During today’s PlayStation 5 technical presentation, lead architect Mark Cerny officially announced the highly rumored PlayStation 5 Pro.
After reminding fans of the capabilities of the original PlayStation 5, Cerny emphasizes the choice between graphics modes, notably Fidelity and Performance. The latter is often preferred, but the goal is to narrow that divide.
To address this issue, the PlayStation 5 Pro boasts a larger GPU and increased the speed of its rendering by 45%; the ray-tracing has been upgraded at double or even triple the speeds of the base PlayStation 5, and custom hardware for machine learning and an online library called PlayStation Specual Super Resolution (PSSR) provide AI-driven upscaling.
The rest of the video showcases comparisons between the PlayStation 5 Pro and the base version of the console, as well as dedicated improvements to select titles like Horizon.
The PlayStation 5 Pro will be released on November 7, 2024, for $699.99 USD, £699.99 GBP, €799.99 EUR, and ¥119,980 JPY (including tax).
PlayStation Blog delves into more details. For instance, there is the PS5 Pro Game Boost that applies to over 8,500 backward-compatible PS4 games, providing enhanced performance, image quality, and more. The console will also boast Wi-Fi 8, VRR, and 8K. Existing PS5 accessories are compatible, too.
Moreover, a 2TB SSD, a DualSense Controller, a pre-installed copy of Astro’s Playroom, and an optionally attachable Disc Drive will be available. Pre-orders will begin on September 26, 2024.
Astro Bot is now available worldwide on PlayStation 5.
There are countless worlds, gimmicks, and enemies players can anticipate. Over 50 planets, six galaxies, and 80 levels have also been confirmed to appear. The journey follows you, trying to find Astro’s scattered crew.
Players can anticipate 300 bots to rescue, 150 of which are PlayStation cameos. Once rescued, they can perform group actions, enabling more exploration. Lastly, Astro can borrow the abilities from PlayStation heroes, like Kratos, at select points throughout the adventure.
Over 15 new abilities have been added, which each take advantage of the DualSense controller via haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. One new power is Barkster, a Bulldog Booster that lets you airdash through enemies and other obstacles. The Twin-Frog Gloves provide ranged pinching, and the Giant Sponge lets you suck up water from the vicinity to grow huge. Over 70 new types of enemies will be present, including bosses at the end of each galaxy.
There will also be post-launch DLC content, though the exact details have yet to be unveiled.
$700 and no disc drive is a huge ask. That said, I do like the idea of more games having better performance modes. First console to match the old 3DO in price after all these years. Obviously not actually the same considering inflation factored in, but still hilarious to see.