PlayStation 5

Well, I have 2 external drives, a 3.1 1TB SSD and a 3.0 4 TB HDD. Was hoping to use the bigger drive as the archive drive and the SSD only to play PS4 games off of, and well I can but the copy was easily 4 times slower than the SSD, ooph.

Still I’m doing ok on space as long as I don’t succumb to digital hoarder tendencies (I haven’t played this is over 6 months but maybe I should keep it on the drive anyway?)

Is there a way to quickly move back and forth between your screenshots and a game? I’m using a screenshot for reference, and having to swap back and forth means going:
Home>>settings>>storage >>media gallery>>choose image

Kind of a pain. And when done, if you go back to your game you lose that and have to do it all over again.

Quick switching to an open app was done by double clicking the PS button on the PS4. Not sure if that works on the PS5, but you could try.

I think the last of the quick menu items (activities?) is the last screen shot you took. All the way to the right. If you select it you can go through your past captures.

A few weeks in, some little things that I notice:

The PS5 is quiet. Except when there’s a disc in the drive, and then it spins up every hour or so, even not playing the game on the disc. I haven’t tried any PS5-optimized titles that might really heat it up.

I still hold the PS button to put the system to sleep. And then see I have to it it instead. I think this is going to fade to nothing in another couple months.

I’m not making use of the app switcher yet. PS4 games don’t seem to have a quick resume if going between multiple (as opposed to switching between one game and a video app or system apps). The old game just shuts down and has to load normally when switching back to it.

Trophies load fast. I browse them a lot. Maybe this isn’t as good of a thing as I first thought.

The home screen seems improved but still has these elements of non-configurability that annoyed me on the PS4. I’m happy that media apps have their own partition. In there I no longer have to put up with paid placements for popular services I’m not subscribed to being in the way of the ones I actually use. That used to annoy me tons on the PS4. But, it seems like it persists on the games screen. I don’t pay for PSNow. Because I wondered what that icon was, it’s still near the front of my game icon list, and I can’t remove it. Store, news, Now, Plus–that’s two too many things in a short list.

The fact that it has light shining from its fins I thought would catch my eye in dark sections or during movies. It actually hasn’t so far. Maybe they’re crazy and dim if the screen has less total brightness being displayed. Either way, no problem yet with what I feared would be a sore spot.

This is my favorite controller ever. Shape in hand, grippiness of thumb stick, button resistance.

This studio is a bunch of devs that worked on multiplayer stuff like Destiny, CoD, Apex legends. The MP exclusive is one of the areas Sony was a little weak last gen so this should help shore that up.

I assume there’s no way to turn off the lights on the PS5 while it’s on or in rest mode?

Anyone know why the servers have been down for almost 2 hours? Pretty worrisome. Hope it’s not another hack.

It’s back up

Small change I noticed: one of the recent firmware updates added some granularity to the HDMI CEC options, letting you choose if powering on the PS5 turns on your other devices and if turning your other devices off puts the PS5 into rest mode. Which is huge given the initial implementation would turn the system off and make you run through storage maintenance on next boot. A welcome addition.

We shall make it … smaller … inside.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-10/sony-warns-tight-playstation-5-supply-to-extend-into-next-year

This headline is a bit misleading because what Sony actually says is that even if they manage to build way more PS5s than they did PS4s, the demand is so high it still won’t be satisfied. From what I read the “intent to purchase” for PS5 this early in the gen is just at an unprecedented level.

I am seeing PS5s on Sears website but they are all expensive bundles.

They’re reseller bundles and are dramatically overpriced. I’m not desperate enough to overpay for one of these by $600.

I figured I’d wait out the rush and snag one sometime this year. I guess I was sorely mistaken as I’ve only seen it once where I could buy it and it was an expensive Gamestop bundle. Looks like I’m waiting until 2022 when maybe it will be available? :)

It’s really a shame this is so hard for people to get. It’s a fantastic system and the first one in my life that makes me consider getting games on console rather than PC when both are available. (Always been a PC guy).

If Windows would get it’s gaming HDR in shape, it would be a much easier decision for me in terms of console non-exclusives. But the PS 4 Pro and 5 have spoiled me, and it can be hard to choose between super-hi res and that lovely, lovely lighting.

Agreed, pair it with an OLED and it’s a thing of beauty