Items tagged with Sony
If you're reading this, chances are you have been trying to score a PlayStation 5 to no avail. Like the Xbox Series X|S (and now Nintendo's Switch OLED), the PS5 is almost always out of stock. Well, good news, maybe—Sony is planning a PS5 restock in its own webstore for the holiday season, though it is by invite-only, meaning you need to be on the list to have a shot at getting one. All you have to do is register, and then wait (and hope). Sony says it will have a "limited amount of PS5 consoles" to offer up for sale during the holiday season, though precisely how many is not known. Inevitably, not everyone who registers will end up being selected, because if that were the case, it would...
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When it comes to games and who makes the biggest profit, one may not consider Apple being at the top of the list. But according to figures released as part of Apple’s recent antitrust trial, Apple made quite an operating profit from games in 2019. In fact, Apple made a massive $8.5 billion in profit from games in 2019. The fact that Apple does not make any of its own games makes this an astounding number. That was more than Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony and Activision Blizzard combined. This figure comes from the fact that Apple takes a 30% cut from all digital purchases made via its App Store. It is worth noting that Apple said during the trial that the total was incorrect and too high. To...
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If you’re in the market for a high-quality. large-screen HDTV, Amazon is currently running some compelling deals on the Sony Bravia XR A80J Smart TV in 65-inch and 77-inch sizes. Now that the NFL regular season is upon us, now is perhaps as good a time as any to upgrade your viewing experience. As you might expect from a high-end TV, Sony throws in everything but the kitchen sink with the Bravia XR family. The TVs feature OLED display technology, a requisite 4K resolution (at up to 120Hz), Dolby Vision HDR (great for the new Xbox Series X/S update), and the Cognitive Processor XR chip (which helps deliver inky blacks, excellent contrast, and more natural colors). Given that these are Smart...
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Sony launched its first-ever beta software program for the PlayStation 5 in June, which was the Japanese gaming giant's counter to Microsoft's Xbox Insider Program. The first fruit from that beta program came in late July when Sony enabled the M.2 PCIe 4.0 expansion slot inside the console, allowing users to install a compatible SSD. Tomorrow, the PlayStation September System Software Update brings SSD expansion to all PS5 owners, not just beta testers. Third-party SSDs can be installed in the PS5 or PS5 Digital Edition, and they must achieve minimum sequential read speeds of 5,500 MB/sec. Sony also highly recommends that users purchase an SSD equipped with a standard heatsink or install a third-party...
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We now have some additional clarity on the cooling performance of the revised PlayStation 5 Digital Edition console that first debuted earlier this summer. The new PlayStation 5 carries the model number CFI-1100B01 and has some revised internals (namely a new, lighter heatsink) compared to the launch edition that has been available since November 2020. Previous testing of the revised console revealed that the exhaust air was hotter than the launch systems. However, that observation doesn't provide enough information to indicate how the new, smaller heatsink affects cooling performance. Thankfully, the folks at HardwareBusters performed some extensive testing between the original PlayStation 5...
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Sony has been quietly revising its latest generation game consoles, starting with the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition and followed by the PlayStation 5 with a built-in Blu-ray drive. Both revisions have started to find their way to retail shelves in certain territories. The main difference at a glance is the weight. The newer models are lighter than the original versions, and a recent teardown reveals why—the cooling scheme is altered. The other change is less controversial, in that Sony also swapped out the screws on the base. On the original PS5 consoles, users needed to bust out a flat head screwdriver to remove the screws and get at the guts to perform whatever surgery might be required...
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Sony's PlayStation 5 launched in November of 2020 somewhat incomplete. While the hardware had an M.2 slot to expand the internal storage needed by PS5 games, the software didn't know what to do with it out of the box. Earlier this year though, Sony opened up a beta program with early access to firmware that can use that slot, and we managed to get in. To make the most of that, we teamed up with the folks at Sabrent, who sent along a 2 TB Rocket 4 Plus NVMe SSD and a heat sink solution to keep the drive cool. Unfortunately, the PS5's limited internal space prevented us from using the heatsink, but we could pick up a smaller, compatible solution on Amazon for around $10. The Rocket 4 Plus...
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The PlayStation 5 has been out for quite some time now (enough time for their to be a slight PS5 revision), having technically landed on store shelves last November. Actually buying one from a first-party seller takes a giant stroke of luck and excellent timing. Fortunately for geeks like us, photographer Fritzchens Fritz managed to do so (or maybe took a different path—more on that in a moment), and has posted several high resolution die shots of the Oberon system-on-chip (SoC) powering the PS5. You might not be familiar with the Oberon codename, it is what makes the PS5 tick. It's a custom slice of silicon based on an 8-core/16-thread Zen 2 processor clocked at up to 3.5GHz, and an RDNA...
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It seems Sony has revised its PlayStation 5 console, the version with the built-in Blu-ray drive, leaving customers of the original model *ahem*...screwed. In a sense, anyway, but put the pitchforks and torches down, that's just a play on words. Current PS5 owners are not missing out on much, and certainly not any internal hardware upgrades, like a faster CPU or GPU, or anything of the sort. What's changed? Well, the model designation, for one. The new models are appearing on Australian retail shelves (virtual ones undoubtedly, for all of two nanoseconds before they're snatched up by eager buyers), with the new model number CFI-1102A (up from CFI-1000). If you live in Australia and get your hands...
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Now that Sony has put out official guidelines for supported SSDs on the PlayStation 5, manufacturers are coming out of the woodwork with compatible products. The latest is TeamGroup's T-Force brand with a new version of its Cardea SSD. The new Cardea A440 Pro Special Series sets itself apart with a white graphene heatsink, which TeamGroup says is a first for the industry. Sony highly recommends that users install a heatsink to keep temperatures in check for SSDs installed within the PlayStation 5's chassis. On the performance front, the Cardea A440 Pro Special Series is more than a match for Sony's minimum recommended sequential read speeds of 5,000 MB/sec. So instead, we're looking at sequential...
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In June, we heard reports that Sony is targeting a late 2022 launch for its next-generation PlayStation VR (PSVR) headset. This alleged PSVR 2 will use two OLED displays -- one for each eye -- manufactured by display leader Samsung. Now, a new report is shedding some additional light on this high-end, next-generation accessory for the PlayStation 5. According to PSVR Without Parole, the displays will be HDR-capable and have a field of view (FOV) of 110 degrees. For comparison, the original PSVR has a FOV of 100 degrees. In addition, the PSVR 2 will have an effective resolution of 4000x2040 or 2000x2040 per eye with the Fresnel OLED displays. This is well beyond the 960x1080 (per eyes) resolution...
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If you were able to get into Sony's beta software program for the PlayStation 5, you can now install your own SSD to expand storage. The PlayStation 5, by default, comes with an 825GB SSD installed, but that can fill up quickly when installing loads of AAA games. Requirements To Add A PCIe 4.0 SSD To A PlayStation 5 First and foremost, you'll need a reasonably fast PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD to get started; Sony requires minimum sequential read speeds of 5,500 MB/sec. It should also be noted that Sony requires that you install a heatsink on the SSD -- if one isn't already installed -- to ensure that it doesn't overheat within the PlayStation 5's chassis. Remember that the heatsink cannot exceed...
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There might be a console shortage, but even so, Sony says it is on track to sell more PlayStation 5 systems during its fiscal year ending March 2022, than it did PlayStation 4 consoles during its first fiscal year of availability. More precisely, Sony CFO Hiroki Totoki assured investors that managed to obtain enough semiconductors to hit its target of more than 14.8 million PS5 unit sales by March 2022. Sony is already off to a fast start. The PS5 launched during the pandemic and quickly notched 2.3 million unit sales during the first quarter of Sony's current fiscal year. Since then, the number has grown to 10.1 million unit sales, making it Sony's fastest-selling console ever. When announcing...
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We want two #1 meals, both with Coke and a PlayStation 5 controller. And let's not ask for permission from Sony first, please. McDonald's Australia is celebrating its 50th anniversary down under with three months of events that recently hit a speed bump. In June, Maccas (short for McDonald's in Australia) announced in a press release that it had hit its 50th anniversary after arriving in 1971. With over 1.1 billion Big Macs sold and great growth, the company wanted to thank Aussie customers by "throwing its biggest celebration yet, launching a new range of never-before-seen promotions, menu items and unique collaborations from June until the end of August." Initially, one of these events was...
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Late last week, Sony released long-awaited beta software that allows PlayStation 5 gamers to take advantage of the empty M.2 slot in their consoles to expand storage with an off-the-shelf PCI 4.0 SSD. The PlayStation 5 comes standard with a non-replaceable 825GB SSD, but it can quickly fill up with games, making further expansion a necessity as more high-profile games come to market. Now that more PlayStation 5 users are installing the beta software, they're sharing their experience on how performance is shaping up compared to the default SSD. One such user is Redditor DanCTapirson, who decided to test Samsung's impressive 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 SSD. The 980 Pro is rated for up to 7,000 MB/sec sequential...
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One of the best features of Sony's PlayStation 5 is the ability to upgrade the console's internal storage via an empty M.2 PCIe 4.0 slot. Unlike the Xbox Series X, which uses a proprietary port for expanding storage, the PlayStation 5 can use off-the-shelf SSDs if they meet Sony's minimum performance requirements. The only problem up until today is that Sony hadn't yet enabled the feature. But now, there's a new beta BIOS available to customers, which allows them to plug in their own SSDs to expand beyond the standard 825GB SSD that comes with the console. To gain access to PlayStation 5 System Software Beta, we suggest that you check out this previous article. Once you are enrolled, you'll want...
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The current generation console race kicked off back in November 2020 with the launch of the PlayStation 5/PlayStation 5 Digital Edition and Xbox Series X/Xbox Series S. The PlayStation 5 jumped out to an early lead, and Sony today confirmed that the console has racked up 10 million sales since launch. That's an impressive feat for Sony, and makes the PlayStation 5 its the fastest-selling console in history, outpacing even its overachieving PlayStation 4 predecessor. What's more shocking is that Sony was able to achieve this even though the consoles are supply-constrained. As a result, demand for the console remains incredibly strong, with quick sellouts whenever they are available online or in-store....
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The PlayStation 5 has been out for several months but has been nearly impossible to obtain by some consumers. Restocks have occurred but they tend to only offer a small number of units for sale. However, there does seem to be some hope for those looking to purchase a PS5. Rumor has it that the “biggest” restock of PS5s in months is on its way to Target stores. YouTuber Jake Randall recently tweeted that Target will soon be restocking the PS5. The restock should occur on either Wednesday, July 28th or Thursday, July 29th between 6:30am and 9pm ET. Target stores have reportedly received between ten to twenty units of the PlayStation 5 consoles. Randall further commented that only 1%...
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Sony today announced a new promotion that gives PlayStation 5 owners six months free of the Apple TV+ streaming service. Apple is really pushing its service and expanding its availability to more platforms as it seeks to compete with popular entrenched players like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+. If you currently own a PlayStation 5, you have from now until July 22nd, 2022 to redeem the Sony offer. The trial lasts for six months, after which the plan renews at the cost of $4.99 per month (until you decide to cancel it). Unlike typical offers, this "extended trial" is also available for those currently taking part in a free trial for Apple TV+. In that case, this new offer will tack...
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Could you imagine finally getting your hands on one of the hottest selling consoles that is incredibly difficult to find in stock, only for the manufacturer to release a revised version shortly after? That would stink for sure. It also just happened, with a revised version of the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition popping up online. Good news though—if you already purchased a PS5, there's no need to have buyer's remorse. It looks like there are only minor changes to the new CFI-1100B01 model. For one, Sony managed to make it lighter by around 300 grams (~0.66 pounds). Given how difficult it is to procure a PlayStation 5 of any kind, it is conceivable that some lucky owners might lug it around...
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Earlier this week, we learned that Netflix is planning to take on Microsoft xCloud, Amazon Luna, and Google Stadia with a game streaming service of its own. According to a credible report, Netflix plans to launch the service in 2022, and it would be available at no additional cost to subscribers (although last tidbit sounds a little hard to believe). Netflix added veteran gaming exec Mike Verdu from Electronic Art to its roster to advance its game streaming efforts. Today, we’re learning more about the service, thanks to some incredible datamining by Steve Moser. Moser dug into the source code for the Netflix app and found some clues for the upcoming gaming service, including artwork for...
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The console war between Microsoft and Sony is currently in a new generation, with the Xbox Series X/Xbox Series S battling it out against the PlayStation 5/PlayStation 5 Digital Edition. However, the consoles are broadly similar concerning internal hardware, with each sporting an AMD Zen 2-based Ryzen processor coupled with an RDNA 2 GPU. But there's one PlayStation 5 hardware accessory that Xbox chief Phil Spencer seemingly wants for the Xbox family: DualSense. The DualSense controller uses haptic feedback instead of rumble for a more realistic "tactile" sensation while gaming. In addition, the adaptive triggers can have varying resistance based on actions taking place on-screen. Unfortunately,...
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