Dieter Bohn Sony Playstation 5: some things I know and one thing I don't

Here are some things I know about the Sony PlayStation 5: the design is polarizing and I’m glad that it is. Playing it safe would have been a bad move, I think, and Sony hasn’t played it safe. That makes it easy to mock, sure, but it’s worth that risk.

The design shifts your feelings about what PlayStation is and means in a subtle way. It’s from a slicker, cleaner, more idealized future, the kind of future we imagined in the early 90s, the kind that clearly is never coming. The PS2, PS3, and PS4 were cyberdecks, the PS5 is Wall-E. Does that brand design evocation matter? Maybe! I also know that Sony showed more wholesome games than I expected, the platformers felt joyful.

Of course I’m overthinking it, but it turns out that I have to overthink it because the other thing I think I know about the PS5 is that it’s huge. I have to overthink it because the PS5 is going to impose its design on my living space whether I like it or not.

Internet sleuths measured the relative size of the Blu-ray disc slot and (more accurately) the USB ports. That let them compare the size of the PS5 to its predecessors and it seems like it’s very big.

The design is polarizing, and on that debate put me down for an “ugh.” I like that Sony has an opinion and I like that it is trying to shift the feelings you may have about the PlayStation ethos, but I do not like that it’s going to be this big weird thing that can’t be hidden in the cabinet under my TV.

The way things look affect the way you feel about them, and now Sony is going to change the way my living room looks and it’s going to affect the way I feel about it. I don’t like it.

But I’m almost surely going to have one of the silly looking things in my living room. Because while I ultimately think the design calls too much attention to itself, I do think I’m going to like the games. The Miles Morales Spider-Man game, the Horizon Zero Dawn sequel, the Oddworld nostalgia-bait, Project Athia, The Devil Inside, and the ability to play as a stray cat with a backpack in a robot-dominated future: all of these things appeal to me. Watch the trailers and see if you don’t agree.

Sam Byford nails it:

while Microsoft has shifted its focus to subscription services and play-anywhere compatibility, the strategy for the PS5 is exactly the same as it was for the PS4: make a box that’s easy for developers to get the most out of, support a wide range of games, and plunge a ton of money into exclusive first-party titles. That worked out pretty well for the PS4, and there’s no reason to expect the PS5 to be any different.

At this point, all I really want to know is the price. That’s one thing I don’t know. Though as Tom Warren suggests, the fact that there’s a disc-less version suggests that Sony’s going to try to set up a price battle with Microsoft.

One last thing, Sony has promised that it the redesigned PS5 dashboard leaves “no pixel untouched.” I dearly hope so — the current dashboard feels like it wants to fight me every time I want to play Netflix or watch YouTube. No fooling, the existence of a media remote gives me hope that when the PS5 arrives, I might be able to replace my Apple TV with it.

God knows I’ll need to clear some space.

- Dieter

Software news

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That “primary platforms” language is important, because WarnerMedia still hasn’t struck deals to bring HBO Max to Roku or Amazon streaming devices. On those platforms, WarnerMedia is not upgrading the HBO Now app to become HBO Max. Instead, it’s rebranding to simply be “HBO,” where it will still cost $14.99, even though you’ll only be able to watch HBO content on it and not the expanded HBO Max catalog.

┏ Hey is a wildly opinionated new email service from the makers of Basecamp. Casey Newton looks at the most interesting thing to happen to email this year. I was never really interested in Superhuman — this is much more my speed and I trust Basecamp.

It’s a genuinely original take on messaging that feels like the first interesting thing to happen to email since clever apps like Mailbox and Sparrow repurposed your Gmail account, and it’s available in an open beta starting today. With a $99-a-year price tag and some pungent opinions about how email should work, Hey is not for all or even most people.

┏ Apple pulls podcast apps in China after government pressure.

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