Next-gen is finally current-gen. With both the PS5 and the [[Xbox Series X at First Blush|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 [[PS5 Controller Revealed as the “DualSense”|a tantalizing reveal process]] led to [[PlayStation 5 Console Revealed|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. > [!info] 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](https://twitter.com/MaxRoberts143/status/1327575544569933830) Set Up Set up was smooth. The PS5 also lets you use your phone to log in, [[Xbox Series X at First Blush|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.