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Rather than let rumors and leaks go wild, Sony has made it official: its next-gen console is named the PlayStation 5 and will hit stores in time for Holiday 2020. More details of the console have been revealed in an exclusive Wired article published today.

The article details that the PS5 will pack a solid-state drive which, system architect Mark Cerny tells Wired, will "turn loading time from a hassle to a blink". He also clarified on ray-tracing for fancy lighting and sound effects in 3D environments that it "is not a software-level fix" but that "there is ray-tracing acceleration in the GPU hardware”.

Physical games are back for the new PlayStation and will use 100GB optical disks which will be read by the console's optical drive that also serves as a 4K Bluray player. There is also a twist to installing games on the PS5 which will give players "finer-grained access to the data". This implies a more modular approach to installation like installing "just a game's multiplayer campaign, leaving the single-player campaign for another time, or just installing the whole thing and then deleting the single-player campaign once you've finished it".

Emphasis was also laid in the Wired article and by Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan's blog post on the console's new controller. The latter will replace the “rumble” technology with haptic feedback to allow players to "feel a broader range of feedback" and it will also adopt USB Type-C connector for cable play/charging. Its trigger buttons (L2/R2) will also pack what Sony is calling "adaptive triggers". "Developers can program the resistance of the triggers so that you feel the tactile sensation of drawing a bow and arrow or accelerating an off-road vehicle through rocky terrain. In combination with the haptics, this can produce a powerful experience that better simulates various actions," wrote CEO Jim Ryan. Wired also noted during their hands-on with a prototype that the controller features a microphone of some sort but still looks like a heavier PS4 controller. After playing through a few demos, Wired's writer said that the controller gave "distinct—and surprisingly immersive—tactile experiences".

Also of note, Wired talked to Marco Thrush, president of Bluepoint Games, the company behind the PS4's Shadow of the Colossus remake, who said "We're working on a big one right now. I'll let you figure out the rest."

You can read the full version of Wired's exclusive article linked below. What do you think of the PS5 from this new announcement? What more features would you like to see in the next-gen console? And what could Bluepoint Games possibly be working on? Share your thoughts with us below!

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