keyword: Playstation

where-to-preorder-the-new-black-and-red-dualsense-controllers-for-the-ps5

Where to preorder the new black and red DualSense controllers for the PS5

With the PlayStation 5, Sony opted for a less traditional color scheme, one that ditched the classic jet-black exterior found on earlier PlayStation consoles in favor of a black-and-white finish. For some, the new exterior was an acquired taste, as was the matching aesthetic found on the accompanying DualSense controller.

On Thursday, however, the company announced two new color schemes for the DualSense — at least for those lucky enough to have landed a PS5 console amid the ongoing supply shortages. Dubbed “midnight black” and “cosmic red,” both controllers offer the same features as the standard DualSense, including a built-in microphone, haptic feedback, and adaptive triggers designed to make games more immersive.

Right now, both are currently available for preorder ahead of their launch on June 18th.

Where to buy the midnight black DualSense controller

Like the standard DualSense controller, the midnight black DualSense will retail for $69.99 at launch. It’s currently available for preorder at Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and PlayStation Direct, the latter of which will ship the controller a week ahead of other retailers on June 11th. It’s not an exact match for previous DualShock controllers — the two-tone design features multiple shades of black and subtle gray detailing — but it’s far closer than the current DualSense, which opts for a white-and-black build. If you’ve wrapped your PS5 in Dbrand’s Darkplates, well now you can have a matching controller.

Where to buy the cosmic red DualSense controller

According to Sony, the color palette found on the cosmic red DualSense controller is modeled after the various shades of red scattered throughout the cosmos. That added interstellar inspiration will cost you, however, as the cosmic red edition runs a bit pricier at $74.99. It features a two-tone design like the midnight black DualSense, and it’s currently available for preorder at Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and PlayStation Direct.

Like the midnight black model, the red-and-black edition is also slated to ship via PlayStation Direct on June 11th, a week ahead of other retailers.

sony-announces-new-black-and-red-dualsense-controllers-for-the-ps5-you-still-can’t-buy

Sony announces new black and red DualSense controllers for the PS5 you still can’t buy

Sony has announced its first new colors for PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller: a “cosmic red” model that features a two-tone red and black design, and an all-black “midnight black” version that brings to mind the classic PS2, PS3, and PS4 controller designs.

Until now, Sony has only offered the DualSense controller in a black-and-white color scheme to match the PS5 (which features a similar contrasting theme), so the new color options are certainly welcome ones.

The midnight black option is particularly notable: the primarily white DualSense was a big departure for Sony’s designs, which have largely trended toward black and gray consoles and controllers by default for the entire life span of the PlayStation brand. The new black option (technically still a two-tone design, with two different shades of black) is closer to those other controllers, though.

Right now, Sony has only announced new colors for the controller, although the PlayStation 5 console does feature removable face plates — so it’s possible that the company could introduce matching plates for the PS5 sometime in the future. Enterprising companies like Dbrand have already started to fill that gap, though, with their own third-party options.

The two new color schemes should be available to purchase sometime next month (Sony says that dates will be dependent on individual retailers). Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but for reference, the standard DualSense controller costs $69.99.

Of course, all that assumes that you can find a PS5 in the first place — something that Sony admits might be difficult to do until 2022 at the earliest.

here’s-how-e3’s-all-virtual-event-will-work-this-year

Here’s how E3’s all-virtual event will work this year

The world’s biggest gaming showcase, E3, is going all-virtual for the first time in its history, with organizers revealing today how they plan to keep enthusiasts interested without the sights and sounds of the show floor. The virtual E3 will run from June 12th to June 15th. The showcase will include an online portal with access to virtual exhibitor booths with video content and articles, live streams, and social elements like forums, customizable user profiles, leaderboards, and “lounges.” Registration is free and opens later this month.

This will be the second year in a row that E3 has not taken place in person in Los Angeles due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the show’s cancellation was announced in March, and the show’s organizers, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), did not present an official online version of the event. In its place, a collection of digital events emerged, collectively called the Summer Game Fest. This year, however, the ESA is coordinating a centralized virtual E3 event, while the Summer Game Fest is also returning.

Along with its virtual show floor, the E3 app and portal will host video streams with interactive elements like viewer polls and featured tweets. Broadcasts will include press conferences, industry panels, and game showcases. In addition to the official app and portal, streams will also be available via the official E3 Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook pages.

As well as the public show, there’ll also be a “media access week” running from June 7th in which the ESA says media will be able to use the online portal and app to connect directly with E3 exhibitors. Today’s press release doesn’t detail exactly who these exhibitors are, but last month the ESA announced that E3’s lineup would include Nintendo, Xbox, Capcom, Ubisoft, Take-Two Interactive, and Warner Bros. Games. Sony and EA were absent from the list. The PlayStation manufacturer skipped E3 2019 and announced it would not be attending E3 2020 prior to its cancellation. Meanwhile, EA will host its own EA Play Live event the following month in July. Despite being on the ESA’s original list, Konami later announced in a tweet that it would not be participating at this year’s E3.

E3 has evolved a lot over its history. Although certain aspects like the big publisher press conferences have been publicly viewable for years, until recently, the in-person show itself was an industry and media-only affair. It was only in 2017 that the ESA officially opened its doors to the public with tickets priced at $250. This year’s format is dropping the high price of attending in person, though it’s unclear how much of the magic of the show floor can be recreated in virtual booths.

Update May 13th, 9:18AM ET: Updated to note Konami’s tweet confirming it will not be presenting at this year’s E3.

sony-has-25-ps5-games-in-the-works,-including-characters-you’ve-never-seen

Sony has 25 PS5 games in the works, including characters you’ve never seen

Sony is apparently looking to release more than 25 PlayStation 5 games under its PlayStation Studios brand. And “nearly half” of them will not be sequels or spinoffs, according to Wired’s interview with PlayStation Studio lead (and former Guerrilla Games managing director) Hermen Hulst.

That could theoretically be a lot more games than the four first-party Sony titles we already know about:

  • Horizon Forbidden West (2021)
  • Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart (June 2021)
  • God of War: Ragnarok (2021)
  • Gran Turismo 7 (2022)

Twenty-one additional games could be a huge shot in the arm for the PS5, especially considering how slowly exclusives are trickling out; Gran Turismo has already slipped to next year.

Sony also may not be completely on the hook for producing all of the games that are unaccounted for, though. The PlayStation Studios branding is a bit murky. When it was first announced, Eric Lempel, the head of global marketing at Sony Interactive Entertainment, told GamesIndustry.biz that the branding “doesn’t mean that we outright own the developer, but it just means we brought it up as a first-party. In a lot of cases we don’t own the developer.”

Wired specifically name-drops indie games from outside studios partnered with Sony, including the upcoming Kena: Bridge of Spirits, and a game from Haven Studios. It’s unclear whether those and similar titles will be counted toward the more-than-25 figure. Sony didn’t immediately respond to a request for clarification.

Also, if Haven Studios doesn’t sound familiar, it’s because it was just formed in March when noted industry figure Jade Raymond left Google when it shut down its in-house Stadia development studios. That speaks to the idea that we many not be seeing some of these games for quite a while. Hulst did mention that some of the games would be small, however, likely taking less development time. That, along with the fact that many of the games won’t be part of existing franchises, is exciting for non-AAA aficionados like myself and could help relieve worries that it’ll take a decade for all these games to come out.

And while the games may not all be first-party games, that’s not necessarily a bad thing: Returnal was a PlayStation Studios game made by an outside developer, and it’s an example of an original game that’s received a lot of praise since its release.

It’s also worth noting that these games won’t necessarily be exclusive to the PS5. MLB: The Show 21 is a PlayStation Studios game that’s available on Xbox, and Horizon Zero Dawn has gotten a (somewhat troubled) PC port. Sony has also said it’s interested in bringing more of its games to the PC in the future. There are also, of course, games that will come out for PS4 as well as PS5: we know that Forbidden West will be released on the older PlayStation.

Even with all the caveats, it’s exciting to hear that Sony is working on a slate of games for the PS5, likely far beyond what we’ve already heard about. With Sony’s latest earnings report indicating that it’s sold 7.8 million PS5s, there are a lot of customers who will be looking for experiences that justify the cost of the PS5, and it seems like Sony is trying to make sure it’s got its bases covered.

valve-head-gabe-newell-hints-at-upcoming-console-news

Valve Head Gabe Newell Hints at Upcoming Console News

(Image credit: Valve)

Gabe Newell, the head of Valve Software, hinted to students in New Zealand that the company might expand its Steam platform, or at least some games, to the console space later this year. The comment is vague at best, but at least it shows that the owner of one of the largest game distribution platforms has not given up its living room gaming plans. 

Earlier this week, Gabe Newell spoke to students at Sancta Maria College in Auckland, New Zealand, and was asked whether Steam would be “porting any games on consoles, or [would] it just stay on PC?” The response was imprecise, but we cannot really expect anyone to disclose business plans at an event like this. 

“You will get a better idea of that by the end of this year… and it won’t be the answer you expect,” Newell said. “You’ll say, ‘Ah-ha! Now I get what he was talking about.'” 

The whole conversation had been recorded by a student who later uploaded it to Reddit, Ars Technica first reported.  

Valve’s track record with game consoles in particular and living room gaming in general has been bumpy at best. On the one hand, the company successfully ported its games to consoles from Microsoft and Sony in the past, including the very successful The Orange Box on Xbox 360 and PS3. On the other hand, Valve’s Steam Machines initiatives has failed, just like its console oriented SteamOS. Valve’s Steam Link, which allowed to stream games from a local PC to a TV, has also failed to get popular enough for the company to keep selling the product. 

For gamers, getting their Steam libraries on consoles would be a thing of dreams. It’s unclear how Steam would work on those systems, though, as Nintendo, Xbox and Sony all run their own exclusive stores on their platforms. Furthermore, far from all Steam games have versions for consoles, and developing a Windows or Linux emulator for Xbox or PlayStation is one heck of a task. Streaming games to consoles might be a way into the living room for Valve, but controller options may be an obstacle there.

Newell has been living in New Zealand since March 2020, when he was stuck as the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Since he doesn’t often do big appearances in the games industry, it makes some sense that a bunch of New Zealand students were the first to hear his thoughts on upcoming announcements.