PS5 hands-on showcase offers a closer look at the hardware and games in action

With the official launch of Sony’s PlayStation 5 (PS5), is just around the corner, Sony invited several Japanese publications and YouTubers to get some hands-on time with the highly anticipated console. This was the first time that members of the media could touch and feel the console in real life as until recently, Sony only showed photos and videos of the PS5 during its virtual events.

Japanese games website, 4gamer.net shared close up shots of the PS5 in a variety of different positions including it standing up vertically and as it laid flat on its side in a horizontal position. According to the site, during its limited time with the hardware it didn’t hear the PS5’s fans whirring loudly or feel the heat of its exhaust.

Sony has said that console owners will be able to expand the storage on their console with regular SSD drives, but we have not seen how this works in real life. 4gamer’s photos reveal a small, but one easy-to-miss detail is a small silver latch or bolt that is hidden inside the top-right section of the console. It is suspected that this latch may be the way for users to access the PS5’s storage, but this is yet to be confirmed by Sony.

The next PlayStation is the biggest console in modern history, measuring 390mm tall, 360mm deep and 104mm wide, making it even bigger than the upcoming Microsoft Xbox Series X and Series S consoles. Dengeki Online captured an image of a gamer playing a game with the PS5 set next to a large screen TV and you can see how massive the console is.

Needless to say, you are going to need to clear some room on your TV stand to accommodate this massive beast. If you intend to lay the PS5 flat and slot it underneath your TV, it would be wise measure the height and width of the space you intend to use to see if the console fits in.

There are also more details about the PS5’s new DualSense controller. The most notable is the fact that the PS5’s controller will use the ‘X’ button instead of the ‘O’ button to confirm commands moving forward. This is quite a significant change as since the PS1, the reverse was true and now Japanese gamers will have to get used to the new button scheme.

We still don’t know how the PS5’s dashboard or other user interface elements look like. All we have is just a nine-second tease of the interface by The Verge’s Tom Warren posted back in June 2020.

We also don’t know how well does the PS5’s well does backward compatibility with PS4 games will work. It was previously speculated that the PS5 may play older games from Sony’s earlier consoles (i.e. PS1, PS2 or PS3) but it was later confirmed that it only plays PS4 games. This makes sense considering Sony is offering PS5 owners the ability to play some of its best PS4 games via its new PlayStation Plus Collection.

Sony previously confirmed the PS5’s launch date as 12 November in select markets like the U.S. and Japan and on 19 November for Asia, though we don’t know for certain when it will be coming to Malaysia. In terms of pricing, we know that the PS5 Digital Edition will cost USD 399.99 (~RM1,652) while PS5 with an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive will retail for USD 499.99 (~RM2,065).

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