracing capabilities in games like Gran Turismo 7 and Hogwarts Legacy. At the very end of the stream, we also saw a string of clips from a multitude of games.

How much does the PS5 Pro cost?

There's no denying it. $699 is a steep price for a new mid-gen console, especially since the PS4 Pro matched the original price of the PS4. The PS5 Pro marks itself as $200 more than the PS5.

If you're someone who enjoys all of the PS5 exclusives that Sony has to offer, then it is 100% worth the investment. We know for sure that Sony will take care of its own games.

However, if you mostly play third-party AAA games, then it's a bit more complicated. It's clear that the PS5 Pro benefits games like Alan Wake 2 and Hogwarts Legacy, but that might not be the same for every game. 

There needs to be some developer cooperation for these games to look and run better, and that's due to the resolution and framerate caps placed on the consoles. I won't pretend to know how easy or challenging that is, but it needs to be done. So if developer doesn't act upon this new technology, then you might not see the overall benefits. So it's worth waiting to see if your favorite games will get a normal boost or an even better overall, similar to how Gran Turismo 7 is adding ray tracing reflections to the cars themselves.

Now, if you play only indie titles, then this is likely not for you. It's possible that some developers might take advantage of the PS5 Pro, you may not see as radical of a difference as you would in PS5 exclusives or third-party AAA games.

Am I buying it?

Yes... I play all of the PS5 exclusive games and most AAA games on my PS5, so jumping on the PS5 Pro makes total sense. I just need to ask Santa, since I'm going to have to squeeze more than a few pennies together to make that $699 asking price.

Despite that, we don't know what the PS5 Pro will actually feel like, but you can stay tuned to Laptop Mag to read our full review when we get our hands on this beauty.

When I learned my favorite time-sink MMO, Final Fantasy XIV, was getting a graphics overhaul with the new Dawntrail expansion, I decided I needed to find out exactly what hardware would give me the best experience with the updated textures.

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail is the 7th iteration of the Square Enix MMO, though the 1.0 version of the game is no longer playable, and for good reason. However, the revamped 2.0 base game and five subsequent expansions are all still playable. And as the 7.0 iteration begins its post-launch life cycle, we're looking at the hefty graphic update that came alongside the Dawntrail launch.

While I would have loved to test absolutely every possible system I could get my hands on, I decided to stick to the more common configuration options out of deference to you, dear readers. I'm not writing for an audience made up exclusively of my own clones, after all.

So we're pitting the PlayStation 5 graphics against the Nvidia RTX 4080 and the RTX 4060 to see just what platform has the best graphics. To keep things as close to repeatable as possible, I ran the same level 85 dungeon, "The Skydeep Cenote," on the same character, on the same job, with the same party of NPC companions. Outside of a benchmark, this is as close as I could get to scientific evaluation of the game. 

The results may surprise you.

PlayStation 5 graphics

Sony's PlayStation 5 may have older hardware compared to brand new gaming PCs, but the 3.5 GHz AMD Zen 2 processor, 10.3 teraflop RDNA 2 graphics card, and 16GB of memory still manage to provide a seamless gaming experience. Sure, you may be capped at a 120Hz refresh rate, but most games don't manage to push that number that high.

The graphics update for FFXIV: Dawntrail is mainly centered around character hair and face textures, the appearance of skin and hair on characters, the appearance of metallic material on specific gear, the appearance of fog, the appearance of water and waves, the appearance of distant terrain, soft shadows, shadows used in the background of some cutscenes, and changes in lighting due to the passage of time. So, a lot of the tweaks are subtle, but when you take a moment to look at characters in closeups, it becomes obvious how much more detail is captured in the 7.0 graphics update.

The PS5 version of the game has never looked so stunning.

Nvidia RTX 4080 graphics

I used the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i (Gen 9) for my RTX 4080 laptop. With an Intel Core i9-14900HX processor, Nvidia RTX 4080 GPU, and 32GB of memory the Pro 7i should be more than powerful enough to handle a game that re-launched in 2013. And it is, don't get me wrong. The game plays smoothly even with the graphics settings toggled to Desktop (High) settings, though I primarily played with the Laptop (High) preset enabled on the Legion Pro 7i.

While you still get those nice lighting and texture changes with the 4080-powered laptop running the game, there isn't much here that isn't available in the PS5 version.

Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics

I used the Dell XPS 14 OLED as my RTX 4060 machine. With an Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU, and 32GB of memory, the Dell XPS 14 may not be a gaming laptop, but it can do some basic gaming. One thing I noticed with the XPS 14 was that I had to toggle my graphics settings down to the Laptop (Standard) preset to avoid some stuttering, especially as the laptop got hotter after a lot of use or in high-traffic areas where server connection issues could easily crop up.

The revamped facial animations and textures in the RTX 4060 version are certainly still gorgeous, but they lack a bit of depth compared to the RTX 4080 and PS5 versions.

Bottom line

Everyone is going to game on the platform they like best, whether that's a fully future-proof desktop PC with an Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU, a premium laptop with a discrete graphics card like the XPS 14, a high-end gaming laptop with an RTX 4080 like the Legion Pro 7i, a PS5, or even a MacBook Pro. 

But if, like me, you have options, it's always good to know what the best version of a game is. And for Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail, you can't beat the combination of top-tier graphics and low price-point of the PlayStation 5. After all, a $499 console is a bargain compared to a $3,000+ gaming laptop or custom desktop PC. And despite the extra power of the RTX 4080 in the Legion Pro 7i (Gen 9), there isn't much visible difference between the 4080 and the PS5's RDNA 2 GPU.

Fallout 4 is set to receive an update for current-gen platforms like PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC today, bringing improvements to graphics, stability, and more. The update is expected to go live at 9 am PT / 12 pm ET / 5 pm GMT. 

This comes only a few weeks after the launch of the smash-hit Fallout TV show and coincides nicely with the franchise's biggest games (Fallout 76, Fallout New Vegas, and Fallout 3) all appearing for free on Amazon Prime Gaming to celebrate the show's launch.

The Fallout franchise has seen a massive resurgence in popularity since the TV show launched, with the previously panned Fallout 76 managing its highest player count and all-time peak on Steam with 72,930 players.

This influx of players has seen Fallout 76 become one of gaming's great comeback stories in recent years—inviting newcomers to the Appalachian wasteland and welcoming back veteran vault-dwellers to Bethesda's expansive West Virginian open world, which has seen considerable changes and improvements since its rocky mountain launch in 2018.

Bethesda's Fallout 4 update could well capitalize on this popularity spike and see Fallout 4 enjoy a similar revival with many players expected to return to the Commonwealth once more to enjoy this franchise's particular brand of post-apocalyptic hi-jinx.

So what changes are in store for vault-dwellers when they return to the ruins of Boston? Let's find out.

What's coming to Fallout 4's next-gen update?

Most of the changes in today's update will vary by platform. For example, while PC users are receiving widescreen support for 21:9 or 32:9 gaming monitors, Fallout 4 will now be Steam Deck verified, which means it should work excellently on both Valve's handheld console and handheld gaming PCs like the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go. 

Bethesda's Fallout 4 will also be available on Epic Games Store, adding to the already expansive list of game retailers supplying copies of the game such as Bethesda.net, Steam, Microsoft Store, and GOG. PC players will get a slew of fixes for both mods and bugs, with stability patches coming.

On Xbox Series X|S and PS5 consoles, the game will receive a Performance mode option that aims to deliver silky-smooth 60 frames per second gameplay and a Quality mode option that unlocks a crisp 4K resolution. Players can also expect stability fixes and bug patches for login issues and certain quests.

For all platforms, new content is coming to Fallout 4 in the form of Creation Club items. This includes a new "Echoes of the Past" quest line where players must fight against a mysterious cult spreading a "Dangerous ideology."

This quest line includes rewards such as Enclave Weapon and Armor Skins, a Tesla Cannon, Hellfire Power Armor, X-02 Power Armor, the Heavy Incinerator, and a Makeshift Weapon Pack—not forgetting the additional 38 Halloween decorations you'll unlock for use in your Commonwealth settlements.

More from Laptop Mag

• Do you need to play Fallout before watching the show? A spoiler-free guide
• Fallout 76, New Vegas, and 3 are free on Prime Gaming to celebrate TV show's launch
• 21 Amazon Prime membership benefits you might be missing out on!

There's a good chance we'll see the PS5 Pro launch later this year, right around the long-awaited launch of GTA VI. While this is great news for fans who want to upgrade to a slightly more powerful console, it's also a strategic move from Sony to boost declining hardware sales.

In a recent chat with CNBC (via Wccftech), analysts expressed a high likelihood that Sony would release a PS5 Pro this year to combat its decreased profits. Mid-cycle "Pro" launches like this are common for consoles to renew interest, boost sales, and give players a little extra performance power to tide them over until the next major console iteration.

CEO of Kantan Games, Serkan Toto, told CNBC "There seems to be a broad consensus in the game industry that Sony is indeed preparing a launch of a PS5 Pro in the second half of 2024." He continued, "And Sony will want to make sure to have a great piece of hardware ready when GTA VI hits in 2025, a launch that will be a shot in the arm for the entire gaming industry."

Sony's sales might still decrease, even with a PS5 Pro launch

During Sony's recent company earnings call, an executive said that the company was expecting a "gradual decline" in unit sales. Sony adjusted its hardware sales forecast from 25 million units to 21 million units for the fiscal year ending in March.

Introducing a PS5 Pro now, about three years after the PS5's initial launch in November 2020, wouldn't be abnormal for Sony. The PS4 Pro, for example, launched right around three years after the PS4's initial launch. Even Microsoft follows this mid-cycle launch strategy, with the Xbox Series X "Brooklin" update and Series S "Ellewood" update likely slated for later this year as well.

In the past, a Pro model launching from Sony has typically meant lower prices for the original console. But Omdia analyst George Jijiashvili thinks that might not be the case, telling CNBC that Sony's near decade-low profits might mean that the company wouldn't cut the price of the current PS5 even when the PS5 Pro comes out. 

He went on to say, "Therefore, a scenario where Sony launches a PS5 Pro, but still experiences declining year-on-year hardware sales is very much within the realms of possibility." 

Launching the PS5 Pro right before GTA VI is estimated to release in early 2025 is a strategic move, but it might not be enough. If the game will be playable on PS5, and there isn't much of a boost in performance on the PS5 Pro then players might just skip the upgrade and stick with their PS5 console instead.

More from Laptop Mag

• PS5 'Slim' vs. PS5: Here's what's changed
• PS5 review: The future of gaming has arrived
• PS Vita 2: Everything we know so far

Rumors are heating up about a growing list of Xbox exclusives coming to PS5 including Hi-Fi Rush, Sea of Thieves, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Gears of War, and even Starfield. While Microsoft has yet to formally confirm any of these rumors, they do have many Xbox players worried. 

Is this the end of Xbox exclusives? What’s motivating Microsoft Gaming to release exclusive titles on their rival’s console? Here’s what we know so far.

Are Starfield, Indiana Jones and more Xbox exclusives coming to PS5?

Rumors about Xbox exclusives coming to PS5 started in mid-January with reports about Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves making the jump to PlayStation. As the Verge reported at the time, the rumors follow a November 2023 announcement from Xbox CFO Tim Stuart about strategy changes over at Microsoft Gaming. It looks like those changes aren’t going to end with Hi-Fi Rush and Sea of Thieves. 

New rumors hint that Starfield and Xbox’s upcoming Indiana Jones RPG are also on the table for PS5 ports. Current speculation is that Starfield could get a PlayStation release after its Shattered Space DLC comes out in late 2024. Microsoft is reportedly also considering the Gears of War franchise as yet another candidate to open up to PS5 players. 

What about Indiana Jones, though? Since it hasn’t been released yet, could it potentially come out on Xbox and PS5 on day one? It’s still too early to tell exactly how Microsoft is planning to handle “exclusive” titles moving forward, so Indiana Jones and the Great Circle could be a good indicator of the new release strategy over at Microsoft Gaming. 

If these rumors are true, it’s highly likely that more former Xbox exclusives will receive PS5 ports. Don’t get too excited, though. The Halo franchise is probably never coming to PlayStation consoles.  

 Why the shift in Microsoft’s Xbox exclusives strategy? 

The big question surrounding all of these Xbox exclusives coming to PS5 is “why.” Why would Microsoft give up the draw of their exclusive games, potentially risking sales of future Xbox consoles? I’m no fan of the console exclusives system, but there’s no denying that exclusive games can sway players toward buying one console over the other. 

Microsoft Gaming and the Xbox itself are in an interesting position right now, though. The PS5 and Nintendo Switch are both outselling the Xbox Series X/S by a huge margin. In 2023 the PS5 sold 22.5 million units while the Xbox Series X/S sold only 7.6 million (the Switch was right in the middle at 16.4 million units). 

From console sales alone, the Xbox is clearly lagging in the console wars. It doesn’t end there, though. PlayStation is giving Xbox stiff competition with its exclusive games, as well. Titles like Bladur’s Gate 3 and the Spider-Man franchise have become pop culture icons, making the PS5 an increasingly appealing console. 

PC releases further complicate things. Xbox exclusives typically come out on PC on day one while PlayStation exclusives tend to have a significant delay before getting a PC release. Marvels’ Spider-Man originally came out on PS4 in 2018 but didn’t get a PC release until 2022. Similarly, Horizon Forbidden West arrived on PS4 and PS5 in 2022 and isn't coming to PC until this March, over a year after its original release date.

With Xbox exclusives, you can count on being able to play a PC release on day one or soon after. The huge delay with PS5 exclusives gives the PlayStation a significant advantage over the Xbox Series X/S.

Considering all of this, it’s not surprising that the Xbox seems to be losing the console wars. If it is, it also makes sense that Microsoft is considering releasing Xbox exclusives on other consoles. If Xbox console sales remain so far behind the competition, Microsoft could have more to gain from the sales of formerly exclusive games on other platforms. However, that could simply end up sealing the Xbox’s fate.

 What does this mean for Xbox players? 

Many Xbox players are understandably frustrated about Xbox exclusives coming to PS5. What does this change mean for the future of the Xbox? 

A lot of things could happen here, but one thing is clear from Microsoft’s shifting strategy. Xbox Game Pass and multi-platform releases are taking priority. That doesn’t mean Microsoft is never going to release another Xbox console, but it does mean that there will likely be fewer Xbox exclusives moving forward. 

Unfortunately, this shift will decrease the value of Xbox consoles since one less exclusive game is one less reason to choose an Xbox over a PS5 or a gaming PC. It’s clear from sales data that gamers are already increasingly going for PC or PlayStation, though. So, if you’re an Xbox player, this might be a good time to make the switch to PC. 

On a more positive note, the end of the console exclusives system will be a good thing for most gamers. In the long run, more balanced competition between Xbox and PlayStation could mean better performing consoles. Performance, rather than exclusive games, will become the new main deciding factor for gamers shopping for a new console. Plus, you’ll be able to play virtually any game on any console, giving everyone more freedom to play how and what they want. 

Wondering how to connect a Bluetooth headset to a PS5? Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. For all the PlayStation 5’s improvements and accomplishments, optimal Bluetooth support isn’t one of them.

That’s not to say you can’t use a pair of Bluetooth headphones with your PS5, it’s just to say in doing so, you may miss out on the ideal performance that Sony had in mind when it comes to the PlayStation 5.

This guide will explain how to connect your Bluetooth headset to a PS5, but also give some insight on why it’s not so straightforward in the first place. Because, while it might be slightly inconvenient, and potentially a little annoying, Sony’s decision not to natively support Bluetooth connections isn’t entirely without reason.

Why can’t I connect Bluetooth headphones to my PS5? 

To ensure you receive the best possible PlayStation experience, and with your immersion fully intact along the way, native Bluetooth connectivity is solely restricted to connecting the PS5’s DualSense controllers. This reserves the available bandwidth and eliminates any possibility of input lag or performance issues likely to occur due to device interference.

Bluetooth Audio connections are prolific bandwidth gobblers, especially when it comes to high bitrate and multichannel streaming. Having a Bluetooth headset and the DualSense controller on the same connection could cause them to butt heads over bandwidth and cause anything from audio delays to misregistered inputs. That’s why Sony prefers for PlayStation owners to use headphones with a 2.4GHz wireless adapter, or make use of the DualSense’s 3.5mm audio jack with wired headphones.

If you’ve yet to buy yourself a headset, or are now contemplating an upgrade, then there are a number of options out there to choose from. Take a glance at our best gaming headsets page and you’ll notice that Sony’s Pulse 3D PS5 wireless headset is more than a safe bet thanks to its detailed and immersive 3D spatial audio, affordability, and impressive comfort. 

Can I still use my Bluetooth headphones with the PS5?

With all that said, if you’re dead set on using a pair of Bluetooth headphones with your PS5, then there is a fairly simple way of doing so: purchase a third-party Bluetooth adapter.

Considering the price of buying a new pair of headphones, a cheaper and simpler option is to use a Bluetooth adapter. However, this will have its drawbacks. Connecting your headset in this way can’t guarantee the same level of compatibility or performance that a wired or 2.4GHz wireless headset is capable of.

You’ll also need to pay close attention to the type of Bluetooth adapter/dongle that you buy because while many look similar, their performance can vary wildly. Some reliable brands to keep an eye out for in your search include Creative and Avantree, with the latter’s DG80 Bluetooth transmitter being an ideal candidate thanks to its aptX low latency connection and hassle-free setup. You can grab the Avantree DG80 for just $29.99 at Amazon. 

How to connect Bluetooth headphones to a PS5

Once you have a compatible Bluetooth adapter to hand, you’ll be able to start the task of pairing it with your headset. The following instructions should help guide you through the process.

Step 1: Connect your Bluetooth adapter/dongle to one of the USB Type-A ports found on the front or back of the PS5 and turn your console on.

Step 2: Place the Bluetooth adapter/dongle into pairing mode by holding the pairing button for around seven seconds, or until you see a blue flashing light. 

Step 3: Turn your Bluetooth headphone on and place it in pairing mode by following the same steps.

Step 4: Both devices should quickly identify each other and pair. If this doesn’t happen right away, try bringing the two closer together. Once a connection has been made, the light will stop blinking and remain blue.

Step 5: On your PS5, accept the confirmation of the connection.

After this, your Bluetooth headset should be paired and ready to go. 

With the holiday season approaching, Sony has a new, slimmer version of its popular PS5 console on the way. Since the PlayStation 5 consoles originally launched in 2020, they've already dropped in weight twice, and this new PS5 version will be both lighter and smaller than the current model.

Sony isn't officially calling this the 'PS5 Slim,' but that's what the public has dubbed it because historically Sony has always released a 'Slim' version of its consoles. Unlike other 'Slim' versions of past-gen consoles, this one doesn't look like it's equipped with too many improvements. Let's take a look at the biggest differences between the standard PS5/PS5 Digital consoles and the upcoming PS5 'Slim' consoles.

Where to buy PS5 and PS5 Slim consoles

At the time of writing, the PS5 'Slim' hasn't launched yet, and even the original PS5 is still difficult to get your hands on. That said, you can regularly check for new stock of the PS5 standard version at Target, Best Buy, Gamestop, Amazon, Walmart, or the PlayStation website. Or, here are links directly to the PS5 Digital version at Target, Gamestop, Walmart, and the PlayStation website.

These consoles will be replaced with the PS5 'Slim' version, so it's unclear whether there will be new links for the 'Slim' version or if they'll merge together on one page as the old consoles sell out.

PS5 vs. PS5 Slim: What's the difference?

When it comes to internal specs, you won't see much difference between the standard PS5 and PS5 Digital consoles and the new PS5 'Slim' and 'Slim' Digital consoles. All the consoles are equipped with the same CPU, GPU, memory, i/O throughput, performance targets, and additional storage options. The biggest differences are with internal storage, the disc drive, and overall form factor.

YouTuber Dave Lee (via Kotaku) recently uploaded a hands-on impression with the new PS5 model and the original 2020 launch versions. He noted that the console did feel lighter, but it didn't feel that much smaller in-hand. Kotaku notes that perhaps this is the reason Sony's choosing not to market this new version as the 'PS5 Slim.' 

According to Sony's blog post, the new PS5 version "reduced in volume by more than 30% and weight by 18% and 24% compared to the previous models." In the side-by-side comparison of the two consoles, it certainly looks slimmer, but not by much.

Sony's new PS5 models sport a unique change: a detachable disc drive. In the video, Lee demonstrates how the disc drive comes out using a tab-release design rather than screws. This detachable disc drive is the reason why the new design splits the main panel into two pieces.

If you purchase the new PS5 Digital console and want to add Sony's Blu-ray Disc Drive later, you can buy it separately for $79.99 once it's released, and install it just using the same mechanism that's on the new PS5 Disc model. 

Lee also points out that the USB-A port on the front is being replaced by two USB-C ports. He also shows some unattractive transparent plastic pegs that improve the console's stability when horizontal, but look a bit out of place on the console. The top heat exhaust features plain vents, no longer sporting a spiral design, and the internal SSD layout looks different.

Though you can still add the same amount of storage via the internal SSD slot, the amount of built-in storage is increasing slightly with Sony's new console. Rather than the 825GB SSD that's been with the PS5 since it launched in 2020, new consoles will feature a 1TB SSD. For some users, this "extra" space will be eaten up with one game, but it's at least something to justify the price increase.

PS5 vs PS5 Slim availability

Sony estimates the new PS5 model will be available in this November. The price of the PS5 Disc version will remain the same at $499.99, but the PS5 Digital will increase by $50 for a new retail price of $449.99. Once the old 2022 versions of the original PS5 console sell out, this new 'Slim' version will be the only model you can purchase new.

Bottom line

My history with Insomniac’s output over the previous two PlayStation generations has been somewhat mixed. Ratchet & Clank’s movie-tie-in reboot, while fine, disappointed in its lack of creativity. Marvel’s Spider-Man and Miles Morales’ spin-off were big steps up, but I still found that they fell short of excellence.

While everyone sang high praise for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, it failed to spark my imagination in the same way PS2 and PS3-era Insomniac did. I believed Spider-Man 2 would fall prey to the same fate, and while I figured I’d really like it, I had no reason to think it would reach greatness.

Yet regardless of my numerous gripes, including an occasionally exhausting open-world, immersion breaking flaws in presentation, and the writing sometimes missing its goals, I was terribly wrong. Spider-Man 2 exceeded expectations, offering an emotional narrative surrounded by superb traversal tech and joyous brawler combat.

Spider-Man 2 is Insomniac Games’ greatest effort in over a decade, and while the developer’s approach to open-world design has yet to hit the bullseye, this campaign showcases its expertise with a compelling story and unforgettable spectacle. It is one of the best PS5 games in the console’s growing library.

Everyone deserves a second chance 

Heroes don’t kill people. Our two Spider-Men have always tried to adhere to this, but when lives are at stake, why shouldn’t they act? Is that stubbornness the result of a childish delusion? Does the concept “killing is inherently evil'' hold up even when the death of one villain could save exponentially more innocents?

If you think anything like me, Spider-Man’s refusal to kill can be frustrating. That inability to act has resulted in the deaths of people he loves throughout comic books, cartoons, film and other games. Prior to Spider-Man 2, I sincerely believed he was wrong.

But through a gripping tale revolving around the necessity of redemption, forgiveness, and letting go of your hatred, Insomniac has taken a chisel to my pessimistic worldview. Spider-Man 2 shows first-hand why that core facet of any Spider’s moral compass is vital. It’s the most I have ever sympathized with the “no killing” conviction seen throughout many superhero stories.

This is a narrative about second chances, and for that reason, Kraven the Hunter acts as the perfect catalyst. His hunt of other villains brings the question of whether they deserve saving into focus. That question isn’t exclusively explored through the main story either, as it is visible within optional missions and side-character arcs.

It only makes sense that this was the best game to introduce Venom—the notorious symbiote that infamously bonds with Peter Parker before he begins to lose his sense of self. Most of us know the basic threads of this plotline, but how Insomniac treats Venom as more than just a terrifying alien is part of what makes the story so powerful.

Venom is a tool to comment on the importance of our humanity. That aforementioned refusal to give up on people even when they’re at their lowest is vital when the protagonist themselves is at their lowest. This script rises above the titles of hero and villain to tell a narrative about the people underneath the mask.

The near unbreakable love that Harry Osborne and Peter Parker share—including Miles Morales’ internal struggles regarding the fate of a character I won’t name—culminates into an emotionally poignant narrative, focusing on the most human aspects of any superhero’s impossible job.

While Venom’s inclusion is inherently wrapped up in Peter Parker’s story, Insomniac did a phenomenal job giving Miles Morales his big moments. It takes a little while before it comes into view, and I won’t give away how the developer ties that central theme to his character arc, but it is brilliant and results in one of the game’s best moments.

Script shortcomings 

While Spider-Man 2’s heartfelt exchanges are phenomenal, the story is at its worst when characters act casually. Moments when they crack jokes with one another, callback to nostalgic memories, or chat about mundane things feels forced.

Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson lack chemistry and it’s hard to believe that the two are actually in a relationship. The immersion is sometimes shattered when idle banter of best friends or lovers comes across as overly scripted. Not all of it is awkward, but there are a few scenes in the game’s first half that made me think “this isn’t how human beings speak.”

Peter Parker sounding like an edgy, pubescent teen while bonding with Venom is a little silly. Some of his dialogue is absurd, as can be seen during Spider-Man 2’s gameplay reveal back in May: When the two Spider-Men are considering going after Dr. Connors, Peter claims he can do it alone. Miles then responds, “Are you sure? He’s got big teeth,” only for Peter to say “So do I.” Some might find this to be charming, but it took me out of it. 

Feel good brawlin’ and swingin’ 

Spider-Man 2’s excellent mechanical additions ensure the player’s traversal of a now-expanded New York City is equal parts swift and satisfying. Soaring across the city without a care while using the wingsuit is a highlight. New web-swinging tricks that catapult the Spider-Men into the sky, super jump mid-air, hook onto buildings to swing around, dash forward in a dazzling burst of speed, and swiftly dive downwards before flinging back upwards with tons of momentum contribute to this fantastic feeling movement.

Now that Brooklyn and Queens are part of the picture, Insomniac responded with this larger map by exponentially increasing the player’s potential speed. I frequently returned to the game’s ability screen to remind myself how to perform specific tricks early on. Combining those new abilities together successfully always felt great, even though it took a bit to get used to.

Each new gadget is crafted with satisfying sound design and visual flair. I can’t help but smile whenever launching a volley of electric bolts that thrusts enemies into the air, absorbed by the intense vibrations of each discharge. My favorite contraption grabs every foe and object in the vicinity before slamming them together with a hilarious amount of force. Hearing the sound of boxes break and barrels crash as Spider-Man’s enemies bonk their heads is euphoric.

Special abilities are no different. One lets Peter grapple onto an enemy, double-kick them into the air, and emit a shocking eruption that launches other foes in the area. Half of the time I use that ability because I adore the sheer visceral force of its explosion. Another has Miles summon a chain lightning bolt that jumps between enemies and sends them flying. Nearly everything is accompanied by a similar degree of intensity, and even though these skills are necessary for practical reasons, they feel fantastic to use just for fun.

There is no shortage of abilities throughout the game, either. Miles and Peter each get eight at least, which are unlocked at different points in the narrative. There are only four gadgets though, so you won’t be picking which ones to use in battle, but you can upgrade them in fun ways. Players also have web shooters, an ultimate ability, and the focus bar that allows for either finishers or self-heals. All of that is built upon an excellent foundation where you zip between enemies while performing unique combos. 

I binged Spider-Man 2 within a three day period, and ever since finishing, I have itched to swing, soar, and fight my way through NYC again. 

Spectacular difficulty 

I played Spider-Man 2018 and Miles Morales on the Spectacular difficulty, but neither were as intense as this. I once tried taking out a hideout webs blazing but was so overwhelmed by heavy enemies that require quick reflexes and varied methods of defense that I died immediately. A couple of more tries didn’t help, so I resorted to subtlety. This wasn’t a problem in the other games, as I would either engage in the stealth mechanics or fight depending on my mood. 

A rogue rocket was the hardest thing to deal with beforehand, but in Spider-Man 2, heavy enemies can be brutal. Even standard foes can block your punches before following up with a devastating strike that cannot be dodged.

Forcing the player to juggle between unique defensive inputs like jumping, parrying or dodging depending on the type of attack forced me into a new game awareness that was never quite present in the previous games, especially against bosses. If it wasn’t for Insomniac setting your checkpoint whenever a new health bar appears during those fights, I would have struggled far more.

This isn’t to say Spider-Man 2 is hard, but it required me to play consciously. As the player levels up, those aforementioned special abilities and gadgets are vital towards making boss fights and other difficult encounters less challenging. However, it doesn’t change that many fights forced me to unleash everything I had to come out of the other side. I love a game that encourages the player to use their arsenal in full.

Inconsistent animation 

Spider-Man 2’s presentation jumps from consistently fluid to occasionally poor. Facial animations are the biggest offender here, as Peter Parker and MJ look stiff. Kraven, Harry and Miles don’t share these issues, but those two aforementioned characters look uncanny (pun not intended) when showing complex facial expressions.

I briefly looked at Spider-Man 2018 cutscenes to see if the same issue was present with MJ and Peter, and while the new faces are more complex during still shots, the older faces expressed in natural ways. It’s hard to say if this is an issue that can be fixed with an update or if it’s just a result of playing an early copy of the game, but it was distracting throughout my 27-hour playthrough.

Some scenes also feature environments with a lack of detail, in particular one of the first cutscenes set in a classroom. The room was poorly lit with models missing shadows, while Miles and Peter’s movements throughout were robotic. These issues go away later in the game, but it was a startling opening.

Spider-Man 2’s Coney Island mission, while adorable on paper, is especially messy. MJ got stuck in walls while walking, Harry’s head detached from his body when descending some stairs, and I got trapped next to a bathroom as Peter (which forced me to restart from checkpoint). The camera during roller coaster rides lacked dynamic angles, and the ability to raise your arms or cheer in the middle of dialogue is awkward.

NYC brought to life 

It’s no secret that a majority of Spider-Man’s video game adaptations take place in New York. There are exceptions, but both Insomniac’s first game and Miles Morales’ spin-off already gave us a run through the developer’s vision of NYC. Repurposing this setting was sure to get old, so the developer builds upon it with the additions of Brooklyn and Queens.

Swinging through Brooklyn yielded a bustling city-life with thinner streets, a little more greenery, shorter skyscrapers, and condensed rows of houses that made me feel right at home. I couldn’t help but get nostalgic traversing Coney Island and the Brooklyn Zoo. While seeing this borough from high-up is one thing, do yourself a favor and drop to the ground level. It’s wonderful to take a stroll and absorb the scenery.

Queens is similarly beautiful. I loved swinging above its train tracks, massive forest, and calmer city streets. I even took some time to walk through its suburban neighborhoods, and it brought back childhood memories of taking trips to visit cousins. Those peaceful streets with spread-out homes, gorgeous backyards, and stunning foliage contrast beautifully against the chaos of traditional NYC. Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens each have their own unmistakable feeling in real life, and Insomniac stays true to that.

While experiencing New York’s gorgeous vistas on your own is great, the city comes to life in main missions. When exploring murky sewers, dimly lit construction sites, or Peter’s old high school, Spider-Man 2 proves it’s more than willing to implement a diverse locale that stands out from its open-world.

It would have been easy to design main missions around already-built parts of NYC, especially when an astounding amount of love and detail has been put into every street and building. But main missions feel crafted and precise thanks to their cinematic lighting and unforgettable degree of detail.

An improved yet still flawed open-world 

Insomniac goes back to the drawing board with its open world and focuses on tighter, shorter-form side-content spread out evenly between main missions. Crimes are no longer mandatory for completing districts, while a majority of those smaller stories focus on characters. Rarely do I take the time to 100% a game, but I was invested enough in Spider-Man 2 to do so. 

Detailing the fate of certain villains (while introducing new ones), teaming up with old friends, and helping the people of NYC in small yet memorable ways are a few of the highlights here. Slight spoilers, but one mission has Peter Parker reminisce about getting his first job at the Daily Bugle, forced to bike across Manhattan before James Jonah Jameson finishes his coffee. There are other missions like this that plastered a big smile to my face, while some brought me to tears.

Unfortunately, there were three optional objectives I did not enjoy. One takes the player through NYC to snap photos, another has mini-games throughout the city, and the other hides an absurd number of spider-bots on buildings. At some point I got exhausted and felt like I was engaging in repetitive content for the sake of completionism, alongside wanting to see if it would end in an exciting little cutscene or new optional mission. By the end of all three, I wasn’t particularly satisfied, as only one ended on a cutscene and it was nothing more than a tease.

Other sets of missions have a repetitive structure but are more enjoyable because they highlight the game’s strengths. One mission series has the player chasing a drone at high-speeds, having to dodge explosions and lasers while gliding with Spider-Man’s new wingsuit. There are also combat challenges, battles throughout the city, and hideouts to either fight or stealth through. Kicking butt or gliding through NYC is far more fun than scanning every nook and cranny for hidden collectibles.

Banger after banger 

Spider-Man 2 has a slow start. Its first-half introduces new characters, develops their relationships, and lays the tracks for its villains while focusing on two Spider-Men at once. But as soon as that second half hits, the main missions become something else entirely. Each is a massive event, not due to length or area size, but because their impact on the story is enormous. Fantastic set-pieces, cinematic boss fights, incredible plot developments, and a sense of pacing that had me clamoring for more result in an exhilarating campaign.

While I dreaded the inevitable Mary Jane gameplay that I never much enjoyed in the original Spider-Man, Insomniac knocks it out of the park. Rather than giving up in the face of criticism, the developer has put even more of a focus on it. Through tight stealth mechanics and expansive areas that are traversable in interesting ways, I loved the first two Mary Jane levels. But when it turned into a cheap-feeling arcade shooter on the third mission, it completely lost me.

Bottom line 

In an age of superhero oversaturation, I had grown cynical. Spider-Man 2’s opening hours were full of doubt as I questioned if these sorts of stories were even for me anymore. Although this was heightened by presentation mishaps like flawed facial animations, it went beyond just that: I’m exhausted of tales revolving around hero versus villain.

But Insomniac did the most appropriate thing for a Spider-Man story. By focusing on people instead of titles, alongside themes questioning the nature of what lies beneath the mask, the developer has chipped away at that aforementioned cynicism. I always expected Spider-Man 2 would be fun, but I had no reason to believe it would reignite my admiration for what this genre can accomplish.

Shortly after the launch of the PS5, Sony provided a jarring revelation that PlayStation would be attempting to publish more than 10 live service games by 2026, with Bungie overseeing the company’s transition and acting as a support team.

Sony’s move here is likely an attempt at making substantially more money than the company could ever dream possible with microtransaction-free single-player titles. However, a recent report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier puts this problem into perspective and how the company has its hands full with a monumental task. 

How are Sony’s live service plans doing today? 

Sony’s attempts at live service aren’t going well. With Schreier reporting that Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us live-service title was being “scaled back,” alongside the company’s recent PlayStation Showcase failing to show gameplay of announced multiplayer games like Fairgame$, Marathon, and Concord. We have yet to see good news regarding Sony’s future in live-service. 

But recently, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan stepped down from the company after being in this position since 2019. Schreier provided an in-depth explainer on why gamers were cheering about Ryan’s departure, but one snippet of the article is being focused on throughout the internet.

Schreier claims that “some insiders are worried about the company’s lack of coherent vision,” in particular concerned about “misplaced bets on service games.” It’s a vague quote, but if the insiders are referring to Sony employees, it means that people within the company have no more faith in this future than any of us do. Unfortunately, this statement was not the focus of the article, so it’s all we have right now.

It’s also possible that these claims are being hyper-fixated on and that was not quite what the article meant, but for now, it seems as if PlayStation employees are equally worried. And even then, is that much of a surprise? Sony exceeded expectations during the previous generation, and it has begun this one with a similar degree of success.

The company’s attempts to shift its focus should make anyone worry, especially when it’s with something as volatile as the live-service market. All too often does a big multiplayer game from an AAA publisher come out and get shut down within months. And nowadays, games like Sega’s Hyenas are being canceled before they even launch. Not everything can be Fortnite, and if PlayStation continues to chase after that miracle of a success, the result might not be pretty. 

If you've been juggling your PS5 storage since day one like me then you are probably more than ready to spend a little money to fix that problem. 

You can grab the WD_BLACK SN850X 1TB SSD with heatsink for just $66 — a whopping 63% discount and the cheapest we've seen the Sony-approved PS5 SSD. Banish the endless waiting as you download and install a game for the 15th time as you try to make do with the built-in PS5 storage.

Grab the WD_BLACK SN850x 1TB PS5 M.2 SSD with heatsink for $119 at Amazon. It's the best PS5 SSD to pick up thanks to its fast random read/write performance and solid sequential read/write speeds across all capacities. Don't miss out on expanding your PS5's storage for over half the price. Plus, check out how to install an M.2 SSD in a PS5 with our handy guide.

While we called the PS5 the "future of gaming" in our review and awarded it an outstanding 4.5 out of 5 stars, the somewhat limited 825GB of built-in storage is something that I've run up against since pretty much day one.

Adding this 1TB SSD will stop me from having to constantly juggle my games library. I'll look forward to the day that we have instantaneous file transfers or pure lag-free cloud gaming, but until then this gets me a little bit closer to gaming nirvana for just $66.

Check out our main Amazon Prime Day deals if you are still on the hunt for some other last-minute savings before the deals end tonight.

The PS5 Slim could be arriving later this year if leaked court documents relating to Microsoft’s tug-of-war with the FTC are accurate. Microsoft, by hook or crook, seemingly has the skinny on the PS5 Slim, including a release window potential retail price. 

A casual outing

The leaked court documents cite Sony’s upcoming console in an effort to tackle the FTC overlooking Nintendo when measuring up the console market. Seemingly, the FTC focuses solely on the Xbox and PlayStation consoles due to their “high-performance consoles” — and is therefore making judgments based on only the top-tier offerings from Microsoft and Sony.

To counter the FTC’s judgment, Microsoft brings attention to the less “high-performance” Xbox Series S and its similar pricing to the Nintendo Switch, alongside the Blu-ray-less PS5 Digital Edition’s $399 price tag before casually dropping the news that “Sony is expected to release a PlayStation 5 Slim later this year at the same reduced price point.”

The PS5 Slim has been widely anticipated ever since the PS5’s release, with many hoping to see Slim and Pro options appear on store shelves within the same three-year window as the PlayStation 4’s Slim and Pro options. Seemingly, Microsoft has gone ahead and confirmed that at least one of those devices is likely heading our way, with a Playstation 5 Slim potentially making its way to stores this year for $399.

Outlook

There are no solid details about what to expect when the PS5 Slim is eventually unveiled by Sony, but the information from the document would line up with previous rumors indicating a September 2023 release.

In terms of hardware, beyond a smaller frame and reduced weight, some rumors suggest it could include a detachable USB-C disc drive available within PS5 Slim bundles or sold separately.

If the PS5 Slim is making an appearance this year then we would expect it to follow the PS4 Slim’s announcement and release pattern. That means it’s likely that we would see an announcement sometime in September and a release shortly thereafter or within October.

You may remember I expressed my frustration that no company has managed to nail cloud gaming yet. Turns out Sony may have been listening, as the company has launched a test of cloud streaming PS5 games — an enticing glimpse into the future of what we could see from PlayStation in this realm.

This test is small in scale, but its implications are massive for the future of PlayStation Plus and its new cloud gaming arm. Let’s see what Sony is up to.

PlayStation Game Pass?

“We’re currently testing cloud streaming for supported PS5 games – this includes PS5 titles from the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and Game Trials, as well as supported digital PS5 titles that players own,” says Nick Maguire, VP of global services, global sales, and business operations at Sony Interactive Entertainment. 

Did you see it? The five words at the end there: “PS5 titles that players own.” Sure, it’s prefaced with saying select digital titles that are supported, but this is a big step in the right direction. This would be a nice workaround to the dreaded DRM issues, which gives you immediate access to everything you own alongside a separate library of new titles to try.

One piece of bad news, though. Maguire went on to say that “cloud game streaming for supported PS5 titles will be available for use directly on your PS5 console.” For anyone expecting the full cloud gaming roll-out, hold your breath for now. But Sony is making all the right moves for it.

Putting my hopes sky high

Of course, there are some more immediate reasons behind this shift. With the Project Q streaming handheld on the way later this year, it’s logical that Sony would want to sharpen up its cloud gaming offering for use with this device.

However, the move is a lot bigger than that — one of a company that is finally realizing that remote play (for all its strengths in reducing latency) is not the right direction. Through remote play, you can stream PS5 games to PCs and Macs, as well as smartphones, but your PS5 needs to be turned on and have these games installed to work.

But given that PlayStation chief Jim Ryan teased “quite aggressive plans” for cloud gaming, it’s not far out of scope to speculate that more could be coming, such as mobile cloud gaming (that Backbone One PlayStation Edition would be perfect for it) and an in-browser option too — none of which require games to be pre-installed on your PS5.

There’s a long way to go yet, but this jewel of potential reopens a lot of my dreams for what a true cloud gaming element of PlayStation Plus could look like.

PlayStation’s future is bright

My wants for the perfect cloud gaming service are simple:

• Something that gives you immediate access to the games you own (either online or disc-based).
• Has additional tiers for access to a ‘Netflix for gaming’ style catalog.

From the way Sony is talking in its blog, and its current game streaming offering, PlayStation seems to have lined up all its chess pieces for quite an aggressive attack on Xbox’s current cloud gaming dominance.

And it has everything it needs to run fast. Now we just need to start seeing cloud gaming tested in browsers and on phones, and this could be a formidable offering for PlayStation Plus subscribers.

Sony just wrapped up its first PlayStation Showcase since 2021. We received trailers for new games like Spider-Man 2, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Dragon's Dogma 2, Final Fantasy XVI, and far more. While the show wasn't as first-party heavy as I initially hoped, there's still plenty of cool stuff to take away from it.

The PlayStation Showcase 2023 begins today on May 24 at 1pm PDT / 4pm EDT / 9pm BST (Twitch or YouTube). This is a little over five hours away, so free up your schedule to get a glimpse into PlayStation's exciting future. But if you cannot make it, keep this article open, as we'll be updating the page throughout the show.

The PlayStation Showcase 2023 begins in an hour at 1pm PDT / 4pm EDT / 9pm BST. It'll be available to watch on both Twitch and YouTube, but if you can't make it for whatever reason, we'll be covering the event live as it happens. 

There's plenty to be excited about today, with over an hour of footage promised from Sony. We will likely see much of what the company plans to release over the next two years, which could include The Last of Us multiplayer, Spider-Man 2, Wolverine, Ghost of Tsushima 2, a new Astro Bot and unknown projects from Insomniac, Santa Monica Studio and Bluepoint Games. 

Whatever happens, we'll be covering every headline you don't want to miss in this article!

The PlayStation Showcase 2023 begins now! Tune in on Twitch or YouTube to catch the show, but if you can't make it, keep up with this article as it will be updated live as the event happens.

The PlayStation Showcase 2023 opened with a cinematic trailer for a heist-based game where players invade corporate facilities and take the money back from the rich. We see the players with tons of gadgets using their wits to try and steal successfully. It's called Fairgame$.

The next trailer was for Helldivers 2, a game about tons of alien bugs invading the galaxy. However, it has now become a third-person shooter. The original was a co-op game where players go throughout cities batting tons of aliens and completing objectives. It seems like this sequel features far more open areas like rocky deserts.

The next game revealed was a first-person magic shooter called Immortals of Avenum. Imagine an FPS but you're battling everything with a magic gauntlet that has tons of special abilities that can be used against bosses and enemies. It looks absolutely wild, with the game launching on July 20.

Ghost Runner II was announced for launch in 2023, giving us a look at the player in a futuristic cyber-cycle riding down a ton of roads in first-person. Of course, classic melee combat is present with tons of fast-paced action involved and brutal fatalities.

The next title is a third-person action game called Phantom Blade 0 that has the player running around huge environments with a clearly dark tone as we saw beautiful creatures and mind-blowing encounters that pit us against tons of enemies at once in absolutely bonkers cinematic-style fights.

Deflecting skills, ridiculous over-exaggerated slashes and hyper-speed combat makes this title look absolutely nuts. It definitely has a cinematic focus, with a lot of the battles being less obviously gameplay and more theatrical and epic in nature.

A new game called Sword of the Sea from the visionary artists behind Abzu, The Pathless and Journey comes a new game that has the player riding a surfboard through enormous desert environments, gorgeous temples and other magnificent vistas. If you're a fan of huge creatures in a beautiful world with an indie aesthetic, you'll love this one.

The Talos Principle II was shown off, showcasing gorgeous science fiction locations as the player takes control of an android throughout this bizarre world. The original title was philosophical in nature, offering fascinating puzzles alongside its existential themes.

The next game called Neva opens with a soft pastel painterly aesthetic showcasing a bird falling down onto a meadow, with a lady and her giant pet wolves looking up at the sky in fear.

From the creator of Gris, this game showcases the protagonist battling tons of shadow monsters as a dark cloud overwhelms the world before her animal companion passes away. However, its pup lives, and the trailer ends shortly afterwards in a sad farewell.

The next game is called Cat Quest: Pirates of the Purribean and boasts a goofy cartoon aesthetic with the player in both top down and 2d environments battling tons of enemies and exploring a wide world.

A new game from Square Enix called Foamstars takes place within a futuristic cyber-punk city showcasing tons of fashionable characters in a 3v3 stance with silly, ridiculous weapons using bubble-based firearms to cover a neon glowing world with suds. It's awfully reminiscent of Splatoon.

Plucky Quest was shown off next, providing another look at this gorgeous picture-book aesthetic game, where players take an adventure through a gorgeous selection of chapters, alongside being able to jump out of the book and explore other sections of a gigantic room with other beautiful 2d drawings that the player can hop into.

Teardown, a physics-based puzzle game where players must find ways to fulfill objectives and destroy environments, is being shown off now. It's officially coming to PS5 this year.

The trailer opens with a close-up showing a series of ants crawling around on the ground before slowly making their way to the eyelid of some sort of creature as a bird flies up in the sky through a forest while gunshots go off in the distance. In the water is a giant snake creature that mercilessly attacks the bird before we see a close-up of Snake's face hiding within the forest as an official logo for Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is revealed.

Destroyed environments expand out through a gorgeous world as a giant turtle speaks to the protagonist, who seems to be building various structures within an open area and grows natural wonders within the land. It's called Towers of Aghasba and features beautiful huge creatures and (seemingly) survival mechanics.

Final Fantasy XVI is being shown off now, the dark nature of its cinematics and nightmarish creatures within the world being given a short breakdown. It seems mostly focused on story beats, showcasing some of the major characters alongside the huge boss fights.

Alan Wake II is being shown off now, giving us a look at the world in-game, and some of the side-characters. It seems the player takes control of a new character, an FBI agent who's seemingly seeking Alan. It's launching on October 17.

Assassin's Creed: Mirage is being shown off now. It's focused on the standard formula, with tons of stealth, climbing, and typical Assassin's Creed-shenanigans becoming the important part. Stealth takedowns are a huge priority of this trailer, alongside flashy combat and assassinations, attempting to channel the original series' style once again. It launches October 12.

Revenant Hill is being shown off from Finji. The main cat character looks remarkably similar to the Night in the Woods character, with a cute black cat running through various city streets and natural locations before finding a nice place to rest next to a tree.

A new Grandblue game is being shown off with action-combat, huge rock monsters, dragons to battle against, elemental beasts of all kinds, and plenty of party members going absolutely wild with their unique abilities. It's called Granblue Fantasy: Relink.

Street Fighter VI is being shown off now, with a cinematic trailer giving us a hint as to what some of the story beats will look like. It has an impressive focus on each of the biggest characters' narrative elements with the World Tour mode. It launches on June 2.

Ultros features colorful 2d environments throughout a seemingly alien world that has the player climbing walls, planting seeds to grow trees to overcome obstacles, and battle bizarre otherworldly monstrosities to emerge victorious. While the trailer begins light-hearted and swell, it quickly shifts into something nightmarish. It seems like a MetroidVania launching in 2024.

From Perfect World Games comes Tower of Fantasy. We see a cinematic of a girl coming out from a giant machine, players riding mounts, crazy huge monsters, and players piloting mechs to battle half-robot animals throughout an anime-inspired open world. It looks like an MMO, but it's a little hard to tell from this trailer. It launches this summer.

Dragon's Dogma II is finally being shown off from Capcom! We see interspliced shots of the payer casting tons of crazy spells and battling throughout environments as lines of dialogue play over these scenes. Of course, we see huge dragons, griffins, ogres with clubs, and monstrous ladies with tons of snakes on their head. It looks absolutely wonderful!

A new Five Nights & Freddy's game is being shown off, called Help Wanted 2, where the player is thrust down an elevator before being stuffed into an underground facility and swiftly jump scared.

Resident Evil 4 VR is being shown off now, giving us a look at the game's opening areas. We see the player crossing through the opening dark village section before entering the iconic battle area where a chainsaw man nearly murders the player. No release date was given, but it will be a free DLC for the PS5 version of RE4.

Now the conference shifts into PSVR 2 titles, with a new game from Vertigo Games,. We see a zombie apocalypse game where there are tons of strange zombies everywhere. We see the player going through a huge desert and whacking enemies with arms, shooting them, beating them to death with weaponry and more. It's called Arizona Sunshine 2 and is coming 2023.

The next VR title from Smile Gate Entertainment is a first-person shooter that has the player battling tons of enemies through warzones, utilizing shotguns, machine guns, mini-guns, assault rifles, and sniper rifles. It's called Crossfire Sierra Squad.

Another VR title takes the player into a bizarre facility where tons of parts of the world are derelict. It has a black-and-white aesthetic and it's clear that the player needs to progress through tons of areas and battle through plenty of bosses and enemies in a hyper-fast action shooter. It's called Synapse and launches July 4.

Beat Saber is getting Queens music and is now coming to PSVR2. It seems to have quite a few changes, alongside new presentation gimmicks to make it more epic than ever before.

A new game from Bungie within a science fiction world where a player with a bizarre-looking weapon is running throughout a world before being sniped by another. The other player takes their chip before we get an overview of a gigantic destroyed celestial body overlapping another. It'll be a PvP-focused title called Marathon, but we did not see gameplay.

Destiny 2's latest expansion is being shown off, giving us an overview of the story thus far. It's called The Final Shape and a full showcase is happening in August.

Concord was shown off briefly, a new game showcasing different corners of a space-ship coming to both PS5 and PC. The trailer was far too short to know what was going on, but it is a PvP first-person shooter.

A Gran Turismo movie trailer is being shown off... which is an interesting choice, admittedly. Why show off a movie trailer now?

PS5 has just announced a device called Project Q alongside PlayStation Earbuds which can work on PS5 and PC. Project Q offers a DualSense controller in your hands, that lets you play games on the go from your PS5 over Wi-Fi.

Spider-Man 2 is being shown off now, giving us a look at Kraven the Hunter in a forest lifting a man by the neck and breaking it before tossing him to the ground. We see a man show him a tablet of New York City before he says "the great hunt begins." Six months later, Spider-Man appears already merged with Venom throughout the streets of Queens fighting robot dogs and having to battle against Kraven's army.

We also see Peter call in Miles as he comes to the conclusion he can't get to a certain location within the city fast enough. It seems to have its own seamless transitions allowing the player to jump across the city depending on where players are within the game. We don't know if swapping is linear or freely done, though. We see Miles using his evolved shocking powers to absolutely melt through enemies effortlessly.

Miles then traveled through the deep confines of an underground facility looking for the Lizard, before we see Peter Parker dropping through a ceiling with his Venom-tentacles coming out from him. Then the growling of the Lizard echoes between them before Miles and Peter have to chase after him. 

Kraven's army is sailing away on speeds boats as both Miles and Peter peform crazy flips and kicks on the enemies to rend them useless. Kraven appears in a flying vehicle before sinking a ship, showing another jump between Miles and Peter, with Peter focusing on chasing Lizard and Kraven while Miles saves everyone.

We once again see another swap to Miles before Lizard tries to devour him alive, a front view of him having to dodge around Lizard as jumps at him. It seems that the Spider-Men were mostly interested in keeping the Lizard safe from Kraven, probably because they need him for something. At the end, Miles seems worried about Peter due to his merging with Venom.

The 2023 PlayStation Showcase has been confirmed, and we're set to see a ton of exciting stuff coming to PS5 and PSVR 2.

We've been begging for a big PlayStation event for so long! In fact, this used to be a list of 2022 predictions when the rumors were flying of an event happening in September.

But now we finally have one coming up on May 24 at 1pm PDT, and it's time to get the crystal ball out and make some predictions about what could happen at this year’s PlayStation Showcase.

Before we leave the speculation station...

Let's take a closer look at what Sony says the event will include in its blog post.

"The show will run a bit over an hour, focusing on PS5 and PS VR2 games in development from top studios from around the world. Expect a glimpse at several new creations from PlayStation Studios, as well as spellbinding games from our third-party partners and indie creators."

So the key bits I'm getting from here are the "new creations" from PlayStation Studios, and the fact that "third-party partners" are involved too. With this knowledge, we can start to make some educated bets (as well as some wild gambles).

Prediction 1: Spider-Man 2 gameplay

Spider-Man 2 is slated for launch in September, and if we take what happened in the run up to the original Spider-Man on PS4 into context, now’s the time we should get some sort of glimpse at the gameplay.

But what will we see? Of course it will be Hollywood-level chaos and combat with the control fluidity Insomniac has absolutely nailed for the web slinger. However, the twist here, as last year’s announcement trailer alluded to, is co-op multiplayer with one person playing as Peter Parker and the other filling the shoes of Miles Morales.

I’m talking combo finishers, humorous dialogue between the pair and strategies to send one Spider-Man to take out several snipers while the other eliminates melee opponents. The big bet to sweeten it will be the announcement that you can play co-op throughout the entire story.

Prediction 2: PlayStation Cloud Gaming

I’ve already talked at length about how now’s the time for Sony to announce PlayStation Cloud Gaming as part of PlayStation Plus Premium, because everything lines up.

With the Backbone One PlayStation Edition in gamers' hands, and Xbox Cloud Gaming being so far ahead, it’s now or never for a true competitor that gives you wider cloud access to the PS Plus library via more dedicated apps and any web browser.

But here’s the sweetener that would be more of a hope than a solid prediction, as I doubt the company would do this: Sony cracks the DRM code and makes any games you’ve bought (online or disc edition) available to play on the cloud.

Remote play is great, but we simply can’t afford to keep the PS5 on at all times to access games, so to nail this would be a huge consumer-friendly move.

Prediction 3: The Last of Us multiplayer trailer

With The Last of Us Part I in the books (and its rather bad PC port), now’s the time to turn our attention to the multiplayer project and while we saw some captivating concept art at Gamescom 2022, now’s the time for a teaser trailer.

I don’t envision we’ll see gameplay for a while. However, some sort of promo to establish the location, the variety of PVE and PVP combat on offer and signs of the Battle Royale framing of these huge battlefields where you have one mission: endure and survive.

Prediction 4: Ghost of Tsushima PC gets an Autumn release date

Ghost of Tsushima is easily one of my favorite PlayStation Studios games of the past few years. Sucker Punch really knocked it out the park with a drop dead gorgeous visual style, captivating gameplay and a gripping story.

So it only seems fitting that it is the next game to get the PC port treatment. Mostly, Sony has done well with the optimisation of its games, and it's been a joy to pick them up on Steam Deck. So hopefully, this legendary samurai adventure gets the same treatment.

Prediction 5: We get a glimpse of what Supernatural Studios is working on

One of my proudest moments here at Laptop Mag continues to be the exclusive scoop I got on the creative mind behind SSX making a new snowboarding game, codenamed Project Gravity.

Shortly after this piece, the team at Supernatural Studios officially partnered with a “major global publisher” and went into stealth mode — meaning there have been zero details since.

This is more of a prediction that requires me to wish upon a monkey’s paw, while throwing salt over my shoulder and crossing all my fingers. But maybe even just a taste of what’s to come with a short teaser would satiate my appetite.

Prediction 6: Metal Gear Solid 3 remastered announced

This list was going to stop at five predictions, but some last-minute news has captured my imagination. Gamesradar has reported on two things: Konami revealing a new game in a “world-loved series” at Tokyo Game Show and, more interestingly, increasing reports of a remastered Metal Gear Solid trilogy.

Last year, Konami went all out to talk about its new Silent Hill entries, including a SH 2 remake exclusive for PS5 (other prediction: gameplay preview of this). And while the MGS trilogy as a whole has been rumored, I think we'll just see one game and that's the third entry.

And who knows, that may establish the basis for a Metal Gear Solid 4 remake. Please, Konami, give me what I want.

Praise the lords of gaming, Sony has just revealed that it will be holding a new PlayStation showcase today, promising over an hour of new content. We're almost certainly expecting to see Spider-Man 2 make an appearance and receive a release date, but what especially excites me is the potential for some surprise drops. 

I need to know what Naughty Dog's The Last of Us multiplayer game is going to look like, alongside new projects from Sucker Punch, Insomniac and more. Sony has been suspiciously quiet for quite some time, especially since the company had a killer 2022 with God of War: Ragnarök and Horizon: Forbidden West. Beyond Final Fantasy XVI in 2023, what else can we look forward to? I cannot wait to find out today.

PlayStation Showcase 2023: How to watch

The PlayStation Showcase will begin today on May 24 at 1pm PDT / 4pm EDT / 9pm BST. You can tune in on both Twitch and YouTube to get the latest updates on what's happening with PlayStation. If you can't make it for whatever reason, we'll be covering the event live as it happens.

PlayStation has promised a showcase which will last "a bit over an hour" with a focus on PS5 and PS VR2 games currently in development from studios "around the world." What's particularly interesting, is that in the blog post announcement, Sid Shuman specifically uses the word "spellbinding" to describe upcoming games from its third-party studios and indie creators, which makes me wonder if that word choice was an intentional hint towards the type of games we'll be seeing. We can also expect plenty of "new creations from PlayStation Studios," as well.

If you can't make it to the show, Laptop Mag will be covering it live as it happens. Hopefully we'll get plenty of surprises to keep us on our toes: I'm personally hoping Gravity Rush 3 will come out of nowhere (even though Japan Studio is gone).

Sony has patented a new technology that could give the "sense" in "DualSense" a whole new meaning.

The critically acclaimed PS5 gamepad may feature temperature control in its palm grips. In other words, developers will have the option to make the controller warmer while running through the derelict lands of hell in Doom, or make it cooler while shivering throughout a snowy expanse in The Last of Us. Perhaps PlayStation should name this new controller the "TrioSense."

Bad jokes aside, the implementation of this patent would only further Sony's reputation for its phenomenal gamepad technologies. The patent was originally discovered by Exputer, detailing the implementation of a elastic material on the controller that could be used as new input sensors depending on pressure levels.

How DualSense could implement temperature

By utilizing the "Peltier effect" within the elastic parts of this controller, it could use electric currents to generate heat or cooling at mild degrees to create this additional sensation. Adaptive triggers and haptic feedback absolutely changed the game, and if Sony takes this step further, it could be seriously mind-blowing.

While this patent is official, it doesn't mean Sony will go through with making it a reality. It's not uncommon for companies to patent a new technology, but never use it, with one example being how Activision patented a system that would give NPC's disguised as other players expensive cosmetics to sneakily make actual player want those items.

Patents are never a confirmation of something being made, but a way for companies to claim the specific details of a technology as their own. Someone, or a team of individuals, had this idea at Sony, so since the concept was already drafted up, it would be foolish for the company not to lay claim to exactly how it was conceptualized. As a result, if someone else makes a controller exactly like this, Sony can sue.

But I can't help but wonder: Will this drive up the cost of the next-gen DualSense? It's already one of the most expensive controllers on the market, so perhaps Sony will implement this as one of its optional higher cost models. Regardless, I can't wait to see if PlayStation actually goes through with implementing this technology.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty immediately throws players into the gauntlet with its first boss, and although you might feel disheartened now, don’t worry: Defeating Zhang Liang isn’t easy for most.

I consider myself a gaming veteran of incredible proportions, especially when it comes to Soulsborne and titles of its ilk, yet this first boss took me eight tries before I emerged victorious. This isn’t an uncommon situation for Team Ninja, as I also faced similar trouble against Nioh’s first boss.

No number of how-tos can completely subvert the ultimate difficulty of Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, as you’ll need to be somewhat competent to win. But there are plenty of helpful tips that can make this experience less frustrating for you.

Aggression will make things easier 

While games like Dark Souls or Elden Ring expect the player to be patient as they exchange blows, Wo Long offers an advantage to those who are more aggressive in combat. Yes, you can steadily chip at Zhang Liang’s health while remaining on the defensive, but not only does that increase room for error, but the mechanics themselves favor those who are aggressive.

This is comparable to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, where bosses have alternative meters beyond their health bar that will go down faster if the player is attacking them in quick succession. In both Sekiro and Wo Long, when that meter is full, you can execute a powerful strike that will take out a substantial amount of the enemy’s HP. 

My best runs against Zhang Liang are the ones where I would not let up my assault, to the point where I was able to get through certain phases at an alarming pace due to how generous critical blows can be.

Know when to parry and when to dodge 

You might have noticed the slight awkwardness of the dodge and parry function occupying the same input, but they’re drastically different mechanics, both of which feature distinct uses. Zhang Liang has certain moves that you should absolutely parry, indicated by when you see a red shimmer around the enemy.

Parrying red blows also takes a decent chunk out of the enemy’s posture and health bar, so it’s a great way to make the fight more approachable. Parrying most of Zhang Liang’s attacks in general is a good idea, but a few will be impossible to deflect, like his tornado attack in the second phase. Just dodge that one! 

Parrying is also vital to chip at the enemy’s posture meter, which, as stated in the previous tip, will make it easier to execute those critical blows. It’s far better to be fast and aggressive rather than reserved and patient in this game, but it doesn’t mean you can just spam attacks. You must parry and dodge when the game asks, otherwise you will die.

Balance heavy and light attacks 

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty already explains this within the tutorials, but if you’re anything like me, you might not be the best reader when it comes to intrusive tooltips. So understand this carefully: Light attacks increase your Spirit Gauge, heavy attacks or special moves reduce your Spirit Gauge. Getting hit while Spirit Gauge is low will result in the player being stunned for a long while. This is very bad!

You want to ensure your Spirit Gauge is always in the positive by utilizing a healthy number of light attacks, and try your best to only use heavy attacks or special moves when you don’t anticipate the enemy will go on the assault. But you can also gain Spirit Gauge by deflecting attacks successfully, which means even if you’re in the negative and are about to get hit a ton, you can get through it successfully with good timing.

Check your inventory and experiment with different weapons

While this may seem obvious, it’s a system that I completely ignored when I first went through Nioh. I was three bosses into the game and got my butt whooped by Nue so badly that it seemed as if I didn’t have a chance in hell to defeat them. That’s when I went into my inventory and realized that I had tons of new armor and weapons that would increase my power, alongside providing electricity resistance to make that boss a lot less frustrating.

Moral of the story is that you should absolutely check your inventory and make sure you have your best gear equipped. Alongside that, don’t be afraid to experiment with different weapons and see which one suits your playstyle the best. Not only can doing so make your journey a little easier, but it’s a lot of fun to try out new armaments.

Bottom line 

If all else fails, you could go back into the rest of the level and explore carefully, looking for additional gear you might have missed and gaining some experience from the enemies so you can attain a few more levels. But those levels aren’t the world. Yes, they are absolutely useful, but practicing and understanding the mechanics of the game is significantly more important.

By the endgame of Nioh 2, I will never forget being 100+ levels below the recommendation for the main story because I had little to no interest in grinding out the side content, but I made do by getting better at the game itself. Simply believe in yourself, calm down, rethink the systems, experiment with new ideas and gameplay styles, and you will kick Zhang Liang’s butt!

Wondering how to connect your PS5 controller to your iPhone? We've got you covered!

Apple Arcade is the best avenue to dive into gaming for those using Apple devices, but there's no reason you should limit yourself to cheap gamepads or touch screen control schemes. Instead, you can connect your PS5 DualSense or DualShock 4 controller to any compatible iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or Mac device to get the most out of your game time.

Not every Apple Arcade game is compatible with controller, but a lot of them are, and even then, you can use a gamepad on anything with support. To know whether an Apple game supports controller, you just have to look for the symbol of the gamepad next to words that say "Controller Supported."

How to connect PS5 controller to iPhone

Apple has a done a great job making this process as pain-free as possible. You can easily connect a PS5 or PS4 controller to your Apple device through a few simple steps utilizing Bluetooth.

1: Before doing anything, ensure that your controller is turned off. Once it is, you must press and hold the PlayStation button and Share button simultaneously. 

2: When the controller's lightbar begins flashing, you can stop holding the buttons. Now, the controller is in pairing mode and can be discovered through Bluetooth.

3: Open your Apple device and go to its Bluetooth settings. If Bluetooth is off, you'll need to turn it on.

4: The device name should appear as "DualSense Wireless Controller." Click on that! If you've connected a PS4 controller but it isn't working, click on the PlayStation button while it's paired.

It's as simple as that. You should now be able to move around the menu of your Apple device with the DualSense. Launch whatever you were planning to play and enjoy a significantly enhanced gaming experience!

Discord has finally come to PlayStation! It’s been nearly two years since Sony revealed its partnership with the company, but unfortunately, the implementation is feature-lite at the moment. Currently, players can only join voice calls through an external device after connecting their PSN and Discord accounts. 

Discord has far more functionality than just voice calls, and even then, the fact that it’s not even available within the hardware itself is pretty strange. Hopefully this is because PlayStation and Discord focused on ensuring that voice chat worked properly before polishing everything else. If so, it would make sense for the two companies to get call functionality live as soon as possible rather than arbitrarily wait until everything else is done.

If it is true that more is coming to Discord on PS5, here’s everything I’d like to see implemented on the console, ranked from least necessary to most necessary.

5. Messaging through PS5 

Yes, I know what you’re thinking. “Why would I want to message people with a controller? That sounds miserable!” First of all, you can connect a keyboard to your PS5 console (and also a mouse) to make that experience a lot less awkward. Additionally, sending texts with a controller is not that bad!

Before getting into the PC world, most of my online interactions were on the PS3 through a controller, and I learned how to text super fast on that thing. Yes, it’s probably a lot easier to just pick up your phone and text through that rather than waste the extra time it would take to open up the dedicated PS5 application, but that’s why this is merely squarely sat in fifth place. I wouldn’t say no to a feature like this, but it’s far from necessary.

4. Sharing files 

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could send images, gameplay footage and other videos saved onto your PS5 to friends? Of course it would! This doesn’t seem much like a stretch as the PS5 already has the ability to upload photos and videos to the mobile PlayStation application, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this gets added shortly after messaging features are implemented.

It would also be a lot more convenient than taking an image or video, uploading it to the PlayStation application, and saving it onto your phone before sending it to Discord. Instead, you could just skip half of those steps by just taking the image and sending it.

3. Video viewing and sharing 

While this isn’t necessary for everyone, it would be fun if players could broadcast the contents of a webcam into a Discord server while they’re gaming. And since PlayStation already has a picture-in-picture mode available while game sharing, it would be cool if you could put the contents of your server’s videos into a little window on a corner of the screen while doing other stuff.

Ideally, this would let you see your friends regardless of whether they’re streaming a game or have their webcams on. It might be somewhat difficult to see what your friends are up to if you’re in a big server and they’re all crammed onto a corner of the screen, but that would certainly be better than not seeing them at all. I’d personally love to enjoy late night webcam convos with friends while gaming on my PS5.

2. PlayStation-dedicated app

This one’s a no-brainer. Currently, the only way users can access Discord on PS5 is through an external device like a phone or computer, but it would be wonderful if we could skip that step all-together. This doesn’t just mean having a carbon copy of the desktop Discord app pushed onto the PS5, but instead refers to functionality that allows us to use the app in the ways that best suit a controller.

I won’t pretend to know exactly how this could look, but that’s why I’m not the one designing UI at PlayStation or Discord. It feels pretty poorly thought out that you can’t access the application through the console itself. This doesn’t even need to include the other features above like photo sharing and messaging, but just being able to join voice calls through the PS5 is a welcome addition.

1. Streaming games to friends 

Every one of the desired features above would certainly be nice, but this is the only one that I believe is absolutely necessary for Discord to thrive on PS5, as it’s my favorite thing about the app on desktop. The ability to seamlessly share your screen or stream a game and give your friends the chance to watch and commentate is awesome. Even when I first got my PS5, I remember using a capture card to stream my PS5 screen into my Discord server while I played games like The Last Guardian and Uncharted.

That was a lot of fun, but the capture card method often brought about audio issues and was a pain in the butt to set up. And of course, there’s the problem of having to spend a not-so-little amount of money on a capture card to begin with. It also required my PS5 to be next to my computer, which posed a problem when I got myself an LG OLED TV. Now, I don’t stream my PS5 games into the Discord anymore. It’s far too inconvenient and way too much of a hassle, but I really wish I could again.

It’s not like this technology doesn’t exist on the PS5. Streaming to your friends is not only an option, but you can even let them take control. Viewers can also put that stream in a little window allowing for picture-in-picture mode, which is a phenomenal feature. I can’t pretend I know for sure what it would take for Sony to make this work properly, but it’s easily my most desired feature from Discord on PS5.

Gaming isn’t cheap. And before you can enjoy the artform at its finest, you’ll need to meet a few prerequisites, including costly hardware and peripherals as well as a decent audio-display combo setup. In the case of multiplayer games, you’ll likely have to purchase a subscription. Even after all of that, there’s still the struggle of buying the games themselves.

As a result, new or returning gamers often wonder which of the major gaming platforms is the most cost efficient. How can one get the most out of gaming by spending the least amount of money? Of course, every platform has its exclusives, but if we’re disregarding quality for a moment and focusing on getting the most bang for your buck, there are simple answers to which console is the best choice for budget-conscious gamers.

Without further ado, here are the best gaming platforms, ranked from least to most cost efficient. (By the way, don’t forget to check out our best cheap gaming laptops page.) 

4. PC 

Some argue that PC is the most cost-effective platform thanks to its huge sales, alongside bundles that package dozens of games for a shockingly low price. The steep sum paid for computer parts, often anywhere between $700 and $3,000 depending on the power of your rig, is said to eventually be made up by all the money you save on big games.

It’s true that PC games can be acquired for less than those on the PS5, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch, but the savings aren’t significant enough. Unless you’re buying triple-A games solely when they’re heavily discounted and snagging every Humble Bundle game you can get your hands on, you won’t actually be saving much. 

For many PC gamers, it actually creates an opposite effect where the buyer is absorbed in the gambler’s fallacy, making them think they should invest in tons of Humble Bundles and purchase as much as they can during Steam Sales to “get their money back.” Many PC users share the struggle of having thousands of games in their Steam library, none of which they’ve played. To be frank, I’m also a victim of this.

Xbox Game Pass for PC is definitely a great deal, but the $120 to $180 a year you’re expected to spend on top of the potentially thousands of bucks you already put into the hardware itself makes the platform difficult to sell.

What can make a PC cost efficient is if you’re exclusively looking to enjoy really cheap games or emulate retro titles. You could theoretically spend the minimum for a competent gaming laptop or desktop at around $700 to $800 — and then spend very little afterwards by playing older, less demanding games that can be bought or emulated for next-to-nothing. But this is only for a specific type of gamer. 

3. Nintendo Switch

Some will see the Nintendo Switch’s $300 price point ($200 for the Switch Lite) and believe that it is the more cost-conscious option compared to the $500 PS5 or Xbox Series X. But unfortunately, if you plan to play more than three or four games on the console throughout its lifetime, it will quickly become apparent that it is the most expensive one out there.

Nintendo is notorious for its inability to lower the price of its biggest games. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild launched in 2017 yet is still $60 on the Nintendo eShop. This doesn’t even include the expansion, which costs an additional $20. Horizon Zero Dawn, which also launched in 2017, is currently available for $20 on the PlayStation Store — and this includes its expansion.

Breath of the Wild isn’t a special case, either. Super Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe are still both $60, and when they do go on sale, it’s often still around $40. I’ve owned a Nintendo Switch since the first year of its launch, but due to this trend, I rarely have the motivation to purchase games. 

I recently took interest in Fire Emblem: The Three Houses, but was quickly put off when I learned it’s still $60. Not only that, but I would have to pay an additional $25 to get the expansion pass with it. Even The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, a 2011 game, is currently $60 on the eShop.

If you’re someone who frequently purchases big games day one, you probably won’t see this as an issue. After all, paying $70 for day-one exclusives on PS5 is undeniably a steeper price. But if you’re like me and you prefer waiting for games to go on sale before trying them out, the Switch is the worst console for this money-saving tactic. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is also launching at $70, which will only make this situation more severe.

Nintendo Switch has also been around for six years now, which makes it a little less than four years older than the PS5 or Xbox Series X. Unless you plan to go hard into the Nintendo Switch’s remaining life-cycle and use it pretty frequently, you’re probably going to be disappointed when the company inevitably launches a new console in the near-future.

2. PS5

Some might think the PS5 is one of the more lavish consoles due its steep $500 ($400 for Digital Edition) price point and cost of $70 per exclusive. If you’re jumping on titles like God of War: Rangnarok day one, of course it’s one of the more expensive ecosystems to invest in.

But if you’re cost-conscious and only purchase those games when they’re quite a bit older or undergo steep sales, you will save a decent bit of money. Games like Demon’s Souls, Returnal and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart have dropped down to $30 during sales. Favorites such as Ghostwire: Tokyo and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales get as low as $20 during sales.

PS Plus also offers a monthly collection of games for $60 a year (it’s cheaper via CDKeys). If you’re already planning on playing games online, you’ll have this benefit added on automatically as the subscription is necessary for multiplayer.

There’s also the PS Plus Collection, which offers 18 free games if you’re subscribed to PlayStation Plus and own a PS5. These include God of War, Bloodborne, Monster Hunter: World, Final Fantasy XV, Fallout 4, Mortal Kombat X, Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, Ratchet & Clank, Days Gone, Until Dawn, Detroit: Become Human, Battlefield 1, Infamous Second Son, Batman: Arkham Knight, The Last Guardian, The Last of Us Remastered, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy and Resident Evil VII. This collection is disappearing on May 9, but if you’ve already claimed the games, you will still get to keep them as long as you’re subscribed.

Hardware makes this console expensive, and if you’re a day-one buyer of AAA games, it will not be a cost efficient experience. But with some patience and the benefits of PlayStation Plus, alongside backwards compatibility with PS4, there’s a lot to play here without spending a fortune.

1. Xbox Series X|S 

Xbox Series X is $500, but Microsoft knew that cost-conscious buyers would enjoy a cheaper version of the console with a different focus. The Xbox Series S is tied with the Nintendo Switch for the cheapest current-gen hardware out there at $300 (excluding the Switch Mini). While it is considerably less powerful than the X thanks to its halved storage space, weaker graphics, lack of a disc drive, and maximum of 2K resolution, the Series S is a great pick for certain consumers.

Whether or not it’s right for you ties directly with Microsoft’s biggest selling point: Xbox Game Pass. If you’re someone who wants a console that can play a collection of hundreds of games ranging from old to indie, alongside Xbox’s generous backwards compatibility, the Xbox Series S is a good pick for you.

But if you’re a lover of the AAA scene and want to get the most out of modern game launches, including Microsoft’s exclusives, the Series S will chug to run the newest games out there. At this point we highly recommend investing in the Xbox Series X, especially if you’d like to future-proof your console.

As mentioned earlier, Xbox Game Pass is an incredible deal for anyone who plays games regularly. The subscription is purchased on a three-month rotation for a retail price of $45, but you can often find the same code on CDKeys for $30 or less. This means you’re getting access to 400-or-so games that can be played through PC, Xbox and Xbox Cloud Gaming at $120 a year, which includes Xbox’s online services. Huge games come to the service day one, alongside the guarantee that Xbox exclusives will always be there.

Just going off of 2023 alone, this includes day-one launches like Hi-Fi RUSH, Atomic Heart, Redfall, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Starfield, Forza Motorsport, and Minecraft Legends. If you anticipate you’ll be playing a few of these games at launch, alongside recent additions of older games like the Persona series and Monster Hunter Rise, Xbox Game Pass is absolutely worth it. PlayStation asks $70 for a single AAA title alongside its $50-60 PlayStation Plus subscription, which means you’ve immediately spent a comparable amount of money after just buying a single game and a year of Sony’s online service.

But don’t be fooled: $120 to $180 a year is no small price to pay regardless of how good of a deal Xbox Game Pass is. If you don’t see yourself playing at least a few big games a year and having fun with its selection of older titles or indie games, you’ll likely regret your subscription. At the very least, Ultimate is purchased in three months at a time, so if you plan to go ham into gaming through a 90-day period, you can do so for just $30 to $45 bucks.

Bottom line

Steep hardware costs makes PC the most expensive ecosystem one can invest in. And although it’s not inherent, there’s something about the free-for-all nature of Steam that causes users to amass an enormous collection of games they spend money on yet never play. 

Nintendo Switch may seem like the cheapest option, but due to the company’s aversion to lowering game prices with time, you’ll probably end up spending a lot more money than you expect. Additionally, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom confirms that the company’s biggest games are launching at $70 in the future.

PS5 is the next best option even though day-one exclusives cost $70 and the console itself is $500. But thanks to the benefits of PlayStation Plus alongside games getting significantly cheaper with time, it’s a decent choice for those with some restraint.

But Xbox Series X|S is the best option for cost-conscious consumers. With two choices of console, one at $300 and another for $500. Alongside Xbox Game Pass offering every Microsoft exclusive day one with a backlog of 400 games to jump into, it’s a great pick for someone looking to get lost in the medium without spending a fortune.

PlayStation State of Play has returned for its February 2023 event, giving us a look at 15-minutes of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, alongside Resident Evil 4 and Street Fighter 6 footage. The presentation was 45-minutes overall and opened with five PSVR 2 games to look forward to. Here's everything you missed from the show!

PlayStation's February State of Play goes live on February 23 at 1 p.m. PST / 4 p.m. EST / 9pm and can be watched on Twitch or YouTube. If you can't make the show for whatever reason, be sure to keep up to date with this article as we offer live updates of everything happening.

The show is now beginning! You can tune in on Twitch or YouTube. If you can't make it for whatever reason, be sure to keep up to date with this article as we offer live updates.

The PlayStation State of Play opened with a showcase of The Foglands, a PSVR 2 game shown through a cinematic trailer where the player is battling alien monsters as a pistol wielding cowboy. You also battle spider monsters and woodland beings while shooting at enemies throughout alien-like environments. It comes sometime in 2023.

Green Hell VR is a crafting and survival game where the player is fighting nature and animals of the wilds throughout the Amazon jungle in PSVR 2.

Synapse is a game from the makers of Fracked. It's a new first-person shooter game where the player is battling waves of foes throughout expansive black-and-white caverns. The player can move boxes and enemies with their psychokinetic powers, with one scene in particular showing a barrel tossed to enemies before it blows them to bits. It's called Synapse and comes 2023.

Journey to Foundation is a sci-fi exploration game played in PSVR 2. The player is shown climbing on poles and hiding behind boxes as they sneak throughout a space station. They also shoot and battle with a series of enemies, utilizing futuristic alien-like abilities to emerge victorious. The game launches Autumn 2023.

A wolf-creature is taking the player to be judged, showing the player's life in full motion through their own memories. Every time the player blinks, time moves forward, which sounds pretty incredible. We see the player's memories shown through an adorable soft-palette indie-aesthetic in PSVR 2. It's called Before Your Eyes and launches on March 10.

Destiny 2: Lightfall launches on PS5 next week, so the game is having its launch trailer shown off now. We see the Witness shown off as an epic space battle occurs and the main protagonist's entire fleet is seemingly destroyed in an instant. For some reason the cover of a Radiohead song is playing in the background as we're given many glimpses of the game's story and cinematic shots of gameplay.

Tchia, the colorful island-based exploration game is being shown off now, showcasing the protagonist sailing throughout the world, climbing trees, jumping off cliffs and soaring through the forests. We also see them take the place of a bird and dolphin through their special eye. The game launches on March 21.

From the creators of Tetris Effect and Rez: Infinite comes a new game called Humanity. The player seemingly controls a dog running throughout blocky environments as they attempt to move an entire population of people to their destination. It's clearly a puzzle game with a minimalist aesthetic and it's launching in May. It's also playable with a creation mode, allowing users to make their own levels.

Goodbye Volcano High got a new trailer showcasing the rhythm-focused gameplay and how the animations will look in-game, alongside the decisions the player can make along the way. It seems like much of the game takes a visual novel style when the main cutscenes aren't playing. It launches on June 15.

Naruto x Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections is being shown off now, giving us a look at many key moments from the story and how they play out in-game. It launches in 2023.

Larian Studios is showing off Baldur's Gate 3 now, giving us a gameplay trailer interspliced with cutscenes of the story. We get a good sense of the environments, the character creator, and how rolling will function in-game. It looks incredible, and after so long in early access, it's good to know we'll be getting to play it this summer. It launches August 31.

Wayfinder is being shown off now, an online multiplayer fantasy game where the player runs around the world and beats on a series of enemies through melee attacks and long-range abilities. Boss fights to attain loot seem to be a huge part of the game, with the beta coming exclusively to PlayStation on February 28.

Street Fighter 6 is getting three new characters shown off now. The first is Zangief in all of his muscly glory beating on enemies with his unbelievable strength. The next character is a wind-based fighter who has gusts surrounding her. Her name is Lily and she uses these enormous curved blunt weapons to beat on her foes. The final character being shown off is Cammy, the classic British-based fighter who kicks butt with her giant muscles and thunderous thighs.

Resident Evil 4 Remake is being shown off now, giving us a deeper look at the more action-focused gameplay, the story moments that we remember so well and how the player will have to run around the castle to protect Ashley. Some of the game's most iconic moments, including the minecart and helicopter sequence, are clearly back in full glory. We also see the classic Krauser boss fight.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is being shown off now for its 15-minute presentation. We're shown a mission of the Squad being put up against an evil version of the Flash. A giant purple mechanical tentacle-like device drops onto a section of the city and begins destroys everything.

The Suicide Squad is shown going face to face with a tank while also battling against corrupted technology in general, like giant modified men and helicopters. It's clear the focus of this game is the movement, with the player running and jumping around the city to accomplish their various goals. It launches on PS5 on May 26, 2023. We're being shown how each character works, alongside support characters including the Penguin, Hack, Toyman, and Gizmo.

New playable character, cosmetics and missions will be added to the game overtime, meaning it's going to be a full live-service experience.

PlayStation is holding its February State of Play this Thursday, promising us 45-minutes of footage showcasing a slew of updates and new games. The show is set to cap off with 15-minutes of gameplay and updates for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but before that, we're expecting to see at least 16 titles in total.

Other things we're expecting are five PlayStation VR2 games set to launch this year, alongside some "hot" indie and third-party reveals. We also know that Destiny 2: Lightfall's launch trailer will appear at the show.

Beyond this, we don't have much but speculation as we're hoping to see some big titles that haven't been shown in a while. Pragmata, for example, was last revealed in 2020 during a PlayStation event. Beyond its delay to 2023, we're not aware of its development progress just yet.

Other games we'd like to see include Little Devil Inside, Resident Evil 4, Street Fighter 6, and ExoPrimal. It would also be exciting if a new Astro Bot game for VR was revealed, although that might be unlikely as the announcement tweet specifically states that the games are from "partners."

PlayStation State of Play: How to watch

PlayStation's February State of Play goes live on February 23 at 1 p.m. PST / 4 p.m. EST / 9pm and can be watched on Twitch or YouTube. The presentation will go for about 45-minutes and will feature 16 games, with a few confirmations including Destiny 2: Lightfall and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

We're especially looking forward to the five PSVR 2 titles set to launch this year, as the console definitely needs a larger line-up of games to entice us throughout the rest of 2023.

The DualSense Edge controller was PlayStation's answer to Xbox's Elite series, but unfortunately, it launched with battery life inferior to its base model. Considering that the original DualSense was already criticized for its short-lived battery life, this is more than a little disappointing.

The reason for the DualSense Edge's reduced battery life is simply a matter of size. As shown by Twitter user Budd's Controllers, the DualSense Edge's physical battery is significantly smaller than the original. Doesn't Sony recall what the hit PSP game Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters taught us? Come on PlayStation, it's in the title!

According to a Dexerto report, the DualSense Edge's battery is 33% smaller than the regular DualSense, with the former boasting a capacity of 1050 mAh, while the latter has a far higher 1560 mAh. Dexerto's testing yielded only six hours of battery life from the Edge.

Many have pointed out that the steep price of $200 for a controller with such a short lifespan seems unacceptable, but a Sony representative who spoke to TechRadar Gaming claims it was to "strike a good balance between wireless operating time and delivering robust, high-performance features."

Back when the DualSense Edge was just a rumor (and we were calling it the "Pro"), I wrote about how my greatest desire from this new iteration would be for it to improve the battery life. And somehow, Sony has managed to accomplish the exact opposite. It's also worth remembering that li-on batteries degrade over time, so the currently disappointing battery life could be infuriating after a year or two of using your $200 controller.

The DualSense Edge is a more complicated controller than the base model, featuring replaceable joysticks, adjustable trigger length, mappable back buttons, and a controller interface button, which would explain the lack of space for a larger battery. After all, with such modularity, it's easy to imagine that the controller is less roomy internally. It's likely that this was a sacrifice that had to be made, but it's unfortunate nonetheless. 

Were you expecting a PS5 Pro? Don’t count on it, because according to recent rumors, Sony is focussing on the PlayStation 6 rather than any mid-generation revamp.

According to Tom Henderson (who has a decent track record with leaks), due to the continuing demand for the PlayStation 5, any sort of hardware refresh seems unlikely. In fact, the only real new hardware you’ll get surrounding your console is the PSVR 2. 

But while I know a lot of you may be disappointed by this news, I think it’s a good thing. Let me provide some context.

What’s the scoop?

During the last generation of consoles, both Sony and Microsoft launched mid-generation refreshes of their consoles. The expectation has been that we get a PS5 Pro too, but will we? Recent insider rumors suggest that’s not the case.

Since demand remains strong for the current PlayStation, and as Tom said, the console won’t be “on mass until the end of the year,” the claim is that PS6 is the primary focus for now rather than a spec bump to the pre-existing PS5.

Instead, the only updates you can expect from this fifth generation console are minor tweaks to drive down production costs and (hopefully) provide some discounts to the price sooner or later.

Outlook — Why is it a good thing?

I know this is a hard position to defend — given how much others loved the PS4 Pro. We’re in a very different situation here. The timelines match up (roughly three years after launch), but by 2016, the PS4 was already aching under the pressure of certain games. 4K TVs were rapidly growing in popularity and Sony needed something to capitalize on this shift.

PS5 is an already powerful console, and developers haven’t hit the full extent of its capabilities. The shift to 8K is not happening anytime soon, alongside the fact that availability of this console has been a huge problem over the past couple of years. Not that Sony hasn’t already sold loads of them (the company announced it sold 30 million units during its CES 2023 show), but demand has far outstripped supply, so what’s the point of a Pro model?

As a console gamer, I’ve cared more about the games and experiences rather than the specs inside the box. I believe other people feel the same too, and a shift to working early and hard on the next generation of PlayStation is a far more logical thing to do.

Though it is worth noting that anything on the rumor mill like this should be taken with a grain of salt. It could all be wrong and we may end up with a PS5 Pro anyway, but it’s fun to speculate!

Sony is expected to launch a new PS5 with a detachable disc drive in 2023, with sources stating it will completely replace the previous PlayStation 5 models — and test kits are already "in people's hands."

According to sources speaking with industry insider Tom Henderson via Insider Gaming, The PlayStation 5 will be getting a "unique overhaul" that's set to launch in September 2023. Interestingly, Henderson states that the new console, known as the D chassis PlayStation 5, will "completely replace the A, B, and C chassis."

This includes the recent Digital PS5 which weighs less. However, don't expect any major upgrades, as it's expected to have identical hardware as previous models.

Henderson now states that this new model is now out in the wild, with test kits apparently "working flawlessly." What's more, the tipster states that we'll hear more about the new PS5 soon.

The most intriguing inclusion of this revamped model is the inclusion of a detachable disc drive. According to the report, this drive will be connected to the PS5 via an additional USB-C port on the back of the console. 

The detachable disc drive will be sold in a bundle, while the new PS5 model is expected to be sold on its own. Having a detachable disc drive will undoubtedly increase the PS5's portability and decrease its weight. and sources state it won't ruin the PlayStation 5's aesthetic. This points to the new model looking similar to previous consoles. What's more, it will "attach to it without looking external."

Sony is no stranger to updating its PlayStation consoles, and while it may not be an upgrade of sorts, a new model with a detachable disc drive could make the PS5 more widely available. For all things PlayStation, check out our thoughts on PlayStation Plus Premium and the differences between PS5 vs. PS5 Digital Edition.

Black Friday deals may be slowing down, but the Cyber Monday deals are already rolling in! Now, the PS5 DualSense Controller is under $50 at Walmart, and there are special color options available!

Right now, the PS5 DualSense is just $49, which is down from the usual $70 on the original White color option. However, if you choose other neat colors like Grey Camouflage or Starlight Blue, you can get a $25 discount. You can find the same $49 deal at Amazon. Black Friday gaming deals are still trickling in, but if you're in need of an extra DualSense for your PS5, now is the time to swipe one. 

Sony PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller features dual analog sticks, a d-pad, and game buttons. There's also a built-in mono speaker, mic array, and six-axis motion sensor system incorporated into its design. 

Haptic feedback gives you a more precise physical response for an immersive gaming experience. For example, when you're playing God of War Ragnarök, each of you'll feel the rumble during battle. Additionally, the PS5 DualSense works on gaming laptops and PCs, with some haptic feedback-enabled games. 

Design-wise, the DualSense controller resembles the latest Xbox controller more than its predecessor, the DualShock 4. Although it retains the same button layout, the DualSense controller has a taller stance and sharper handles.

If you're after even more Black Friday 2022 deals while they last, we've got you covered. 

The best PS5 SSDs will turn your Sony console into a true gaming library, expanding on your PS5's storage while maintaining blistering load times and transfer rates. Sony’s default storage, after taking into account the OS, firmware and numerous console updates, leaves you with around 667GB of space. That’s still a fair amount, but not in contrast with the rising file size of modern games.

Games like Ghost of Tsushima, NBA 2K22 and The Last of Us 2 all have install sizes that are creeping towards triple digits in gigabytes. What’s more, that’s becoming the norm. As this console generation continues, expect games to swell even further, and this results in your 667GB of storage being rapidly consumed by just a fraction of your game library. Fortunately, expanding your PS5 storage is quick and easy, and with Sony currently allowing up to 4TB of additional storage to be fitted into the console, you can keep the majority of your digital and disc-based games installed without much hassle.

We’ve done some of the legwork for you, tracking down the best SSD storage options for PS5 currently available. Plus, you can check out how to install an M.2 SSD in a PS5 with our handy guide.

Best of all if you are in the market for a PS5 SSD right now, there are some astounding Cyber Monday deals on SSDs that will let you upgrade your storage without breaking the bank. 

Spotlight: The best Black Friday PS5 SSD deal

What are the best PS5 SSDs?

The best PS5 SSD is currently the Western Digital Black SN850 thanks to its fast random read/write performance and solid sequential read/write speeds across all capacities. There are faster SSDs available, but the WD Black SN850 has a real price-to-performance ratio that’s just hard to beat. While its endurance isn’t the best we’ve seen, it’s still a plentiful amount for the task at hand and will cater towards the vast majority of gamers without issue for the better part (if not a solid) decade.

A serious contender is the FireCuda 530, a speedy SSD from Seagate that combines high read/write speeds and up to 4TB of capacity with lengthy endurance to produce a seriously capable SSD for the PS5. With sequential read and write speeds of up to 7,000MB/s and 6,900MB/s, respectively, the FireCuda 530 is a well-balanced dynamo that will keep pace with the PS5’s internal SSD when it comes to installing or loading games. However, its biggest drawback is its price, with the 4TB option retailing for as high as $999.

The Patriot Viper VP4300 is a fantastic SSD for those looking for the best speeds possible. The Viper VP4300 is ready to install straight out of the box and features blistering speeds, solid endurance and up to 2TB of storage. Its impressive 7,400MB/s sequential read speed will help load your titles at a breakneck rate and a sequential write speed of up to 6800MB/s will make short work of transferring or installing games to the drive itself. It’s a little pricier per GB than some of our other selections, but it is one of the strongest performers and well worth it if you’re looking for a dependable 2TB drive.

The best SSD for PS5

The Western Digital Black SN850 was one of the first SSDs to meet Sony’s compatibility requirements for the PS5, and it remains one of the best options to choose from when it comes to expanding your storage. The SN850 strikes a great balance between sequential read/write and random read/write performance, which translates to faster opening and loading times for your games. The 1TB model hits the sweet spot in terms of read/write speeds if you’re after peak performance, but all models include a heatsink option — which, while more expensive, means you can install it right out of the box.

One downside to the WD Black SN850 SSD is its relatively low SSD endurance. When compared to other options on our shortlist, Western Digital’s SSD lifespan isn’t going to wow. However, while these numbers seem small, they still promise a sizable window of use. Taking the smallest capacity model (500GB / 300TBW) as an example, to max out the lifespan of the SSD you’d need to write over 150GB of data to the drive every day for five years. A final feather in the cap of Western Digital’s spritely SSD comes from PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny, who has personally recommended the WD Black SN850.

The best high-capacity SSD for PS5

When it comes to upgrading your PS5’s storage the Seagate FireCuda 530 is one of the most popular options available. Not only does it boast some of the fastest sequential read/write speeds of any PS5 compatible SSD, but the FireCuda 530 also has the best lifespans we’ve seen. Across the 500GB, 1TB and 2TB options, the FireCuda 530 doubles the endurance of similar SSDs like the WD Black SN850 or Samsung 980 Pro. With an endurance of up to 5100TBW, you would have to write almost 2.8TB of data to the drive every day for the entire five-year warranty period to reach the drive’s lifespan.

The Seagate FireCuda 530 is also one of the largest-capacity SSDs that are PS5-ready right out of the box, offering up to 4TB of storage — the maximum capacity currently allowed by Sony. While that increase in capacity also increases the size of the SSD and heatsink, with a height ranging between 9.84 and 11.04mm, the FireCuda 530 will still fit the PS5 expansion port without fuss, keeping the double-sided SSD cool over even over long periods of play.

The best premium SSD for PS5

Samsung is well known for making some of the best SSDs the market has to offer, and the 980 Pro is at no risk of tarnishing that reputation. At a glance, Samsung’s SSD might not seem overly impressive, its sequential read and write speeds are good, though the slower write speed does hamper its overall potential. Where the 980 Pro begins to shine is in its random read and write speeds, offering above-average performance that can impact gaming performance considerably — especially when it comes to loading times.

Purchasing the Samsung 980 Pro with the optional heatsink means you can install the SSD right out of the box. Even with the heatsink attached, the 980 Pro measures in at a height of just 8.6 millimeters — comfortably below the 11.25mm limit. The endurance of Samsung’s SSD might not match that of the Seagate FireCuda 530, but even with its lower count of 600TBW, you can expect to write well over 300GB per day for the entire five-year warranty period before you approach the end of the drive's lifespan.

The best 2TB SSD for PS5

Picking up the Gigabyte Aorus 7000s will net you some solid performance, especially with the 2TB model’s 6,850MB/s sequential write speed almost parallelling the 7,000MB/s sequential read rate. Drive endurance is also good with a lifetime of up to 1,400TBW, or 750GB+ per day throughout the five-year warranty period. 

The Aorus 7000s comes pre-fitted with a heatsink, which means you won’t have to make any adjustments before installing it in your PS5. The heatsink does add considerable height to the SSD, raising its profile to the 11.25mm height limit. While that’s still within the acceptable measurements laid out by Sony, the heatsink is replaceable and a smaller one can be used in its place if preferred. However, the nanocarbon-coated aluminum heatsink is more than capable on its own and should pose no harm to your PS5 system.

The fastest SSD for PS5

The Patriot Viper VP4300 is one of the best SSDs you can buy if you’re looking for a fair balance between speed and endurance. It features some of the best sequential read rates available with both the 1TB and 2TB models allowing speeds of up to 7,400MB/s, and also impresses in the other direction with the 2TB model able to reach sequential write speeds of up to 6,800MB/s. This sort of performance easily places the Patriot Viper VP4300 at the top of our list when it comes to sequential performance, but middling random write/read speeds do take some of the shine away from its otherwise great showing.

Thanks to a sizable lifespan of up to 2,000TBW, the VP4300 can easily handle over a terabyte of data written to the drive daily for the entirety of its five-year warranty before its lifetime is up. As with our other listed items, the Patriot Viper VP4300 is already outfitted with a heatsink and slides well under the 11.25mm height limit at just 8mm tall — making it a fantastic no-fuss solution to those seeking a speedy SSD that’s good for years of service.

The best value SSD for PS5

The Corsair MP600 PRO LPX is a great option for those looking at a high-capacity storage upgrade for the PS5. While the Corsair MP600 PRO LPX is available in densities from 500GB, the 2TB and 4TB options are where it showcases some excellent speeds and endurance. Both of the higher capacity options allow write speeds of up to 6.800MB/s, which will make for speedy installs and data transfer. In terms of endurance, the 4TB option has a sizable lifespan of 3,000TBW, which would allow over 1.5TB of data to be written to the drive every day throughout the five-year warranty period before further writing is an issue.

Squeezing in just below Sony’s height limitation at 11mm tall, the Corsair MP600 PRO LPX comes outfitted with an aluminum heatsink to dissipate any heat buildup and prevent performance throttling throughout play sessions. With no assembly required, the Corsair MP600 PRO LPX can be immediately fitted into the PS5 and used to house dozens of your favorite titles. 

The best 1TB SSD for PS5

A little assembly is required with the super-slim ADATA S70 Blade, making it the only one of our picks that isn’t ready right out of the box. Thankfully, this assembly isn’t very taxing, requiring some backing film to be placed onto the SSD before applying the temperature-resistant aluminum heatsink on top. Once the heatsink is in place, you’re good to go, and the S70 Blade can be fitted into the PS5’s expansion port without hassle.

ADATA’s S70 Blade is capable of lightning-fast sequential read speeds of up to 7,400MB/s across all capacities, though sequential write speeds will differ. The 500GB model does have a particularly poor sequential write speed of only 2,600MB/s, which could noticeably slow installs or data transfers to the drive. However, the 1TB and 2TB options allow for much healthier speeds or 5,500MB/s and 6,700MB/s respectively. Drive endurance ranges from 370TBW (500GB) to 1480TB (2TB) which translates to 200GB-800GB+ per day for the five-year warranty, which is more than enough for the vast majority of gamers to enjoy this SSD for years to come.

The best PS5 SSDs: Honorable mentions

Our shortlist for the best PS5 compatible SSDs focused on the no-fuss, straight out of the box options that are currently available. However, for those not worried about doing a little extra work, there’s a host of other options available that could see you saving money. We’ve highlighted a few Gen 4x4 M.2 storage options that require some adjustments from stock to be PS5 ready, which may mean adding a heatsink of choice or replacing one to ensure it meets Sony’s SSD height limits.

• Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus: Sabrent’s SSD comes in capacities up to 4TB and offers a unique cooling solution that, instead of applying directly to the board, switches out the PS5’s expansion port cover for a CNC’d aluminum lid. That sort of solution isn’t recommended by Sony, so you may want to fit your own heatsink onto the SSD and leave the native PS5 cover as is. The Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus is an otherwise zippy SSD with read/write speeds of 7000MB/s and 6600MB/s respectively.
• Crucial P5 Plus: The Crucial P5 Plus is a fantastic Gen4x4 M.2 SSD that offers decent speeds and capacities of up to 2TB. One thing the P5 Plus lacks is a fitted heatsink, though Crucial does have a compatible heatsink for sale separately (or bundled). It requires a bit of assembly, however, you will save money as the cost of the SSD and heatsink as separate components are much lower than similar pre-assembled drives.
• T-FORCE Cardea A440: With sequential read/write speeds of up to 7,000/6,900MB/s the Cardea A440 is undoubtedly fast. It also has a decent lifespan of up to 1,400TBW and capacities of 1TB and 2TB available. The only issue stopping the Cardea A440 from appearing on our shortlist is its copper heatsink which pushes above the 11.25mm height limit imposed by Sony. Luckily, this heatsink can be removed and replaced with a smaller option fairly easily, but as a pricier option,it may not be worth the additional work for some.

The best PS5 SSDs: What to look for

When it comes to choosing the right SSD, it’s important to make sure you’re only looking at drives supported by Sony’s official guidelines. While not incredibly restrictive, the guidelines specifically point towards PCIe Gen 4x4 M.2 drives with capacities between 250GB and 4TB only. We’ve summarized Sony’s guidelines below to ensure you know exactly what to look for.

• Interface: PCI-Express Gen 4x4 supported M.2 NVMe SSD (Key M)
• Capacity: 250GB - 4TB
• Sizes: 2230 (30mm), 2242 (42mm), 2260 (60mm), 2280 (80mm), 22110 (110mm)
• Maximum dimensions: (L) 110mm x (W) 25mm x (H) 11.25mm
• Min. recommended sequential read speed: 5,500MB/s

While the key things you’ll want to look for are the sequential and random read/write speeds (the higher the better), along with a suitable capacity to fit your needs, you should also keep in mind the drive’s endurance (usually written as TBW, Total Bytes Written). A drive's endurance gives a reasonable indication of how long you can use it before reaching the end of its lifespan. Even a drive with an endurance of 300TBW can write 150GB+ of data every single day for five years before it nears the end of its lifespan. That’s the equivalent of installing Cyberpunk 2077 twice a day, for 1,826 days. It’s safe to say that most PS5s won’t get that type of intensive use, so don’t feel you have to pay through the nose for the highest TBW count possible.

To be considered compatible, SSDs must be fitted with some sort of heat-dissipation mechanism — like a heatsink. If you choose an SSD with a heatsink then in order to fit the expansion slot, it cannot exceed a height of 2.25 millimeters beneath the M.2 SSD, and 8 millimeters above the SSD. There are several SSDs available that use a heatsink that are too tall to fit within Sony’s recommended specs, but nothing is stopping you from removing that heatsink and replacing it with a smaller one (if the model of SSD allows for it).

Black Friday deals start now with the Sony PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller for $49.99 at Amazon. This is an all-time low price for this PS5 controller — it's now $25 cheaper. 

If you want a spare controller for that God of War Ragnarök PS5 bundle you just bought, it's not too early to save. Walmart and Best Buy offer this same Black Friday PS5 deal. 

Sony PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller features dual analog sticks, a d-pad, and game buttons. There's also a built-in mono speaker, mic array and six-axis motion sensor system incorporated into its design. 

Haptic feedback gives you a more precise physical response for an immersive gaming experience. For example, when you're playing God of War Ragnarök, each of you'll feel the rumble during battle. Additionally, the PS5 DualSense works on gaming laptops and PCs, with some haptic feedback-enabled games. 

Design-wise, the DualSense controller resembles the latest Xbox controller more than its predecessor, the DualShock4. Although it retains the same button layout, the DualSense controller has a taller stance and sharper handles.

Black Friday 2022 is on Nov. 25 and we’re tracking the best end-of-year discounts on must-have tech. Be sure to bookmark our Black Friday deals roundup for the best holiday discounts. 

If you've been juggling your PS5 storage since day one like me then you are probably more than ready to spend a little money to fix that problem. This is a Lightning Deal as part of the Amazon Prime Day October sale, which ends tonight, so don't hesitate or you'll miss it. 

You can grab the WD_BLACK SN850 1TB SSD with heatsink for just $119 — a whopping 33% discount and the cheapest we've seen the Sony-approved PS5 SSD. Banish the endless waiting as you download and install a game for the 15th time as you try to make do with the built-in PS5 storage.

Grab the WD_BLACK SN850 1TB PS5 M.2 SSD with heatsink for $119 at Amazon. It's the best PS5 SSD to pick up thanks to its fast random read/write performance and solid sequential read/write speeds across all capacities. Don't miss out on expanding your PS5's storage for over half the price. Plus, check out how to install an M.2 SSD in a PS5 with our handy guide.

While we called the PS5 the "future of gaming" in our review and awarded it an outstanding 4.5 out of 5 stars, the somewhat limited 825GB of built-in storage is something that I've run up against since pretty much day one.

While I'll naturally fill up this 1TB SSD too in short order, it should make for considerably less juggling with my games library. I'll look forward to the day that we have instantaneous file transfers or pure lag-free cloud gaming, but until then this gets me a little bit closer to gaming nirvana for just $120.

Check out our Amazon Prime Day October deals live blog if you are still on the hunt for some other last-minute savings before the deals end tonight.

The best PS5 games range from the super-obvious PS5 exclusives and AAA cross-platform titles to those really obscure indie games no one talks about. Yes, the PS5 is currently in its infancy, but there are still plenty of games to play. If you’re not careful, you’ll be swimming in sequels and remakes before you know it. That’s why you should play the best PS5 games now so you’re ready for the future.

We kicked off our PS5 games coverage with a full PS5 review, and we were blown away by the controller, distinct UI and numerous features the console offers. To put it bluntly, the PS5 DualSense crushes the Xbox Series X controller. When we started our testing to determine the best PS5 games, we played a few games that didn’t make it on this list — check out our Godfall review and Returnal review for prime examples.

It’s going to take some time to properly fill out this list, but the best PS5 games you can play right now are titles that aren’t original or might not even be considered a full new game, like Demon’s Souls and Spider-Man: Miles Morales, respectively. Check out our articles covering Remnant 2 and Dragon's Dogma 2. Check out our PS VR2 review, which is an awesome new headset just for us that brings a high quality VR experience, easy plug-and-play setup and a promising catalog of games. And if you're interested in hearing me rant about how random encounters in RPGs are actually good — click away. You can read about my romantic journey in Stray Gods.

Also, check out our System of the Stars piece, where we meet the therapist using videos games to teach mental health. If you're into pen and paper games, check out our best virtual tabletop software page. (And our DND tips if you need help).

While we await the potentially ground-breaking games to give us a taste of what next-gen is supposed to feel like, here are the best PS5 games that you can play today.

The best PS5 games you can play today

1. Spider-Man 2

Spider-Man 2 exceeded expectations, offering an emotional narrative surrounded by superb traversal tech and joyous brawler combat.

Spider-Man 2 is Insomniac Games’ greatest effort in over a decade, and while the developer’s approach to open-world design has yet to hit the bullseye, this campaign showcases its expertise with a compelling story and unforgettable spectacle. It is one of the best PS5 games in the console’s growing library.

Insomniac did the most appropriate thing for a Spider-Man story. By focusing on people instead of titles, alongside themes questioning the nature of what lies beneath the mask, the developer has diverted away from superhero oversaturation.

— Momo Tabari

See our full Spider-Man 2 review.

2. Final Fantasy XVI

Final Fantasy 16 is one of the best hack-and-slash action games since Devil May Cry. 

The combo-potential is so huge that we've already got epic videos from SunhiLegend. The combat aside, the story and voice acting are also incredibly good. It's one of the few times that a Final Fantasy game has felt truly modern.

One of my favorite things about Final Fantasy 16 is Active Time Lore. It's a feature that lets you pause in the middle of a cutscene or gameplay and display encyclopedic entries pertaining to relevant events in-game, such as persons, land and histories, mysteries of the realm, and bestiaries. It's so convenient, and every big RPG should have it.

— Rami Tabari

See our piece on Final Fantasy 16.

3. God of War Ragnarök

Well, you’ve seen the score. What else could I possibly say about God of War Ragnarök?

Every time I’ve given out full marks for a review, it usually comes with a week of deep thought and self reflection into whether it actually deserves this huge stamp of approval. This didn’t happen for Ragnarök. In fact, this is the easiest five stars I’ve ever given.

You see, Sony Santa Monica could have just made something bigger and better, and called it a day. But readers of my hands-on impressions will know that I wanted something special, and this absolutely delivers.

— Jason England

See our full God of War Ragnarök review.

4. Horizon Forbidden West

When Horizon Zero Dawn debuted five years ago, the game ushered in the launch of the PlayStation 4 Pro and console 4K gaming. Horizon Forbidden West’s arrival on February 18 is no less auspicious. While it’s not ushering in a new console iteration, it does signal the start of more AAA titles from Sony. 

As per usual, developer Guerilla Games did not shirk away from the challenge as Forbidden West offers an expansive third-person, action-adventure open world romp that is beautiful and deadly. Players once again pick up the spear, bow and arrows of Aloy, the Nora outcast turned savior as she fights to save the world. Horizon Forbidden West easily fits into our best PS5 games ranking.

— Sherri L. Smith

See our full Horizon Forbidden West review.

5. Deathloop

Deathloop is like a chaotic, violent melange of Groundhog Day, a dash of My Super Ex-Girlfriend, and favorite game of all time, Dishonored. In fact, Arkane Studios is the talented team that brought us the latter and they’re the same folks who worked on Deathloop — and the similarities are striking. Deathloop delivers all the beloved aspects of Dishonored: supernatural abilities, dual-wielding fighting styles, gritty, explorable worlds, and merciless, annoying enemies who call the whole damn town for backup. 

However, Deathloop offers a more modern twist, ditching stuffy ol’ 19th century royal protector Corvo for au courant Colt who’s got a colorful, snide personality à la Samuel L. Jackson and hilarious quips that make you chuckle. With Colt’s on-edge temperament and affinity for cursing, he’s one step away from yelling, “Enough is enough! I’ve had it with these [expletive] time loops on this [expletive] island!”

As you step into Colt’s shoes for the first time, you’re just as clueless as he is. You, too, are trying to collect all pieces of the puzzle to create the big picture of what the hell is going on here and how you’re going to put a stop to this maddening time loop.

— Kimberly Gedeon

See our full Deathloop review.

6. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands feels like the work of a think tank specifically tasked with getting Rami Tabari to fall in love with this Borderlands spin-off. I’ve played Borderlands before and I’ve never been a fan — it just didn’t click with me, but Wonderlands absolutely works for this D&D addict.

From the detailed character customization and creative classes to the mish-mash of Dungeons & Dragons inside jokes and the addition of spellcasting, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is practically everything I wanted from Gearbox. It’s not perfect; there are some glaring issues with the inventory and item systems. I also would have preferred a true open world, but when I’m not playing Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, I’m thinking about Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.

— Rami Tabari

See our full Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands review.

7. Elden Ring

In my preview piece for Elden Ring, I called the game “aimless.” I felt underwhelmed and boldly stated that it “occasionally echoes the vacantness seen in other open-world titles.” This claim, which was made after seven hours of play time, is no longer representative of how I feel after 70 hours with the game, but that feeling isn't gone entirely.

Elden Ring's best moments offer up the most potent sensations of grandeur I've experienced while exploring an open world. Its immense scale and sense of freedom contrasts wonderfully with the terrors that linger throughout its derelict plains. But alternatively, the game is plagued by some tedious objectives, frequent boss and enemy reuse, and exhausting mini-dungeons. The Lands Between continues to surprise me even after riding through them for dozens of hours, but those repetitive moments are a slog.

Otherwise, FromSoftware offers up a robust mechanical evolution to its Soulsborne formula, providing an unmatched level of character diversity, allowing the player to tackle the many horrors of this world in whatever fashion they please.

— Momo Tabari

See our full Elden Ring review.

8. Spider-Man: Miles Morales

From the title screen, you can tell that Spider-Man: Miles Morales is something special. From our titular Spider-Man’s hair wave pattern to the stitching on his winter boots, Miles Morales brought in the PS5 in a big way — with a whole new Spidey. Spider-Man: Miles Morales sees players jump into the eager spandex of Morales as your usual neighborhood Spider-Man Peter Parker goes on assignment to Europe. 

A new hero means new powers. Since this isn’t Insomniac Games’ first rodeo with the web-crawler, the developer did a great job of making Miles’ gameplay feel simultaneously different and familiar. Thanks to the DualSense controllers, you could feel the crackling from Morales’ electric-based Venom powers. And running at 4K, 60fps, the game looks incredibly photorealistic. 

The shiny new graphics and cool powers are great. But what makes Spider-Man: Miles Morales a must-play is the story. Not only is Miles coming to grips with his new powers, but he’s also still mourning his father’s loss from the previous game. Setting up shop in Spanish Harlem, this Spider-Man story is much more intimate, testing the bonds of friendship, legacy and responsibility. 

— Sherri L. Smith

9. Demon’s Souls

It would be dishonest of me to claim that Bluepoint's Demon's Souls is everything I wanted it to be. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic game, but FromSoftware's 2009 masterpiece presents a world so gritty and striking that many of its moments still haunt me. It's quiet, subtle and far more contemplative than any other Soulsborne title in the series.

Demon's Souls on the PS5 evokes something far different. Bluepoint has turned this dark, deranged world into a visual and aural spectacle. It's stunning and awesome, but sacrifices much of its atmospheric terror to achieve these wondrous qualities.

This vision is surprisingly different from what I originally wanted, regardless, I adored it. Bluepoint has crafted a breathtaking spectacle at a level I’ve only experienced in a few other games. It’s one of the best PS5 games you could play right now.

— Momo Tabari

See our full Demon’s Souls review.

10. Bugsnax

It may be among the weaker PS5 launch games, but Bugsnax is still a joyous romp filled with silly smirk-inducing moments and some genuinely challenging puzzles. Easy to recommend for players of all ages, Bugsnax blends Pixar-worthy characters with a compelling mystery that will fill your head with questions about Snaktooth, a strange island where the animals are edible. 

Bugsnax is a game you should play with friends and family watching so everyone can enjoy these irresistible half-fruit, half-snack creatures. The puzzles you complete to capture Bugsnax grow complex and hugely rewarding while the wonderful cast of characters bring whimsy to the engrossing narrative. 

Bugsnax isn't perfect. The game can feel repetitive at times, there is no multiplayer mode, and the gameplay doesn't possess the same depth as its contemporaries (Pokemon, Monster Hunter). Don't worry though, those faults are quickly forgotten when you're chatting with the brilliant Floofty Fizzlebean or tracking down a delicious Charmallow. 

— Phillip Tracy

See our full Bugsnax review.

11. Astro’s Playroom

Before you play anything else on that shiny new PS5, you’ve got to play Astro’s Playroom. If you want to know why everyone’s raving about the new DualSense controller, this is where you find out. From using the touchpad to pulling back a bowstring to blowing on the controller’s microphone to generate wind, Sony’s new controller is a futuristic marvel and Astro’s Playroom gives it room to shine. 

And it doesn’t hurt that the game is a massive love letter to PlayStation’s history. From bots acting out scenes from popular games to the PlayStation collectables found throughout the game, it’s a fun jaunt down memory lane. And despite the cutesy robot veneer, Astro’s Playroom has a fair bit of challenge to it. But whether you’re playing for the tech or the fan service, the game is a great representative to where Sony thinks the future of gaming lies. 

— Sherri L. Smith

12. Sackboy: A Big Adventure

If you wish Astro's Playroom were longer, play Sackboy: A Big Adventure. This wildly creative platformer from Sumo Digital is a spinoff of the critically acclaimed LittleBigPlanet franchise. It takes the same basic mechanics of the previous entries, but builds on them by taking advantage of the PS5's ultra-fast SSD and DualSense controller. 

In Sackboy: A Big Adventure, you play as our beloved knitted character who must traverse one world after the next to rescue his enslaved friends from the dastardly Vex. Your goal in each mission is to collect Dreamer Orbs while earning points to clinch a gold trophy. Each level requires you to use different gameplay mechanics (using tools like a boomerang, grappling hook and plasma guns), adding variation to a tried-and-true formula. As you find your way through jungles, mountains and even space, you're accompanied by a beautiful and varied soundtrack and some gorgeous imagery. 

— Phillip Tracy

13. Resident Evil Village

As much as I loved Resident Evil 7, I wasn’t a fan of the overarching plot mostly because it wasn’t relevant to the series’ batshit lore -- which, despite being cheesy as hell, I'm in love with. Resident Evil Village, however, goes places I didn’t expect, and the entire presentation of the story very much feels like a fairy tale as opposed to a traditional Resident Evil game.

It’s not a huge surprise that Resident Evil Village plays like a mix between Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil 4, since that’s what Capcom intended. The developers very much accomplished that, but I’ll spice up that comparison by saying that it felt like I was playing an Uncharted game at certain points.

Resident Evil Village is gorgeous. It’s one of the few next-gen games I’ve played that actually feels next-gen. For some people, graphics might not add much to a game, but in this scenario, I was 100% immersed because of the visuals.

See our full Resident Evil Village review.

— Rami Tabari

14. MultiVersus

MultiVersus is a free-to-play brawler mashing together Warner Bros’ cartoons, movies, TV shows, and comic books. Whether you’re a fan of Looney Tunes, Game of Thrones, DC Comics, Steven Universe, Adventure Time, Scooby Doo, Tom & Jerry, The Iron Giant, and mostly recently, LeBron James, there’s so much to love in this ridiculous cluster of beloved characters.

There’s no denying that MultiVersus has opened with an awesome roster, but the most important question is whether or not the game is fun. And although it’s far from perfect, the greatest compliment I can give MultiVersus is that it is more than capable of filling in the shoes of Super Smash Bros. This is the most excited I’ve been for the future of a brawler in a long time, and it is easily the best Smash-inspired game I’ve played.

- Momo Tabari

See our full MultiVersus review.

15. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is the first full entry to the original series since A Crack in Time launched in 2009. As a fan of the franchise since I was four years old, the wait for a proper sequel has been excruciating. And after replaying the entire series this year, I’ve been curious what a complete and modern Ratchet & Clank experience could look like.

After 12 years, it’s finally here. With the introduction of a new playable protagonist and instant loading times, Rift Apart is a great demonstration of the PS5’s powerful SSD and technical prowess. But beyond that, this latest entry is lacking in creativity and is a disappointing continuation of A Crack in Time’s story.

Rift Apart is still a good game thanks to its satisfying moment-to-moment gameplay, astounding graphical fidelity, and unique arsenal of weapons, but it’s missing the magic found in the best entries in the series.

— Mohammad Tabari

See our full Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart review.

16. Kena: Bridge of Spirits

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is Ember Lab’s first video game release, recently launching on PS5 as a console exclusive. Its excellent Pixar-esque animation took the PlayStation community by surprise when it was revealed at Sony’s Future of Gaming conference. But with any studio’s first big title, skepticism was brewing regarding the state of the gameplay itself.

While the experience is admittedly rough around the edges, Kena: Bridge of Spirit’s greatest asset is its heart. The warm smile that washes over Kena’s face as she gently greets the adorable creatures of the forest carries the weight of a mountain. Corruption robs the world of its tender hue, and as the player watches its color slowly return, a powerful fulfillment washes over them. The world’s dwindling state tells a story; the history of the people who lived here, how their lives were taken from them, and the ways in which there’s still beauty to be found in the destruction.

Amidst Kena’s palpable spirit is a phenomenal, authentic Balinese soundtrack, a tight combat system, incentive to explore its lurid forests, and a warm, gorgeous world. Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a familiar experience, but its soul is far stronger than many of the titles it takes inspiration from. It’s easily one of the best PS5 games of the year.

— Mohammad Tabari

See our full Kena: Bridge of Spirits review.

The Last of Us Part I received a polarized critical reception since its announcement. Whether you’re thinking this is the second coming of Jesus, or you’ve been trashing this game on Twitter as a full-price remaster, you’re both wrong.

This ground-up remake is a lot more than the sum of its parts and breathes new life into a landmark game that left an indelible mark on the gaming industry.

But there’s no way around it: charging $70 for the third version of the same game is a steep asking price. So the obvious question is do the updates here make it worthwhile? As you can guess from the score, the answer is a resounding yes, but allow me to elaborate.

FYI: All of the screenshots taken in this review are either direct gameplay captures from the fidelity mode or created using the game's complex (and impressive) photo mode.

You can’t escape your past

The Last of Us Part 1 gives me a chance to wax lyrical about the story, because as you saw from the intro, I don’t talk about it lightly. This is one of the most beautiful and harrowing tales ever told in video games.

Without entering spoiler territory for those who are entering this game fresh, you play as Joel and you’re tasked with taking a teenager named Ellie across America to a rebel group called the Fireflies. Simple.

The hit to your heart and soul comes in while watching this relationship develop between the two — from the cold distance of a rough smuggler taking a product across the country, to the spiritual father-and-daughter bond they form in the face of harrowing trauma.

But as I entered this world for a fifth time (yes, I’m quite a fan), I paid closer attention to the scenery, which is dripping with lore that tells numerous short stories in the form of notes you can pick up that add heartbreaking detail to what you see around you. Nothing will prepare you for these moments. Particular shout-out to the sewer section of the game, but I’ll leave that for you to discover.

This simplicity gives all these moments plenty of room to ruminate in your mind, and yes, even I, a hardened veteran of the hard-hitting story, cried once again at these sections. It’s that powerful.

You see, Part II faltered by trying to do too many things. Those narrative threads were emotional gold, but trying to lace them all together into one bloated storyline made some characters feel forgettable and took the strength of the gut punch out of the big moments. But Part I is simpler, and because of it, more heartfelt across all of its smaller details.

And while these beautiful subtleties were utterly trailblazing since its original 2013 release, they are so much better realized now with the huge amount of work Naughty Dog has done to rebuild this game.

Make every shot count

Speaking of rebuilding the game, the team moved to The Last of Us Part II’s engine, which improved the original game in every way, delivering unbelievably high production values.

Let’s start with the visuals. Here, you have two choices:

• Fidelity mode: Full 4K resolution with a target 40FPS
• Performance mode: A dynamic 4K or 1440p resolution with a target 60FPS

You can also unlock the frame rate, which in real world use meant that  I hit a buttery smooth 120FPS on my HDMI 2.1-armed ElectriQ eiQ-32M4K144FS gaming monitor. Of course, this does leave you open to greater variation in frame rates based on what’s happening on-screen, but lock the rate and you’ll get a rock solid refresh rate with no deviations — a masterclass in game optimization.

This new engine brings everything to life on-screen. The natural world reclaimed urban sprawls in the 20 years since outbreak day and the results on PS5 make this fascinating clash more luscious and alive than ever. Light filters through the trees and dances across the surfaces of cars, buildings and the ground, all in ways that mimic reality. 

The original release in 2013 was rudimentary in lighting and textures, leaving the game feeling very gray with a far lighter contrast, but the remastered Part I delivers a ton of HDR depth and expression through reactive light sources.

This extends into the maps themselves, as well. The 2013 classic was hindered by limited storage space and processing speeds, making it dependent on repeating rooms. In the  new version, however, each room is fully unique. These enhancements are most noticeable in the museum, where the many generic offices have been replaced with restoration rooms and a study.

But the biggest change is in its character models. The detail and fidelity of each model drastically improved (and the ways they can die are more horrifyingly gruesome), but the most significant update is in the emotion they can show. There’s a lot of subtle story beats that the basic models from 2013 couldn’t capture, but with a fresh coat of PS5 paint, you connect with all the characters you meet in a whole new way.

Animation improvements and the increased detail in expressions mean you feel every tiny gesture right in your soul and it makes the superb acting performances from the likes of Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson all the more impactful.

Great visuals need to be paired with great audio, and beyond the incredible soundtrack by Gustavo Santaolalla that carries over from the original game, the Tempest Engine-driven spatial audio brings the world to life around you with immersive sound effects that can transform your emotions like the flip of a coin.

Sudden fear builds on outbreak day as you hear distant gunfire all around you, cries of panic in the streets, and the scrapes and wails of the infected close in around you. Anxiety builds with the iconic Clicker noise and shuffling of a body that has seemingly forgotten how to move in a normal fashion. 

And the breaks in the action feel almost too tranquil, as leaves rustle in the trees and the faint sounds of wildlife graces your ears with a white noise that could easily help you go to sleep. This remake turns an emotionally charged story into a visceral, unforgettable experience.

A million ways we can die before tomorrow

Of course, how it looks and sounds is half of the puzzle. We need to look at how it plays, and while Joel doesn’t get all of the different movement options that Ellie got in Part II (like controls to go prone or dodge), traversal and combat scenarios feel amazing here.

It all starts with the DualSense controller, which brings new haptic immersion to emulate sensations and further draw you into this lived-in world, such as tiny taps from rain drops or harsher vibrations from windier conditions. The adaptive triggers also behave differently with every weapon you use, such as increasing the tension of pulling a bow string, or the satisfying clunk of firing off a shotgun blast.

The shining jewel in the gameplay’s crown is its AI engine for combat situations. No longer do enemies follow a preset path, they have a far more dynamic behavior around you — investigative and curious of their surroundings, working together and communicating more efficiently, and switching plans on the fly to outflank you.

No situation will ever play out the same way, thanks to this evolution in enemy AI using the development tools from Part II. In fact, Naughty Dog’s so confident in its replayability that, once you complete it, you’ve got the chance to go back and play through specific scenarios, carry all your items over into a New Game + playthrough, or even try your luck at a Permadeath mode.

And the team is right to be confident. You’ll find it very hard to put your controller down once you start playing.

It can’t be for nothing

As you’ve seen and heard from all of the promotional materials leading up to the launch of The Last of Us Part I, accessibility received a massive overhaul. In fact, it shares a lot of the same award-winning features as Part II, while adding a few more.

I won’t dive into the huge list of visual and motor accessibility options available to you, but to name a few, there are traversal audio cues, cinematic descriptions, and colorblind modes; the latter helped me significantly. There’s also a high-contrast mode and the option to switch out button-mashing sections with a simple button hold. 

There are two accessibility settings that I will spotlight here that will vastly improve players' experience — even those who do not need any accessibility assistance.

First, you’re going to want to turn on “Auto pick-up.” This is something that makes the whole rigmarole of picking up all the supplies you find across levels a cinch and stops your hand from cramping up after relentlessly pressing the triangle button.

Second is a feature that plays cinematic dialogue through the DualSense controller as haptic feedback, which varies to give a sense of how each line has been delivered. This is a game changer in giving deaf people the chance to really feel the scene playing out and connect with how much (or how little) emphasis a character is giving in dialogue. But also, for people who can hear, it’s a fantastic little innovation that adds a new dimension to cinematic storytelling.

Put simply, Naughty Dog is leaps and bounds ahead of its competition in terms of accessibility settings, which unlocks Part I to a whole new audience.

Bottom line

One of Joel’s most memorable lines from The Last of Us Part II came to mind while I played this: "If somehow the lord gave me a second chance at that moment, I would do it all over again."

In terms of playing the first iteration, this is actually the third chance, but you get the point. The obvious is true: this is the best way to play the first Last of Us. But the not-so obvious is also true: this remake reinvigorates the incredible formula of this single-player adventure and helps you appreciate this masterpiece even more.

That full-price cost will sting, but for the jaw-dropping quality and attention to detail that brings this gripping adventure to life like never before, it’s easily forgiven.

The price of the PS5 is going up, due to the “global economic environment” and “high inflation rates.” 

In a PlayStation blog post by CEO Jim Ryan, the cost of both the Digital Edition and Disc Edition of Sony’s latest console is set to go up by up to 10% in Europe, UK, Japan, China, Australia, Mexico and Canada — creating another wrinkle in the whole rigmarole of trying to get a PlayStation 5.

• More: PlayStation 5 one year review
• Best PlayStation 5 games

What are the price increases?

These price hikes are effective immediately in all territories except for Japan. If you are affected, here’s how much you will be paying.

Europe

PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – €549.99

PS5 Digital Edition – €449.99

UK

PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – £479.99

PS5 Digital Edition – £389.99

Japan (effective Sept. 15, 2022)

PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – ¥60,478 yen (including tax)

PS5 Digital Edition – ¥49,478 yen (including tax)

China

PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – ¥4,299 yuan

PS5 Digital Edition – ¥3,499 yuan

Australia

PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – AUD $799.95

PS5 Digital Edition – AUD $649.95

Mexico

PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – MXN $14,999

PS5 Digital Edition – MXN $12,499

Canada

PS5 with Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive – CAD $649.99

PS5 Digital Edition – CAD $519.99

People in North America can breathe a sigh of relief, as it looks like those retail prices are not being affected for now, but time will tell whether that will bear the brunt of a cost increase too. 

Because this is not new news in consumer tech, unfortunately. We’re hearing rumors that the iPhone 14 Pro price will be going up as well for the same reason, for example. It’s a tricky time out there for gadget lovers and gamers.

Outlook

This is not the kind of announcement we wanted to hear during Gamescom. At a time when we’re all struggling financially, this is going to put the PS5 a little further out of reach of people keen to buy one.

So, what can Sony do in the face of this uphill battle to win back the potential punters? Well, the options are two fold: making PlayStation games more accessible and building hype around the exclusive titles that are coming soon.

We sure could do with a PlayStation showcase soon and maybe an announcement of proper cloud gaming (as I’m betting will happen in September). They won’t completely remove the bad taste from the mouths of people who are already feeling the pinch, but at least its something.

Though if you do want to get into next generation gaming on the cheap, the Xbox Series S is still a great option.

Gran Turismo 7 has been a mixed bag to say the least, from its 5-star review to microtransaction hell and an always-online requirement practically throwing all that good will away. 

My love/hate relationship with this game continues, and while I may get tempted back for a while by this week’s 1.17 update giving me the legendary Suzuki V6 Escudo Pikes Peak Special, there’s a fundamental issue that has me on the edge of break-up.

A mixture of problematic matchmaking, a joke of a penalty system and malicious players that have worked out how to manipulate said system to their advantage is sucking the competitive fun out of this game, to the point that I and many other racers are starting to question the point of even playing anymore.

• More: Best PS5 Games
• PS5 one year later review
• Amazon Prime Day PlayStation deals

So, let’s break these three issues down. As you probably already know if you’re reading this, Gran Turismo 7’s Sport Mode has three daily races each week. 

Matchmaking seems to be broken

Enter a daily race and you’re put into matchmaking that is supposed to match you with players of the same or similar Driver Rating (DR) and Sportsmanship Rating (SR), so you get a matched pool of racing ability to practise and grow.

That is not always the case though, as I’ve heard of many players being mismatched, including an S-rated driver (the highest grade) being put in a lobby with E-rated drivers. In fact, I was baffled and far out of my depth by being put in an S-rated lobby once, when I’m nowhere near that grade.

The problem here is two-fold. For those like me, it’s impossible to get anywhere near these super talented drivers and you’re just driving on your own for a couple of boring laps. For those like my racing pro friend, you’re in a lobby that quickly descends into glorified bumper cars.

The penalty system is unfair and inconsistent

Rules in racing and sport in general have a certain logic to them, but most Gran Turismo players since GT Sport have probably struggled to find any sense of logic to the game’s penalty system.

For those uninitiated, time penalties are given out for a driver’s poor conduct from cutting corners and ignoring flags to crashing into other players. In that period of time, your car is forcefully slowed down to 31 mph for a set amount of time — determined by your offence.

On paper, this is good: a firm but fair way to penalize bad driving. But the problem is it's just so damn inconsistent. Sometimes, you can get punted off the track by someone who clearly used your car as their breaking point, only to see they didn’t get a penalty. 

Then, at other times, you may make the slightest contact through a chicane that doesn’t impact anything whatsoever and you’re slapped with three seconds. Rather than keeping races fair, it ruins the competition with unfair punishments and turning a blind eye to downright criminal acts.

Update 1.15 supposedly "adjusted the penalty judgement algorithm so that penalties will not be applied for minor contacts," but from personal experience, it’s just made it worse with a blurred line around what a “minor contact” is. 

Now, players face virtually zero ramifications for a huge last lap send and crash someone off the track to gain a position, as happened to a good friend of mine.

Players know how to manipulate the system

Speaking of “minor contact,” let me take you back to one of my favorite daily races at Interlagos in Brazil. Well, it was my favorite until this happened. 

Driving flat out down the start/finish straight, I caught the slipstream of a car ahead of me and managed to slingshot myself into the lead. As we approached the legendary chicane known as the Senna S, the car I overtook was on the outside, meaning I’d have the advantage going through these two sweeping turns. 

Instead, they steered ever so slightly inwards, tapped my car then proceeded to drive entirely across the Senna S and gain a massive advantage. I waited for this to be reprimanded with a penalty, but instead it was me who received a three-second penalty for apparently forcing the other car off track.

This is one of a few very cynical hacks to manipulate GT7’s penalty system in your favour and it’s an absolute killer of any interest in fair racing. Here's another good example.

Problems galore!

It’s not just me. Millions of players have first-hand experience of this farcical penalty system or faced the sheer injustice of a bad player gone unpunished. Turns out the esports wing of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) has noticed, too.

In the past, Gran Turismo has been the game of choice for all official online motorsport competitions. But in what is quite a blow to the reputation of this title as “the real driving simulator,” the FIA has chosen to use Assetto Corsa Competizione instead.

For those who still want to see GT7 used for competition, don’t worry. Polyphony still has its World Series tournament, which is supported by a sea of official motorsport brands.

So how does Polyphony fix the problem?

We need one simple feature: the ability to raise any issues directly with an independent steward. There needs to be an opportunity to report unsportsmanlike conduct or appeal a penalty directly.

Squeaky clean races are very rare to come by and my problem is not with blameless incidents because of hard racing. S**t happens. I get that.

But the community needs to have the opportunity to report and remove malicious players that are ruining the game for everyone else. Like any sport, they deserve the chance to appeal bad decisions. Simply put, online games need a two-way dialogue and with Polyphony Digital, you’re talking to a wall right now.

Sounds like an easy fix, but I get how it may be really tricky to implement. It would take quite a big team to be able to wade through the impending ocean of player reports. But I’ve given it some thought over a brownie (that I demolished out of pure anger thanks to a godawful competitor on Daily Race B P.I.T manoeuvring me), and here’s how I would do it.

• Player Reports: These need stakes of some sort – a material impact both for those who have been rightfully reported and to those who try to file a false report. The only thing you can really do is knock the player’s Sportsmanship Rating down a grade in both situations. That way, cheaters get their just desserts and players are actively discouraged from just cynically using the system to demote someone because they had the gall to overtake you.
• Penalty Appeals: This is the more interesting one. Going back to the whole “tap a player and cut the Senna S” scenario at Interlagos, what happens in the situation where this appeal is raised post-race and it’s approved? We can’t just re-run the race, and I don’t want to be in a race with this knob ever again. In this situation, the right response would be to reverse any negative impacts on your Driver Rating or Sportsmanship Rating.

Outlook

I get this problem is not just something that can be fixed quickly. It’s a fundamental core issue that has the potential to kill the momentum of Gran Turismo 7 as one of the biggest live service racing sims out there.

You can see its impact, as sim racers with massive followings have been making the same complaints. But if the first few months of GT7’s release has proven anything, it’s that while Polyphony doesn’t really have much in the way of direct community engagement, the team does listen to outrage.

So please, I beg of you on behalf of all of us who just want evenings of good racing without having to deal with bellends, let us work with you to improve the community. Give us the tools to help.

Sony wants to sell 18 million PS5 consoles this year thanks to component supplies and encouraging game sales, but it may not go according to plan if more lockdowns take place in China to stop the spread of COVID-19.

As reported by Reuters, Sony's chief financial officer Hiroki Totok stated that the company "can procure enough components for 18 million units." Last year, the PS5 claimed the title of the fastest-selling console in US history and has reportedly sold 11.5 million units, despite console shortages. Now, Sony aims to sell even more, but it depends on whether further lockdowns in China take place. 

• Best PS5 games in 2026: The best PlayStation 5 games out now
• PS5 randomly shutting off? Here's how to fix it
• Best gaming deals in July 2026 CO

While Sony is apparently expecting unit profits to fall by 12%, other gaming services such as its new, upcoming PlayStation Plus subscription — set to arrive this June — and big acquisition with Halo creator Bungie are set to see significant returns. Plus, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan stated the Bungie acquisition is the first of "many more moves."

Earlier this year, GamesIndustry.biz's Christopher Dring tweeted some highlights from the interview, with Ryan stating that "we should absolutely expect more" acquisitions in the future. This allows Sony to expand its services, which includes going multiplatform and to pan out its "aggressive road map with live services." 

These upcoming services, and even new PSVR 2 hardware, may finally be available to more consumers if Sony achieves making 18 million PS5 units. Many have experienced the results of the ongoing chip shortage, including keeping their eyes on PS5 stock watches or overspending thanks to PS5 scalpers. This year, however, it seems we'll see more PS5 up for grabs — if everything goes according to plan.

Sony previously confirmed PS5 consoles would remain in short supply in 2021, but we may now see a boost in production. We're interested to see what's next for Sony, and how the PSVR compared to its upcoming PSVR 2. 

The PlayStation Pulse 3D wireless headset has been kicking about for a while now, but for PS5 players, this pair of cans continues to be seen as the best gaming headset for the console.

Why? Well, beyond the bright sound profile, comfortable, lightweight design and impressive surround sound credentials, there are some unique PS5 features unlocked by them that other third-party headsets can’t replicate. 

This is worth talking about for anyone who has picked up a PlayStation 5. But is it worth the entrance fee? Spoiler alert — yes. Yes they are.

Pulse 3D wireless headset price and availability

You can pick up a Pulse 3D headset for $99 or £89 in either the white finish of the standard PS5 base plates, or Midnight Black. That’s the same price as the Xbox Wireless Headset and £40 shy of the team favorite SteelSeries Arctis 7P+. Yes, I know the list price of the latter is actually a fair bit higher, but much like weekend furniture sales, you’ll very rarely see these at full price.

Looking back to 2021, stock seemed to be hard to come by for these cans, but luckily that seems to have normalized now. 

Pulse 3D wireless headset design

In a sea of big, bulky, metallic gaming headsets with retractable microphones and RGB lights, the Pulse 3D is a visual triumph of stylish restraint.

The plastics used in creating these feel rigid to the touch, but that PlayStation face-button texture you find on the base plates and DualSense controller does join the console suite together really nicely.

The rubber suspension headband is durable and the perfectly circular cups’ cushioning is covered with a comfortable and durable faux leather. With cheaper competition like the Eksa E910 offering a padded headband and a metal frame build, the Pulse 3D headset cheapens out for what you’re paying.

However, with these material choices comes a lighter weight of 10.4 ounces — 0.6 ounces less than the Xbox Wireless Headset, and 2.5 ounces less than the SteelSeries Arctis 7P+. The featherweight construction contributes to the Pulse 3D wireless headset  feeling cozy to wear for long play sessions.

On the left cup there’s the buttons for the power, volume control and audio/microphone modes as well as the 3.5mm headphone jack and USB-C connector. The I/O setup is a little chaotic when you’re trying to fiddle with settings in the heat of gaming.

Pulse 3D wireless headset comfort

Now, I get that on paper, a rubber head strap and hard plastic doesn’t sound like it lends itself to a comfortable wearing experience. But the Pulse 3D headset absolutely sticks the landing in this category.

The lightweight design is made to feel even lighter with the suspended headband, and the plush cushions on the perfect circle over-ear cups (odd when you take into account most gaming headsets opt for an oval cup) lends itself to a snug fit without a strong clamp around your noggin.

That lighter sensation on your head makes for long-term comfort. My longest stints over the past couple weeks has been 6 hours on Gran Turismo 7 (before the game slowly started being ruined), and one of those accidental 7-hour stints in the recently updated Cyberpunk 2077 where you start at a normal time, blink, then realize its 2am.

In both of these cases, these did not get overly exhausting to wear at any point. Of course, you do get a sensation of relief when you take them off your head, but nothing to indicate these are harsh to wear in any way. 

It’s also worth noting that while you cannot manually adjust the headband like on the Xbox Wireless Headset and SteelSeries Arctis 7P+, that’s not necessary on the Pulse 3D. The band itself is a moving part that adjusts itself based on where the cups are on your head. Some of you may not appreciate being able to make small tweaks to the wearability, but the fact the headset sorts itself out is something I prefer for sure.

Pulse 3D wireless headset gaming performance

The 40mm neodymium drivers found in the Pulse 3D headset match up to the Arctis 7P and Xbox Wireless headset in terms of size and quality. Trust me when I say that much like Microsoft’s headphones, you will be baffled at how headphones at this price can sound this good.

Its secret to success is tight Tempest 3D Audio integration with the PS5, which puts the likes of Dolby Atmos on blast with a thoroughly detailed, immersive soundstage that feels bright and expressive at all levels without a hint of distortion.

Firing up Horizon Forbidden West is an amazing demonstration of what is possible and, beyond the stunning visuals, it breathes a new level of life into the world. Whether it’s within a forest and hearing the leaves rustle all around you, the wind whistling atop a mountain, the distant sound of machines, or a mixture of all three within the heat of combat, everything is well balanced and has its place in this spherical field of sound.

Gran Turismo 7 is a little more subtle since we’re dealing with a realistic racing sim rather than a gloriously over-the-top fantasy world, but the sound here is still fantastic. You can actually hear the surface you’re driving on beneath you, like the earthiness of dirt or the hard, rumbling clatter of a curb on a turn’s apex. 

With stereo sound, most players are relying on the track radar to see competitors around them, but with this headset, I identified the location of the car next to me and how far away it was in order to avoid a collision on the overtake. And of course, the background soundtrack remains ever-present in a way that doesn’t intrude on the audio cues you’re listening to in-game.

The Pulse 3D wireless headset elevated Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection, an already quintessential Hollywood-like blockbuster game, to a whole new cinematic level. The spatial sound gets a real workout here, and flipping back and forth between the PS4 and PS5 versions of Uncharted 4 shows you how dramatic the audio upgrade is between generations. That is further accentuated by the Pulse 3D headset, as hundreds of sounds all have their own place around you.

Of course, with the use of a USB dongle for 2.4 GHz wireless or 3.5mm headphone cable, these work on PC, too. While you won’t get the same impressive level of spatial audio performance as you do with the close integration between this headset and the PS5, they delivered that same clean, bright, undistorted profile while playing Portal 2 and Age of Empires IV.

Pulse 3D wireless headset music performance

One hurdle where most gaming headsets stumble is in music performance, as drivers can be tuned to benefit a more cinematic gaming experience, which compromises their ability to nail songs. Surprisingly, I’m happy to confirm that’s not an issue here.

No matter what I threw at these, whether it was the riotous cover of “Bittersweet Symphony” by Four Year Strong or the delicate “2009” by Mac Miller, the lows were nice and warm without biting into the mids. What’s more, the highs shined, while placing them all into a soundstage that felt spacious around me.

You’ll notice some errors in the tuning by throwing classical music the headset, such as Claude Debussy’s “Clair De Lune,” as the Pulse 3D’s attempts to give the whole piano stave life leads to distortion in the highs, but much like the Arctis 7P+ and Xbox Wireless Headset, there are no deal-breaking issues to report.

Pulse 3D wireless headset microphone

The Pulse 3D headset packs dual noise-canceling microphones, which have been positioned optimally to pick up your voice and isolate it from your surroundings. 

In real-world use, this results in a voice-pickup that is great for team chat for sure, but not necessarily that great for general content creation like streaming, as you can hear the slight hints of digital voice processing happening in the background.

It should come as no surprise that the competition with retractable microphones feature a better quality voice-pickup — putting the mic closer to your gob allows for better definition.

However, we’re talking about a niche use case here. For the broader requirement to just talk to your mates while playing, Sony’s headset more than holds its own.

Pulse 3D wireless headset features

This is the bit where we can get into the exclusive integrations you get by having a PlayStation headset with a PlayStation 5. These are twofold for PS5 gamers.

Firstly, if you’ve already tried a wireless gaming headset with your shiny console, you’ll know the frustration of having to manually change output sources if you want to flip back to speakers, or just remove the USB dongle altogether. With the Pulse 3D headset, you don’t have to. To paraphrase Apple: “it just works,” as turning on and off the headphones automatically changes the audio output.

Secondly, these have been specifically tuned to deliver the specific 3D audio that PS5 games possess. And while a decent amount of third party headphones can deliver surround sound, there is a noticeable difference with the Pulse 3D — an improved richness to the tones around you and an increased liveliness to the tuning. I’ve reached out to Sony, to see whether there is a technical reason for this. This section will be updated once I get an answer.

As for battery life, you’re going to get 12 hours of playtime on a single charge, which matches up to Sony’s promise. That is 3 hours shorter than the Xbox Wireless Headset and over half of the 30-hour stamina of the SteelSeries Arctis 7P+. In personal experience, this was fine for me with a quick charge needed every week, but we can’t ignore that this is lacking when compared to the competition.

Bottom line

The Pulse 3D wireless headset isn’t just a pair of headphones that are good for your games, they are an essential extension of the PS5 experience.

Not only do you get a bright and expressive sound with a fantastic spatial quality, you get all the convenience features afforded to you by the synergy of a Sony headset made for a Sony console.

Yes, there are better options for team chat with a retractable microphone, the plastic build isn’t quite as good as what you’d see in the competition There’s no bluetooth, and there are much better options if you need something that’s multi-platform. 

But overall, if you want a pair of cans for the PS5, nothing else comes close. Just buy these.

A new software update brings a slew of new features to the PS5, and Sony finally confirms that variable refresh rate (VRR) is coming to PlayStation 5. 

In a PlayStation blog update, Sony announced an update that brings UI enhancements to trophy cards, a dark mode on the PS app, the option to create open or closed parties, and a voice command preview that lets beta testers access a slew of features by asking. 

Plus, as an extra win for accessibility, you can now switch on mono audio for headphones. But the bigger story is the announcement that VRR support is “on the horizon” for PS5.

• These are the best Xbox Series X games and best PS5 games so far
• PS5 one year later — times are a-changin’
• Best gaming deals in 2022

Why is variable refresh rate important?

For HDMI 2.1-compatible TVs and monitors, VRR syncs the refresh rate of the panel to the graphical capabilities of your system, which eliminates screen tearing, visual artifacting, and any frame pacing issues. 

The Xbox Series X has been out ahead with this feature for a while now, but the PS5 is finally getting VRR support. Not only that, but it looks like it can be applied to unsupported games, as is made clear by the screenshot of the settings.

Of course, the best implementation will be developers patching their games, but to have a basic build available is welcome — with the option to turn it off if any unexpected visual issues arise.

When will we get this update?

All we can do is guess, as the blog states it will be available “in the coming months.” So far, we’ve seen major updates arrive every three months on average from Sony. 

With this in mind, June seems like a solid prediction to make. Plus, it’d make a nice small headline around E3 time. And now, there is one visual fidelity feature left: 1440p support for those who live the QHD life.

Gran Turismo 7 now has Sony’s lowest user score ever on Metacritic and after the most recent updates to the game, it’s deserved.

Whether it’s server maintenance that inexplicably renders the whole game (including single-player modes) unplayable or profiteering decisions that leave a bad taste in the mouth of GT fans, the 7th iteration and the 25th anniversary of Gran Turismo is being soured by questionable moves.

• More: Gran Turismo 7 review
• Best PS5 games

Not sure what I’m talking about? Let’s go into some detail with an option on how to fix it.

About my review…

So, let’s address that awkward-looking elephant in the room: I gave this game 5 stars in my review and I stand by this score at the time.

Why? Well all I can do is review what I have in front of me and what was there (what is technically still there) is one of the best racing sims you can buy. The grounded physics, gorgeous visuals, and the depth and variety of content here is a brilliant achievement. 

As for the microtransactions, with the option to buy more emblazoned everywhere, Polyphony did not keep these a secret. However, the balance of race rewards made the grind to afford more cars feel fair without needing to take this shortcut.

There is no game-based celebration of car culture quite like a Gran Turismo game and to return to that has been an incredible feeling. Maybe that’s why these updates have hurt my love for GT7 this much, because that feeling has been spoiled over the past few days by unexpected issues and deliberately bad, anti-consumer decisions.

What’s been happening?

Let’s start from the beginning with update 1.07, which effectively broke the game for over 24 hours. There was an issue that was not seen during QA testing that seemed to corrupt save data. 

Once the issue was identified, the game entered a “server maintenance” period, but as I mentioned in my review, the online-only construction of the game meant players could only access quick races and time trials — none of the single-player GT mode. 

With only two tweets being posted about the bug (one about identifying the bug and a small update to say Polyphony was extending the server maintenance without any reason why), gamers were left in the dark.The frustration started to build as players were left with a tiny portion of the game and the ongoing question of why other single-player modes weren’t available.

Microtransaction hell

And then we get to the 1.08 correctional update, when we were allowed back into the game and noticed that some changes had been made to race rewards. 

While two races had their credit rewards for winning increased, a vast selection of races have seen a decreased reward, which extends the grind and naturally shows a side of Polyphony that is hungry for that microtransaction profit. 

This is something that gamers have cottoned onto when realizing you’d have to spend up to $200 of your own money on enough credits to buy the most expensive cars, but to reduce the winnings from races makes it abundantly clear. When logging onto the game, users found an open letter from Kazunori Yamauchi, who sort of addressed this.

“In Gran Turismo 7 I would like to have users enjoy lots of cars and races even without microtransactions. At the same time the pricing of cars is an important element that conveys their value and rarity, so I do think it’s important for it to be linked with the real world prices. I want to make Gran Turismo 7 a game in which you can enjoy a variety of cars [in]  lots of different ways, and if possible would like to try to avoid a situation where a player must mechanically keep replaying certain events over and over again.”

He continued: “We will in time let you know the update plans for additional content, additional race events, and additional features that will constructively resolve this. It pains me that I can’t explain the details regarding this at this moment, but we plan on continuing to revise Gran Turismo 7 so that as many players as possible can enjoy the game. We would really appreciate it if everyone could watch over the growth of Gran Turismo 7 from a somewhat longer term point of view.”

So, I’ve got two points in response to this. Firstly, linking in-game cars to real-world prices, value and rarity does not explain why you reduced the race rewards. I appreciate that the level of motoring authenticity goes down to the specific value of said cars, but using that reason is like me trying to explain why I didn’t wash the dishes to my girlfriend by saying washing dishes is linked to how much I really just play video games instead. It’s true, but certainly not appreciated.

And secondly, come on. Are you really going down the “you’re looking at this the wrong way” route by telling people to watch the growth of GT7 over the long term? I’m excited that this game is getting support for a while to come, but to tell angry players to look at being told to spend more money they may not have as part of a “longer term point of view” for the game is just insulting.

Not only that, but the longer you make this grind, the less players you will have returning to continue grinding, leading to an increasingly bad reputation for the game and a reduced online player base. This can only end in disaster.

How do you fix Gran Turismo 7?

Studios listen to the players, and I can only hope Polyphony is taking this moment on the chin and heading back to the drawing board on some of these bad decisions. If so, here is what I know will fix Gran Turismo 7:

1. Give me back my GT Mode offline: It’s simply baffling that I have to be online to access all the single-player modes, and in the moments where server maintenance is required, this huge racing sim is reduced to a husk of its grander self. That is not fair to the players and it needs to be addressed.
2. Be generous with your race rewards: The effort/reward balance of the credits received from races before the update were fair. Now, that grind is not worth it and when people realise they need to be spending upwards of £100 for particular cars, this is NFT levels of lunacy. Plus, further improving prize money will not just be a good faith update that will improve player mood, but it will also make GT7 feel more accessible to people who may not be well versed in the world of racing sims. The price of credits purchases in the PlayStation store should be reduced and the race rewards need to be increased. Profits are good, but you don’t need that much profit.
3. Better communication: This is more of a structural change to the way Polyphony talks to its audience. An apology after the fact doesn’t make up for the air of tense silence around GT7 during unexpected maintenance. Regular updates on progress is far better than saying nothing.

Outlook — Something has to be done, now.

Game launches can be rocky. It’s something that I’m not a fan of, preferring a polished product to be launched rather than a bug-filled version that gets a day zero patch, but I’ve accepted it as part of how the industry works. 

These can be forgiven when a studio is open and transparent about its work with clear deadlines and no intentions to mislead the players. But in remaining pretty tight-lipped about the issues surrounding update 1.07 and lowering race rewards after its launch (and reviews), Polyphony has broken both of these commitments to its audience.

I look forward to the content roadmap coming forward, with new content, race events and features in the pipeline. But right now, that needs to be put on the shelf and work needs to start on immediately remedying these problems.

The damage has been significant, as you can see from user ratings, but it is not catastrophic yet. There is still time to win back the players.

Gran Turismo 7 marks the 25th Anniversary of the franchise, but the period of time that’s more important to me is 8 years and 2 months. 

That’s the amount of time since we had a proper Gran Turismo game. GT Sport was good and all, but it wasn’t a fully-fledged series entry — just a really good multiplayer racer with an esports focus. 

With GT7, Polyphony is making up for lost time with a massive single player campaign, combined with one of the most thoroughly researched and realistic racing simulators, and with the online modes of GT Sport, to make one of the most complete motorsport packages of the last decade.

But have the nagging issues that hang over from GT6 been resolved? Does the single player grind of the classic Gran Turismo game continue to be good in 2022? As you’ve probably guessed from the score, the answer is a resounding “yes,” but let me explain. 

A word about reviewing Gran Turismo 7

Here I am, playing on my first PlayStation at my 8th birthday party, and by “birthday party,” I mean “play games by myself all day long.” But there’s one game and one important fact about me that isn’t in this photo — I come from a family of car and racing fans, and my Dad bought me the original Gran Turismo that same day. 

Racing sims have been a big part of my life across many consoles for well over 20 years, so I know my way around one and can review it for what it is: a motor sporting mecca that celebrates everything about cars down to every painstakingly minute detail.

Now, if I was to factor in how accessible this racing simulator is, the score would probably go down. To anyone who is more of a rookie racer or a first timer, this is more of a four-star game. There is an easy difficulty and a wealth of driving assists to help you through the single-player campaign and the music rally is a really engaging way to grasp GT’s sim physics with countdown mechanics that send my mind back to the likes of Sega Rally and Daytona. Seriously, play it. It’s a lot of fun!

However, at its heart, this is still a game for the hardcore racing sim fans. Just because I’ve given it five stars does not mean it’s a perfect game for everyone. That’s setting your standards too high. 

Really really really ridiculously good looking (and sounding and feeling)

Let’s start by getting the technical details out of the way: all your classic Twitter troll bait for Xbots to beat Ponies over the head with and vice versa. 

GT7 gives you the choice between prioritizing frame rate or ray tracing. Turning on the latter activates ray tracing in certain sections like the garage, replays, photo mode and certain scenes in GT Café. Gameplay in both graphics modes is identical: a rock solid 60 fps without ray tracing. The end result, as you’ve probably expected from Polyphony Digital, is a visual treat.

Of course, you notice the difference when ray tracing is turned on, in shimmering reflections, accurate lighting and the shiny refractions off car bodies. I hope that the devs find a way to make this work when racing and update the game with a 60 fps ray tracing mode, like what Insomniac managed to do in Spider-Man: Miles Morales, but it looks stunning in this current build.

But even when racing without ray tracing, each track explodes with vibrancy and detail down to the grain of the concrete, tire scuffs on the curbs, and lights shimmering on your car’s accurately-modeled interior as they pass by. Starry skies at night are distractingly beautiful and the lighting effects are fantastic. 

That loving attention to detail comes with an incredible soundtrack. The Tempest 3D audio gets a workout here with the sheer ferocity of your engine igniting all around you and the ability to tell where your competitors are based solely on sound. 

And musically, all of the classics are here alongside some new additions and reinvigorated covers of previous hits. I’m heartbroken at the lack of Buck Rogers by Feeder, but you can’t win them all, I guess. 

But this feast doesn’t stop at the sights and the sounds. Put simply, Gran Turismo 7 stands head and shoulders above the rest of the PS5 lineup in making the best use of the DualSense controller. No longer are the vibrations just an indiscriminate rumble as you go round a corner, they can combine with adaptive triggers to tell you a lot about how your car is doing.

The triggers lock up to mirror your brakes locking up and you can feel the front wheels start to lose grip if you lose control coming into a corner too fast. Make no mistake, this is a game-changer that gives you a greater understanding of your driving, and when the car eventually does feel smooth going around a corner and you hit that sweet spot, it feels great.

This is a presentational tour de force across the board. And now, let’s talk about struggling to get up hills in a 1965 Fiat 500.

Lights out and away we go!

You see, strapping yourself into some souped-up monster and heading around high speed corners in excess of 200 mph is a helluva rush, but out of all the challenges I did, none quite nail the unique attraction of Gran Turismo quite like racing amongst 12 Fiat 500s.

On the surface, it’s hilariously bonkers watching you and your competitors reduced to a gentle jogging speed on a hill, but then you realize there’s tactics to staying in the slipstream, perfectly hitting the apex and being incredibly gentle with your steering, to be just slightly faster and start to overtake on this hill. Once you work it out, you’ll get an insanely strong feeling of satisfaction from managing to pass several cars by traveling 2 mph faster than them. 

This is all part of the automotive physics simulator that has been intensely researched and tested to be as close as possible to the real thing — gathering feedback from the FIA Gran Turismo Championships, Michelin tires and even Lewis Hamilton, to ensure that even the smallest driving characteristics are taken into account.

Damage is still cosmetic-only, though, which does remove an element of the risk of driving poorly and means you can get away with some wall riding in single player. There are robust punishments for people who abuse this in multiplayer though, and none of this takes away from the internal need to take each corner perfectly.

Not only are the cars modeled to drive as realistically as possible, the changing world around them has been given the same amount of attention. The time of day or night, the wind direction and weather conditions make a significant impact on the ground you drive upon. 

In more detail, region-specific meteorological data, temperatures, humidity and air pressures are implemented to provide an unmatched simulation that pairs with realistic physics to make small but impactful effects like affecting track temperature, tire grip and rain puddles forming on parts of tracks that are prone to them.

Finally, the last piece of the puzzle is competitor AI. Previously, single-player races became a futile competition of overtaking a column of cars that all followed exactly the same line. The Sophy AI is not part of GT7 yet, but in its current state, Polyphony made some huge improvements in this area. Each competitor reacts to each other and you, to make races feel a lot more human than before.

The end result of all this hard work is an ever-changing tapestry of racing challenges that will test you, but not to the point of feeling unfair. Any loss is not an exercise in futility. It is a lesson you learn and a growing experience to help you develop into a better driver. That is quite the achievement given the fact that many racers have become used to the safety net of a race rewind feature.

But if a challenge does feel too hard, fear not! There is the aforementioned easy difficulty and plenty of auto-drive aids that will be a massive help for newcomers.

Bursting at the seams

So, it should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who watched the last State of Play that Gran Turismo 7 is packed to the gills with stuff to do: over 400 cars, over 90 track variations, license tests, tons of challenges, an in-depth livery maker, photo mode and so much more. In other words, GT Mode is back and this quest-based mode has never been better.

One of the key problems in past versions was that it was easy to get lost in the wealth of content and figure out a clear task list of what you need to do beyond the licenses. That’s where the GT Café comes in handy — splitting things out nicely into a set of menu books with challenges to complete and cars to collect. 

This highlights the main path through the campaign, which makes the whole Gran Turismo experience a lot more palatable for newcomers to enjoy. If you only have a little bit of time to play, it makes things clear about what you can do that’s most critical to your progression.

And with the completion of all car collection menu books, you get a detailed retrospective about the cars you’ve won, which really plays to my car-loving heart and will introduce fresh players to car culture in a nice way. 

Finishing all these is technically the “ending,” but in reality, there are so many more races, championships, circuit experiences and unique mini games to complete. It’s almost like the menu books are meant to whet your appetite for the main course: the same old tick-box racing, fine tuning and grinding for new cars and new trophies. Its sheer addictiveness proves that the formula is far from dead. For example, I was typing this at 3am after losing track of the time.

One little request I have to Polyphony: please remove the requirement to always be online for the single player aspects of the game. I get there are news feeds that are loaded in on the nicely-presented world view menu and that’s where you access multiplayer, but come on. There are offline players, too!

Speaking of multiplayer, my oh my, there’s a lot of fun to be had.

The Gran Turismo Sport online mode makes a triumphant return, alongside the harsh-but-fair regulations and subsequent penalties that keeps every race feeling like an honest competition. Word to the wise: don’t fall into bad habits when playing single-player, such as running all four wheels over the track boundaries to cut a corner. Those habits will cross over into the multiplayer and you will pay dearly for it.

For those looking for a little less of the seriousness and more racing, you can create lobbies to muck about in and race your friends, but the most important addition is Meeting Places. Each track has a permanent lobby with no regulations and no racing conditions: it’s simply a place where you can go drive and talk to other players. 

The team imagined this feature being used to show off liveries. To me, it became a friendly community that helped me improve my cornering around the sharp downhill chicane through advice from like-minded people. It’s a feature most people will glaze over, but one that is pretty awesome.

Also, special shout-out to the fast loading times. That is such a breath of fresh air compared to waiting nearly a minute for tracks to load up in old games.

Bottom line

Gran Turismo 7 is everything I wanted it to be and more: a celebration of cars, car culture and the art of racing. This is one of the best PS5 games available today. 

It’s drop dead gorgeous, the automotive simulation physics are meticulously researched and incredibly grounded, there is so much to sink your teeth into and it answers a lot of the problems players had with previous iterations. 

The AI has been upgraded, GT Café gives you a nice, clear route throughout the campaign and, thanks to Polyphony’s break from mainline GT games with Sport, multiplayer is simpler to jump into and drastically improved competitively.

The five out of five score does not mean it’s completely flawless. Car damage is still only cosmetic, the always-required internet connection is a little puzzling for offline modes and, as I said up top, this isn’t going to be a game for everyone.

But for those who love this sport, the temple of automotive brilliance is here. Come and worship.

Today may be a good day to re-install Cyberpunk 2077, as CD Projekt Red's recently announced livestream indicates we’re about to get the highly anticipated next-gen upgrade.

I felt that same pain as many did on launch day. I tucked into that glitchy mess with super low frame rates, strange textures, and basically the whole world pop-in, which broke the immersion — something a game like this relies on.

But there are some strong hints that all of this may change today and we will be getting the much-desired next-gen version of the game for PS5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. 

What’s the evidence?

Well, the evidence is two-fold. First, we’re getting an episode of CD Projekt Red’s Twitch show “Red Streams,” which normally wouldn’t be worth talking about, but this one has been promoted on the Cyberpunk Twitter page. You can watch it live at 10AM ET / 3PM GMT.

After all the negativity around this game, I can’t see the team putting this level of promotion behind a stream to not announce anything big. 

Second, The Verge’s Tom Warren and many other Xbox owners have noticed a certain logo appear on the Cyberpunk 2077 icon — indicating that it is now optimized for Xbox Series X|S, to which Cyberpunk’s Twitter account responded with this.

Now I know I’m guilty of looking too far into the smallest of news, but this, alongside the thousands of other people noticing this piece of branding, indicates that we will see Cyberpunk 2077's next-gen version today.

What else will we see?

CDPR has been quiet about Cyberpunk 2077 work for a while now, since the company postponed all small fixes and pushed back their big November update to launch alongside the next-gen version in early 2022.

But there is the question of free DLC that I hope to see an updated launch schedule for. If you remember, all of the free expansions were postponed back in October, so to get some news about this would be icing on the cake.

Should I buy Cyberpunk 2077?

CDPR promised a free next-gen update for owners of the game, and given its bumpy launch, prices are nice and low for the game, so with deals writing being my main trade around here, I say go for it!

You can currently pick it up for under twenty bucks at Amazon or for my fellow UK readers, the lowest price is again at Amazon for less than £20.

Pick up a copy now before the prices go up.

Horizon Forbidden West looks amazing, but did you know you can pre-order it on PS5 for cheaper than its usual price? Thanks to this sneaky workaround, your can. 

As detailed in a PlayStation Blog update, Forbidden West is one of the last cross-platform titles to benefit from a free upgrade from the PS4 to PS5 version. 

• We cover the best deals every day in our Daily Deals wrap-up
• Read our PS5 review
• How to install an SSD into your PS5

Pair this with the fact you can buy a previous generation copy of Horizon for $10 less in the US or over £10 less in the UK and that guarantees a low-cost alternative to pick up a PS5 version of Aloy's next chapter.

One quick FYI: we can't guarantee this will work with digital pre-orders of the game. However, it will work for physical copies.

How to get Horizon Forbidden West on PS5 for cheaper in the US

• The lowest price we've seen for Horizon Forbidden West (PS4) is $59.99 at Amazon.

So, this is one of the simplest how-to guides ever written and the easiest way to save ten bucks. Just get the PS4 version of Horizon Forbidden West and get the free PS5 upgrade.

Prices are identical across the board, so pick your favorite retailer to purchase it from.

Amazon | Best Buy | Gamestop | Walmart

How to get Horizon Forbidden West on PS5 for cheaper in the UK

• The lowest price we've seen for Horizon Forbidden West (PS4) is £51 at Currys with code ALOY15.

To get a similar discount, you're doing exactly the same as those in America — buying the PS4 version and relying on the free PS5 upgrade.

This ensures that rather than paying £69, you can get over £10 off a version of the game that works across more systems (in case you lend your copy to your friends) and save money in the long run. Plus, with a surprise discount code at Currys, you can get an additional 15% off too.

It's a little baffling that Sony has overlooked this gap in the pricing, as it's essentially the same game. But take advantage of it while you can!

Of course, Shopto.net has the lowest price, but Forbidden West is available from all the big retailers if you have some loyalty points to use.

Amazon | Currys | Game | Shopto.net

The best PS5 accessories offer next-gen newcomers and early adopters alike ways to improve upon Sony’s stellar console. From increased immersion to added convenience, the right accessory can take your day-to-day PlayStation experience to the next level. While it’s early days for the accessories market of Sony’s ninth-generation console, there’s still plenty of interesting options available.

Don’t yet own a PS5? Join the club. Personally, I just like to buy the accessories regardless and include them in any casual selfies I take so that people think I do. But if that sort of superficial peacocking isn’t to your tastes, you can always check out our PS5 U.K. stock watch or PS5 U.S. stock watch pages. You can also follow Laptop Mag on Twitter where we do our best to post any news on retail stock when available.

If you’re looking for a way to squeeze more potential out of your PS5, look no further. At Laptop Mag, we’ve compiled our list of the best PS5 accessories currently available, and a few others that are coming soon. So whether you’re looking for a new headset for online play or a hassle-free way to keep your controller topped up, here are the best PS5 accessories.

What are the best PS5 accessories?

The PlayStation DualSense Controller is no doubt one of the best PS5 accessories to come out of this console generation so far. Sony’s DualSense controller takes rumble to a whole new level, adding impressive adaptive triggers and responsive haptic feedback. While you likely already own one, there’s always room for one more until the final nail is planted into the casket of couch co-op. Especially so if you use a charging cradle and want to easily hot swap between game pads.

Speaking of which, the Sony DualSense Charging Station is another fantastic accessory. Able to house and charge two DualSense controllers at once, Sony’s charging station is ideal if you want a wire-free solution to charging up your controller or would like a backup available at the drop of a hat.

Games are ballooning in size, and there’s no reason to think it won’t carry on the longer into the current generation of consoles we get. As such, additional storage could become a genuine necessity. That’s where the WD Black SN850 SSD comes into play, offering an abundance of additional storage up to 2TB. It’s fast, easy to install and comes recommended by the PS5’s lead system architect.

Sony’s DualShock brand of controllers had been a staple of the iconic PlayStation style since 1997. Sleek, light and tactile; the DualShock was the king of console controllers for many. However, with the arrival of the PS5, Sony decided to retire the DualShock brand, and unveil the all-new DualSense controller in its wake. A change like this isn’t without its risks, and while some had their doubts, the DualSense has proven itself to be a worthy successor to the throne.

Take everything you loved about Sony’s DualShock 4, then cram it full of growth hormones and the best haptic feedback tech around. What results is one of the most immersive controllers to arrive to console gaming since the Wiimote. The rumble motors are replaced by dual actuators that offer an incredible range of dynamic vibrations. The all new adaptive triggers add varying levels of force and tension to your in-game interactions. This new level of feedback can simulate a wide range of in-game situations, from the clash of swords to the feel of the terrain beneath the wheels in your favorite racing title.

While a DualSense controller comes with the PS5, there’s no harm in adding a second. Couch co-op might be less prominent right now, but it’s nowhere near dead, especially when it comes to party games. It also makes it easier to hot swap between two controllers when your battery runs low, preventing any interruption in play.

Is this truly an accessory, or is it a much needed upgrade? Who’s to say, but I’m including it anyway. The WD Black SN850 SSD is the solution to your looming PS5 storage problem, and if you’re not aware of that problem, take note of how many modern titles are routinely creeping towards 100GB in size. Games like Far Cry 6, Call of Duty: Warzone and Ark: Survival Evolved are all weighing in north of 90GB, and they’re not even the heaviest hitters — Spider-Man Miles Morales Ultimate Edition requires an eye-watering 170GB alone. That brings us back full circle to the WD Black SN850 SSD.

Western Digital’s SSD was one of the first that met Sony’s compatibility requirements for the PS5, and to this day it remains as one of the best options to choose from when it comes to expanding your storage. Not only does it offer lightning-fast read and write speeds, but the 1TB option also has an impressive lifespan of 600 Terabytes Written. The spritely SSD is even recommended by the PS5’s lead system architect Mark Cerny.

The only downside to the WD Black SN850 SSD is its price. While the regular cost of the base SN850 is already a sizable $189.99, Sony recommends using SSDs outfitted with a heatsink, which can push that price up to $249.99. Whether or not the convenience of having all your favorite games on hand is worth that price is entirely up to you. However, if you don't have lightning fast internet, a purchase like this can make a massive difference over time.

In 2009, peripheral manufacturer Mad Catz unveiled a pretty unconventional Modern Warfare branded ‘throat communicator.’ Inspired by real-life military tech, the neckset used a snug-fitting plastic collar to pick up speech directly from the voice box. It seemed pretty impressive up until you wore it. If your neck was any thicker than a Sharpie, it felt as if you were being slowly throttled into a pressure headache by the hands of an apathetic eight-year-old child.

Luckily, the ‘neckset’ has since come a long way, and Panasonic seems to have things firmly on the right track. The SoundSlayer GN01 Wearable Gaming Speaker sits on the shoulders and neck, much like a pair of neckband earphones. Its lightweight build makes it comfortable to wear over longer stretches, and houses an industry-first four-channel real surround sound speaker for an incredibly immersive experience. Panasonic’s GN01 is also outfitted with a high-performance noise and echo-canceling dual-microphone, which allows clear communication without any interference from the mounted speakers. 

Of course, you’re likely to get the best audio experience with a pair of quality headphones. However, the SoundSlayer GN01 provides a way of feeling connected to your game without feeling disconnected to everything else going on around you. This could very well be a double-edged sword in certain situations, but it makes a great alternative to a headset when you need to listen out for a package arriving or when you feel like breaking the stigma of gamers being antisocial shut-ins.

Sure, it may not be the most exciting accessory, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t one of the better ones out there. The PlayStation 5 Media Remote is exactly what it claims to be — a media remote for the PlayStation 5. Its buttons and chassis match the overall aesthetic of the PS5 itself. It can even do all of the classic things you’d expect from a remote, such as inconveniently disappearing down the sides of your couch or suddenly reviving dead batteries because you pressed the buttons harder.

Convenience is the thing to keep in mind when looking at this accessory. If you’re a media junkie, you’ll be well aware that the PlayStation has much more to offer than gaming. With a host of apps for both video and audio streaming services, your PS5 has real jack-of-all-trades entertainment potential. 

Don’t waste both hands fumbling with thumbsticks and menus, the PS5 Media Remote comes with four shortcut buttons to rapidly access lifetimes of content from Spotify, YouTube, Disney+ and Netflix. What’s more, you’ll still have a hand free for holding your pizza. 

The PS5’s DualSense controller can comfortably last anywhere between 9 and 10 hours of playtime. However, there’s nothing worse than picking up your controller the next day to find it’s as dead as Google Stadia. While the time it takes to fully charge the controller is just 3 hours, that’s a lot of wasted time not playing your favorite games.

After gaming into the early hours, you may well have forgotten to plug your controller in to charge. Or even accidentally shut down your PS5 thus halting any ongoing charging. That’s where Sony’s DualSense Charging Station becomes such a handy accessory. No more fumbling with cables or leaving your PS5 on standby. Simply drop your DualSense controller into the cradle and push down. That’s it.

If you have a second DualSense controller, then the charging station becomes even more useful. Anytime you get a low battery warning, you can simply hot swap to a freshly charged gamepad. With the Sony DualSense Charging Station, you can ensure your game sessions are interrupted as infrequently as possible, making it an ideal accessory for the PS5.

The black-and-white color scheme of the PS5 isn’t for everyone. Aside from the fact it makes your PlayStation look like some chad penguin’s popped collar, white doesn't tend to conform to most people’s entertainment setups. The fact that the PlayStation 5’s faceplates are so easy to remove has led a number of third-party manufacturers to spring up around the internet, offering alternative colors and designs. However, Sony has been rather litigious in its efforts to prevent the existence of these third-party plates, often clamping down on a business before they can get their first batch of orders out of the door.

Over a year after the PS5’s launch, Sony has taken a break from its anti-consumer, capitalist bully methods to begin offering its own custom faceplates. Wave goodbye to those white fins, and say hello to Midnight Black and Cosmic Red. 

Well, that isn’t the greatest of selections to choose from, either, but other colors like Nova Pink, Starlight Blue, and Galactic Purple are expected to follow sometime in the first half of the year.

3D audio isn’t new, but it is new to the PlayStation 5. Last generation’s Xbox One had access to Dolby Atmos, a surround sound technology that added height channels in order for sounds to be interpreted as three-dimensional objects. While PlayStation didn’t follow in its footsteps until the PS4 Pro, the use of Dolby Atmos was only compatible with Blu-Ray movies. However, when it came to the PS5, Sony had 3D audio for gaming at the forefront of their minds. 

Instead of adopting Dolby Atmos, Sony developed an entirely new proprietary 3D audio format. The result of which is Tempest 3D audio. The Pulse 3D wireless headset is the best way to experience the true potential of this new audio tech, as it delivers incredible soundscapes with crystal clear clarity. You can even alter EQ settings on the fly thanks to native options on your PS5, saving you the hassle of connecting to a PC like most other headsets. 

While the built-in mic isn’t the greatest, it is serviceable. But it’s the 3D audio that’s going to lure you in, and by many accounts, the experience is pretty impressive. Trace every footstep, feel the presence of every sound around you, and immerse yourself even deeper within your PlayStation experience with the Pulse 3D Wireless Headset. 

Are you wearing the best gaming headset? Are you sitting comfortably in the best gaming chair? Do you have one of the best USB microphones hooked up and ready to capture every word you utter? Then you’re almost ready to take the world of Twitch by storm. What’s missing? How about a way of throwing your gorgeous mug on screen and showcasing all of your gaming drip and swagger to the world at large? 

The PlayStation 5 HD Camera is a great and simple way to broadcast or capture yourself alongside your gameplay footage. Dual wide-angle lenses allow you to record Full HD images and effortlessly overlay that footage over gameplay. The camera is also capable of upping the production level of your footage by chroma keying out your background if you make use of a green screen.

While there may be a slight stigma in using your PlayStation 5 to broadcast gameplay, it does take much of the hassle out of live streaming. With the use of the PlayStation 5 HD Camera alongside services like Lightstream, there’s very little to hold you back from creating interesting visuals for your streams and media.

SteelSeries have some fantastic headsets available for a number of platforms, and the Arctic 7P+ is one of the best. Building upon the success of the Arctis 7P, one of the best gaming headsets available at the time, the Arctis 7P+ improves on battery life, adds USB Type-C charging and supports the PS5’s Tempest 3D audio. It’s a decent upgrade to an already top-of-the-line gaming headset and solidifies the Arctis 7P+ as the go-to premium headset for PS5 players.

Wearing the Arctis 7P+ is a dream thanks to its adjustable velcro Airweave headband and ear cushions. The Airweave fabric used is a breathable moisture-wicking material that affords impressive comfort and cushioning for everyday use, which makes it ideal for gaming sessions. The headset fits snugly, tailoring to a variety of head shapes and sizes without any tightness or squeezing. They’re comfortable enough for all-day use, and with a sizable battery life of roughly thirty hours you can do just that. 

Whether you’re using the Arctis 7P+ for gaming or listening to music, the 40mm neodymium drivers offer some incredible audio. Sounds are loud, clear and well balanced. From the intense concussive blasts of fireballs in Final Fantasy XIV to thwipping around New York City as Spider-Man, the 7P+ consistently impressed.

See our full SteelSeries Arctis 7P+ review.

It just wouldn’t be console gaming if you didn’t have to pay extra to play with friends online. Across the board, console manufacturers have buried the concept of free online multiplayer deeper than dinosaur bones. While some semblance of free multiplayer still resides within the hit-or-miss flophouse of free-to-play games, if you want to get the most out of your online titles, a paid online multiplayer subscription is your only option. PlayStation Plus is Sony’s online subscription model and while it can be seen as an unnecessary paywall, there are some redeeming qualities to be found. 

Beyond access to online play, a PS+ subscription also allows players to redeem a selection of free games each month. These games can range from indie titles to full on AAA releases, and they remain yours to play while you have an ongoing subscription. PS5 owners also have exclusive access to the PlayStation Plus Collection, which includes access to twenty of the most popular PS4 games for free.

Furthermore, you’ll get exclusive PlayStation store discounts alongside 100GB of cloud storage for save files. That means you can continue your in-game progress even if you sign-in to a PlayStation while away from home. There’s perks-a-plenty to be sure, but it is still a needless paywall to online content. However, even if you don’t play online games, the additions to your game library might be worth the price of a subscription alone.

Looking ahead: PS VR2 & Project Spartacus

PlayStation VR2
You may be wondering why our list of the best PS5 accessories doesn’t include Sony’s popular PSVR headset. The reason isn’t compatibility, as the headset, PlayStation Camera and library of PSVR games are entirely compatible with the PS5. Instead, when it comes to Sony’s PSVR, the writing is on the wall. 

Last year, Sony revealed the first details of their long rumored next-gen VR headset, ingeniously dubbed the PSVR2. The new system seemingly leaves the original PSVR in the dust with improvements right across the board. As such, recommending anybody spend $300+ on the original PSVR at this point seems futile. That is, of course, unless Sony announces that the PSVR2 is not backwards compatible with older PSVR titles.

If you’d like to keep in the know about PSVR2 and hear the latest rumors and speculation, feel free to check out our dedicated page for the PSVR2 and everything we know so far.

Project Spartacus
To put it lightly, last gen started as a bit of a disaster for Xbox. Aside from an initial attempt to kill the used games market, the insistence that we allow a Kinect camera to observe our every move and remain always online did have quite the Big Brother vibe to it. However, even after dropping many of these cursed features, Xbox had an uphill battle on its hands. One of the things that pulled it back for Microsoft was the mightily impressive Xbox Game Pass service, a subscription based game library that works a bit like Netflix.

Sony has its own similar subscription service in PS Now. It’s a reasonable offering of downloadable and streamable titles, but it hasn’t quite managed to reach the same heights as its Xbox counterpart. Luckily though, it hasn’t reached the same depths as Google’s. With that being said, if rumors are to be believed, Sony has something up its sleeves with revamping the service entirely.

Project Spartacus is the heavily rumored revamp and merging of both PlayStation Plus and PlayStation Now services into a single subscription package with even more to offer. Owners of either the PS4 or PS5 will apparently be able to access online multiplayer and a library of classic and modern PlayStation titles stemming all the way back to the original console. While true backwards compatibility has been a thorn in Sony’s side, a recently filed patent does seemingly indicate that there may finally be a solution on the horizon, adding further weight to the mounting Spartacus rumors.

While there’s no official word from Sony about the validity of these reports, the service could be unveiled as early as the Spring of 2022 if they are to be believed.

If you landed here after furiously Googling “PS5 randomly shutting off,” take a breath — you’re not alone. I’ve been right where you are, staring at a blank screen mid-game and wondering what just happened. After finding a few solid answers and trying those solutions myself, I decided to dig in and put together this guide.

The PS5 turns five years old on November 12. Maybe yours is newer, but mine started acting up a little over a year in with random shutdowns, no warning. When your console powers down out of nowhere, especially in the middle of a game, it's easy to crash out right along with your console. But don’t panic. I’ve got a handful of fixes that should help get your PS5 back in fighting shape.

We’ll run through the most common culprits and how to tackle them—plus what to do if none of the usual suspects apply.

How to clean your PS5 

If your PS5 is shutting down during gameplay, especially while running graphics-heavy AAA titles, there’s a good chance it’s overheating due to dust buildup. I first ran into this while reviewing Dying Light 2, and it kept happening with other intensive games.

Dust accumulation depends heavily on where your console is placed and how clean your gaming environment is. The upside is that you don’t need to take the entire system apart to clean it properly. With the right tools, you can do a thorough job in just a few steps.

Start with a way to blow the dust out. A can of compressed air works well, but I use a dust blower I originally bought for cleaning my camera gear. It’s more eco-friendly and quieter. If the dust is really packed in, I use a soft nylon-bristled brush to gently dislodge debris from around the fan.

One step you shouldn't skip is removing the fan itself. To do that, you’ll need a T8 Torx screwdriver. It's the only way to fully clean the area around and beneath the fan. I skipped this step the first time and had to repeat the whole process a few days later. Save yourself the hassle and do it right the first time.

• Remove the PS5 stand if you are using it.
• Remove the PS5 faceplates.

• Remove the plastic intake fin that wraps around the top corner of the PS5 and covers the top of the fan assembly.
• Unscrew the four T8 Torx screws holding the fan cover in place on the same side as the M.2 SSD slot. (Note where each one goes as not all screws are the same length.)
• Remove the cover where the fan cables lead and disconnect the fan.
• Lift the fan assembly out of the PS5.
• Blow into the open interior of the PS5 where the fan assembly was located until you don’t see additional dust coming out.

• Clean fan blades with canned air or a brush or dry cloth if necessary.
• Replace the fan assembly, plug it back in and replace its cover.
• Screw the fan back in place.
• Replace the intake fin.
• Replace the PS5 faceplates.
• Replace the PS5 stand.

Your PS5 should be back up and running as good as new.

PS5 cleaning tools

PS5 is still overheating?

If you go through the cleaning process and either immediately or very shortly find you still have the same problem, it could be that your fans are no longer powerful enough to cool down your console, regardless of their cleanliness.

After a few rounds of cleaning my PS5 approximately every six months, I found myself in this situation. The PS5 overheating fix I turned to was an aftermarket accessory fan. I used the SCRY Artic PS5 cooler, but there are numerous alternatives on the market. While it makes more fan noise, it has my PS5 back up and running at full speed, which is a far more affordable solution than buying a new PS5.

Firmware update 

This might seem too easy, but sometimes it's just a matter of a firmware update. This was more commonly an issue immediately after launch, but it’s still a potential solution and just takes a minute.

• Open the PS5 Settings menu
• Select System
• Open System Software
• Select System Software Update
• Now click Update System Software

Turn off Rest Mode 

Rest Mode is another potential culprit for random shutdowns on the PS5. While it’s helpful to shift into Rest Mode to keep charging controllers and downloading games without the console fully powered up, it’s not worth random shutdowns. It’s easy to toggle on and off, so if you’ve exhausted your other options, it’s worth a shot.

• Open the PS5 Settings menu
• Navigate to Power Saving
• Select Rest Mode
• Click Don’t Put in Rest Mode

Turn off HDMI Device Link 

This is another very convenient feature that you may need to give up if your PS5 is randomly shutting off. HDMI Device Link allows your TV to turn on immediately when you power on your PS5. Unfortunately, sometimes this doesn’t work as intended and can cause the PS5 to power down or shift into Rest Mode.

• Open the PS5 Settings menu
• Navigate to System
• Select HDMI
• Toggle off HDMI Link

Power problems

Another possibility is that your PS5 isn’t getting sufficient power. There are a couple of potential options here.

First, the power cord is damaged or simply not plugged in firmly. The latter is easy enough to check; just make sure both ends are seated properly in the outlet and the power port on the back of the PS5. If the cord doesn’t show any signs of physical damage, that is unlikely to be the issue, but a replacement is the only option if it is damaged.

Reach out to PlayStation 

If none of the above works, you need to turn directly to PlayStation support. They may try to guide you through some additional troubleshooting steps, but they will also help you with the repair or replacement options if necessary.

In 2004, we saw the release of the cult-classic, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Based on the tabletop game of the same moniker, the title allowed PC players to live out their vampiric fantasies. Unfortunately, it was a commercial flop due to technical issues and having to compete with the likes of Half-Life 2, Metal Gear Solid 3, and Halo 2. But like the undead monsters which inhabit its world, the franchise returns from the dead 16 years later with Hardsuit Labs’ Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2.

First revealed during E3 2019 with a follow-up trailer during the May 2020 Inside Xbox event, Vampire: The Masquerade 2 introduces a new setting, clans, powers, gameplay mechanics, and more. Considering the current popularity of Urban Fantasy and gamers’ desire for richer RPG experiences on next-gen systems, this sequel has a good chance of becoming successful.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 release date

Originally set to release in 2020, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 will now release sometime in 2021 for PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 5. However, we can’t say when in 2021 it’ll release. After all, it already suffered two delays. But considering how technical issues marred its predecessor (not to mention the recent Cyberpunk 2077 fiasco), it’s better to be delayed for a third time rather than release it as a substandard product.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 story and setting

The game takes place in modern-day Seattle during the holiday season after an event called the Mass Embrace. This event sees many rogue vampires turn citizens into “thinbloods,” i.e., half-human, half-vampire hybrids. As a thinblood yourself, you must use your supernatural powers and abilities to navigate through an underworld inhabited by supernatural entities such as vampires, werewolves, demons, and more. Considering the various factions in play, things will not be easy, even for a powerful undead being.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2: Be a vampire

Developer Hardsuit Labs wants to provide an enjoyable and immersive experience. After all, players want to feel that they are living the life of a vampire. The game does this, but in more ways than simply sucking blood from helpless humans.

“From the player’s perspective, there should always be a sense of supernatural power – even for a fledgling, or relatively weak vampire,” said Ka’ai Cluney, Creative Director at Hardsuit Labs in a developer diary post. “Features and systems should always be evaluated against this; dialogue and interactions should always reflect this. The relationship between the player and citizens of Seattle should always be evaluated as a relationship between a hunter and prey, be it through feeding systems, combat, or dialogue. This also pertains to what might threaten a vampire. How do you scare a monster?"

He continued, “In a practical sense, ‘Be a Vampire’ – among other things – guides our approach to how the player moves through the world, both in terms of player systems such as traversal, how we support those systems through level design, and how we communicate all of that to the player through other devices, such as Lighting or User Interface. A player that moves through the world unconventionally needs to learn how to read that world unconventionally, and a lot of effort is made to make sure the player really does start to think like, and be, a vampire.”

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 clans and disciplines

Vampires are not a homogenous group. Like the humans they feast on, vampires have their own distinct groups vying for control. As a thinblood, you’re free to join any of the available clans. Of course, siding with one clan will inevitably place you in conflict with its rivals. But that’s also part of the fun of Bloodlines 2. The first five clans are as follows:

The Bruja clan are loud and brash attention-seekers who resolve conflicts through violence. On the opposite end is the Venture clan, who are all about using diplomacy and deception to get their way. The Tremere clan wields vampiric blood magic that makes even fellow blood-suckers tremble. Toreador clan are beautiful vampires who use their looks to seduce both friend and foe alike. Lastly, the Malkavians can see glimpses of the future, though this causes many of the clan to become insane.

In addition to clans, there are several disciplines (vampire powers) to choose from. This includes abilities that let you turn into a bat or ones that give you telekinetic powers. Some disciplines are exclusive to clans while others are available no matter which clan you side with. As a thinblood, you’re technically weaker than a full-blooded vampire. However, you’re also able to possess various abilities full-bloods cannot. This gives you an edge over your more powerful brethren.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 gameplay

Like the tabletop game that spawned it, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is a deep and complex Role Playing Game. As you level up, you’ll gain points you can then assign to different skills and attributes depending on your preferred playstyle and clan affiliation. Combat-focused players will want to dump points into weapon accuracy and agility while diplomatically-minded players will choose to add points to charm and speech skills. Although you’re locked to certain abilities based around your clan, you’re still free to choose your character’s evolution to an extent.

“Players should always be faced with choices,” Ka’ai Cluney said. “Sometimes, they should be confronted with choices where there is no right thing to do or times where they’re forced to choose between two equally unsavory options. As players make decisions, the world and gameplay experience must reflect these choices, be it through reactive dialogue, reactive story events, or even how players decide to build and grow their character."

He goes on to say, “This applies directly to our decision-making process as well. For example, we decided early in development that every player build must have access to – though not necessarily equal ability in – powers that have applications for combat, dialogue, and traversal. This means that players who prefer combat characters can certainly build to their preference, but always have options as to how and when to deviate from that archetype."

No matter what route you decide to take, you’ll need blood to level up. You’ll obtain blood from blood banks, rodents, and of course, humans. Equality important are the Masquerade and Humanity meters. Hiding your actions and remaining in the (metaphoric) shadows will raise the Masquerade meter, whereas taking more overt and aggressive actions will raise the Humanity meter.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 minimum and recommended requirements

At the moment, we do not have Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2’s official minimum and recommended requirements for PC. We do know it’ll have ray tracing when played using an NVIDIA RTX card. We’ll update this segment when the official specs are released.