PS5 / Xbox Series X

 PS5 & Xbox Series X – The 9th Next Generation of consoles

In December 2019, during the Game Awards, Microsoft revealed its latest console to the world the Xbox Series-X. Set to be released in exactly one year of their announcement, December 2020
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The last generations were PS4 and Xbox one which were launched in November 2013, I wrote a blog in November 2014 to summarize the consoles with how they fared in the market, after one year. Ultimately the lessons learned has become this generations biggest Selling point:

Backward compatibility

The largest take away is that gamers can access old catalogues of every saved game from their Xbox one and 360, including every saved file from their library.

Unlike its launch in 2013/2014 the barriers of cross platform multi-player wall of gaming have finally been broken down and every generation game can run on the series X.  The compatibility also means users can also have access to PS4 Library of games.

All Xbox One & Xbox 360 games

Microsoft has also made another important feature that will outmatch Sony, Xbox one game system and PC games systems will be able to play Series X games for its first year of games allowing for a more gradual integration. The incentive of choosing the series X would be that nothing is lost in the upgrade and in fact the processing engine will play even better than on its original platform.

This single move from Microsoft has taking into account every generational game and having it be able to play on the series X, has forced PlayStation to re-think its design on the PS5 in order to compete

As the year has just begun, Sony has not announced if PS5 would be able to play PS3 games, not unless it is streaming using the online platform of PlayStation now. is the only viable option. Sony has confirmed PS4 games will be compatible.  Sony will also not be attending this year's E3 (Videogame convention), and as such no information is available at this time of  any upcoming developing games for 2021.

So what is going on…

Sony doesn't need E3 to showcase their line up of latest games, and the venue itself is shaping up less and less important as  years progress. Microsoft will be making their announcements in their own  Microsoft theatre,  formerly the Nokia theatre which is just off site of the L.A. convention center (from E3). Sony press representatives did indicate that the company will make its presence known in hundreds of other conventions around the world. Ultimately, the titles of PS5 games won't hit shelves for a full year and Sony feels it has time to build a more stronger presentation closer to the end of the year.  While Microsoft has aggressively been working with 15 gaming production companies getting prepared for the December rollout. and the proceeding months to come.

Both consoles share an X82 chip architecture with its previous versions, that will allow software will run on either one without having to re-write the code for the different platform and can actually run better.  Playing games that run at 60fps, 120fps, 8k

In simpler terms PS4 and Xbox one was designed to play games on 720p to 1080P monitor. This new generation can carry these games to run and look amazing on a 1080p to 4k monitor, and with 8k capability.  PlayStation will however need to  cancel that function as some older games were designed with a short-sightedness of not running on higher resolution monitors or providing the proper timing and physics for their particular games to play at that standard.

So PS5 has designs to fool the x82 chip to run slower to run these older games but still look and play better than its initial intention, the noticeable payoff is the load times will be exponentially faster than the previous incarnations.  Thanks in part of the EVO SSD storage.  and a GPU that is said to be twice as fast than its previous generation.

While PS5 games will only be available for PS5 consoles, forcing consumers to jump directly to their new systems while Xbox has allowed existing users to access the largest line of products without needing to immediately purchasing new hardware. The gaming landscape has never looked brighter and run deeper for those who are nostalgic of games going back over a decade.

As pricing, has not been made public for either system. here is what we do know.

PS5 controller: as PS4 latest hardware add-on feature (introduced in January 2020) was ‘a back-button controller’ which allows users to modify button arrangement on a controller, complimenting an individual preference of what are the button allocations that they use for their game.  The attachment makes the front more rounded, instead of that cliff like style; so, it has a smoother and ergonomic feel. The Dual Shock is going to be greater than its predecessor and will offer 3D sound.

Xbox series-X Controller will have a share screen button to share screen for multi gameplay, its reduced in size compared to Xbox one, based on studies of current gamers around the world that use Xbox controller this new version was to compliment the majority of users.

The Xbox series-X itself is a monolith tower, that can be placed on its side to accommodate placement setting, the controller can work on Xbox one and PC Games, as part of its forward thinking to work with pre-existing multi-player games

Both systems will  carry a ultra high definition player

And finally, The Games

On the release of Xbox Series-X. The videogame Halo - Infinite, and possibly Forza Motorsport 8 will be available on the consoles roll-out.

The PS5 will maintain its logo similar to PS4, and has the game Godfall and possibly Horizon Zero-Dawn during its initial roll-out.   With Lord of the Rings: Golum, Watchdog: Legion, and Battlefield 6 expecting to be released later in 2021

With all users being able to try titles from the cloud so its easier to access the games.