
What can we tell you about the new PlayStation Store? Well, first of all it’s really convenient, because it exists within the system software rather than a separate app. This means that when you use the console’s search function, for example, it’ll bring up options in the PS Store, and when you click those items you’ll be taken straight to a product page. No loading, no apps.
Even better is that there’s a new Wishlist built into the console, and it’s a good one this time. Many were disappointed at the removal of the feature from the web-based PS Store, but we had an inkling the platform holder was planning an upgrade for the PS5. And now the embargo has lifted on all next-gen coverage, we can confirm it – Wishlists, at last!
You can add any games or DLC you’re interested in to your Wishlist, and you’ll receive updates and notifications about them over time. While it’s still early days and we’re yet to properly test the feature out, we get the impression that you’ll be alerted if, for example, any of the titles on your Wishlist go on sale. You can also follow games for updates, like new DLC launching.
To be honest, we’re not overly enthusiastic about the design of the new PS Store, but functionally it does feel like a step-forward. Subscriptions are way better presented, and it’s a lot easier to see what’s new. Sony also appears eager to editorialise a bit better, so there’s an entire Collections tab made up of the company’s recommendations – presumably it’ll run themed promotions here.
It’s worth mentioning that both PS Plus and PS Now have separate apps on the console, curating content from the two subscriptions. In the case of PS Plus, you can quickly and easily see the new free games, as well as any other bonus content packs and perks. We’re sure the Japanese giant will be refining all of this over time, but even at launch, it’s a significant upgrade over PS4.
Comments (64)
Yeah the options was in the new PS app to get reminders from the wishlist so... no surprise here tbh.
Wait, what? The full embargo has now been lifted?
Can you clarify if I can "convert" my PS4 games to the PS5 version, or will I need to download them all again?
Yeah, but will they return in the browser version? Or maybe in the mobile app? The console itself is where i interact with the store the least.
absolutely useless, this should be standard without question, a completely common sense way to keep track of games you're interested in
@Bad-MuthaAdebisi yes but it was always on the cards as the settings for it were there day 1.
Also Sony is moving way faster than the Epic store. Each small function takes months for them to implement.
Wishlist is essential for keeping tabs on games that are out of your price range but pop up in flash sales 😎
Hope the PS5 gets it's web browser back, on PS4 I would pick a trophy and press options to search, very handy for finding a YouTube guide without using my phone.
Do my old wishlist games gone or it's already there?
When you overhaul your website/service/product for no reason, removing some useful features or shortcuts, and everyone praises you for finally adding back a feature
When can PS Now be talked about? I don't understand why it wasn't able to be discussed before. I'd like to know if streaming PS3 games are better on PS5.
Well thank goodness for that!!
@Thesnipergecko You can either play the PS4 version, or the PS5 version (if available) of a game. You literally pick the one you wish to download and use.
@Snake_V5 Basically there's various embragoes for aspects until the release. Honestly, because they're still finalising various things. Like how yesterday mine downloaded the 20.20 update etc. I assume Push Square staff experienced the same.
Some things they just don't want people to show because they just aren't quite there with commuting to a final idea yet. Same happened with PS4, people just weren't aware of it.
All I can say is PSNow is not worse.
Good for future PS5 owners but is there any sign of this being added to the PS4 store? I'll be sticking with the previous generation for the time being and this really is a necessary feature.
@God_of_Nowt The PS5 is released tomorrow though so surely it should be talked about today sometime? What would be the point tomorrow, console is out anyway. I was just curious whether PS3 games stream any better than on PS4.
@God_of_Nowt Yes, but what I want to know is do I need to download the game again or can the PS5 use some of the files from my PS4 so I dont need to download the entire game again
@Thesnipergecko I've had to download the games again. As it's completely different file structures and essentially two different games. So it shall be the case of downloading again.
@God_of_Nowt Good to know thank you. I was hoping to save some time come launch day. Already have Valhalla, Miles Morales, Cold War and Sackboy pre-loaded on my PS4...
It's going to take over 24 hours to download them again with my internet speeds lol.
@Snake_V5 Oh I agree, but this whole launch has been a joke embargo wise compared to PS4. Anyone in the media will tell you that.
And frankly, I haven't noticed anything different. It does as one expects and from the PS4, I'm on ethernet to the router and I've not personally noticed much better performance. There's slight changes here and there same with PSPlus integration, but a lot of the issues with PSNow is server side.
Hence they're using more and more of Microsoft's server technology in an agreement with them.
So, really, not that exciting or different. Which I assume is why they're not allowing people to show it.
@Thesnipergecko Yeah, I don't know why some media outlets haven't focused on things like that more. They're allowed to. But yeah, I have had to redownload everything I wanted to have as the PS5 version.
I feel your pain with connections though, been there and done that. I remember taking 22 hours to download Uncharted on PS3 once when I had to use a backup internet. Haha.
@God_of_Nowt Are download speeds better on PS5 though compared to PS4?
@God_of_Nowt Yeah being all digital with no physical games on launch for me this time around. I guess I'll have to play Astrobot or play some of my PS4 games off my external for a bit.
@Snake_V5 Much better! Like a lot better! Still not what you'd get on a PC LAN connection, but much faster. It actually feels worth it to connect to ethernet now, where as before depending on your router WiFi wasn't much worse on PS4.
@God_of_Nowt I guess part of me didn't expect PS Now to be any better on PS5. It just furthermore proves the point that PS Now is just not worth it. I'm not an Xbox fanboy or anything but Game Pass Ultimate is world's ahead of PS Now.
@Thesnipergecko Astro will keep you busy for a good few hours, it's worth it for the introduction to Dualsense alone. Plus it's just bloody fun. I think a few are really underestimating how much fun it genuinely is.
Spiderman for example doesn't offer the Dualsense experience I was quite hoping for. It's just not quite as needed really or offering much of interest. In my opinion anyway. But you'll get that at release especially, Dualsense when used right is truly shocking.
In Astro there's a bit where I fire a gun and it fights against me on the trigger. That immediately made me think of how well it could be used for say FPS games, swords, all sorts.
It's got a whole lot of potential, so whilst downloading your games, check out Astro and you'll be happy.
@Snake_V5 Yeah, sadly PSNow is great for someone like me who genuinely doesn't have time to even keep up with game releases at the best of time. Ironically considering what I do for a living I guess.
But it doesn't offer the breadth a lot of more hardcore gamers want. I'm confident it'll get there.
There's some things I can't mention that are changing, which you will appreciate, but it'll be interesting where it leads in the next year or so.
For now though, the store is okay, much faster, but okay. PSNow is well, what we already know, but I know they're working on some changes there.
I think this upcoming year will be quite interesting considering the things they've talked about at least wanting to try out.
They need a better method of PSPlus and PSnow being interested maybe and just generally feeling more of a value proposition for consumers.
I get them both free, so I won't lie, I don't really get impacted. But I know my friends would appreciate more value. I just don't know how they'd offer it with streaming quality being horrendous for most in the world realistically.
If Sony will send me a message whenever a wishlist game goes on sale then I might just turn notifications on.
@God_of_Nowt Are these changes your talking about things you'll notice as soon as you get the PS5? I wish Sony would make a subscription where you get PS Now and PS Plus in one package.
@God_of_Nowt Can you shed any light on the Create button? No one seems to of covered it.
Can you record 4K60 HDR? Can you export files to an External HDD? How long can you record for? etc
@Snake_V5 You will notice changes, and there's more to come. I know for example they've overhauled the whole code for the PSNow App itself. So it'll work a lot more how I truly think they wanted it to from the get go.
A lot will come next year, same with the external storage and internal too, there's a lot they want to shout about, but then people would want it all now and not understand the reasoning for having to wait.
I'm just waiting on an extra stand at the moment, as I broke mine, but other than my own stupidity I'd say I am confident there's nothing that will truly disappoint you.
Plus and Now combining is something I'm confident is coming. It has been talked about for years, even Devs I've worked with have asked for it jokingly.
Problem they have is they still need a separate subscription, for those who only want one or the other.
That's good to hear then if PS Now changes are happening, nice to know there not just leaving it untouched forever. I think the biggest disappointment for me was PS5 not being backwards compatible with PS1, PS2 and PS3. It can't be an issue with the hardware, it's just that Sony doesn't want to do it.
@Thesnipergecko There are YouTube videos on it according to my missus. Who got bored of my showing her and said "I've seen it on YouTube already!"
4K and 60 with HDR is entirely a thing, and for as long as you have internal space. Then, once recorded you can use the new editing suite to edit, or just transfer it on an external drive and then edit on PC.
The editing software, Sharefactory also allows 4K HDR editing. And it's quick!
Oh, and it's always recording like the PS4, but that's just 1080p 60, so if you don't plan to record and just want a moment of previous gameplay, it will be 1080p. And from memory I think it's about 60 minutes of your previous gameplay it's recording.
Containers for the files are WebM and MP4.
For some casual people it essentially removes the need for Elgato etc. But of course, recording straight to external is still a massive benefit of those types of capture devices.
@Snake_V5 The main issue is to have cell engine compatibility, it's easier to actually slap a cell on the PS5. As emulating the cell perfectly is just a nightmare in all honesty. Us Devs have tried it, and it fails, hard. And yes, even with public emulators, they barely are to the standard of what a consumer product should aim for. And to get past that standard they'd have to spend so much it truly wouldn't be worth it. From a R&D factor, hardware factor and software engineering side too.
Even getting some PS4 games to run, which is basic in some sense, requires Sony to run the PS5 almost to a point to begin with it caused errors galore.
Xbox wins in this area, but that's because they basically have kept their architecture similar, just adding the next best version of it each time.
Sony, as we all know didn't go that route. Trust me, if Sony could sell you all the PS1,2 and 3 back catalogue for say £40-50 a pop, they would. Nintendo are having a field day doing that with Mario 64 for example.
But, it's truly hundreds of millions in funding required at this point for a project not even 50% of the community would likely use.
Sony wants you to play their front facing catalogue, if you want their previous gens, the best way to that is always going to be to purchase the original console. Sadly.
But yes, Sony do want to do it. It would benefit them massively in the long run charging people to play games they've already played and moved on from. But it's just too costly and too complicated.
We as Devs for example still didn't get all the benefit out of the cell engine. So to this day it's still not been fully utilised. It's largely just a mistake Sony would rather forget. Unless it's the Tempest engine which uses an element of cell haha.
@God_of_Nowt Super, appreciate the information.
I'll be recording and editing on PC. Though I will give share factory a try no doubt. I returned my Elgato 4K60 a few months ago and have been holding off getting another one, waiting to see what the PS5 was capable of doing.
@God_of_Nowt But the thing is people say this that backwards compatible is something that most people wouldn't use but they would. If you look at Xbox, half of people on Xbox have played a backwards compatible game and it's a staple of Xbox. Sony must know how successful it is for Xbox and you would think they would want to do the same. Surely Sony know that when it comes to backwards there not even in the same league as Microsoft.
Regarding PS3 backwards compatibility, even the community has got a PS3 emulator on PC that can play like 60% of PS3 games even in 4K etc. I find it hard to believe that Sony themselves that created the PS3, that have all the source code for it can't pull it off when the community can with a PS3 emulator. If the public can Surely Sony can. Especially PS1 and PS2, no excuse with PS1 and PS2, I doubt hardly any power would be needed for that.
Why the hell did they get rid of it in the first place?
I usually just check my wishlist when there is are some discounts and buy whatever I want, but I haven't bought a single game since they got rid of the wishlist. I guess I'll wait for Sony to restore the wishlist on the website
@Thesnipergecko It's odd more hasn't been discussed about the feature. I'm impressed, it really does mean a lot of YouTubers at least starting out have one less thing they absolutely need. As the quality of PS4 recordings as we all know were dire.
@Rhaoulos My best guess would be that they're building whole knew infrastructure for the shopping side of things. So completely rebuilding their website backend. Plus, rebuilding the same elements for the PS5 integration.
And when going to an entirely knew database structure and backend, it no doubt brings up issues, and as such they want to start with the minimum and add bits as they go along. That way it saves what would be a well featured store with a mountain of errors.
At least that's my understanding of it. I look forward to more features though. It's a bit bland for my liking.
@God_of_Nowt I don't suppose you've tested if Sackboy can be played with a PS4 controller on the PS5?
I can't justify buying a third DualSense controller so my wife can join in with my daughter and myself.
@Snake_V5 It's simply down to in most consumer survey's, most closed door feedback and so on, they just don't get a massive demand for it. Same as if you think a vocal minority who want it, they aren't even half of the over 120 million PS4 gamers out there currently.
So whilst yes, a lot do seem to want it in forums or say websites like this, what we see here is a tiny minority of the player base.
Focus groups, surveys and so forth are where the true feedback comes from, and sadly for people like yourself, the fact still remains most would prefer to move on game wise than focus on games that are up to 25 years old.
I would be all for it, but it's a whole lot of work, and something I wouldn't want to be part of helping with. It's just such a sinkhole for no guarantee.
Then from the community emulator side for PS3, yes we Devs have seen it. It's frankly horendously unreliable, many features aren't actually enabled and it so on. It's a great attempt and I admire the gusto of the teams behind it, but it's no where near a reliable option.
If they added backwards compatibility, and spent all that time and money on it, even if they got it to work 99 percent like they have with PS4, you're talking of tens of thousands of games they would need to not only test, but thousands would require patches and tweaks to the engines.
Patches for games where developers have now closed in some cases, for SDK's that aren't even security patches anymore.
It's just a true nightmare of a project. It really is just best to buy the hardware ourselves and play them that way.
Xbox does win in this area, but Microsoft and Sony know they won't be the best in every department, they never try to be. One will always do something better than the other. It's just fans get angry when the competition does something different or better, but that's the nature of competition, it's going to lead to some differences.
The fact remains it's just not financially viable for them as an option compared to say releasing a new AAA game from Naughty Dog, where it's just a much safer return on investment.
I love that people want backwards compatibility, but I would just encourage them to pick up old consoles. As it's just not ever going to be supported on Sony side and so the subject is moot.
@Thesnipergecko If playing the PS4 version on PS5, yes. If downloading the PS5 version, no.
Basically, you'll want another Dualsense. I know, I'm in the same boat and it's annoying.
Yay at last i won't have to write down games on a bit of paper i want anymore to remember.
I get emails from Nintendo when a game that I've to my wishlist on my Switch is on offer, which is a blessing and a curse at the same time. So it is neat that Sony are doing something similar
@God_of_Nowt I know they have to update the database, but when you own the old database, design the new one and create a new system/service/website, you take into account the functionalities and make sure to keep all the very useful ones.
It can't be an oversight to omit the wishlist. My best guess is that they want to make it harder for people like me to buy heavily discounted games from a limited list and force them to act on impulse when they see bigger sales listings. I only create a wishlist to limit myself to specific games to avoid being the idiot I was back when I bought loads of games on Steam just in case I'd want to play them one day.
I only hope they kept existing wishlist in their databases so it can be restored when they decide to add it back to the website.
@Crowley22g You won't need to search online for guides, when they showed off the UI the guides would be there on the game page of the console.
I'm hoping that we will eventually get gifting.
@God_of_Nowt I see what you mean. One last question please. Could you tell me whether the trophy picture icons are bigger on PS5 than PS4? Do the PS4 trophy picture icons look bigger too? I'm referring to the little square pictures next to the trophy icons. They have always been small on PS3, PS4 and PS Vita.
But will it come back to the app?
@Snake_V5 If you mean the auto photos that are taken, there's the same feature to take the photos when you gain a trophy on a system level, and a few seconds, 15 seconds I believe of 1080p footage of the trophy being gained.
Then when you drill into the UX, they are a little bigger as thumbnails. So they are certainly more visible as such and a little larger.
@God_of_Nowt I don't mean the photos that you take or that are automatically taken. I'm referring to the trophy picture icons that represent each and every trophy. Are they bigger than what they are on PS4? And does it stand for PS4 games as well as PS5 games too? They have always been small across PS3, PS4 and PS Vita.
@Snake_V5 Ohhh, yes, a little larger in the list mode. So when you list your trophies, it's slightly larger for the icons on the right. Then towards the top left of the screen there's massive icons that show a list of how many you have in each, bronze, gold etc.
Then the icons for the games, tiny.
The largest images I've found have been when I go into the memory management screen and the game bar.
@Snake_V5 A lot is due to change though. Much how the PS4 UI did over the months and years following launch.
But this UI/UX is particularly last minute. And I'm not going to defend them, in some cases you can tell. It's not remotely sensible in its ways of doing things in some ways.
You can tell the UI at least is just only just ready haha.
@God_of_Nowt So you're saying that you expect Sony to change the design layout of the UI etc over time like how Microsoft do with Xbox? Usually Sony have never really changed the UI, they usually leave it alone throughout that consoles generation.
@Snake_V5 There's a lot of changes to features and elements of the UI in the sub menus on PS4 that are there now that weren't at launch. So yes, they'll definitely be adding a lot more functionality. Right now there's a few backwards steps and some ways of doing things actually take longer on PS5 versus PS4. As in to get to or to select.
I mean we as Devs were using the modified PS4 UI for a long time before it switched, so not even Devs have had access to the new UI for as long as we did with say PS4 development.
The whole look of it shall likely remain the same, but options and ways of doing things wise, a lot will likely change. Just because some things just don't make sense.
Like how currently there's no way to see patch notes for a PS5 game. As in a history of them, where as there is on PS4. It's also the same with tiles for Trophies during a playthrough, you have to drill down a lot to sometimes get basic information.
It feels complete as in it works, but it doesn't feel complete as in intuitive. But it took PS4 a good while to add various things into the UI people now use regularly.
@God_of_Nowt Thanks for the information today, you're a cool guy 😎
I really hope the rumoured MGS1 Remake and remastered versions of MGS2, MGS3 and MGS4 are true on PS5.
@Snake_V5 Haha, thank you. I'm always around to ask questions. If I don't know the answer I usually try to find out.
Ah, yes, I'm not going to comment on MGS. But wouldn't that be something!
@God_of_Nowt I don't know if you can comment but would you say that the Xbox Series X is more powerful than PS5? I've always seen it as Series X, power. PS5, speed.
@Snake_V5 The Xbox Series X is more powerful in some respects, as in raw power. It's certainly slower though.
However, the power on paper it has over PS5 doesn't account for when games coming out later next year and onwards take advantage of hardware in the PS5 that can achieve the same or similar with less.
Like Sony's geometry engine, that essentially takes a lot of work away from key areas, as does the fact the flash controller essentially has data ready almost instantly, not queued for processing. There's lots more, but currently the difference you'll see, if any isn't going to always go to Xbox or PS5. It'll be pretty even as far as crossplatform, then the PS5 will still likely have the edge in first party. Simply due to how it does things (simplying massively), doesn't require the power Xbox has in some areas.
The whole point of the PS5 is do to as much as possible with less, simplying the development process. The whole point of Xbox is to throw as much power at the problem as possible, which is far less reliable of a form of development aims.
It'll be a close match this generation.
@Crowley22g ps5 has something does that they showed u in ps5 UI REVEAL lol so no need for Google app but wouldn't surprise me if they added one later
@God_of_Nowt Sorry to keep pestering you but you seem to have all the answers lol
Can you limit the number of concurrent downloads? i.e. only download 1 thing at a time, unlike the PS4 trying to download 4x80 gig games at once.
@Thesnipergecko Haha, no worries at all! I certainly don't have all the answers, I just have a console that you'll have soon too!
Oh and you can still pause, but I haven't come across the function quite like you're asking. But, I haven't tested it too much either in that area. I'll take a look for you though!
@God_of_Nowt Thanks! Yeah I'm going to boot up my PS5 and it's probably going to attempt to download 200gig of games at the same time. I'd rather not have to manually manage the downloads by pausing and unpausing them. I'd rather it prioritized a list and did them 1 at a time.
But can we gift games yet?
@Falkirk4life Thanks, saw that feature for game help, that might be fine for PS5 games going forward. I'm thinking older PS4 titles. Guess I'll find out next Thursday if it turns up as promised 👍🙂
@JohnnyShoulder Might be the case for PS5 titles going forward. Not holding my breath for PS4 titles. I'll find out next Thursday if it turns up 👍🙂
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