The PlayStation 5 comes out in just six weeks, and yet here I am looking with interest at a photo of Sony’s next-gen console in real-life.
A dozen Japanese YouTubers are set to publish hands-on PS5 content tomorrow, 4th October, and in the setting up of these videos we see an actual PS5 in the wild, next to an actual human being.
The image below is from YouTuber Pocky’s channel, and shows the enormous next-gen console on a table. We know the thing is big, but yeah. It’s proper big.
There’s nothing particularly remarkable about the photo. It doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t know. But it’s interesting to think about why this photo is getting attention.
I think it’s because there are so many PS5-related questions Sony has yet to answer – just over a month before the console comes out. For a start, outside of officially-sanctioned media photos, leaked factory images and photos from a Taiwanese product filing, we haven’t seen much of the PS5. I guess this new photo proves the thing is real, then!
But we know so little about the way it actually works, too. How does it look on your telly? How will it play games? What’s the user interface? What’s the backwards compatibility situation? How much available storage is there on the SSD? Sony has yet to say.
Coronavirus put paid to big hands-on events such as E3 and Gamescom, where I’m sure we would have got a great look at the PS5 up close and personal. But where we’re at now with PS5 is in stark contrast to where we’re at now with the Xbox Series X, which is already in the hands of the press.
So! I’m excited to see what these Japanese YouTubers make of the PS5 (Gematsu has a handy roundup of all the YouTube channels to keep an eye on), to see the console in action, and to see it run a video game. With any luck, we’ll see the thing boot up. Now that really would prove it’s real.