The Playstation 5 is Sony’s current console.
It exists in 2 models:
- Playstation 5 with a blu-ray disc player
- Playstation 5 without a blu-ray disc player, a little cheaper, called Digital Version.
The Playstation 5 can play games on Playstation 4 or 5 discs when you have the Blu-Ray disc player on your console.
The 2 models can download the games purchased on the Playstation Store (The equivalent of the App Store or Google Play but for the Playstation) to store them on the hard drive of the console. So this is the only way to play video games on the Digital Version model of the console.
The Playstation 5 is a high-performance console released in 2020. It can play games in 4K resolution (3840 × 2160 pixels) displaying 60 frames per second. On some less technically demanding games, it can go up to 8K resolution (7680 × 4320 pixels) and / or 120 frames per second.
It has a 1 TB hard drive type SSD (Solid State Drive). It’s much faster than the HdD of the Playstation 4 (Hard Disk Drive). However only 700 GB are usable from this SSD hard drive on 1 TB.
Games on Playstation
Sony’s Playstation 5 has many exclusive games that have been released or are in development like:
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure
- Returnal
- Demon’s Souls
- Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart
- Deathloop
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade
- Ghost of Tsushima
In addition to blockbuster games from third-party publishers but also available on PC and Xbox like:
- Far Cry 6
- Dying Light 2
- Ghostwire: Tokyo
- Watch Dogs: Legion
- Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
- All Call of Duty
- Fortnite
- Minecraft
- Apex Legends
- Smite
Online gaming with Playstation Plus
You must subscribe to the Playstation Plus service to play online games. It costs 70 CAD per year. Each month subscribers to the service can download (or add to the library of games on your account, if you do not want to download them) between 2 and 4 different games. You can find them in this article.
These games offered with the Playstation Plus, are playable as long as you are subscribed to the service. You can’t download games from the last few months.
So many techniques to keep the subscription as long as possible.
If you play a free online game like Fornite or Call of Duty: Warzone you don’t need a Playstation Plus subscription.
The Playstation Plus Collection
This is a bonus for Playstation 5 owners and playstation Plus subscriptions. They can download 15 very good games from the Playstation 4, and play them as long as they pay for the subscription.
This is a technique to keep Playstation 5 owners waiting, while Playstation 5 games are being developed. Of course, this is an additional argument for subscribing to Playstation Plus.
Note that once added to your Playstation account, the games can be played on Playstation 4 as well. So you can ask a friend you trust who has a Playstation 5 to unlock them for you by sharing your account. You must have all 2, the Playstation Plus.
Games on demand with Playstation Now
Playstation Now is another subscription-based service. For 80 CAD, you have access to many Playstation 5 and 4 games that you can download and play as much as you want… as long as you pay for the subscription.
Note that some Playstation 3 games are available on this offer and are playable by streaming. That is, instead of downloading them to your console, the games will be launched on a console or computer in a Sony data center/data center, and the video of your game will be sent to your console.
This technique of streaming play is only viable if you have a very good internet connection. Indeed, Sony’s servers then send you 30 or 60 frames per second on your console, and the Internet connection must be able to receive such a video rate. We recommend a minimum of 100 Mbits for download.
To play Playstation Now games online, you must also be a Playstation Plus subscriber. Yes that’s 2 different subscriptions.
Apps
Many apps can be used on the Playstation 5:
- Amazon Prime Video
- Apple TV
- Crave
- Crunchy Roll
- DAZN
- Disney+
- Funimation
- MLB
- NBA
- Netflix
- NHL
- Plex
- Sportsnet
- Spotify
- Tubi
- Twitch
- YouTube…
Whatever your favorite video-on-demand system, or music-on-demand, you’ll be able to watch or listen to it on Playstation 5.
Personally, I prefer to use the Playstation 5 for YouTube for example because the controls on the controller, react better than the remote control of my Smart TV. The PS5 is also faster.
Streaming
It is also possible to share its parts directly on streaming platforms like Twitch, or YouTube. So your game can be seen by everyone on the Internet. The Playstation 5 controller can be used as a microphone to talk to your audience. However, you will need a Playstation Camera to film yourself playing like other streamers on Twitch and YouTube.
Otherwise it is just possible to take screenshots of your game, or video clips of your games and not share them, or share them with a small audience.
Backward compatibility
Playstation 5 is backward compatible with Playstation 4. And that’s it, so no compatibility with the Playstation 1, 2, or 3.
Backward compatibility means that you will be able to play all the games you have on your Playstation 4 discs, on your new Playstation 5 console (if it has a disc drive then).
Same for games downloaded from Playstation Store and planned for Playstation 4, they are now all Playstation 5 compatible (if you use your same Playstation Network account for that)!
It is also possible to transfer all your data from your Playstation 4 to the Playstation 5. All? almost! If the size of the hard drive is the same on the box of the console (1 TB), in practice the Playstation 5 only lets use 700 GB of internal memory to its users. It may not be necessary to transfer everything then to the new console.
When the transfer is made… your Playstation 4 no longer has much use, indeed the games are all compatible on Playstation 5 and the new console is faster, more efficient.
To play Playstation 4 games on Playstation 5, you can use either a Dual Shock (Playstation 4 controller) or a Dual Sense (Playstation 5 controller).
However, to play Playstation 5 games on Playstation 5, only Dual Sense controllers are compatible. It will therefore be necessary to buy 4 controllers (at $ 100 each approximately) to play in multiplayer Playstation 5 games.
Should I buy a Playstation 5 console?
The console is very expensive at the moment, about 600, 700 CAD plus taxes. Add to that a second controller, a game, a subscription to play online. And you very quickly get to the 1000 CAD of expenses to play video games.
Despite the exorbitant price, the console has been out of stock since its release. The fault has a very large demand from customers, and a shortage of high-performance computer components for more than a year.
The Playstation 5 is an excellent console with games of very high quality, but for now it is a luxury product for those who manage to get it.
