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Sony could have a new PSVR headset in the works
We already knew that the PS5 would support Sony's PlayStation VR headset. That makes sense: the new console will be backwards compatible with PS4 software, which presumably includes every VR-enabled title. What we didn't know, however, was the future of the PSVR platform and whether Sony would ever release a PSVR 2. Well, good news: according to Bloomberg, the company is planning a new version of its virtual reality headset, with a tentative release date sometime after the PS5's launch.
E3 2020 registration opens February 15 at 11AM ET
If you're determined to see games for next-gen consoles months in advance, your opportunity might be close at hand. The ESA is opening registration for E3 2020 through the E3 website on February 15th at 11AM Eastern. You'll have to pay $165 to visit the Los Angeles Convention Center on June 10th and 11th if you're part of the general public (only the industry and press get in on June 9th), but the ESA is promising perks that include a new "floor experience" where you'll see conversations with creators.
'Outriders' trailer reveals a superhuman co-op shooter
People Can Fly and Square Enix finally have something more substantial to show for Outriders than what you saw back at E3. They've released a "reveal" trailer that doesn't show much gameplay for the co-op shooter, but does say a whole lot more about the premise. You play one of many human colonists who settled on the planet Enoch to escape a decaying Earth, only to find that an "anomaly" is warping them with strange powers. Think of it as a much less benign equivalent to the Traveler in Destiny. Naturally, that means mixing up your gunplay with some space magic.
Sony's PlayStation business is slowing faster than expected
Back in 2018 Sony made it clear that its games department would be slowing down as it prepared for the next generation PlayStation. Now it's released its quarterly results which go beyond a "slowing down" to illustrate a much more significant drop in revenue for the business.
PlayStation's new Back Button accessory is a wasted opportunity
Sony's DualShock is a good controller. Its Emmy award-winning design has hardly changed over the last couple of decades. It had a run of minor refinements until the DualShock 4 added a touchpanel, some fancy lights and a grippier texture. But things have moved on. PlayStation's biggest rival, Xbox, has a high-end controller for top-level gamers, while expensive third-party options from SCUFF and Hori have proved there are better ways to play PS4. Enter the unimaginatively named Back Button Attachment, aimed at giving your six-year-old DualShock 4 a few new tricks. But just a few.
Why Sony is skipping E3 (again)
For the second year in a row, Sony is passing on E3, the video game industry's largest annual trade show. The reasons why are numerous. For one, many believe that E3's influence and cultural relevance is slowly evaporating. Roughly 66,000 people attended the show last June, down from 69,000 the year prior. For comparison, Gamescom -- Europe's largest fan festival and industry-focused gaming convention -- has stood firm with roughly 370,000 attendees the past two years.
Watch Sony's CES 2020 press conference in nine minutes
Sony made a leftfield announcement at CES today -- it's made a car. With help from Bosch, NVIDIA and Qualcomm the company has created its first prototype vehicle under its Vision-S initiative -- pipping the likes of Google and Apple, which have been talking about doing something similar, to the post. It is, predictably, loaded with sensors and other Sony tech.
The PS5 logo looks exactly as you would expect it to
Here it is. The PS5 logo. Enjoy.
We're live from Sony's CES 2020 press event!
Sony's CES mood in recent years is one of quiet confidence and, well, not many big hardware announcements. Instead, it uses CES press conferences as a showcase for what it did the year before. That's not great news if you were angling for details on the next-generation PlayStation, but expect updates to the company's TVs and audio hardware. Maybe we'll get some new cameras, as both Nikon and Canon have launched new systems in the last year. We'll be liveblogging whatever Sony has planned, so join us here at 5:00 PM PST (8:00 PM EST). Any questions or demands? You can ask me on Twitter (@thatmatsmith).
'Godfall' is a fantasy 'looter-slasher' RPG from Gearbox for PS5
At The Game Awards, Gearbox Publishing and developer Counterplay Games revealed one of the first few confirmed games for PlayStation 5. Following its own Borderlands 3, Gearbox is kinda staying in the looter-shooter arena, but Godfall will be somewhat different from the popular space western series.
Sony patent may show a familiar-looking controller for the PS5
While Sony is still about a year away from releasing its next-generation console, we may have just gotten an early look at the device's new controller. Newly published images by Japan's patent office that were first spotted by VGC may provide some clues as to what to expect from the peripheral.
The PlayStation 5 officially launches 'holiday 2020'
Sony is offering up more drip-feed details about its next-generation console, but the major points are that, yes, it will be called the PlayStation 5, and you'll have to wait till the end of 2020 to play it. We also got the first new details on new controllers for Sony's next games machine. Think haptics. A few of 'em.
Recommended Reading: The ICE surveillance playbook
How ICE picks its targets in the surveillance age McKenzie Funk, The New York Times Through the lens of officers operating in the Pacific Northwest, The New York Times explains how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) collects information on possible targets. That includes monitoring social media accounts and tapping into "the world's largest privately run database of license-plate scans."
Sony says the PlayStation 5 won't waste as much energy as the PS4
Sony has committed to making its gaming products more environmentally friendly, starting with a more power-efficient sleep mode for the upcoming PlayStation 5.
Sony’s E3 happened without you noticing
Sure, Sony says it's skipping E3 this year, but let's take a look at the facts. Within the past eight weeks, the company has unveiled the PlayStation 5, teasing out details about its upgraded architecture and 8K capabilities, and clearly delineating the start of a new console generation. A buzzy new trailer for one of PlayStation's most-anticipated exclusive games, Death Stranding, dropped two weeks ago, complete with a release date (and details about a $200 collector's edition that comes with a life-sized pod baby). That's not to mention the things that Sony is doing during E3. PlayStation is hosting its annual Days of Play sale this week, and even though it isn't holding a press conference, it's making headlines at other companies' shows. Final Fantasy VII Remake is a major title at E3 2019, as Square Enix just revealed a release date and fresh details -- and it happens to be a PlayStation exclusive. And that's just the start. Turns out, Sony doesn't have to actually attend E3 to do E3.
Xbox's biggest competitor isn't PlayStation
Stop me if you've heard this one before. At E3 2013, Microsoft tripped over its shoelaces as it tried to justify the unexpectedly high price and complex ecosystem of its upcoming console, the Xbox One. It required an internet connection and locked purchases to specific accounts, disrupting established resale and game-sharing processes. On top of that, executives were repeatedly dismissive of fans' concerns. When Phil Spencer, then the head of Microsoft Studios, announced a $500 price tag for the Xbox One, the E3 audience gasped and fell silent. Hours later, Sony took the stage. Executives presented their new console, the PlayStation 4, as the balm to Xbox's burn. It didn't need an internet connection to function, used games would play just fine, and titles wouldn't be tied to online accounts, making sharing easy with physical discs. PlayStation boss Jack Tretton announced the PS4's price of $400 and cheers exploded throughout the stadium.
GameStop cuts costs to deal with plunge in console sales
The PS4 and Xbox One are clearly approaching the end of their main lifecycles, and that's doing serious damage to GameStop's bottom line. The video game store's Q1 profits fell to $6.8 million, just a quarter of what they were a year earlier, based on a steep 35 percent drop in new hardware sales. And that's after accounting for the Nintendo Switch's strong performance. While GameStop didn't explain the decline, gamers knew the next PlayStation and Xbox "Scarlett" were on the horizon -- there wasn't much point to buying a current-gen system. The much gentler dip in software sales (4.3 percent) reinforced this.
Sony envisions 'clothes' with haptic feedback for PSVR
Sony might have grander virtual reality ambitions for the PlayStation 5 beyond a headset and traditional controllers to let you play games Ready Player One-style in a body suit. It filed a patent for a VR glove with haptic feedback, and suggested it may even bring the tech to other clothing, meaning you could potentially "touch" an in-game item when you pick it up, feel every blow in Call of Duty or get a sense of what it's like to be sacked in Madden.
Sony just laid out everything there is to know about the PS5
Sony's next-generation console isn't due to launch anytime this year, but the tech giant has been surprisingly generous with details. During a corporate strategy presentation, the company has listed all the information it has revealed so far, confirming yet again that the PS5 will have backwards compatibility. Since it has a similar architecture to the PS4, it will be able to play games designed for the current-gen console and will also be compatible with the current version of PlayStation VR.
Sony says the PlayStation 5 will be 'immersive' and 'seamless'
Sony has revealed that the next-generation PS5 will have "immersive" gameplay and "seamless" PlayStation Now online performance thanks to "dramatically" improved graphics performance and a revamped cloud system. During a corporate strategy presentation, it also demonstrated the speed of the new console compared to the PS4 (in a video captured by WSJ's Takashi Mochizuki) , showing much snappier (ten times) loading and faster speeds with complex scenes.
