Next year is going to be a big one in the gaming world. Both Microsoft and Sony are expected to unveil, and eventually, release their next-generation consoles. While Microsoft's Project Scarlett will need to be renamed before it hits retail, Sony's next-gen system is most likely to be called the PS5. But what will it actually be like?
One of the biggest changes will be in its hardware. As usual, this generational leap will be a big one. It will go from the modest AMD Bulldozer-based APU in the PS4, to a far, far more powerful APU based on AMD's Zen 2 architecture — the one found in the new-generation Ryzen 3000 processors that are some of the best gaming chips we've ever seen. It will combine that with a new generation of Navi, RDNA graphics cores, for even more powerful visual rendering.
That all means prettier games and games that can support both higher resolutions (maybe 8K video, but definitely 4K at 60FPS) and higher refresh rates, with 1440p or 1080p likely playable at 144Hz or above.
That's all good, but arguably the most exciting detail is the final, long-awaited introduction of SSD technology in the base system configuration. Finally moving on from slow and clunky harddrives, the PS5 will have an NVMe SSD at its core, allowing for far faster game load times (Sony has shown off demos of load times being cut to just a fraction of a second in some cases) and games that can move far faster. You can drive, run, or swing faster through a level if it can load faster, which is exactly what's set to happen with the PS5.
We will also see native support for technologies like HDR, virtual reality, Dolby Atmos Sound, and backwards compatibility through emulation.
That's an exciting feature list which should have Microsoft worried, especially since the PS4 has inarguably won this generation of consoles wars.
