No wonder the Hitman trilogy is ending in two months. I’d be bouncing off the walls to make a 007 game.
Fun fact: The last 007 game was release in 2012. It easily could be a decade by the time this project is released.
Month: November 2020
PS5 at First Blush
Next-gen is finally current-gen. With both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X in the house, I feel extremely happy and excited for the future of gaming. I don’t think it is any secret that I was more excited to get my hands on the PS5 than the Xbox Series X. Finally having the white, curvy monolith standing next to my TV makes the future of gaming a reality to me. Here are my first impressions after having a PS5 for a few days.
The Console
After a tantalizing reveal process led to a surprising console design, the white and black design has grown on me. I think the PS5 is sleek and sexy. It reminds me of the original PS3 with its shiny and curvy exterior.
The disc drive resonates in a low hum when copying data from the disc to the SSD. It’s actually much more prominent than I hoped for. When playing a PS5 game, the disc is solely used to verify the game since all the data is required to run off the SSD. I tried The Last of Us Part II (shocker, I know) and the disc seemed to be constantly running, which left the hum. This somewhat surprised and disappointed me. If you’ve got your speakers turned up or play with headphones, you’ll never notice this while playing. I haven’t put a disc inside my Xbox Series X yet, so I’m not sure how loud it may or may not be.
11/16/20 Update: Turns out that The Last of Us Part II had not finished installing entirely. I realized this when I had to download a patch for Spider-Man: Miles Morales this morning. Turns out that The Last of Us Part II had 30GBs remaining to install. That is why the disc drive was running constantly. I let the game finish installing and after booting the game, the disc drive went silent.
Outside of the disc drive, the PS5 sounds whisper quiet to me, which is exactly what I expected.
The UI reminds me of a fusion between the PS3 and PS4. The biggest change is that pressing the PS button on the controller brings up a small XMB switcher instead of taking you to the home screen. Lots of muscle memory is going to have to be broken to get used to this new UI.
The DualSense Controller
Holding the DualSense for the first time, it makes a killer first impression. Even without powering it on and feeling all the new tech inside, the heft and material quality is top notch. I could easily see this becoming an all time great in the Game Controller Hall of Fame.
Then you play a game and feel the new haptic motors and resistive triggers. This is like the HD Rumble in the Switch Joy-Con but amped up; if it had a marketing name, it might be called 4K rumble. I haven’t been this immersed with a controller since the Wii Remote. Simply magical.
Speed
Spider-Man loaded from the PS5 menu to gameplay before I could finish sipping my orange juice. – Me
Set Up
Set up was smooth. The PS5 also lets you use your phone to log in, just like the Xbox Series X. One cool part was being able to install a disc-based game while the console did its own updates. Makes it much easier to jump right into playing once set up is done.
Astro’s Playroom
2018’s Astrobot’s Rescue Mission is not only one of PS VR’s best games, but VR as a whole. Now the next Astrobot game comes with Astro’s Playroom preloaded on every PS5.
There has not been a pack in game this delightful since Wii Sports. It proves how unique the DualSense controller is. It also doubles as a wonderful celebration of PlayStation’s history. Every reference I recognized and connected with slapped a silly grin on my face. Asobi Team proves their innovative platforming design once again. Never underestimate the power of PlayStation.
Xbox Series X at First Blush
The next generation of console gaming has begun today with the Xbox Series X | S. I picked up my Series X this morning at Best Buy at 6:00 AM. Despite each customer requiring an appointment before 9:00 AM, Best Buy was not prepared for the 20+ folks that were there this morning. After buckling up and making it home, I was able to set up the Tower of Power before needing to start work. Here are some of my first impressions with the latest and most powerful from Microsoft.
The Console
It may not be as tall as the PS5, but the Series X was far more dense than I expected. It fits well next to my TV and I imagine once the new factor wears off, the console will just fade into the background in my mind.
The Controller
The matte black finish is much nicer to my eye than the Xbox One controller’s more glossy accents. I am curious how oils from my hands will look over the years. The textured grip feels great in my hands, although not as grippy as the rubber grips on Elite Series controllers. The nicest surprise is the D-Pad. Delightfully clicky and comfortable. I’ll have to test a 2D platformer for the accuracy, but it feels like a real treat.
Speed
Coming from an OG Xbox One, I cannot believe how fast the Series X boots. Gone are the 30~ second boot times from “Instant On” mode. Hello blink-of-an-eye start times.
Set-Up
Microsoft wants you to use the Xbox app to set up the console, so I did. The process is slick. While the console updates its firmware, you are logging in, establishing preferences, and deciding if you want to transfer games/info from an Xbox One. I did a clean set up and just downloaded the few games I wanted to play.
I do wish that the app allowed me to see the download status of the games. It simply shows what is installed, which left me to pop into the living room every couple hours to check the status of my installs. I also could not figure out some sort of rest mode, so I left the console on most of the day for the downloads to do their thing. Even though I left it on, the console was dead silent. I’m curious what it will sound like when running a game.
One fun tidbit is that the console identifies itself as “SCARLETT” to the network. A nice little easter egg to the product codename.
Games
The absence of Halo Infinite is a major blow. The only “new” game I am going to play is Tetris Effect Connected and that is simply adding 4K60 support and multiplayer. I am stoked to finally play Forza Horizon 4 for the first time. The updates to the Halo: Master Chief collection sound dope, but those will be released next week. As cool as the hardware side of a launch is, I am feeling an emptiness for games to play on the Series X. Thankfully, the PS5 and its launch lineup will fill that hole later this week.
Now it’s time to go play some games!