Topic: PlayStation 5 --OT--

@JohnnyShoulder @KilloWertz I'm also not a fan of the new layout. It was already cluttered imo, and now it's worse. And in the case of Tlou, resume activity just seems to take you to the home screen and then auto click loading into saved game. I mean, is that really a time saver for anyone? Or easier? But yeah the tip messages only appear once so not too big a deal. Overall though the UI is too messy for my liking but, as was mentioned, I spend most of the time gaming so it's whatever I guess. Had an XSS for awhile which reminds me that it could be so much worse. Nintendo seems to be the only one who've figured the kind of minimalistic presentation I'm looking for, though lack of themes bothers a little there as well.

@Ralizah not sure if it's normal but they, according to Twitter at least, did seem to be experiencing some kind of outage in the middle of the night (for me). Don't normally even stay up that late but after fulfilling all my adult/parent-related obligations, that was the time I had to play. So a tad frustrating not to be able to launch any game. Not sure the relationship between servers and licenses and such so idk what happened and I've seen no coverage on it so still a mystery. Oh well, I probably needed the sleep more. Though I wish I hadn't spent an hour and a half troubleshooting. What am I, a PC gamer?

I will admit that, despite the missing features, I do like how uncluttered the Switch UI is.

Have any of you seen the reveal of the upcoming Xbox Series UI update? It looks awful. Like a giant wall filled with advertisements.

@zupertramp It's pretty funny that we've gotten to the point where next-gen consoles require regular license checks before starting games, but I can play pretty much play everything on my PC offline without issue.

It's honestly a pretty worrying trend. If you're supposed to be able to play games offline, there's no reason not being able to verify a license with PSN should stop you from starting it.

Out of interest, were all of these games you couldn't start digital, or did your physical games suffer the same issues?

@Ralizah

It really, really is. I almost exclusively play single player only (or couch co-op) so you'd think that would guard me against outages. Guess not. I can't think of any other device that can remotely and quite arbitrarily stop functioning. Once again rethinking my console loyalty.

Edit: pretty sure they were all digital but don't know for sure. couldn't test for that variable from an all digital PS5. another wrinkle in my embrace of digital console gaming I suspect.

I have not but I can imagine. Where I have a mild distaste for some of the superfluous quirks built into the PlayStation UI, I absolutely detested Microsoft's design. Like it's a nightmare imo, to the point that I hated using that thing. I just don't get what I'm supposed to like about their system of navigation. They build operating systems for a living and that's what they go with?

@zupertramp I mean, this IS the same company that concocted the Windows 8 UI.

"pretty sure they were all digital but don't know for sure. couldn't test for that variable from an all digital PS5. another wrinkle in my embrace of digital console gaming I suspect."

Wouldn't... all of the games be digital by definition if you're using an all-digital PS5?

@JohnnyShoulder Because instead of having the nice game artwork in the background, we now have something that's completely unnecessary when the Activity Cards were already below the Play Game button anyways. I've never been a big fan of the PS5 UI, so maybe I'm taking it "harder" than I should, but it's definitely uglier now when the UI looking nice was one of it's strengths. The screenshot is what comes up when you go over to the game's tile.

You are right about the blue bubble being that, but I have yet to click on Resume Activity to take it away because the game I'm playing right now autosaves and it will likely mess up my save sending the game to another point. I'll do it with something else eventually to get rid of it, but in the end it's annoying because it's just adding to something that was already annoying.

All in all, it's just complete unnecessary and disappointing to add something like this when there is a whole list of things that need to be added or fixed that they still completely ignore.

@Ralizah Nope, no way to disable them. The actual Activity Card system prior to the system update was fine, but this is just stupid, especially since the Activity cards were already right under where the button they added is.

@zupertramp Yeah, in the end it's not quite as big of a deal as I made it out to be since the system is still primarily about playing the games, but it is a completely unnecessary addition, and it just adds to my disappointment with their tech team. There are several other actual issues with the UI that need work, but have gone ignored in the almost two years the PS5 has been out, but we get this instead along with a poor man's version of folders. I don't care about the latter, but it just continues to show how far their tech team has fallen since the previous gen. Aside from it being sluggish at times, I always thought the PS4's UI was good and really reliable.

Well yeah lol. I just mean, say I had a disc edition... would I have been able to play discs. Idk. I do have physical games, just not for the PS5 specifically, and I do actually have a disc edition PS5 - only it's not really accessible at the moment.

Lol I kinda liked Windows 8. Then they destroyed it with 8.1 but I'm fairly happy with 10 and 11 so it's cool, they can't all be winners. Not like they been at this for 30-ish years.

@KilloWertz yeah I read something that said they didn't do folders at launch because they wanted to avoid crunch and apparently only a select few power users actually use them. 🤷 makes me think that many of my complaints just don't bother most people so they aren't a priority.

But I agree, a lot of unnecessary stuff embedded in the UI. Activity cards need a enable/disable toggle. The Explore page needs to be optional. Additionally I should have greater control over news items under Explore.. I don't care about Madden; I never will. It's irrelevant to me so please, allow me some form of curation. I feel like capture gallery should be under Media. Folders need to make a comeback. Real, home screen folders. At the very least there should be a remove from home option. And yes, I want themes again. The individual game dependent mini-themes aren't bad but I'd like broader control over the general look.

Guess I need spend more on the home screen so I can start nit picking the hell out if it!

@zupertramp In general, 90% of the complaints you'll read online about gaming-related stuff doesn't matter to 90%+ of the people who actually buy and play on the consoles. There's a gigantic disconnect between online enthusiast discourse and actual public concerns.

I will say that after I updated my PS5, I couldn’t even tell much of a difference in the UI and Home Screen appearance. I’ve not been a fan of the PS5 UI from the beginning, but I’ve grown accustomed to it now.

@zupertramp Yeah, they did just recently say that.... which I only partially buy. Yes, it is clear they somehow weren't ready for launch and some things had to be sacrificed in order to avoid crunch, but the fact that it took them nearly two years to finally add them (and still not do it right) continues to not improve my lack of confidence in their team right now.

Will everything you mentioned that does need to be done ever get done? Maybe in time, but I wish I could say they will do all that in due time. Like I've said multiple times already I believe, I would have had no doubt in them during the whole PS4 generation. Although they do occasionally add things that are needed and implement them well, too often they have either implemented them poorly or for no reason at all (this whole update for the most part). It also doesn't help that PlayStation doesn't communicate at all, so you have no idea if they are actually working on this or that at all. Based on their track record over the first 22 months, I'm skeptical. It's true that most of this is meaningless in the grand scheme of things as games still play as they would regardless, but there's still no good reason the UI is what it is today with no true signs of improving.

@Th3solution I'll buy you a new pair of glasses if you want... unless you currently aren't playing a game that uses Activity Cards.

@KilloWertz Honestly the prompt to update my controller was the most annoying part of it all. 😂 But I didn’t linger on the home screen and just jumped immediately into GT7. I think GT7 has activity cards, but frankly I just ignore them anyways and barely notice them. I don’t recall the prompt you mentioned showing up for the game, but I clicked the game icon straight away from the XMB so wasn’t lingering on it. I haven’t booted up my PS5 since, but when I get back to my console I’ll check it out more closely. I’m having to be away from home for most of the weekend.

@Th3solution I guess I'm one of the only ones silly enough to wait and boot up the game from the game's page on the home screen rather than just click on the icon itself.

The controller updated really fast as usual, but yeah, it is a bit annoying that they still make you plug the controller in to do so. They are the only console maker to still do that. At least it's very infrequent. Now the battery is low message that pops up is a bit longer now. I have read from a person or two that it actually helped with stick drift, but for me I'm excited to get a more detailed "charge your controller because our battery is crap" message. Well, ok, maybe it's not quite that detailed.

Also, yes, I actually do like the PS5 even if it doesn't seem like it at times.

The share button menu changed! That’s all I noticed 😂

Glad I could be amusing....

I think with me I've either gotten used to the UI by now, or the problems never bothered me that much in the first place. I mean, not everybody is gonna pleased with everything all of the time, so there will always be a few peeps grumbling about certain aspects a console during its lifetime.

I had constant gripes with the PS4 system for instance, but it is probably the console I've spent the most amount of time with and the most amount of money on.

i hate that they changed the record feature in the latest update , it was absolutely 100% ***** fine at first & didn’t need to be changed at all . sony just knocking it out of the park with making stupid and bad decision after bad decision . it’s like they’re trying their hardest to hinder the PS5’s success . one thing for certain the ps5 doesn’t fail to fail me .

New rumor has it that a new PlayStation IP will be announced towards the end of this month (or early October).
Coming from someone who accurately leaked the contents of the Ubisoft stream a few days before it.

Unclear if it's a part of a bigger showcase but it would make sense.

It blooming better be! I don’t think the ‘roadmap’ for future Sony 1st party projects has ever been so unclear.