The PlayStation 4 and Xbox are nearly 11 years old, but they are still surprisingly popular and used daily by a lot of people. That probably explains why Goat Simulator 3, released back in 2022 as a current-gen-only game, is now getting ported to the older consoles later this month. And this isn’t the first time that’s happened this year.
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Released on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in November 2022, Goat Simulator 3is the sequel to the original Goat Simulator. (No, there isn’t a Goat Simulator 2.) The sequel expanded on the original 2014 game’s open-world antics and was well-received by fans of the first game. But perhaps you have yet to buy a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S and still want to play this wacky goat-filled sequel? Well, good news: Goat Simulator 3 will be available on PS4 and Xbox One on October 24.
On October 8, Coffee Stain announced that Goat Simulator 3 was making the leap backward to PS4 and Xbox One. (In August of this year Goat Sim 3 was ported to Switch.) This upcoming version of the game will include all the free content updates that Goat Sim 3 has received since 2022. Goat Sim 3‘s Multiverse of Nonsense DLC will also be available to buy separately on last gen.
If you already own the game on PS5 or Xbox Series X/S, you’ll be able to play it on the old consoles without having to buy it again thanks to cross-buy support. And the Xbox ports will support cross-saves across generations, too. It’s a nice gesture, though I’m not sure how many people who own Goat Sim 3 on PS5 will be loading it up on PS4 anytime soon.
This situation reminds me of what we saw with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. That game launched on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC and skipped last-gen machines. But then in August 2023, EA confirmed it was porting the blockbuster game from Respawn to PS4 and Xbox One. Those ports arrived in September of this year and look pretty good. But it does feel like the last generation of consoles are lingering around more than usual.
The icons from the banner (left) and the rumored PS5 Pro design.Image: Sony / Kotaku
Sony is beginning to ramp up celebrations for the upcoming 30th anniversary of the PlayStation brand. And new images posted by the company seem to include an icon of a console that looks a lot like the alleged leaked PS5 Pro design. Hmmm…
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The original PlayStation console launched in Japan in December 1994, so technically the 30th anniversary isn’t for a few more months. But Sony isn’t waiting until December to start celebrating its big 3-O birthday. On September 5, the company posted some announcements and plans to kick off the anniversary celebration. But the most interesting bit of news wasn’t located in the blog post. Instead, eagle-eyed fans spotted what appears to be a new PlayStation console in the 30th anniversary banner.
Check it out below. The left image is from the blog post the right image is from Instagram.
Image: Sony / Kotaku
Both of these images include a PS5 console with three lines across it. This perfectly matches a report last month about the still-unconfirmed PS5 Pro, which claimed that the console would feature three black lines across its front and that Sony was planning to officially announce the powerful new product “in the coming weeks.”
The Verge reports that all PS5 games released after September 16 need to support the PS5 Pro, which seems to suggest it’s going to be announced soon.
So is this banner image Sony playfully teasing its most hardcore fans with the first confirmed acknowledgment of a PS5 Pro? That’s what it seems like on Instagram, with Sony posting the banner containing the Easter egg and adding “Your first look 👀” as a caption. It’s also possible this is a really big mistake, though considering how many people had to look at and approve these images and the fact that they have remained up for hours, I’m leaning toward this being a teaser and not a screw-up.
Now we just have to wait for Sony to actually, officially, for real, announce the PS5 Pro, which is rumored to be launching later this year.
We’re now halfway through the life-cycle of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, but Call of Duty doesn’t appear to be giving up on the last-gen consoles that preceded them yet. A leak out of GameStop suggests that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will still come to PS4 and Xbox One, but continue to cost the same as the $70 “next-gen” versions.
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An apparent photograph circulated by CharlieIntel shows the SKUs and prices for 2024’s Call of Duty in GameStop’s inventory system. The image lists Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PS4, with a $70 price tag for each, and the Xbox One version seemingly included via Smart Delivery. Insider Gaming reports that it’s been able to independently verify that the data in the image is real, and two GameStop employees Kotaku spoke with corroborated the claim as well, confirming that pre-order SKUs are currently live in their system.
If made official, this would be the longest that Call of Duty has ever remained cross-gen. When the series originally made the jump to PS4 and Xbox One back in 2013 with Call of Duty: Ghosts, it remained on PS3 and Xbox 360 for two years after that until Activision ditched the older consoles with Call of Duty: InfiniteWarfare. With Black Ops 6, PS4 and Xbox One will have continued receiving last-gen versions for a surprising five years in a row.
If you’re wondering why this might be the case, look no further than the fact that roughly half of PlayStation users are still playing on a PS4. The last-gen install base remains huge, and cutting it off from one of the most expensive games to make would be leaving a ton of money on the table. PS5 exclusives like Spider-Man 2 and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth already appear to have suffered poorer sales as a result of that.
Of course, Xbox players aren’t likely to notice the price hike anyway since most of them will be able to play Black Ops 6 with a paid Game Pass subscription. Microsoft is reportedly planning to bring the series to the Netflix-like library later this year, though there are also rumors that it might raise the monthly service’s price once it does.
Activision declined to comment.
Update 5/24/2024 5:45 p.m. ET: Added Kotaku’s own sourcing and independent corroboration.
Sony is currently running a pretty awesome sale for a number of its first-party games, particularly those in the action genre. Whether you’re looking to check out Nathan Drake’s swan song in Uncharted 4, Sam Porter Bridges’ strange trip through the apocalypse in Death Stranding, or Kratos’ dramatic shift into sad dad mode in 2018’s God of War, there’s a ton here to check out.
Most of these deals are for PS4 versions, many of which you can upgrade to the PS5 version either for free or at a small cost. All of these deals run from now until April 1, 2024.
We also threw in a list of action-adjacent games you may wish to check out as well.
The announcement that Nintendo Switch Online’s Game Boy Advance range is to receive RPGs Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age is incredibly welcome news. But there are still some absolutely colossal gaps, some all-time great GBA games that we’d love to play on our Switches. Nintendo! Hear our pleas!
Play it on:Windows Current goal: Dive into the second chapter
Having written up a bunch of fantastic boomer shooters for the site, I was reminded that the team behind the as-yet-unfinished Project Warlock II had added an awful lot of content to its Early Access build since I’d last played. In fact, previously it had only been a single, fantastic level. It’s now two full chapters, each made up of a pile of enormous, sprawling, open levels to tear around.
I’m so glad I’ve gone back to it. This is a screamingly fast FPS game, where you move like an ice cube skidding across a kitchen floor, facing down dozens of enemies at a time. What makes it feel different from the many other retro-FPS games is the sheer scale of the levels, which are far more open than the genre normally offers. Think of those times you got to go outside in the original Unreal, but far more densely packed with enemies, secrets, and loot.
Those secrets are a blast to find, and worth pursuing too, since they offer tokens for upgrades in the betwixt level zone. There are three different areas you can upgrade, with each weapon possible to adjust in two different ways (one shutting down access to the other), and then this upgrade boosted. Then there are affinities to improve, such as whether you want to improve your melee talent, firepower, or indeed your power with fire—you gain spells that let you do things like blast torrents of fire from your palms. And finally you can then specialize even further with—er—VHS tapes you can buy when you’ve increased your ability in a specific attack style, that enhance them in specific ways.
This is all then taken back to the next level, where enemies that were previously boss-like can now appear in gangs and be quickly taken care of. In this, it reminds me of the excellent enemy handling in the original Serious Sam. My plan this weekend is to get stuck into the second chapter, that has a whole other player character, with their own set of skills, perks, spells and weapons. — John Walker
Try out Project Warlock 2’s free demo on Steam
Neo-retro vibes of the “boomer shooter” variety got your interest? Good news: You can download a free demo of Project Warlock 2 to get shootin’ like it’s the mid ‘90s all over again
Image: Ubisoft, Atlus, Rockstar Games, Mundfish / Shedworks / Nintendo / Claire Jackson / Kotaku, Screenshot: Remedy Games / Kotaku
If you’re stuck on a tricky boss fight or a challenging puzzle, or just want to make the most of your time with a new release, we’ve got you covered. Here are some of the tips we found most helpful this week.
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Massive Entertainment’s upcoming open-world Star Wars game, Outlaws,is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S sometime in 2024. The game doesn’t follow Jedi and deal with The Force, but instead will give us a look into the seedier side of life in the Star Wars universe as it follows the exploits of a smuggler and scoundrel in an open-world format encompassing multiple planets. Let’s take a look at everything we know about the next trek to a galaxy far, far away. – Kenneth Shepard Read More
Persona 3 Reload, the from-the-ground-up remake of Atlus’ beloved PlayStation 2 role-playing game, is coming out on February 2. But while the 2006 classic is getting a modern retouching very soon, it won’t include everything added to the original in the updated Persona 3 Portable and Persona 3 FES editions, the former of which is on Game Pass right now for Xbox and PC. So if you want to play one of the best additions to the base game, you still have a chance before Persona 3 Portable leaves Game Pass on January 14. – Kenneth Shepard Read More
If you’ve been playing Grand Theft Auto V or GTA Online via Game Pass lately, you might need to pony up and buy a copy to sustain your criminal enterprise. Rockstar’s crime saga is expected to leave Xbox Game Pass in about two weeks. – Claire Jackson Read More
Image: Mundfish / Shedworks / Nintendo / Claire Jackson / Kotaku
Happy new year! This week the Kotaku weekend guide returns with a brisk list of games for your consideration. Maybe some of these you hadn’t considered playing before, or perhaps others have been sitting on your backlog. In that case, consider this your reminder to get working on that stubborn list of yours. – Claire Jackson Read More
If you’ve been eyeing (or playing) Alan Wake II lately but haven’t yet played any of the other titles in Remedy Games’ growing “Remedyverse” of connected stories, then you might want to take a look at the Epic Games Store right now. During its “Developer Spotlight” sale, Alan Wake Remastered, Alan Wake American Nightmare, Control, and both the standard and deluxe versions of Alan Wake II are all available for some pretty generous discounts. – Claire Jackson Read More
I’m a fairly recent convert to PC gaming. In 2016, I spontaneously picked up a Steam Machine, Valve’s early attempt to fuse Steam with a more console-like experience. It was my first real introduction to the breadth of the Steam library and performance that outpaced my PS4. I was hooked, so I got my hands on a Dell PC, then soon after built my own computer. I sold off my Xbox One and a majority of my PS4 collection, holding on to my PS4 itself for the eventual release of Final Fantasy VII Remake, but otherwise shifted all of my gaming over to PC. Games ran better on PC, and there were more of them. Why would I spend time gaming on anything less? Why should I sacrifice any amount of performance when I should be striving for the absolute best that tech can offer?
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As I head into 2024, however, I’m thinking that it’s time to game less on my Windows machines and more on my PS5, Switch, gaming-first devices like Steam Deck, and other consoles.
The inspiration for this change has little to do with exclusive titles on various platforms or the added comfort of gaming on a couch (I actually don’t have a couch and use the same monitor for my PS5 as I do my PC). The spark for this decision can be attributed to the Moog Grandmother synthesizer.
Console-gaming more in 2024
As a musician, I embraced computers and digital audio workstations for their near infinitude of musical outcomes. The ability to use software like Reason or VCV Rack meant that I could have tons of virtual instruments, many of which sound nearly indistinguishable to their physical counterparts. But what I lost in that process was the experience of spending focused time with a musical instrument. I instead adopted the role of a producer and tweaker, and was perpetually distracted by the ease of firing up a web browser and disappearing into the hole of the internet.
Maybe there’s a reason I can’t afford a car…or even a couch…Photo: Claire Jackson / Kotaku
But since pivoting to musical instruments instead of using a computer, I’ve come to develop a more direct and intimate, distraction-free experience with music. It’s led me to wonder where else I can achieve that closeness. The first thing that came to mind was gaming. In some ways switching from a PC to a console to game is merely trading one screen for another, but the more time I’ve spent with my PS5 the more I’m reminded of the benefits of a more isolated, focused gaming experience, like the kind I enjoyed for most of my life—even if I’m playing a game that could technically run better on my PC.
In gaming we’re so often bombarded with the need for “bigger, better, faster now.” Our framerates must now be 120hz, resolutions at least 1440p, and marketing materials tell us that we ought to be streaming, sharing, and creating content constantly. Overlays want us to constantly be chatting on Discord and other services. Consoles have been infected by this mandate too, but the PC is the king of making you feel like shit for not having a reliably stable framerate on the most graphically demanding games at absolutely all times. How can you even have fun if ray-tracing isn’t involved and set to the max?
My PS5, until now, has been like owning a car: I need one for work (or so I imagine. Like a couch, I don’t have one of those either). But after spontaneously buying Alan Wake II on PS5 after beating it on PC , I realized the benefits of closing myself off from the distraction of a web browser. I can’t Alt+Tab away to have the internet tell me whether or not I should be using performance or quality mode or to randomly chat in Discord. As I’m once again following the dark tale of Mr. Wake, I’m doing so in an environment exclusively made for gaming. And yes, I’m playing it at 30-frames-per-second, but the focused experience of shutting off the work machine and turning to the game machine I believe is resulting in a closer experience with this game, and I’m hoping it will in other areas.
In trading the keyboard for the controller, I’m finding a more focused gaming experience.Photo: Claire Jackson / Kotaku
Does this mean I’m done with PC gaming? No, absolutely not. I don’t personally own an Xbox, so I’lli use my Windows 11 machine to enjoy Microsoft’s offerings, and I’ve developed a love for emulation in the last couple of years. And given my job, I do need to stay connected to the world of PC gaming.
But in 2024, I’m going to try and go to my PlayStation first for gaming experiences, letting myself be immersed not because I’m chasing endless horsepower on the “ultimate” “FTW” platform of gaming, but because I’m making the choice to use a separate, unrelated machine from the one I use for all the clinical and boring parts of my life. Like my synthesizers, I want to recenter gaming as a focused, direct experience, and I think dedicated hardware is the key.
This story is part of our new Future of Gaming series, a three-site look at gaming’s most pioneering technologies, players, and makers.
Time will tell if those “PS5 Pro” rumors have any truth behind them. But until then, discussion about a hypothetical PS5 upgrade is a good opportunity to flesh out what we’d even want from such a machine in the first place.
So we turned to you, dear readers, to discover what would compel you to spend another couple-hundred bucks on an upgrade to Sony’s current console.
As suspected, the desire for an upgrade to the PS5 isn’t universal. Many of you said there was no need for one, regardless of whatever bells and whistles it might offer. Meanwhile, others made it clear that if such a thing were to exist, then it ought to deliver very clear performance standards. Other desires drifted into the “probably never gonna happen” category, especially those concerning backwards compatibility for games that pre-date the PS4.
Let’s dig into what you had to say about a possible “PS5 Pro.”
It’s been a surprisingly strong year for the Nintendo Switch even as sales slow and fans eagerly await its successor, and today the company promoted a bunch of indie games that will fill out the console’s release calendar heading into 2024, from a new Shantae action-platformer to a port of beloved cult-hit sci-fi mystery game Outer Wilds. Unfortunately, everyone’s favorite Hollow Knight sequel, Silksong, is still MIA.
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Last month’s Super Mario Bros. Wonder was the fastest-selling game in the franchise’s history, and a remake of the beloved SNES classic Super Mario RPG arriving later this month rounds out another great year for the Switch. But plenty of smaller games are also coming to the device this holiday season and beyond, and Nintendo highlighted some of the big ones in its latest Indie World Showcase.
Here’s everything we saw during Nintendo’s brief presentation today:
Shantae: Risky Revolution (WayForward)
The 2D half-genie is getting another retro follow-up to the original 2002 Game Boy Color adventure (which goes for four digits on eBay and still isn’t part of the Switch Online catalog). Risky Revolution will be a mix of old and new, with creature transformations and big boss fights as well as a four-player co-op mode and the ability to jump between the background and foreground. It’s out sometime next year.
Outer Wilds was an excellent space exploration puzzler and one of the best games of 2019. Now it’s finally coming to Switch next month on December 7. Archaeologist Edition will include the Echoes of the Eye expansion, and will be a must-play on Switch for anyone who hasn’t already experienced its compelling mysteries, deep secrets, and incredible ending, assuming the performance and visuals are still intact on Switch.
On Your Tail (Memorable Games/Humble Games)
Gif: Memorable Games / Kotaku
This is a new one about exploring the seaside village of Borgo Marina trying to unmask who’s been menacing the place by collecting clues in the form of trading cards. On Your Tail has you play as the young detective Diana, who can chill, fish, and meet new friends in this detective life sim hybrid. It’ll be a timed Switch exclusive in 2024.
A Highland Song (Inkle)
Another 2.5D narrative-led platformer? Sign me up. A Highland Song is about guiding a character named Moira on a journey through the Scottish Highlands. There’s rhythm-action elements with the music affecting how quickly you can progress, and inclement weather forcing you to change up your approach. A Highland Song comes to Switch on December 5.
Backpack Hero (Jaspel/Different Tales)
Another deck-building roguelike? Sign me up for that too! Backpack Hero looks similar to a Dungeons & Dragons campaign turned into a Magic: The Gathering deck builder except your arsenal will be dependent on how you organize the limited space in your backpack. Loot you collect from dungeons is brought back to help repair your village, which you can expand and decorate as you see fit. The game goes live today.
Howl (Mi’pu’mi Games/Astragon Entertainment)
Gif: Mi’pu’mi Games / Kotaku
Howl is a turn-based tactics game that features a “living ink” art style that lets you see upcoming enemy attacks and plan multiple turns in advance, making every encounter into a little puzzle box. A plague is sweeping through the world and the only way to defeat it is to collect resources and upgrade your abilities. You know, the usual. Howl is out now and has a free demo.
Blade Chimera is basically a cyberpunk Castlevania. There have been a lot of these retro 2D action-platformers in recent years, but Blade Chimera’s art and abilities make it seem like it could stand out. A Lumina Sword helps the hero slice down enemies and also restore old parts of the environment to unlock new paths forward. It’s a Switch timed exclusive coming spring 2024.
Death Trick: Double Blind (Misty Mountain Studio/Neon Doctrine)
Gif: Misty Mountain / Kotaku
The circus is in town and someone’s dead…probably. Death Trick is a choose-your-own adventure visual novel in which you play a detective interviewing acrobats and fire-breathers to find out what happened to a missing performer. It’s coming to Switch in 2024, with a free demo out today.
The Star Named EOS (Silver Lining Studio/Playism)
Gif: Silver Lining Studio / Kotaku
Picture a storybook where you dive into the pages and learn about your past memories. That’s what The Star Named EOS looks like. The puzzle adventure “explores photography and the ways we can capture the fleeting moments that shape our lives.” It will probably make you cry. The Star Named EOS is headed to Switch by spring 2024.
Moonstone Island (Studio Supersoft/Raw Fury)
Gif: Studio Supersoft / Kotaku
Moonstone Island might just have it all: creature collecting, dungeon crawling, deck building, card-based combat, and life sim farming. Hopefully the adorable and colorful-looking mashup of Pokémon, Stardew Valley, and Slay the Spire is half as good as the recipe suggests. The initial reviews on PC have been great. It will be a Switch timed exclusive launching in spring 2024.
Core Keeper (Pugstorm/Fireshine Games)
You probably know this one already. If you don’t, Core Keeper is kind of like Minecraft meets Zelda. Another way of saying that is it’s like crafting sim Terraria if it were top-down instead of a side-scroller. You dig tunnels to collect materials, items, and treasure that can be used to make a home-turned-factory deep underground while you search for an ancient relic. It features up to eight player co-op, lots of RPG elements, and some neat environments. The Switch port of the Steam hit is coming in summer 2024.
But wait, there’s more!
A sizzle reel near the end of the livestream also teased a bunch of other games coming to Nintendo Switch at the end of 2023 and in the year ahead. Here’s the PR:
Enjoy the Diner, a mysterious narrative adventure with point-and-click elements, available on Nintendo Switch later today!
Passpartout 2: The Lost Artist, a painting adventure in which you’re invited to explore the charming town of Phénix while creating and selling works of art, available on Nintendo Switch later today!
Heavenly Bodies, a delightfully challenging physics-based space puzzler that asks you to complete a series of seemingly simple tasks aboard a 1970s space station, arriving to Nintendo Switch in February 2024.
Braid: Anniversary Edition, a remaster of the acclaimed puzzle-platformer, with updated graphics and sound, plus newly added developer commentary, launching for Nintendo Switch on April 30, 2024.
The Gecko Gods,a relaxed puzzle-platformer starring a tiny gecko who must explore a set of mysterious islands and temples on a mission to save its friends, launching on Nintendo Switch in spring 2024.
Planet of Lana, a cinematic puzzle-adventure framed by an epic sci-fi saga that stretches across centuries and galaxies, launching on Nintendo Switch in spring 2024.
Urban Myth Dissolution Center, a captivating mystery game in which you’re tasked with investigating curses, haunted houses and other urban myths, coming to Nintendo Switch in 2024.
While most of these games are still a couple of seasons away, Backpack Hero, Enjoy the Diner, and Passpartout 2: The Lost Artist are all out today. Howl and Death Trick: Double Blind also have free demos out today. The heavily rumored “Switch 2” could get revealed any day now, but there’s still a ton of games coming to the existing hardware. Hopefully all of them will be backward compatible on whatever new console Nintendo is currently cooking up.
Image: Dimitrios Kambouris / Sony / Kotaku (Getty Images)
PlayStation 5 is ditching its integration with Twitter, the social media platform recently rebranded as “X” after Elon Musk bought it for $44 billion and then promptly crashed it into a brick wall like a dad coming home from a mid-life crisis bender in his brand-new Ferrari. Nintendo Switch will soon be the only gaming console you can still tweet from.
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Sony announced the change in a new notification to PS5 users today. “As of November 13, 2023, interaction with X (formerly known as Twitter) will no longer function on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 consoles,” the company wrote. “This includes the ability to view any content published on X on PS5/PS4, and the ability to post and view content, trophies, and other gameplay related activities on X directly from PS5/PS4 (or line an X account to do so).”
Twitter was one of three main social media platforms alongside Facebook and YouTube that the PS4 directly connected to when its new sharing feature first debuted back in 2013. There was an entirely new button on the DualShock 4 dedicated just to capturing images and quickly flinging them across the internet. The ease with which secrets, spoilers, exploits, glitches, and all kinds of other gameplay discoveries could be instantly shared completely changed how people played games and talked about them.
It won’t be impossible to keep sharing game moments to social media when Twitter integration ends later this month, but it’s another reminder that the current internet is dying. YouTube is a pain and Facebook is, well, Facebook. Neither facilitate the constantly updating wire service-like feed Twitter once embodied. The best way to get images of your PS5 and PS4 now is to have them automatically sync with Sony’s dedicated PlayStation app. From there you can repost them to one of Twitter’s many new clones, make a video on TikTok, or send them to your favorite Discord server.
Microsoft bailed on Twitter back in April, shortly after Musk announced he would start charging companies to have access to the platform’s API, the tool needed to make two programs work together. The tech billionaire accused the trillion dollar tech company of stealing Twitter’s idea to train its AI products. In the months since, celebrities, brands, and average users have all continued to abandon the dying platform. It lost roughly 13 percent of its users from a year ago, half its ad revenue, and is now apparently worth over $20 billion less than what Musk originally paid for it.
On the frontline of the console wars, it’s difficult to find perspective. Whether you’ve already chosen a side and are deep in the trenches, or you’re just trying to figure out if an Xbox Series X (see on Amazon) or PS5 (see on Amazon) makes a better Christmas gift this year, you’d be hard pressed to find a measured, bipartisan take on the internet. Instead, the seemingly endless battle between Microsoft and Sony is littered with fanboys using Starfield ass mods to “dunk” on each other and CEOs arguing over console exclusives and their perceived value.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
I’m not a console warrior, nor am I a specs girl. I don’t care about framerates or ray tracing all that much; I’m not fussed about the power of processors. I grew up playing PlayStation until my high school boyfriend introduced me to Halo 2, then I bought an Xbox 360 so I could play Halo 3. I currently own a Series S and a PS5, both of which are jammed into a too-small entertainment console in my living room. But there is a distinct delineation between what kind of game I play on each device, and it’s worth discussing: I use my Series S for my competitive shooters, and my PS5 for almost everything else.
Image: 343 Industries
The Xbox comp game
I spend a lot of time playing Overwatch 2 on my Series S, but I also use its rather small storage for Warzone, Apex Legends, and Halo Infinite. These are my core four shooters that I regularly rotate between—I never play those first three on my PS5, even with the console’s extra storage space making it a lot easier to keep (and update) huge games like Call of Duty. There are a few reasons why.
As I mentioned, I got an Xbox so I could play Halo 3, which means I cut my teeth in the FPS world using the heftier Xbox controllers. As such, my hands became molded to them, my fingers grew comfortable with their curves. Even with slight variations in their design since the 360 days (like the controversial d-pad change that removed the disc in the Xbox One controller, or the extra button added with the Series X/S model), Microsoft’s controller has felt ergonomically superior for years.
The setup of the triggers and the joysticks, the way it rumbles, even the sheer heft of its plastic has always made Xbox controllers a more comfortable fit when compared to PlayStation’s DualShock and DualSense, whose symmetrical joysticks give me hand cramps. The size of the PlayStation controllers’ triggers also baffle me, and have historically made my attempts to play anything like Fortnite or Call of Duty rather miserable.
My custom Xbox controller I use every night. Photo: Microsoft / Alyssa Mercante / Kotaku
Then there’s the social aspect—I find it a lot easier to invite people to parties and chirp enemy players on Xbox’s interface. As Twitch streamer Jynxzi often shows during his play sessions, it’s easy in games like Rainbow Six Siege and Overwatch 2 to find a player in your match, navigate to their profile, and send them a friend request or, in Jynxzi’s case, an unhinged voice memo. I use this feature often to reach out to players in Overwatch comp who aren’t talking and (mostly) politely request that they swap a character or heal more when playing as Moira. I don’t find those features as simple on PlayStation.
Of course, my Xbox preference would not exist were it not for Halo 3, the sole reason why I’m a shooter player in the first place. And Halo’s exclusivity to Xbox consoles is a large reason why those same consoles remain my preference for my daily competitive game session. When I have a few bad rounds in Overwatch, I can seamlessly swap to playing some lighthearted matches in Halo Infinite. Everything is right there, at my fingertips.
But aside from Starfield, an Xbox-exclusive RPG that sucked up a good chunk of my time before proving a bore, if there’s a narrative-focused game, I’m playing it on my PS5.
Image: Insomniac Games
The PlayStation prestige
There’s two major reasons why the PS5 is my go-to console for big-budget campaigns: Sony (often exclusively) releases some of the best single player games, and the DualSense’s features make my gaming experience so much better.
The controller’s groundbreaking haptic feedback system does a lot of impressive stuff. It offers different firing modes based on how far down you pull the trigger in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and adds an extra layer to Prowler Stash puzzles in Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 by requiring you to apply different pressure on each side. And it feels great when it’s not offering more depth and just, literally, vibing—like when I swing through New York City as Miles Morales or ward off scaries in Alan Wake II. Swiping on the touch pad at its center adds even more layers to a gaming experience, and there’s nothing that delights me more than when a phone call emanates from the built-in speaker. And because Sony knows how powerful its DualSense is, all of the studios working on first-party games make the most of it.
Those first-party titles are, by and large, some of the most polished modern gaming experiences you can get. Whether it’s God of War: Ragnarök or Horizon Forbidden West, Sony’s games are akin to Hollywood blockbusters or fine-tuned supercars—they’re written like ancient epics, acted by icons, and so often without the jankiness that can scar new releases. Whether or not that makes them demonstrably better than other games is not the conversation here, but it is undeniable that they feel like they’re worth $70, especially when you have all the power of the DualSense in your palms.
Of course, the PS5’s storage size is a key element—though I may not care about frames per second, I do love that I can have Skyrim, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, Elden Ring, Spider-Man 2, and Alan Wake II stored on there and regularly updated without having to uninstall anything.
Without realizing it, I’ve trained myself to boot up my PS5 when I’m in the mood for a lengthy, relaxed night of gaming that involves scouring worlds for hard-to-find objects or taking on daunting bosses, or power up my Xbox Series S when I want to shoot shit and yell into my headset. The consoles have become intrinsically linked with those different play styles, to such an extreme that, when I tried to play last year’s Call of Duty Modern Warfare II on PS5, I almost immediately shut it off and swapped back to Warzone on my Series S instead.
If you have both consoles, when do you play each and why?
Sony’s cloud gaming efforts are starting to ramp up. PS Plus subscribers will be able to start streaming big-name games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the Resident Evil 4 remake directly to their PlayStation 5s in the coming weeks. The company also hints that PS5 cloud gaming might be coming to other devices, like smartphones, at some point in the future.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
“Starting this month, we will begin launching cloud streaming access for supported PS5 digital titles within the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and Game Trials, as well as supported titles in the PS5 game library that PlayStation Plus Premium members own,” the company wrote over on the PlayStation Blog today. This new feature goes live in North America around October 30, and will be exclusive to the Premium tier of PlayStation Plus, which is now $18 a month or $160 a year (Sony raised the price last month).
Though remote play, which allows PS5 owners to stream games from their console to smartphones and PCs, has been around for a while, this new cloud gaming feature will let paying subscribers stream games to their PS5s from Sony’s servers and play them without downloading. Here are some of the games Sony said will support cloud gaming at launch, with more being added later on:
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Horizon Forbidden West
Ghost of Tsushima
Mortal Kombat 11
Saints Row IV
Resident Evil 4
Dead Island 2
Genshin Impact
Fall Guys
Fortnite
Game trials will also be available to stream, including Hogwarts Legacy, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, and The Callisto Protocol. Streamed games will support resolutions ranging from 720p up to 4K, as well as 60fps and HDR output where applicable. Players can also take screenshots and record video clips up to three minutes long.
While the quality of game streaming still varies a lot, especially based on the speed of your home internet, it can be a major convenience when it comes to trying games out before starting a lengthy install process or quickly dipping into a live-service game like Destiny 2 to finish a daily or weekly challenge. As blockbuster game file sizes have ballooned to over 100GB, juggling installs has become an annoying minigame in and of itself. Cloud streaming is one way to alleviate some of the frustration.
Cloud gaming of most of the Game Pass library has been widely available on Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One for years now, and competing services like Nvidia’s GeForce Now provide the same functionality on PC. It’s nice to see Sony finally catching up in that regard. As The Verge reported earlier this year, the company’s job listings point to a major new push to invest in and grow its cloud gaming capabilities. PS5 owners appear to finally be seeing some of the benefit of that.
This week brought us a wonderful treasure trove of leaks from deep inside the highest echelons of Microsoft’s Xbox division, accidentally shared online as a result of the company’s legal battle with the Federal Trade Commission over its now-greenlit Activision acquisition. These confidential emails, slides, and images of potential new products from the Xbox manufacturer reveal the inner workings of Microsoft’s gaming division, as well as whispers of some possible new games from Bethesda.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
The leaks happened courtesy of Microsoft itself, as it provided these sensitive documents to the court via a publicly accessible link. Yesterday Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer reacted to the leaks, saying that it “was hard to see our team’s work shared in this way.”
“At some point,” Spencer wrote, “getting Nintendo would be a career moment.” He speculated that the Japanese games giant could become more open to acquisition offers in the future due to changing pressures on its board of directors. “It’s just taking a long time for Nintendo to realize that their future exists off of their own hardware,” he wrote. “A long time… 🙂
The emails also reveal that Microsoft thought about purchasing Valve and Warner Bros. Games.
Bethesda might be working on an Oblivion remaster
Because I decided to flip my Xbox 360 from vertical to horizontal while it was running Oblivion, my adventuring in Tamriel was cut short via a huge circular scratch on the disc that no amount of toothpaste could remedy. Maybe I’ll get another chance; while it’s still up in the air, the 2006 Elder Scrolls adventure might get a fancy new remaster in which I could make up for those lost years.
Bethesda’s roadmap was among the many recently released Xbox documents. It includes a sequel to Ghostwire: Tokyo, a Dishonored 3, and remasters of Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Also, don’t expect The Elder Scrolls VI for quite a while.
Spencer: AAA game publishers lost their mojo
Phil Spencer stated that “AAA publishers were slow to react to [the disruption]” of digital storefronts like Steam and the shops built into Xbox and PlayStation.
In a leaked email, Spencer wrote that third-party publishers were unable to replicate the “dominance” they established back in the days of video game retail. After losing their advantage of highly exclusive access to consumers in brick and mortar stores, they “have not found a way to effectively cross promote, they have not found a way to build publisher brands that drive consumer affinity (the way Disney has in video).”
He noted that instead they’ve adopted a strategy of making huge bets on highly expensive prestige projects, relying on those risky, all-in bets to establish and maintain publisher brands. He concluded that “the role of a AAA publisher has changed and become less important in today’s gaming industry.”
Microsoft expected a Red Dead Redemption 2 next-gen refresh
The Xbox Series X and Series S consoles hit the market in 2020. Since then, the lower-powered, disc-less Series S actually makes up the majority of units sold. As of April 2022, 74.8 percent of Xbox Series owners were gaming on a Series S, suggesting just a quarter of the base left gaming on the more-powerful Xbox Series X unit.
Microsoft dramatically underestimated Baldur’s Gate 3
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a super good time. But Microsoft didn’t seem to think the D&D RPG would amount to much. In leaked comments, Microsoft estimated a $5 million expense to get the game on Game Pass, justifying the low monetary amount by describing Baldur’s Gate 3 as a “second-run Stadia PC RPG.”
Reacting to this statement, Larian’s director of publishing noted that Microsoft was far from alone in underestimating the appeal of Baldur’s Gate 3.
Phil Spencer wasn’t impressed by PS5 reveal
In an email to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Phil Spencer described the Xbox Series X/S line as a “better product than [what] Sony has, not just on hardware but equally important on the software platform and services.” He continued, “we have the ingredients of a winning plan […] today was a good day for us.”
Microsoft accidentally got an ‘exclusive’ Sega game
As the next-gen consoles launched in 2020 fans of Sega’s long-running Yakuza series were surprised that its latest entry, the RPG Like a Dragon, was available on Xbox Series X/S but not PlayStation 5. The Yakuza series had long been associated with PlayStation; what was up?
Yesterday’s leak revealed that Microsoft was just as surprised, and it turns out the reason for Like a Dragon landing on Xbox first was due to two competing regional exclusivity agreements Sega made essentially short-circuited each other. The result? Xbox players ate well while PlayStation fans wept into their DualSenses.
The Xbox Series X might go all-digital in 2024
We didn’t just get scans of emails from very serious people, we also got some images and details of possible forthcoming hardware, including a cylindrical-shaped Xbox Series X that won’t include a disc drive.
Code named “Brooklin,” the leaked data indicates that the possible hardware refresh will include “more internal storage, faster Wi-Fi, reduced power” and a “more immersive controller.”
The potential 2024 hardware refresh might also see a new Xbox gamepad hit the market. The image of a controller codenamed “Sebile” shows a two-tone color design and promises modular thumbsticks and features that many a PlayStation fan have known for a few years now: “lift to wake,” “precision haptic feedback,” and an accelerometer.
Despite how the controller may look in this image, the copy indicates that it will feature the “same ergonomics” as the current Xbox Series X/S controller (codenamed “Merlin”).
Microsoft sees its next Xbox as a cloud ‘hybrid’ machine
Slides projecting the future of the Xbox platform indicate that Microsoft is very much looking to the cloud (where have I heard that before?) to help power its post Xbox Series X/S console, for which it’s looking at a 2028 release.
Microsoft describes such a machine as a “next-generation hybrid game platform capable of leveraging the combined power of the client and cloud to deliver deeper immersion and entirely new classes of game experiences.” Cool?
So while we might get some sequels to beloved games like Dishonored and a fancy new controller for Xbox and PC, the leaked Microsoft materials also portend another nail in the coffin for physical game media . But hey, maybe Mario and Master Chief will get to go on a little adventure together at some point.
Remember when the Xbox Series X and S launched with a Yakuza game, but the PS5 didn’t? That was weird, right? For such a long time the Yakuza franchise had been closely tied to PlayStation. But, at least for a few months, the then-latest game in the series skipped Sony’s next-gen machine for Xbox’s fancy console. Why? The answer just came to light today, and it’s both complicated and silly.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
Back in November 2020, the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 launched with a handful of exclusives and a lot of ports. (It was mostly ports…) One of the oddest next-gen exclusives at the time was Yakuza: Like a Dragon, which was available at launch on PS4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. A few months later, this odd new entry in the popular Yakuza series finally landed on PS5. At the time, folks online assumed Microsoft had cut a deal with Sega to keep the game off the next-gen PlayStation. Others suggested the PS5 version had technical issues that forced it to be delayed. The real reason? Sega signed a few too many deals with too many companies.
In leaked emails from June 2020, Spencer is seen sharing this IGN tweet and asking if the game was “next-gen exclusive.” Another exec responds by telling Spencer that it isn’t, and that it will be available on PS4 as well as Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. Spencer then replies how it’s “funny” that Sega doesn’t even list the PS5 on its website.
Screenshot: Kotaku
How two separate deals delayed the PS5 port
After some further chatter about possibly doing a Sega-themed Xbox in Japan, Damon Baker—then in charge of global gaming partnerships and development—laid out why Microsoft was going to have an exclusive next-gen port of Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
According to him, Sony had a 12-month exclusivity deal with Sega for the PlayStation release of the game in Japan and Asia.
This meant Microsoft couldn’t release an Xbox version of the game in Japan until that deal ended.
However, Microsoft also had a contract with Sega that included a parity clause that prevented Sony from releasing a next-gen SKU of Like a Dragon in Japan until Xbox did, too.
And because Xbox couldn’t release any version of the game in Japan until the PlayStation deal was done, Sony was unable to release a PS5 port in the region.
In that same email, Baker shared the news that Sega had no plans to launch a PS5 version in the United States, adding: “Sounds like we now have a timed exclusivity for next-gen.”
Screenshot: Kotaku
At this point, after pointing out that Microsoft had the rights to market the game outside of Japan, Spencer wondered if Xbox could advertise that the next Yakuza game was a next-gen exclusive on Series X/S, adding that it’s a “big deal” and later saying that it “might even be worth some money from us” if they can push that news in future marketing. Which happened, with Microsoft posting blogs talking about how the game would utilize the “next-gen” power of the Series X/S and hyping up the game’s release on its consoles.
In February 2021, about three months later, the Sony exclusivity deal in Japan expired, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon finally launched on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in Japan. The next month, it launched on PS5 in Japan and everywhere else, ending one of the weirdest bits of corporate contractual silliness I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Play it on: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, Windows (Steam Deck: YMMV) Current goal: Bring some game history to life (and survive the damn bird)
“Wait,” I hear you saying. “You’re playing something called The Making of Karateka? That sounds like a documentary, not a game!” Well, my friend, it’s both!
Karateka is a hugely influential and important game from 1984, designed by Jordan Mechner, who would go on to create the original Prince of Persia, among other well-regarded games. This new release from prestige emulation studio Digital Eclipse lets you play Mechner’s classic, of course—multiple versions of it, in fact, as it was released for numerous platforms in the ‘80s. But it aims to do more than that. Through interviews, archival materials, and other supplements, it aims to contextualize Karateka within the larger scope of game history, providing insight into what makes it significant, and why we should still appreciate it today.
I often lament that game history—even from as recently as 40 years ago—is so often overlooked and erased, as many people playing and writing about games today simply lack a real awareness of or interest in the age of Atari and Apple IIc. It’s very important to me that it not be forgotten, and that the games of that era continue to be recognized for both their significance to the medium’s development and for the playability and enjoyment they can still offer today. I haven’t even fired up The Making of Karateka yet, but if Digital Eclipse’s recent release, Atari 50, is any indication, this one will also do a wonderful job of illuminating an important piece of game history.
The studio is calling this the first in its Gold Master series. I very much hope that it’s successful enough to be merely the first of many. Game preservation guru Frank Cifaldi recently said on Twitter, “If the world is to take video games seriously as an art form, we must be able to support products like this.” I strongly agree. — Carolyn Petit
Ever since Baldur’s Gate 3 exploded in popularity after its August 3 release date, the fact that it’s not coming to Xbox Series X/S the same time as PS5 has reignited the controversy around Microsoft’s console strategy and its commitment to a policy that seems like it will become increasingly unworkable in the years ahead.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
Baldur’s Gate 3 supports local co-op splitscreen, and developer Larian Studios has been very public about its struggle to get that feature working on the less powerful Series S. Microsoft requires games to launch with the same modes on both Series X and S, and despite Baldur’s Gate 3’s popularity, no exceptions were made for the critically acclaimed Dungeons & Dragons RPG until now.
Larian director Swen Vincke said the studio had arrived at a solution after meeting with Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming’s CEO, at Gamescom this week. “Series S will not feature split-screen coop, but will also include cross-save progression between Steam and Xbox Series,” he tweeted, with the games now confirmed to arrive before the end of 2023.
Spencer was asked about the apparent Series S conflict in a Eurogamer interview earlier this week. “I don’t see a world where we drop S,” he said. “In terms of parity, I don’t think you’ve heard from us or Larian, that this was about parity. I think that’s more that the community is talking about it. There are features that ship on X today that do not ship on S, even from our own games, like ray-tracing that works on X, it’s not on S in certain games.”
It’s unclear if Spencer means that split-screen gameplay in Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t a requirement on Series S. Kotaku reached out to both Microsoft and Larian Studios to clarify the situation. What is clear is that the company doesn’t plan to abandon Series S support for games in the near future. “We’re going to learn from this experience as well because we don’t love that [Baldur’s Gate 3 isn’t on Xbox yet],” Spencer told IGN in a separate interview. “But I don’t think it’s something that’s a fatal flaw in the system. It’s partners prioritizing their time, us listening and being a good partner to them.”
Image: Larian Studios
The Series S has been raising questions from the very start. As Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier pointed out on August 24, even prior to its 2019 release there were concerns from game developers that the difference in performance could make realizing their full “next-gen” ambitions more difficult on Xbox. Anecdotal reports from Gamescom are that developers there have been privately sharing frustrations about the challenges presented by the Series S as well.
Spencer noted to IGN that games like Diablo IV work fine across both platforms, and reiterated that Microsoft wants to open up gaming to more people, and sees the Series S’s low price as a cornerstone of that strategy. At $300, the less powerful console is the same price as the Nintendo Switch and $100 cheaper than the disc-less PlayStation 5. Over the recent holiday period, it was briefly marked down even further to $250. And the option to subscribe to Game Pass means Series S owners can access a huge library of games, including new blockbusters like Starfield, without shelling out hundreds more.
The popularity of the Series S for players might also be what makes it that much harder for Microsoft to leave it behind. “I also wouldn’t expect and don’t think it makes sense for Microsoft to drop Xbox Series S support or have some titles only ship on Xbox Series X,” tweeted Niko analyst Daniel Ahmad. “The primary reason being that Series S makes up a significant part of the Xbox Series X|S install base and people did indeed buy it to play ‘next gen’ games.”
Don’t expect big price drops
As laudable as the goal of an affordable next-gen console is, we’re already nearing the three-year anniversary of the Series X/S, traditionally the halfway-point in a console’s lifecycle. If there are already rumblings of some games struggling to support certain features on Series S, it seems likely to get worse by 2024, especially for timed exclusives getting ported directly from the PS5. That would be the same year in the Xbox One’s lifecycle that Microsoft released the Xbox One X mid-generation refresh that aimed to offer 4K resolution and higher framerates. A similar new console has already been ruled out this time around, however.
Spencer told Bloomberg in June that he doesn’t feel an “imperative” to release a more powerful version of the Series X, and reiterated that at Gamescom. We’re focused right now on the increased storage Xbox Series S,” he told IGN. “But no, like I said, we’re kind of at the end of the beginning in my mind. So I think we need to let devs settle on this hardware and get the most out of it.”
Image: Microsoft
Sony, meanwhile, appears set to launch a PS5 Slim within the next year. While it’s not clear if that console will have meaningfully different specs than the existing ones, it would still be a significant iteration on the hardware, especially if reports of a standalone attachable disc drive for the PS5 are also accurate. Microsoft hinted at the new console in a Federal Trade Commission court hearing in June, and footage of what’s believed to be the case at a manufacturing plant in China recently leaked as well.
Whatever new console or hardware refreshes arrive in the years ahead, Spencer warned players not to expect prices to significantly drop like they have in previous generations. “You’re not going to be able to start with a console that’s $500 thinking it’s gonna get to 200 bucks. That won’t happen,” he told Eurogamer. “It’s not the way it used to be where you could take a spec and then ride it out over 10 years and ride the price points down. It’s why you see console pricing relatively flat.”
In fact, prices have been going in the opposite direction. Microsoft raised the price of the Xbox Series X/S abroad, following in Sony’s footsteps from a year prior. Even the Nintendo Switch, released over six years ago, remains the same $300 today that it was then. The Mario maker has now sold over 125 million units. So far at least, Microsoft doesn’t seem on track to hit even half of that. It’s currently at 21 million according to a presentation slide that leaked earlier this summer, with hardware sales slowing down instead of speeding up.
Starfield could change that when it arrives on September 1. Director Todd Howard says he plays it almost exclusively on his Series S and it works just great on the cheaper console.
Update 8/24/2023 11:59 a.m. ET: Added new information about Series S version of Baldur’s Gate 3.
The first thought that came to mind when starting Red Dead Redemption on PlayStation 5 is how well the 13-year old game holds up visually. The second one was that there was still no way in hell I could recommend it to anyone for a “next-gen” price tag of $50. The graphics are clean and crisp, but otherwise it’s the same game that’s been available for years on Xbox One without the Undead Nightmare DLC for almost half that price.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
The cinematic scenes and character interactions still draw you in, and the performances remind you why Rockstar Games’ open-world Western was a worthy GOTY contender (Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Mass Effect 2 also came out in 2010). It still feels like an old game, especially with the original interface, occasionally clunky action, and less-than-snappy controls. Look out across sprawling prairies or cactus-filled desserts and you’ll immediately remember this is a PS3/Xbox 360-era world. Then the sun starts to go down behind the clouds and you remember how special it was at the time and immediately feel pulled back into its drama.
Red Dead Redemption 2 – 5 Minutes of PS5 Gameplay
Red Dead Redemption 2 – 5 Minutes of PS5 Gameplay
I spent a couple of hours with the game on PS5, a clip of which you can see above, and didn’t run into any real issues. It’s locked to a disappointing 30fps, but keeps a consistent performance outside of some occasional stuttering during cutscenes. According to Digital Foundry’s analysis, the PS4 port resolves to “full 4K resolution” and even looks slightly better on PS5 than the backwards compatible version on Xbox Series X/S, especially when it comes to shadows. But the differences are mostly limited to minutiae that few people are likely to notice. “It’s the kind of game that doesn’t really need a major overhaul to work well on modern systems—but even so this is a very barebones effort,” wrote Oliver Mackenzie.
The port would be a home run if not for the $50 head scratcher. It’s not the sort of thing I usually like to harp on, and if you have the money to spare, and never played Red Dead Redemption before, and only have a PS4 or PS5, go for it! But for anyone who just wants to revisit the game or is overwhelmed by the surprising bounty of great new games this year, it’s likely an instant deal breaker, and nothing during my time playing it convinced me otherwise. Maybe the game will come to PS Plus in a few months, or go on sale during the holiday. For now it’s just a pricey trip down memory lane with nothing new to offer.
A new online video appears to show what looks like a PlayStation 5 Slim, the heavily rumored but not-yet-announced smaller version of Sony’s current-gen console.
Thank You, PS Plus, For Making My Backlog Even Bigger
Rumors of a sleeker, slimmer PS5 have been floating around online for about a year now, but things really heated up in July. That’s when court docs from the Microsoft v. FCC hearing seemed to confirm its existence, suggesting the device would cost $400 and that it would be released later this year. Now, a new video seems to give us our first look at this slimmer PS5, while also confirming that it might have a detachable disc drive.
On August 10, as spotted by The Verge, an image of the alleged PS5 Slim leaked out via a Chinese forum. That image got shared all over X, formerly Twitter, attracting a lot of attention. But now, the recently surfaced video gives us an even better look at the (still not officially announced) console variant.
The video, posted by Better Way Electronics on Twitter, seems to confirm that not only is the PS5 slim…well, slimmer, but that it will also feature some kind of detachable disk drive. This had first been reported back in September 2022 by Insider Gaming. The new smaller PS5 also sports two USB-C ports on the front of the console, unlike the current version which only has one as well as a USB-A port.
Kotaku has contacted Sony about the leaked console.
Last year, Insider Gaming also reported that Sony was planning to release this new PS5 Slim with a detachable drive in September 2023, which lines up with what Microsoft believed in the previously mentioned court docs. Rumors suggest the PS5 Slim will be sold two ways, one console without the disc drive attached and one in a bundle that comes with it. It’s also believed that Sony will sell the drive itself separately.
At the moment, Sony is selling two versions of the PS5: The $399 PS5 Digital Edition and the $499 PS5 with a disc drive. It’s possible that this new Slim could become the only PS5 in the future, with Sony letting people buy a disc drive if they want or skipping it if they don’t care. The rumored $400 price for the Slim seems to back up that possibility.
“There was a sense that video games were toys. And Sony is not a toy company.” That’s how a new mini-oral history about PlayStation revolutionizing console gaming begins over at IGN. The words belong to former head of Sony Worldwide Studios, Shawn Layden, and they ring true for anyone who grew up with an NES or SNES.…
