Topic: PlayStation 5 --OT--

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In a stroke of absolute serendipity, the gaming gods have blessed me with a PS5. Mercifully, Sony’s record-breaking new console has fallen into my lap. I don’t want to know if there were any illegal or immoral acts done to procure this for me, but my benefactor assured me no one died and no sentient life forms were permanently harmed in its acquisition. I’m just glad to have been gifted such a rarity but I feel like months of wasted time combing the internet stores must have earned me favor with the Universe, ...and like my grandad used to say, “Son, sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”

So while I still maintain that these silly things are too hard to get your hands on, somehow I now am a proud owner of a PS5. One of the things I’m most excited about is not having to waste any more mental energy monitoring restock apps and online retailers. Good riddance to that.

I’ll mention just a few of my first-day impressions (and some questions mixed in for you PS5 veterans):
So far, it’s very quiet. However, I think I hear the controversial “whine”. Mine is a disc drive unit, and the disc drive is also surprisingly loud when I put in a disc, and I trust that this is normal. Hopefully I didn’t get a lemon, but when I put a disc in, the drive kicks in aggressively and the casing seems to rattle a fair bit. The discs seem to function just fine, however. But it’s actually louder than when my PS4 loads a disc.
> If anyone can confirm how loud loading their discs are, I’d appreciate it.

It’s currently in Rest Mode downloading a bunch of games I’ve been digitally hoarding in my library, preparing for this day. I decided to position it horizontally and I can hear the faint “whine” from 10 feet across the room. So while the chatter about PS5 being so quiet is accurate in some ways, I do think it’s a little misleading. ...Unless I have a defective unit, but we’ll see.

Speaking of — horizontal positioning is going to push my obsessive compulsion to the max. It’s strange shape coupled with the precarious placement on the stand make it impossible to tell of its actually level. Perhaps that’s why it’s whining? With the curved lines, it appears crooked no matter how you look at it. I wish there was a way to fasten the stand horizontally so you know it’s in place and stable.

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The controller feels good, but also a bit odd. I can’t remember who ( @Kidfried I think?) made the comment that although the controller feels of better quality and more solid, it doesn’t “fit” in your hands quite as cozy as the old DS4. Like wearing new shoes versus the nice comfy worn-in pair, I believe was the analogy.
The d-pad? Yeah, kinda squishy, but it’s okay. Not as good as the DS4’s but more than serviceable.
Controller battery life seems to be surprisingly decent since I’ve yet to dip below max bars despite the thing rumbling, shaking, and gyrating constantly during Astrobot. Certainly leagues better than the first iteration of the DualShock 4.

> Anyone know if it’s okay to charge the controller with a phone charger? Don’t want to fry my controller, but just wondering.

The UI ... it’s just like you all described. It’s fine, but, eh... wish it was different and more intuitive.
The store runs exceedingly better on here versus PS4. Sure, the arrangement and organization of it is up for debate, but it’s much faster and responsive to hop around and browse content.

> And.. another quick question — I know it’s old news and I forgot to fully pay attention when it didn’t apply to me at the time... but I’m downloading the Control Ultimate Edition and it looks like it’s downloading a separate file for the Control PS4 version as well as the “Ultimate Ed” PS5 version? Are both files necessary for the game to work properly on PS5? I’m just going to let it all download and then I can go back and delete the PS4 file if I don’t need it. Do all the games with both versions do this? I definitely think the way that you have to navigate the PS4 versions and PS5 versions is cockamamie. I think I understand the process of clicking on the 3 little dots to flip back and forth between versions, but they really need clearer signposting of which version of the game you’re dealing with. How anyone in the programming department felt this was a logical way to handle backwards and forwards compatibility is beyond me. Fortunately, it’s probably an easy fix with a firmware update.

> And another stupid technical question — what’s the advantage of using the HDMI 2.1 cable. I have an HDMI cable I was using (I think it’s a Monster cable or some other supposed high-end cable I bought a couple years ago, I have no idea if it’s 2.1) but now I’m reading that I should use the cable included since it’s legitimately 2.1. Supposedly it makes 120 fps possible, or something like that? I don’t think any games support that frame rate yet, but I’m wondering how the cable affects the graphical fidelity too. Should I purchase a completely separate new second party 2.1 cable or stick with the one included? Does the cable really matter?