Ahead of the PlayStation 5's launch, we learned what the console looks like, which PS4 games will be backward compatible, what its launch accessories will be, and more. One thing we've been waiting to see, however, is the PS5 UI. We'd heard the start-up's tone before when the PS5 was first revealed, and then, humorously, in a recent Burger King tease on the fast-food chain's Twitter account.
Following a recent PS5 hardware failure, where it was confirmed that the PS5's size was mainly due to its thermal shredding fan and the proprietary SSD was soldered into the system, Sony has finally given the world his first look at the PlayStation 5 user interface.
Hideaki Nishino, head of PlayStation's planning and management team, said that "PS5's user experience has been designed from the ground up to take advantage of the console's capabilities complementing this next generation's transformative games. ".
In addition to pressing the PS button to bring up the UI and the initial profile selection screen, the PS5 UI is noticeably different from the PlayStation 4 UI, offering a very different UX when it appears in game.
Sony clarified that the showcase was "captured on a pre-production PS5 environment, so there may be some small wrinkles or minor changes" in the final product. The system was booted from rest mode, with Sackboy: A Big Adventure already running in the background. The splash screen that players will see when booting from a cold boot has also been shown.
Playstation 5 Cards
The first noticeable change between the PS5 UI and the PS4 UI is what Sony calls "maps." These are part of the PlayStation 5 control center and perform several functions. Some cards allow users to view news and information about followed games. Others allow quick access to shareable media, such as screenshots and videos.
Activities
Activities, however, are the most notable part of the UI. These cards display in-game activity information for the game currently playing on the PlayStation 5. Activities tell players how far they are in a specific level or quest, for example, how much time is left in the activity and any uncompleted goals affecting the completion percentage.
Sid Shuman, senior director of global content communications at Sony, said that "some activities even allow you to go directly to that part of the game." He demonstrated this in Sackboy: A Big Adventure by leaping from the overworld of the game to an unfinished level, rendered lightning-fast by the system's SSD.
Game help
Helping with play is perhaps the most interesting part of the activities. Drawing an activity card in-game and then clicking on an activity's unfinished objectives spawns an in-game help video. This video provides "hints" on how to complete the current objective.
These cards can be put into picture-in-picture mode so players can follow the video from start to finish without pausing or interrupting gameplay. At the time of this writing, it's unclear how many PS5 games will initially take advantage of this feature, although we know this is a developer option and not required.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Hideaki Nishino said the videos are generated by in-game metadata and imply that these could, in theory, be even more contextual than what is seen in Sackboy:
So activities are how the inside of the game context is exposed – we ask developers to expose this data so that it can be integrated into the system UI and can be displayed as card, so it's one thing
The other one is the game's Official Help – so we can show the game's Official Help video when you're stuck in the game, you can show the maps and you can watch it... So those are all metadata from the game and link to associated data.
Evenings
Starting a voice chat on the PS5 while gaming is similar to starting one on the PlayStation 4, except like all the other UI and UX features we've seen for the PlayStation, you don't have to quit. the game you're playing to accept a chat invite or join a party.
Split screen is also back, but this time another player's video can be viewed in real time. Sid Shuman shows how, like Game Help, videos can be viewed picture-in-picture and pinned anywhere on the screen. This allows you to play your game while your friend is playing theirs.
There's a lot more in the video above, including how taking and sharing photos has changed, how games and media apps have sleek, separate tabs, and how the PlayStation Store is integrated into the interface. user this time. Be sure to check it out.
The PlayStation 5 is slated for release on November 12 in the US and select territories and November 19 globally.
[Source: PlayStation Blog, Eurogamer]
