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Source: SOPA Images / Getty / PS5
When it comes to moving consoles, Sony remains king.
Sony has a lot to be happy about. Roughly three years after its release, the popularity of the PS5 console remains high, and according to Reuters, the company has reportedly sold over 50 million units.
The Japanese tech giant also says it has the best-ever Black Friday period for the video game console.
Per Reuters reporting, Sony expects to finish the year on a high note thanks to a strong holiday performance, putting the company on pace to reach its sales target of a record 25 million units to close out the current financial year ending March 31.
Eric Lempel, senior vice president for global marketing, sales, and business operations at Sony Interactive Entertainment, said, “Given the momentum we’ve had in November and a lot of what we’re seeing in December, just in general, we’re feeling very good about sales overall.”
Remember that this number could have been higher, but PS5 sales were hampered due to supply chain issues when the console first hit the market.
Still, despite that, you can expect to see a PS5 in a home thanks to a solid first-party game lineup with games like God of War: Ragnarok and, most recently, Insomniac Games’ Marvel’s Spider-Man 2.
Xbox & Nintendo Are Not Seeing The Same Success With Its Consoles
The outlook isn’t so rosy for the PS5’s direct competitors, Microsoft’s Xbox Series S | X and the Nintendo Switch.
IGN reports the Xbox sales have hit a snag. According to the website, PS5 sales are up “65% to 22.5 million units,” while Xbox’s sales took a dip to “about 15% to 7.6 million.”
The Nintendo Switch, which at one point was impossible to find on shelves during the pandemic, has fallen nearly 20%.
We are curious to see if Sony can continue its dominance in the gaming space in 2024.
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Photo: SOPA Images / Getty
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Over the last few weeks, Sony released the refreshed PlayStation 5 Slim, handheld PlayStation 5 Portal remote player and new PS Pulse Explorer wireless earbuds for the holiday season. Now Sony has just released a new accessory that increases the PS5’s community.
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Priced at $89.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and PlayStation Direct, the Sony PlayStation Access Controller is a new controller kit that’s highly customizable for accessibility purposes — especially for players with disabilities or dexterity issues.
Made for easy access, the PS Access Controller is adaptive for many different types of playing styles — thanks to its 360-degree design, extendable joystick, swappable and magnetized buttons and stick caps, range of motion, textured layout and more. It even has designed to stay stationary on flat surfaces, including a wheelchair tray or a AMPS pattern mount.
Sony PS Access Controller
Meanwhile, the new controller is expandable for different types of configurations. This means you can sync two PS Access Controllers together for additional accessibility, or you can pair it with a traditional PlayStation DualSense Wireless Controller (sold separately) for haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, motion sensors, and much more.
The PS Access Controller has four input ports at its base for additional expandability to connect peripherals, like joysticks, action buttons, triggers and others. There’s even custom profiles available for up to 30 individual controller settings, which means it’s easier and faster to re-map the entire controller (after setup) based on the game being played. The options for customizability and configurations are nearly endless.
This is a big win for game accessibility! The Sony PS Access Controller is available for $89.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and PlayStation Direct. In the meantime, watch a trailer for the new gaming controller, below:
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A few weeks ago, Sony released the newly designed PlayStation 5 Slim and handheld PlayStation 5 Portal remote player in the lead-up to the holidays. Now the tech and entertainment company just dropped new accessories that bring PlayStation games to life.
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Priced at $199.99 at Best Buy and Amazon, the Sony Pulse Explore is a new pair of true wireless earbuds specifically designed for the PS5, PS5 Slim and PS5 Portal. These accessories offer excellent gaming audio that’s crisp, full and immersive with deep and rumbling bass, while it comes with a USB dongle that plugs directly into the back of the console to provide a low latency wireless audio connection with practically zero lag.
Meanwhile, the earbuds have a clever hidden microphone design that lets gamers chat with teammates and opponents online. They’re also compatible with Mac and PC, as well as Apple iPhone and Android mobile devices via Bluetooth.
Sony
Sony PS5 Pulse Explore Wireless Earbuds
In addition, Sony PS5 Pulse Explore comes with a sleek sliding USB-C charging case that serves as storage for the wireless earbuds and supplemental battery life. Although the earbuds themselves have a battery life of up to five hours per charge, their included charging case gives them an extra battery life of up to 10 hours. That’s up to 15 hours of charge in total, which is more than enough to complete games such as The Last of Us, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Stray, Ratchet & Clank, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and others.
The Sony PS5 Pulse Explore Wireless Earbuds come out on Wednesday, Dec. 6. They’re available for $199.99 at Best Buy, PlayStation Direct, Target and Amazon (you can also find them on resale sites such as StockX). In the meantime, watch a trailer for the new earbuds (and the upcoming Sony Pulse Elite gaming headset), below:
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Source: Sony / PlayStation Portal
When the PlayStation Portal was officially unveiled, there were more skeptics than believers about the latest PlayStation accessory. Now that people have tried it, surprisingly, it is being well-received by many.
The PlayStation Portal is an unusual device. For $200, you’re basically getting the perfect PS5 companion device that truly puts the console’s Remote Play option to use better.
Of course, there are caveats; it doesn’t allow for cloud streaming, even though there are reports that the feature could be coming eventually. Another complaint is the lack of Bluetooth functionality.
Plenty of people have said you don’t need this device, given that you could use Remote Play on your smartphones and even connect your DualSense controller. Still, after using the PlayStation Portal leading up to its release, some reviewers are much more optimistic about the device than initially.
What Are The Critics Saying About The PlayStation Portal
Tech Radar’s Rob Dwiar had nothing but glowing words for the PlayStation Portal, giving it a perfect score in his review:
“Offering superb ergonomics as well as excellent design and build quality with all those exquisite DualSense controller features on top, this Remote Play beaut and its bright and sharp 8-inch LCD screen present a wonderful portable PS5 experience. … The Portal is not pretending to be anything else apart from a quality remote-play device for your PS5, and it absolutely nails its brief. As long as you come to it knowing what it does and what it can offer you, then it wholeheartedly, unabashedly, spectacularly succeeds.”
Surprising Skeptics
IGN’s Seth G. Macy had his issues with the device but overall was surprised by the PlayStation Portal after initially being skeptical about it, writing in his review:
“The PlayStation Portal is the most surprising device I’ve ever come away from loving after going in loaded with skepticism. It’s such a better experience than using your phone with a slap-on controller, and it works so much better than I was anticipating. I really love the freedom it gives me to play my PS5 from anywhere with decent WiFi coverage … The biggest things keeping the Portal from being a truly amazing device are its current lack of a way to access WiFi that requires a web browser to log in, and its lack of Bluetooth support for audio. [Grade: 8/10]”
A Perfect Gift For Gamers, But There Is Room For Improvement
Kotaku’s Jen Glennon praised the PlayStation Portal’s battery life, calling it “a solid sub-$200 gift option,” but also noted in her review that there is room for improvement with the Portal.
“While there are tweaks I’d like to see in the weeks and months ahead, I’ve been quite impressed with the time I’ve spent with Portal so far. I’ve played for about six hours on a single charge and still have a bar of battery life left to go. It’s a solid sub-$200 gift option for the gamer in your life who’s always hogging the TV when you’re trying to watch Vanderpump Rules or Monday Night Football.”
Some Are Meh On The PlayStation Portal
With the good, some people were always left feeling meh about the PlayStation Portal experience.
The Loadout’s Callum Self described his experience with PlayStation Portal as “enjoyable and disappointing” but noted in his review that it is the best way to use Remote Play.
“My overall time with the PlayStation Portal was both more enjoyable and disappointing than I expected. It’s certainly the best way to use Remote Play currently, by a long shot, and I’m sure I’ll be using it frequently in the future. But the washed-out screen, lack of cloud gaming support, and so-so battery life make me wish for a better, but unlikely, PlayStation Portal 2. [Grade: 5/10]”
No Reasonable Use For The PlayStation Portal
Then, of course, some just feel PlayStation swung and missed with the Portal. PC Mag’s Will Greenwald calls the Portal “just a screen sandwiched between a controller” and not worth the $200 price point.
“The screen works as intended, but the 1080p resolution looks fuzzier than most modern mobile devices. … The most baffling aspect of the Portal is its fundamental limitation. … I can’t see a reasonable use case for the Portal that wouldn’t be served more economically, and with a better screen, with many other devices. Ultimately, the Portal is just a screen sandwiched between a controller, and for $200, it should be more than that. [Grade: 2.5/5]”
Well, for the most part, people are high on the PlayStation Portal, but it sounds like this is a device for a very niche group of people, and those are the gamers who love Remote Play and hate using their smartphones to utilize it.
Will you be buying a PlayStation Portal? Let us know in the comment section below.
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Photo: Sony / PlayStation Portal
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Although Sony just released the newly designed PlayStation 5 Slim, the tech and entertainment company has another gaming device up its sleeve with the PlayStation Portal, which comes out on Wednesday, Nov. 15.
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Retailing for $199.99 at Amazon and Target, the new PlayStation Portal is a handheld remote player for the PS5. While it may look like a Nintendo Switch or a SteamDeck, it’s not an independent gaming console. It’s a remote player that pairs with your PS5 and mirrors its games so you can play anywhere on the PS Portal when you’re on the same Wi-Fi network as your PS5. The PlayStation Portal comes in handy if, for example, you want to play the new Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III in the bedroom while someone else is watching TV in the living room.
Please note: You need to own a PlayStation 5 to use the PlayStation Portal.
Sony
Sony PlayStation Portal
The new Sony handheld supports 60fps (Frames Per Second) at 1080p HD resolution gaming, while it has a sharp 8-inch LCD touchscreen display and DualSense wireless controller features, like haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. In fact, it looks and feels exactly like the DualSense wireless controller that comes with the PS5 proper, only it’s split into two with a tabletlike display placed in the middle.
It comes with a USB-C port for charging and a 3.5mm headphone jack for wired headphones. Unfortunately, there is no built-in Bluetooth. If you want to go wireless with a pair of headphones and earbuds or a gaming headset, you’d have to use the upcoming Pulse Explore Wireless Earbuds (drops on Dec. 6 for $199.99) or Pulse Elite Headset (releases on Feb. 21, 2024, for $149.99) via Sony’s proprietary PlayStation Link connectivity standard.
The Sony PlayStation Portal comes out on Wednesday, Nov. 15. It’s available for $199.99 at Amazon and Target. In the meantime, watch a trailer for the new handheld, below.
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All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Seeing double? It’s not just you — Olivia Rodrigo is becoming a fan of herself in the latest commercial for Sony […]
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / Sony / PS5 / PlayStation
Sony’s PS5 is on its way to being one of the company’s most successful consoles.
It was a successful quarter for Sony regarding PS5 sales. Spotted on Engadget, the company has sold 4.9 million PS5 units during its second financial quarter.
That number now brings the total of PS5 consoles sold to 46.6 million. While impressive is still short of last year’s holiday figures, Sony did manage to move 1.6 million units more than it did in the previous year.
The impressive numbers come as Sony (as well as Nintendo and Xbox) all struggled to keep up with the demand for its PS5 consoles due to global supply chain issues due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As things slowly got back to “normal” and the shortages began to ease up, Sony was able to ramp up production on the PS5 console.
By the end of July 2023, Sony announced that more than 40 million PS5 units had been sold since the console hit shelves in November 2020.
Sony has set an ambitious target of shipping 25 million PS5 units in this financial year, but to achieve that goal, the company has to move 16.8 million more units.
While it seems like a bit of a stretch, according to Reuters reporting, Sony President Hiroki Totoki believes the goal is something his company “can attain very easily.”
The new “PS5 Slim” model due out this month could be that shot in the arm that Sony needs this holiday season to reach that goal, as the PS5 will surely be on the top of children’s and adult’s Christmas wishlists.
Sony Also Moved A Lot of Games
Hardware/consoles was not the only thing Sony talked about. The company sold 67.6 million games in the second quarter; 4.7 million were first-party titles.
The first-party numbers should also get a boost thanks to Insomniac Game’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which the studio happily announced sold 5 million copies since launching exclusively on the PS5 console.
That’s quite a feat for a game, not Grand Theft Auto or Call of Duty, which launches on multiple consoles.
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Photo: NurPhoto / Getty
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Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is the third installment of Sony Interactive Entertainment and Insomniac Games’ very popular Spider-Man game series and it drops on Thursday (Oct. 20).
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Available for pre-order for $69-$70 on Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and Target, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for PS5 finds Peter Parker and Miles Morales joining forces to defeat Kraven The Hunter, who has claimed Manhattan as his latest hunting ground.
Additionally, Sony is bundling the new game with a limited-edition Spider-Man and Venom PlayStation 5 console (disc edition) — which is available at Best Buy for $600.
Amazon/Sony
As for the game itself, this is a new open-world action adventure game with an expanded map from the first two games in the franchise. This time gamers can explore Brooklyn and Queens, in addition to Manhattan, while they can switch freely between playing as Parker or Morales at any point. There are new abilities to use, including Web Wings, Parker’s Symbiote suit and more.
It also features Spider-Man mainstays, such as Venom, Lizard, Sandman, Mary Jane Watson, J. Jonah Jameson, Rio Morales, Norman Osborn and others.
This is the “Launch Edition” of the game, which comes with a number of upgrades, suits and bonuses that are already unlocked for gamers. These include Peter Parker’s Arachknight Suit, Miles Morales’ Shadow-Spider Suit, the Web Grabber Gadget and much more.
Meanwhile, Sony and Marvel have partnered with Adidas for the Peter Parker Advanced Suit and Venom collection, which features new Ultra 4D (for men and women) and Ultraboost J (for kids) sneakers with Spider-Man red and blue colorways and Venom black midsoles.
Adidas
They look as if Venom is slowly taking over Spidey. The collection — which also features football cleats, sweatshirts, compression tights and more — is also available for purchase on Oct. 20 (click here for early access).
In fact, Marvel has also partnered with Warby Parker for new pairs of Spider-Man-inspired frames, BAIT for new Spidey and Venom tees, Wheaties for new cereal boxes and other brands.
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for PS5 drops on Oct. 20 for $69-$70. It’s available for pre-order now.
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Source: Sony / InZone Buds
Not to be outdone by its own new PlayStation Pulse Explore earbuds, Sony has unveiled a pair of new Inzone Buds geared explicitly towards gamers.
Sony Electronics is dropping a pair of $199 InZone Gaming Buds, the company’s first pair of gaming-focused wireless earbuds.
When the Inzone Buds arrive (available for pre-order today), Sony promises to deliver exceptional battery life (up to 12 hours of use) and audio at the lowest latency possible.
While not specifically made for the PlayStation 5 console, the InZone Buds will pair with your PS5, the new “PS5 Slim,” PCs, and mobile devices.
Most users will connect using the provided dongle that Sony boasts will cut latency to below 30 milliseconds. For users with the latest Android smartphone, you can use Bluetooth LE Audio.
Source: Sony / InZone Buds
360 Spatial Audio is also an option in the new InZone Buds. The Verge reports setting that all up will require a series of steps that have to be taken.
Per The Verge:
Sound Field Optimization creates a personalized hearing profile by taking photos of the user’s ears using the 360 Spatial Sound Personalizer smartphone app. The InZone Buds go one step further through the Sound Tone Personalization feature, individualized to the ear canal by playing test sounds from the driver units and using feedback microphones to measure how the sound fills the ear canal. Based on the acoustic analysis, the sound is then uploaded onto the InZone Hub PC software, where further personalization can be done to curate a truly personalized spatial listening experience with unparalleled spatial sound precision.
The Fit
As far as comfort, Sony claims the InZone Buds are designed to provide the wearer with a comfortable fit over extending gaming sessions.
The company achieves this goal by designing the buds to reduce the pressure on the wearer’s ears while using them. There are four sets of silicone ear tips, including an extra small sizing because no ear is the same.
Source: Sony / InZone Buds
Can The InZone Buds Be Used For Music & Movies
The Verge reports the InZone Buds that you can use them InZone Buds for other forms of entertainment, but Sony says it has designed them to improve your gaming experience.
Active noise-cancellation is also available to completely immerse you in whatever you may be doing while using the InZone Buds.
The InZone Buds are now available for pre-order and will ship sometime in November.
For more photos, hit the gallery below.
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Photo: Sony / InZone Buds
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Source: NurPhoto / Getty / PlayStation
There were rumblings that PlayStation might have another State of Play stream up its sleeve. Those rumors were indeed true.
Nintendo excited the video game world when it announced it was holding an early-morning Nintendo Direct showcase. Sony decided to get in on the fun and spring on games that it was having a direct.
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The “surprise” stream is going down on September 14, 5:00 pm ET on PlayStation’s YouTube, Twitch, and TikTok accounts. In the announcement, PlayStation told fans there will be “something for everyone.”
At the same time, the blog post also made a valiant effort to temper expectations by noting the ” broadcast will focus on updates to previously announced games coming to PlayStation consoles. From indie and PS VR2 highlights to major upcoming titles from our third-party partners.”
Still, that’s not stopping the speculation train from rolling out of the station. We could get new information on games like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Stellar Blade, Death Stranding 2, Alan Wake 2, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, and some Indie titles.
Again, we are going into this State of Play with meager expectations to avoid an epic level of disappointment. We know PlayStation usually saves its best for its PlayStation Showcase live streams.
Keep it locked on HHW Gaming. We will share whatever information comes from the State of Play if you miss it.
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Photo: NurPhoto / Getty
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