Finally secured a PS5!

After being unsuccessful for so long I just finally managed to secure a PS5 disk version.

I received an email invitation directly from Sony on Tuesday saying I had been selected for their purchase invitation for today between 8-10am.

I wasn't convinced there would be any stock, but I followed the link and logged in and everything was in stock. Should be here by Monday.

Nice Christmas present to myself, and just right for the proper exclusives coming next year. Starting with GT7 in March, and then FF16 and FF7 part 2.

If anyone else is still trying to buy a PS5 log into your PS account and you can register for future interest in being entered into the purchase invitation scheme. I was unsuccessful with the first one, but selected this time in the second extended wave

Nice. I won't get one, having still a huge back catalogue on the PS4 and I lately changed almost completely to PC gaming, because I thought that I didn't buy this big powerhouse just to use it with retro games and internet browsing, the RTX3090 wants to be fed. And I have to say that it just looks awesome, played Call Of Duty Black Ops Cold War, and that just looked gorgeous. At some point I found myself with a sniper rifle in a snowy mountain region, and whilst aiming, I noticed that in the back lens or glass of my scope I could see the whole background scene reflected in it, so I turned around slowly and my god, that was real time reflections in the glass with all the light and even snowflakes, wtf!

Sounds like impressive tech, DC, but did it make Generic Shooter ver 26 any more fun to play?

I wasn't in a hurry to buy a PS5 until recently. The lack of exclusive releases, and most games just as good on the PS4. But I've been looking to build a new PC for about 2 years now, but trying to find a 3080 is like hens teeth and the price they are artificially inflated to at the moment is silly and I'm not prepared to pay that much for just a GPU. Plus the new Intel CPUs have just released, so I will wait until they have been out a bit.

But it was really the announcement that Gran Turismo 7 was coming out in March 2022. I've always loved that game and never missed a release. In fact the very first one I finished the Japanese version before it was even released here. And the PS4 never saw a proper GT version. Plus later in the year we will get Final Fantasy 16, and then Final Fantasy 7 remake, part 2.

And the PS5 arrived already this morning. There is a Matrix tech demo everyone is talking about that I'm going to check out on there first.

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Originally Posted by J T

Sounds like impressive tech, DC, but did it make Generic Shooter ver 26 any more fun to play?

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It was indeed fun, very good game.

I watched the Matrix tech demo with the Unreal 5 engine and it's indeed very impressive.

I play Forza Horizon 5 at the moment, it's breathtaking, no need for GT for me, I rather like the arcade style racers. Btw, I play Forza Horizon 4 on my OneXPlayer in 720p, looks awesome, runs great. Didn't install the 5 on it yet. But also GTA V is awesome on it, that runs even in 2K, excellent.

I'm going to replay GTA5 once my Steam Deck arrives, although I do already have it on PS4 and PC. Also will have to see how well Forza Horizon runs.

There is a rumour Steam are working with Microsoft to get gamepass working with the Steam Deck in its native Linux OS. Now that would be brilliant. Otherwise it would mean needing to install win11 on it instead, which I don't really want to do.

Finally had time to set the PS5 up today. Impressed by how quiet it is, as no mechanical drive, and the fan never kicked it so far, so it was completely silient so far.

Looks really nice standing upright. I've never used a console like that before, always preferring them to be laid down, but it's obvious the PS5 was designed to be stood upright, and it looks great with the glowing edge lighting and quite minimalist look. And whilst it is quite large compared to any pervious consoles it doesn't look too big upright. On its side it looks a bit ugly and quite large.

Quite impressed with the number of ports and the layout.

I've only so far had time to finish the setup process, that needed a 900MB update, and a small controller firmware update. And then quickly play around with the UI and have a quick game of the preinstalled game Astro' Playroom.

I like how they have minimised the main homescreen UI. I always liked rhe PS4 UI but it was a bit cluttered with all the different rows and sections. The PS5 UI feels similar but simplified and streamlined, removing a lot, but everything is instantly easy to find if you are already used to the PS4. Only slight confusing bit was where the power off setting was located. Its no longer at the top right. Instead you have to press the options button to pull up an options strip that basically has most of the sections you find in the top row of a PS4 homescreen. Like this idea as it keeps the main screen cleaner, but you can pull up this options strip anytime now, even in games.

One thing you really notice compared to the PS4 is how fast loading time are with the M2 storage. And how fluid and slick it makes everything feel. I will definitely need to uograde the storage with a serving M2 in the new year. There are now mire compatible ones available including the required heatsink, so they should be dropping in price soon

Really like the new controller too. I wasn't convinced by all the talk of the dual heptic feedback, but the included game Astro's Playroom is like a PS5 demo showcase, and starts off by showing off some of the features of the controller. The one part of the heptic feedback that really impressed me was the triggers, which I wasn't expecting. With the controller off or not active, the 2 triggers L2 and R2 feel just like the PS4 ones. They are analogue and have a nice movement. But with heptic feedback they can be given resistance. In the demo it said to press them and they world only go half way before meeting a lot of resistance, then you had to squeeze them down fir the tendinitis distance until a final click that set an onscreen firework off. I want expecting that ability to alter the trigger's feel and how it functions. I can see that being a really useful feature for something like Gran Turismo.

The rest of the dual heptic feedback was really interesting too. Best way to describe it is like thinking of the old PS4 and earlier shock rumble like mono sound, and heptic like the release of stereo speakers. Able to shift the feeling around the controller, not just left or right rumble of different intensity.

The main Astro's Playroom is a platform game a bit like a simple version of Ratchet and Clank.

The PS5s graphics are obviously 4K and you can instantly see the cleaner higher resolution compared to the PS4. Not that the PS4 looks bad. And you can instantly feel the far better performance in game framerate and motion.

As for games. I was surprised after finishing setting up the system how many if the games in my library have PS5 versions. I hadn't realised it was quite so many. So I already have quite a few to get started with.

First I might install is Star Wars Fallen Order and maybe Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Also tempted to play through FF7 remake as the free PS5 upgrade is released today.

So, so far really happy with the PS5. I would say I'm definitely a PS5 fan over Xbox. I definitely buy games on Playstation over Xbox where possible. Although I've always also owned an Xbox to play any exclusives. But so far I don't own either the Series S or X. I will eventually buy a series X, but they are currently in far shorter supply than even the PS5, to the point Microsoft couldn't even get hokd of any for a tournament this week.

I've also always preferred the Playstation controller. Expect I always use an Xbox controller on PC. Mainly because most PX games autodetect them.

Will be interesting if support for the heptics of the PS5 controller could work with PC games.

Glad you like it. I have always preferred using an XBox controller because of it's size, it just feels better in my hands. Not because of the layout, I like both. Although I tried playing Rocket League with an XBox controller, impossible, I'm so used to the PS4 controller layout for that game.

Keen on trying the new dual sense controller though.

Bought a Nacon REVOLUTION Unlimited Pro Controller for the PS4 because it's basically an XBox controller, but it's still wrapped since 3 months :)

Congrats on the PS5, Harrison! :thumbs:

Btw, how much did you pay for the PS5?

There's a guy on eBay in Germany who sells one, he sold already many with positive feedback. He sells the disc version for 695€ and I thought that's quite an Ok price, too expensive yes, but considering that nobody has them in stock and in the beginning they sold for way over 1000€.

H's silence suggests only one thing....

He's burnt his thumbs out whilst spanking the PS5's controller pad in a manner where he ended up drooling Dry! :lol:

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Originally Posted by Demon Cleaner

Btw, how much did you pay for the PS5?

There's a guy on eBay in Germany who sells one, he sold already many with positive feedback. He sells the disc version for 695€ and I thought that's quite an Ok price, too expensive yes, but considering that nobody has them in stock and in the beginning they sold for way over 1000€.

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As I bought it directly from Sony it was retail price £449. I would never pay inflated prices from scalpers reselling at silly prices.

I got one too. Setting it up now.

Nice. Where did you managed to get one in the end?

Let me know what you think once you are up and running. Give the free Astrobot game that comes preinstalled a play as it shows off the new controller and its heptic feedback really well, and it's quite a nice little platformer too.

And to showcase the PS5 in all its 4K glory I highly recommend Ghost of Tsushima PS5 version. If you already own the PS4 version you have to upgrade to the directors cut, and then to the PS5 version. You can do it from the tile in your game library.

Another game I'm really enjoyed is Guardians of the Galaxy. Its quite linear, but the graphics are gorgeous and the voice acting is amazing. Really pulls you into the Guardians universe as the characters are constantly taling, bickering and fighting in the background.

If there is one criticism the controller seems to srain its battery far quicker than the PS4 ones. Maybe I just didn't have it fully charged, but it didn't seem to last that long before the PS5 started telling me the battery was getting low.

I played Astrobot with my girlfriend, she liked it too. Finished one level so far. How is the Ratchet game, I have all of them, but didn't play any yet.

I own Ghost of Tsushima, wanted to play it on the PC but noticed that it's now out on PC.

I also bought a second controller, the red one, looks really nice.

Guardians of the Galaxy I would definitely get for the PC, it's cheaper :lol:

And I eventually got it from eBay for 700€, I know I know, too much.

GoT really takes advantage of the PS5 and you can upgrade if you already own the PS4 version.

One game I highly recommend if you girlfriend likes platformers is Sackboy. Great Mario style game.

One other thing I discovered. Because the 4K resolution I couldn't play Planet coaster downstairs on the 43" TV. I had to move really close to the screen to read some of the menus. Played it in the games room on the 65" and easy to read. So that's really the first time I've seem an argument for needing a larger screen. For films you really don't notice too much difference, but text in a 4K game, definitely! Obviously on a PC you are sat right by the screen so it can be much smaller.

I had the Small Text problem in The Outer Worlds. Plus, it was a boring game to me and I really didn't care about it at all, so I stopped playing.

If I'd known it was 'fallout in space' I would have avoided. Fallout just never clicked for me.

The PS5 controller has a lot of fancy swishy tech in it, doesn't it? I suppose all that jazz would drain the battery quicker than simpler devices.

That's what I'm thinking. The heptic feedback has to drain it faster. Made me wonder about battery capacity and looking it up the PS5 controllers have a 1500 mAh Lothium battery, whereas the PS4 controllers are 1000 mAh. So they have increased the capacity. And it's stated to last 12-15 hours on a full charge. Maybe I just didn't have it fully charged.

I played Ghost of Tsushima yesterday for 2 hours, really good game, but I knew that already. Upgrade to PS5 was 25€ though, because it's the Legends edition.

The haptic feedback is ok I think, gets on my nerves a bit the longer I use it. I can understand why it was praised as a new feature, but I think I will switch it off at some point. Drains less battery too.

My girlfriend will probably not play games with me anyways, if the game uses more than one button, she's lost. Sometimes she likes to play old Mario though.

I pre ordered Horizon Forbidden West, as I really enjoyed Zero Dawn, and the sequel looks gorgeous.

I liked The Outer Worlds, for me it was even a bit too short, finished it in around 20 hours, would have liked to play a bit more but didn't care about the DLCs. I also finished Fallout 4, thought in the beginning I wouldn't like it, but turned out to be very enjoyable.

I think the best use of the Heptic feedback is what it can do with the trigger buttons, because it can really change the way they feel depending on what you are doing.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what they can achieve with it in Gran Turismo 7. They say you will be able to feel the different road surfaces through the controller. I wait to see how much this is true. Really looking forward to GT7 though. Not long to wait now.

I use to Love Gran Turismo back in the early PS days.

Just been looking @ GT7, but £70 for a console game..... Meh! :nuts:

Console games have really gone up in price on the new console generation. If you want a game on release date they are commanding £50-70 these days.

But if you are not so fussed they quickly start appearing with big discounts. Games released last year are now often seen with at least 50% off. And PS Plus members often get larger discount offers.

And physical disc versions drop in price much faster. But I don't bother with physical game copies any more for quite some time now. Much prefer the clutter free digital route. Only downside is you can't sell the games on if you are finished with them. But I hate having to find the actual disc to load any physical games. In fact I dislike it so much I actually rebought the digital versions on the PS4 so I didn't have to put thr disc in. Can also share games between the PS4 and PS5 easier if digital.

But if you actually consider inflation we were paying £25-29 for most new releases on the Amiga back in the early 90s. And new Playstation 1 games were £45 in 1997. SNES games were often £49.99 too. So factoring in inflation we were paying far more then for a new game.

In fact it's quite mad to think PC games are still actually the same exact price as they were 20 years ago. So are in effect much cheaper. And even at £70 a new console game is relatively cheaper then 20 years ago.

Still sounds like a lot of money though.

GT7 is looking amazing from the screenshots and videos though. Only a few days left before release. My copy is already preloaded and waiting.

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Originally Posted by Harrison

But I don't bother with physical game copies any more for quite some time now. Much prefer the clutter free digital route. Only downside is you can't sell the games on if you are finished with them. But I hate having to find the actual disc to load any physical games. In fact I dislike it so much I actually rebought the digital versions on the PS4 so I didn't have to put the disc in.

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Exactly my words, although firstly the reason was different. After my back surgery I was not able to get up for several months, so swapping discs was not possible, so I spent quite a lot of money rebuying all of my games digitally, but eventually sold the physical games to a second hand shop.

But I still bought the PS5 disc version "just in case".

Same here. I Boult the PS5 disc version too as you never know. But also so I could run 4k blurays.

I also discovered it takes longer to install a game from disc on the PS5 then it shoots to just download the digital version, if your broadband is fast enough on my connection downloaded GT7 in 15 minutes (97GB) and it was ready to play King before it even finished downloading. I asked someone who bought the disc version and had similar speed download and it took 20 minutes to copy the game from the disc, turn another 15b to download the update. So quicker to just go digital.

BTW, how's your back now?

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Originally Posted by Harrison

BTW, how's your back now?

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My back is quite fine, but since some months it starts hurting when I'm sitting too long. If I have to go to the office f.ex. it starts after 4 hours and gets worse, then driving back home is always a pain. If I work in my home office it's obviously better, because half of the time I'm lying on my couch. So far I still had 4 days home office, but from next Monday on it will be again only 3, so I have to drive to the office twice a week, and believe me, with the traffic here in Luxembourg it's not fun at all.

Also driving too long starts hurting now again, I will have to go once back to my doctor to get it checked.

Not good. How is standing? Standing desk? Hope it gets better and the doctors have some solutions.

I know your back has been really bad, so I can't compare. But I do suffer from a bad back, and if I do just too much in the garden it can be really bad. At Christmas I chopped up some wood for the log burner, and it suddenly went. I spent a week not being able to bend at all, get in and out of chairs and couldn't drive. Backs are the worst thing.

I have a standing desk at the office, never used it in that position though, eventually have to try.

Or get a couch for the work office :huh2:

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Originally Posted by J T

Or get a couch for the work office :huh2:

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Never thought about that, you always have the best ideas :thumbs: