PS5: The Future of Gaming is Here

console worth the wait and hassle?

By: Camdyn Beirow

If you’ve been around me since the middle of November, you’d know that I was trying to get my hands on the Playstation 5 around the clock. I’ve woken up early in the morning to find nothing was released and have had the PS5 in my cart multiple times just to find it won’t check me out. I’ve been on my computer searching around the clock; even my family has been trying to help me snag one of these illusive devices only to see Walmart sell out within seconds due to bots buying the entire stock.

I kept trying until one day on the way home from getting lunch, I decided to try my luck in the PlayStation Direct queue from Sony themselves. When you log into the website, you are randomly put into a massive queue. Your wait time could be 10 minutes or over an hour, it’s just luck. My wait time-15 minutes. When my time was up, I was redirected to the PS5 page, with an add to cart button. It arrived a week later and it was time to figure out what I just spent 2 months searching for could do.

The console felt amazing to hold, almost like it was something that came from aliens. The PS5 is very heavy though, weighing almost 10 pounds. Setting up the console and it’s cords was really simple and has a quick how-to guide included.

The console turns on quickly and will have you playing your games within 20 seconds of hitting the power button on the controller. The interface is very easy to understand, even for someone who was new to Playstation like me. I was able to look for and adjust the settings on the console within the first hour of messing around.

When it was time to download a game I became nervous, thinking that the game would take hours, even days to install, but I was wrong. The new beast of a machine had me ready to play Spider-Man: Miles Morales 20 minutes after putting the disc in. The console was able to download the game quickly despite me not having the best wifi connection. This is mostly due to the PS5 having the best WiFi-Receiver on the market, that being a WiFi 6 receiver. The new receiver cuts down the effects of latency from your console to the WiFi.

Finally, it was time to test out the gameplay of the PS5. I was yet again blown away by the load time of the new game. The ability to go from a cutscene into gameplay without a loading screen was never possible until now. Being able to swing through New York City at 120 frames per second compared to the 60 FPS on the PS4, you can really tell the difference. The gameplay feels smoother, and you feel more immersed in the experience. 

The controller also adds another layer in the immersion of the gameplay.

The PS5 comes with a little game called Astro’s Playroom that showcases what the new controller is all about. The game showcases the controller’s new vibration system, where you can feel which direction the vibration is coming from on the screen. My favorite part about the new controller is how games can now adjust how hard you need to press on the triggers. In Spider-Man, when pushing a heavy object, you have to press harder on the triggers than you do to push something lighter. 

Some features return from the PS4 controller such as the touch pad in the middle, but even this has been improved on. Other new features include a better speaker and a built-in microphone to the controller. This is nice for when you want to play with a friend but don’t want to put on a bulky headset. The only downside I see is if you don’t mute yourself when you play an online game, your personal information could be unwittingly shared.

Even though the console has introduced major improvements to the gaming world, there is one thing that they can improve with the next release. The fan within the PS5 is very loud. This is okay if you’re playing a game, but you wouldn’t expect the fan to sound like a jumbo jet when watching a video on YouTube.

Overall the Playstation 5 is without a doubt the best console I’ve ever played on. With the next generation of gaming looking bright, the PS5 will be leading the way.