Brian “Biscuit” Watson, a game developer whose work spans four decades, recently went on YouTube to tell some of his stories. One of the most interesting revelations he shared on The Retro Collective was the existence of the PlayStation 1 controller prototype, called the PlayStation Puga, that housed an entire PlayStation 1 console. Watson said that this “handheld” was specifically built for the Brazilian market, which had tight import regulations, and was also intended to be manufactured within the country. It was also supposed to come with 4GB of memory that could hold 10 games, and four AA-sized batteries apparently power it and connect to your TV via an included cable.

The prototype was working really well, but it encountered issues with game titles that were intended for inclusion. “The unfortunate problem is that Sony licensing couldn’t get their act together about the royalty terms for each of the games. So, it’s like they’re trying to get in touch with Rockstar and a few other places, and they were wanting way too much in the way of royalties,” Watson said. “But what really stuck in my craw with that one was even if it was a Sony game, they had to negotiate with a separate unit of Sony, and they were never happy about how much royalty they were getting.”

Since the gaming controller and console combo was designed to sell at a low price, they expected to make only 10 cents per unit sold and were unhappy with the pricing. Since it seemed Sony would not be able to ship any games with the PS1 controller console, it canceled the entire project.

Watson actually showed the completed controller to the present audience, but it unfortunately doesn’t run. It does boot into the debug stub, but he doesn’t have any of the other required software to make it run. Still, it’s equipped with an Arm-based processor running at 650 MHz and emulated the PlayStation 1 pretty well. It also lasted about 20 hours on a single set of four AA batteries, which is an impressive feat for the time (and still is today). Nevertheless, the project was not wasted at the emulator built for that system eventually found its way into the Sony Xperia Play.

Yesterday, Sony announced it will cease production of physical discs for PlayStation games starting in 2028, sending a shockwave across the industry. If the news weren't already upsetting enough, companies on social media are now taking advantage of the opportunity with a barrage of corporate satire. Multiple high-profile brands have chimed in with sarcastic announcements of their own that mirror Sony's decision in an absurd fashion.

The Domino's Pizza UK account on X is probably the most prominent inclusion on this list — they went viral earlier for mocking God of War: Laufey by remarking that "God of War without Kratos is like Pepperoni Blast is without pepperoni." For this occasion, the account posted an official (satirical) statement saying the company is stopping production of all physical pizzas in the UK by April 1, 2027.

The company joked that customers would still be able to buy them in a "digital format" where their imagination would have to do the heavy lifting. Apparently, you'll have to download the pizzas to "enjoy them in an entirely virtual sense," and there are pizza codes available for further convenience.

Then there's the Spanish KFC account which made a similar joke-announcement but with a heightened sense of urgency. They're not even waiting for next year; KFC España will stop offering chicken in "physical format" starting right now. The account explained that customers need to now buy the chicken in "fake PNG format," accompanied by a screenshot of their app showing the newly listed digital chicken.

KFC is actually referencing the NFT craze from a few years ago, where people would often joke about how they could just download the image others are paying a fortune for. The company even replied to a comment that said it'll just get the digital format chicken from Pinterest by warning them not to pirate the items.

Somehow, the bit kept going with another tweet laying out the ground rules for KFC España's new PNG chicken. Right away, they announce that a DLC is already in the works for sauces, where each sauce will be sold separately. They urge customers to pre-order "Los Glaseados" because the codes are running out — throwing another jab at GTA VI, this time, and its digital-only release.

Lastly, we have GameSir, a popular name in the PC controller space, who also announced a shift to a digital-only model. If you buy a GameSir controller now, you won't receive anything physical in the box. Instead, you'll get an activation code to download the controller via the GameSir app and use quantum entanglement to control your games. The statement ends by reminding us that "true pro-gamers don't need a controller in their hands; they need a controller in their souls."

Clearly, these posts highlight the sheer absurdity of the situation. Digital games account for a vast majority of all game sales, so Sony is not opening a Pandora's box by itself here. But the core of the issue resides with choice — the consumer should have the right to choose whether they want a physical or digital copy. By mandating it for them, Sony (and those that will follow) is institutionalizing a race to the bottom where ownership will mean nothing. Furthermore, by eliminating the used hardware market, Sony ensures that gamers on a budget won't be able to buy titles at cut prices on the pre-owned market, relying instead solely on the goodwill of developers and Sony to set prices on the PlayStation Store.

Yesterday, Sony revealed that the PlayStation Store will be shutting down for PS3 and PS Vita consoles in July 2027. The irony seemed to be lost on the company, pairing up a disc-killing announcement for the future of PlayStation with news that literally serves as proof of why that's a bad idea. Regardless of the rationale, digital archivists are now kicking into gear to preserve PS3 game data with whatever time they have left, and it seems like RPCS3 is leading the awareness campaign.

RPCS3 is a huge name in the emulation scene. These guys are responsible for the most prominent PS3 emulator out there right now, having recently made a breakthrough in performance for all tiers of hardware. RPCS3 is open source, so naturally the project gravitates towards a preservationist culture where everything must be protected for future generations to come.

Emulators are only as good as the software available to run on them, so these efforts are inextricably tied together. The RPCS3 team suggests using no-intro.org, which is a database that tracks everything that needs to be saved. It doesn't directly host any ROMs; rather, it hosts metadata such as cryptographic signatures (hashes like CRC32, MD5, SHA-1), exact file sizes, serial numbers, and revision histories.

It serves as a ledger for the community, so it knows what has already been verified and backed up, and what still needs to be found before it's permanently removed from storefronts. RPCS3 is actually built around no-intro.org since it features automated integrity checks for PSN content. It can check your dumped .pkg file and tell you whether it's corrupt and precisely what's missing if it is.

For instance, to troubleshoot a niche, digital-only PS3 game that doesn't emulate well on RPCS3, the team would need to look at the original, optimized copy of the game first to understand how it should work. Since the game isn't popular, there's a high chance no one ever bothered to dump it — no-intro.org actively tries to prevent this from happening thanks to its contributors knowing exactly what to archive.

Once PSN goes down for PS3 next year, we will be at risk of losing a goldmine of content that was never preserved in its physical form. With the state of the gaming and hardware industry in general, there hasn't been a warning call like this in ages that has reminded people just how illusory an all-digital future could be.

Hardware is so expensive right now that even researchers from Google are suggesting cloud gaming as the way forward, or that leasing silicon would be more viable than buying it. PlayStation stopping disc production in 2028, with Xbox rumored to follow, means that it won't be long before ownership becomes an ephemeral concept cloaked by debates on efficiency and convenience, all while the actual art itself becomes lost media.

Well, it's official: Sony has just announced that it will stop production of PlayStation game discs starting in January 2028. After January 2028, no more game discs will be produced, and games will only be available through the PlayStation Store and "at retailers in digital formats only." It's a move that anyone could have guessed was coming but which is nonetheless frustrating to many fans, as it essentially rings the death knell for physical media in cutting-edge gaming.

I say "anyone could have guessed" because you'd have to have your head in the sand to ignore all the factors pointing this way. The biggest of such factors is arguably the reality that Blu-ray drive production has sharply wound down outside of game consoles. But there's also the fact that the vast majority of games purchased today are already purchased digitally; in Q4 2025, 85% of PlayStation games were purchased digitally, and if you zoom out to look at the entire US video game market, the PC and mobile markets are already effectively 100% digital.

That's what Sony is talking about when it says it's making the change "in response to shifting trends in consumer preference." Still, the majority isn't everyone, and there are absolutely die-hard gamers out there who demand physical copies because a digital license isn't ownership. All you need to look at to understand this stark reality is the incident just three days ago where PlayStation announced that it is removing over 500 movies from customers' accounts in the UK and Europe because of an expired licensing agreement.

Defenders of the move will point to the aforementioned 100% digital nature of PC gaming as a counterpoint against the pushback to the death of physical media. But there's a key difference, and that's that PC gaming is done on PCs, opening up tools like backups and private servers for game preservation. This is possible on consoles too, of course, but it's a lot more work.

In January 2028, when the move takes effect, the PlayStation 5 will have just passed its seventh birthday; obviously, the PlayStation 6 will have either just launched or be on the horizon, depending on whose leaks you believe. Those same leaks have claimed that the PlayStation 6 would have the option for a detachable or optional disc drive, and that might still be true, but if so, it would exist exclusively for backward compatibility reasons. If that ends up being the case, we will have to applaud Sony for taking care of its customers that way; it would have been just as easy to leave PS4 and PS5 owners with large physical libraries in the lurch, with no way to play their old games on the new machine. Of course, if those rumors of an optional drive turn out to be false, "leaving players in the lurch" is exactly what Sony will be doing.

It's impossible to deny that there is a certain satisfaction in cracking open a plastic case, pulling out a physical disc, and inserting it into the console to select your game. It's also undeniable that it's really nice to be able to scroll a list of all my games and then click on any of them and be playing in seconds. The cold truth is that digital game downloads are more convenient and easier to manage for everyone at every step of the process, and so this move was coming eventually, no matter what.

However, it is darkly ironic that Sony announced this news in the very same tweet where it announced that it's shutting down the PlayStation Store on the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita systems. After the first attempt at this was walked back in 2021 after community outcry, the company has decided five years later that it simply has to cut off support because the old storefronts supposedly can't be updated to support "modern commerce systems," including contemporary global payment processing security standards. There's no technical reason that's true, of course; the reality is simply that Sony doesn't want to continue supporting these nearly 20-year-old machines anymore.

That's wholly understandable, but at the same time, it really does provide the perfect backdrop for the death of discs, as later PlayStation consoles can't play PS3 games, neither disc nor digital. That means that, when the PlayStation Store for PS3 finally dies in July 2027, there will be no official way to acquire and play those games... besides used discs, of course. As for PlayStation 6, that stands to be one of the first consoles to never have a used game market, a momentous end of an era.

Sony has unceremoniously informed its PlayStation customers in the United Kingdom that 551 movies from StudioCanal will be removed from their accounts on September 1, 2026. If you bought any of the films included in this list, you'll no longer be able to access them. There is no workaround, no method to offload them to another device; just absolute, emotionless deletion that doesn't even offer refunds.

The lineup includes some truly legendary movies such as Terminator 2, Apocalypse Now, Mulholland Drive, Moonlight, and Dawn Till Dusk — essentially every film that StudioCanal distributed in the UK. Sony cites licensing agreements between it and the French company as the reason behind the sudden removal. The announcement doesn't include any other details beyond the list of the affected films.

Sony began selling movies and shows on the PlayStation Store in 2008. During the PS3 era, you could actually transfer the content to view on other devices, but that feature was removed on the PS4. In 2021, after the PS5 had launched, Sony stopped selling films and TV series entirely on PSN, which meant that it likely wouldn't renew contractual agreements with studios and distributors going forward.

The only exception to this rule was in 2023, when Sony began a similar deletion spree of Discovery Network shows but signed a new licensing deal to keep them on the platform. It remains to be seen whether public backlash can usher in a similar response for StudioCanal movies this time. You might not have heard its name before, but the studio is responsible for bringing countless popular movies to the UK.

For now, this is yet another distressing reminder of the digital precedent corporations have set for us. You no longer truly own any digital content you purchase; rather, it's just being licensed to you indefinitely. And you agree to this precedent "willingly" when you accept all those terms and conditions that veil ownership rights under fine print.

The moment the provider decides it's not viable to maintain said content, you're at risk of losing access to something you already paid for. It's like a subscription service with extra steps — as if people aren't growing wary enough of those already — except it was never advertised like that.

The Steam Machine seems to be everything that the gaming world is talking about right now, partially because PC building took a nosedive thanks to high prices, and also because it's a Valve product. The console/PC hybrid (PConsole, maybe?) remains a highly anticipated product despite rumors of a price hike. The release is now set in stone and imminent, as Valve has officially confirmed the summer 2026 launch window and expanded its Verified program to include Machine and Frame alongside the Deck.

"Today we are expanding the Verified program to include Steam Machine and Steam Frame, both of which are shipping this summer," the company stated. The news should ease the worries of many an expecting gamer, given today's constant worries about AI servers slurping every RAM and NAND chip on the face of the earth, as well as Valve's own statements about component scarcity delaying the release. Plus, the company always works on its own schedule, so much so that Valve Time is a term.

The release of the Machine has been taking flak, given that while Valve was initially hoping for an estimated $600 to $800 price — in the ballpark of the higher-end consoles — the rumored pricing is climbing around or over $1000. This fact is somewhat corroborated by a February statement from a Valve executive who, like most anyone in the world, stated the price revision was due to the AI-driven component shortage.

No manufacturer can escape that particular black hole, as even the PlayStation 5 Pro is currently going for $899. Paying a slice more for seemingly superior hardware and a gigantic library of cheap games arguably makes more financial sense if you're a frequent gamer.

Steam Verified is a developer-focused program where game makers ensure that their titles are capable of running on the Deck (meaning they'll run fine under Linux), that the UI elements and text are readable at standard resolutions, and that sensible default graphics settings are used. The baseline performance target was 30 FPS at 1280x800 resolution for the Deck, and now 30 FPS at 1920x1080p for the Machine.

Since those latter figures are bound to cause some confusion, it should be double-noted that they're a baseline — the Machine is advertised as capable of 4K, 60 FPS gameplay with the use of upscaling, or in other words, business as usual. The specifications bear this out, as the CPU therein is a six-core unit with a 30 W TDP target, and the GPU is an RDNA3 design with 28 CUs, a 2.45 GHz clock speed, and a 110 W TDP. For comparison's sake, the entire Steam Deck has a 15 W maximum TDP. The rest of the Verified recommendations for the Machine are exactly the same as the Deck's.

Despite price hikes, Steam hardware remains popular. Just recently, the Steam Deck instantly ran out of stock even after its price was bumped up to $789 and $949, depending on the version. Given that zeitgeist and the general thirst for new hardware, it looks like the Machine will do just fine. We just hope that Valve makes enough of them and does its best to prevent scalping.

A modder by the name of tschicki has built a custom "PlayStation 2 Portable" from scratch, powered by a reverse-engineered motherboard that features original PS2 silicon. The hardware sits inside a 3D-printed shell with proper controls, USB-PD charging, and a bespoke cooling solution. The project is entirely open-source and available on GitHub for anyone to follow along with, if you have the right skills and patience required.

Work on the PS2 Portable actually began way back in 2022, but it was only made public last year. The four-year development period really shows when you take a look at how polished the finished product is. The design is inspired by modern handhelds such as the ROG Ally; it has an ergonomic shape with large grips that house two 5000mAh batteries to enable up to 4.5 hours of playtime on a single charge.

On the front, there's an asymmetric control scheme that actually features hall-effect joysticks and face buttons from the PS Vita 2000 model. There's a blue accent piece running along the top, enveloping the triggers and the USB-C port, providing some variety in an otherwise minimalist aesthetic. You'll also find vents up there for exhaust. The rear is largely plain with a few threaded screws and a cutout with a grill for intake.

The entire assembly is broken down into just two parts: a top half and a bottom half that screw into each other. The cooling is handled by a custom heatsink solution that uses the fan from the Switch Lite to keep the ICs under control.

This transitions us nicely into the actual crux of the project. The modder took six original ICs from the SCPH-7900x or SCPH-9000x PS2 models and put them on a custom motherboard.

Built upon the existing work of community veterans who have mapped out PS2 mainboards over the years, Tschicki reverse-engineered the entire circuitry of the console. They were then able to manually draw up a new motherboard layout that integrates the aforementioned original chips with completely new traces, video routing, and power management.

The donor ICs handle the bulk of the processing, such as the Emotion Engine (EE) and the Graphics Synthesizer (GS), while RP2040 microcontrollers are responsible for secondary tasks like thermals, controls, sound, and more. The modder used a custom FPGA-based video processor to get direct video out from the GS instead of going through an analog-to-digital converter that'd otherwise degrade the quality.

As such, the PS2 portable supports many resolutions, but it's wired up to a 5" 480x800p IPS LCD running at 60 Hz. To ensure the controls work on this screen, the RP2040 is utilized to convert data from the buttons and joysticks into native DualShock 2 signals, with full rumble support. Another RP2040 monitors the battery and controls power, allowing for fast charging or "charge and play" at 5V, 9V, or 12V.

Finally, to actually use the console, tschicki customized the original boot ROM to directly launch into homebrew, from where you can use the two microSD card slots present on the device to access your games. One slot hooks directly to the PS2 Memory Card's data lines and tricks the system into thinking one of those bulky 8MB Memory Cards is plugged in. You can use this for boot files and game saves, for instance.

The other slot bypasses the PS2's memory controller entirely and uses the open-source MX4SIO routing standard that doesn't try to emulate a memory card. Instead, it relies on custom homebrew apps running on the console to talk directly to the SD card's native storage interface. Once the custom MX4SIO driver is initialized, you can load up any game you want, which means this slot is better for library storage.

This is possible because the BIOS chip from the actual PS2 is one of the six ICs lifted from the original console, along with the CPU+GPU, the RAM (two separate chips), the I/O processor, and the SP2 audio processor. Anyhow, after the games are loaded, the handheld can play PS2 titles natively via custom software like OPL (Open PS2 Loader) or NHDDL, and supports PS1 games via DKWDRV. There is no emulation happening here.

Because of the sheer stature of custom modding work done, the PS2 Portable is one of the most impressive community projects in recent times. The fact that everything from the 3D printer files (STLs), the PCB schematics, the FPGA code, and the software firmware is open source is just the cherry on top. You can build your own identical handheld, but it's not going to be easy, and Tschicki even warns against it.

All of the relevant resources are available on GitHub, including the BOM (bill of materials) for the mechanical assembly and each PCBA. There's a 10-part documentation with steps you can follow, but they're incredibly detailed and only meant for experts with high-level soldering and programming knowledge. Do not attempt this as a fun DIY project, but then again, curiosity killed the cat.

Now, technically speaking, a portable PS2 already exists — it's called the PlayStation Portable (PSP), and it was one of the most successful consoles of all time. But it doesn't have the PS2's massive catalog of classics, so there's an argument to be made there. That being said, emulation has come a long way, and your phone can even play AAA PC games now, so stick to emulation if you're only after the nostalgia and not the microsoldering anguish.

Sony just increased the price for refurbished PlayStation 5 Slim consoles by $100, bringing the Digital Edition to $499 and the disc drive model to $549. The original PS5 and Fortnite bundle now also appears out of stock at the time of writing, so you can no longer get a brand-new PS5 Digital Edition for just $399. You can see these changes on the Sony website, with u/FernandoRocker sharing the bad news to the r/PS5 subreddit yesterday.

At the moment, the cheapest PS5 you can get is still the original console for $399, although this is a refurbished model. If you want a brand-new unit, you have no choice but to shell out $599 for the PS5 Digital Edition console, or get the Ghost of Yotei Black Limited-Edition Bundle for the same price if you want the version with an optical drive.

The original and Slim versions of the PS5 have almost the same specifications, except for a couple of minor changes — the latter has a larger 1TB internal storage (versus 825GB) and comes with two USB-C ports (instead of a USB-C and a USB-A port). Otherwise, you’re not missing out on much. So, if the budget is tight, you can get the cheaper original refurbished model and then upgrade your console with one of the best PS5 SSDs later, when you have extra cash.

The company did not make any official announcements about the price increases, so this came as a surprise to some of its fans. This also isn’t the recent price hike that Sony made on the PlayStation 5. Just last month, it increased prices across all its new consoles, with the Digital Edition models (both original and Slim) getting a $100 bump, while the PS5 Pro went from $749.99 to $899.99. Even the PlayStation Portal now costs $50 more, at $249.99.

Price hikes for brand-new consoles are understandable, especially given the ongoing memory and storage chip crisis. However, it’s unclear why refurbished PS5 Slim consoles now also cost more. After all, the original refurbished PS5 still costs the same, so we cannot chalk this up to increased labor costs.

Unfortunately, without official guidance from Sony, we can only speculate about why it increased its prices. It’s possible that the company did this to reduce demand for used Slim edition PS5s so they wouldn't run out of stock. After all, if the price difference for a new console is just $100, quite a few buyers would rather go for a brand-new model than a refurbished one.

For the past few days, the internet has been in turmoil over a new DRM policy for PS4 and PS5 games that supposedly forces you to check in online every 30 days. Without an official statement, speculation only intensified with many jumping to conclusions. Some were trying to figure out how the licensing worked under the hood, but we finally have a concrete answer now from Sony itself.

Speaking to GameSpot, an SIE rep clarified that "a one-time online check is required to confirm the game's license, after which no further check-ins are required." That means any digital game you download will remain playable even without an internet connection after 30 days; it just needs the initial check-in to convert the temporary license into a permanent one.

While the spokesperson didn't say why that was necessary, we have a pretty good idea, courtesy of DoesItPlay, who told Kotaku that it "might have to do with a refund scam." Basically, people would buy a game from the PS Store (website) and rip its license file, refund the game, but transfer the license file to an illegally acquired copy, allowing the game to bypass security restrictions and run as usual.

The license file is typically only generated once the game starts downloading, but Sony's policy dictates that you can no longer refund a game once that happens, even within the 14-day return window. So, the bad actors use the PS Store website instead, which will issue the license on a jailbroken console without blowing the no-refund fuse. The new DRM policy is specifically designed to combat such activity.

Comment from r/PS5

By first issuing a temporary, online-only license that requires an internet connection, Sony prevents it from getting ripped. Once the console pings Sony servers and doesn't detect any funny business, it turns the license permanent, requiring no further check-ins. These changes were instated in the March firmware update for both PS4 and PS5 consoles, which means Sony recently became aware of the exploit.

Ultimately, it seems like nothing has really changed, and Sony is just trying to bolster precautionary measures against piracy. Clearly, this was an under-the-hood change that people weren't even supposed to find out about, but the validity period labels in the UI gave it away. But Sony did let the situation balloon to the point where even the iconic PS4 game-sharing ad on YouTube filled up with comments mocking the company for becoming what it once hated.

A few days ago, reports of a new DRM policy surrounding PS4 and PS5 consoles began popping up. Many users are seeing a new 30-day online check-in requirement for some games. In the info page of an affected game, you'd see a new validity period and a "remaining time" deadline. At first, this seemed like a software bug, but now PlayStation Support has confirmed its authenticity to multiple users. PlayStation owners are furious about the change.

From what we've seen, this DRM is intended for digital game copies. It works by instating a mandatory online check-in where you have to connect to the internet within a rolling 30-day window or risk losing access to the game. Afterward, you can still restore access, but you'll need an internet connection to renew the game's license first. So far, it seems like only games installed after the recent March firmware update are affected.

Affected customers report that setting your PS4 or PS5 as the primary console doesn't alleviate this check-in policy either. No matter what, any game you download from now on will feature this new requirement, effectively eliminating the concept of offline play for even single-player titles.

Unfortunately, this is a stark reminder of modern-day ownership terms, where you don't truly own a piece of software you buy — rather, you're just licensed to use it. Such access is maintained via DRM that pings to the distributor's servers to ensure developer-side control. This means if the distributor/dev suddenly decides it doesn't want to support the software anymore, you're out of luck even though you did things the legit way.

The community reaction to this apparent change has been visceral. Many point out how Sony has forgotten where it came from, given how it mocked Microsoft for using a similar policy back in the Xbox One days. You might remember the iconic E3 2013 presentation before the PS4's launch where the company proudly said its console "won't require you to check-in online." At the time, that approach was universally applauded, which only makes the current situation more ironic.

While PlayStation Support has confirmed this new DRM policy via its chatbots, Sony hasn't officially come out with a statement so far. Some users argued that only games acquired via PlayStation Plus are subject to this DRM, while others pointed out how a dead CMOS battery can also trigger the license expiration. We can't be sure without official communication from Sony, but it's obvious that rolling this change out silently and without warning is the worst possible approach.

Developers behind the open-source PlayStation 3 emulator RPCS3 claim that they’ve achieved a breakthrough in emulating the PS3's Cell Broadband Engine processor, with lead developer Elad discovering previously unrecognized SPU usage patterns and writing new code paths to generate more efficient native PC output from them. The improvement benefits every game in the emulator's library, with Twisted Metal, one of the most SPU-intensive titles, showing a 5% to 7% average FPS improvement between builds v0.0.40-19096 and v0.0.40-19151.

The PS3's Cell processor paired a PowerPC-based PPU with up to seven Synergistic Processing Units, each a 128-bit SIMD co-processor with its own 256KB of local store memory. RPCS3 emulates SPU workloads by recompiling the original Cell instructions into native x86 code using LLVM and ASMJIT backends. The quality of that translation determines how much host CPU time each emulated SPU cycle consumes.

SPU emulation is the largest CPU bottleneck in RPCS3. While the PS3 could run up to six SPUs simultaneously for game workloads, each one must be recompiled and executed on a host CPU thread. Elad's contribution identifies new patterns in how PS3 games use SPU instructions and implements more efficient recompilation for them.

This means tighter host-side machine code for the same SPU workloads, reducing CPU overhead across the board. RPCS3 shared side-by-side Twisted Metal video comparisons showing the frame rate gain, and noted that the cutscene used for demonstration features dynamic lighting, NPC positioning, and environmental effects that change on every run, accounting for minor visual differences between captures.

RPCS3 said the optimization benefits all CPUs, from low-end to high-end, and cited user reports of improved audio rendering and slightly better performance in Gran Turismo 5 on a dual-core AMD Athlon 3000G, a budget APU that you’d expect to struggle with PS3 emulation.

Elad, known in RPCS3's codebase as elad335, has a long track record of SPU optimization work on the project. His June 2024 SPU optimizations delivered 30% to 100% performance gains on four-core, four-thread CPU configurations, with titles like Demon's Souls seeing doubled frame rates on constrained hardware.

In March, RPCS3 demonstrated over 1,500 FPS on Minecraft PS3 Edition's title screen, a benchmark the project used to illustrate the efficiency of its recompilation pipeline. A few weeks later, in the latest SPU improvement, the project also added new Arm64 SDOT and UDOT instruction optimizations to accelerate SPU emulation on Arm hardware, including Apple Silicon Macs and Snapdragon X laptops.

RPCS3 currently lists over 70% of the PS3's game library as playable and supports Windows, Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD, and added native Arm64 architecture support in late 2024.

The original PlayStation came out in 1994 and changed gaming forever with its focus on 3D graphics. Six years later, Sony released the "PS One," a shrunken-down model of the classic, featuring more efficient silicon that ran cooler and consumed less power. However, compared to the original, it had inferior audio processing capabilities (among other downsides), which opened the door to a best-of-both-worlds console — which is exactly what modder thedrew (also known as Secret Hobbyist on YouTube) is trying to achieve.

The video above is actually the second part in his series on creating a "PlayStation Hybrid" that combines the original PS1 and PS One to form the ultimate experience with "no cons." In a previous video, the modder redesigned the PS One motherboard and miniaturized it to about a quarter of its original size, but that setup still required a lot of external components to operate. Now, it was time to refine the work.

Secret Hobbyist decides to grab the CPU, GPU, and RAM ICs from the PS One (since they're more efficient), while lifting the audio chip, CD drive controller, and BIOS from the original PS1 motherboard. He desolders all the chips from their respective pads and resolders them onto his new custom PCB that's tailor-made for these components.

The new PCB also integrates two other crucial mods: the XStation and an HDMI daughterboard from Hispeedido. The latter is self-explanatory — it uses an FPGA to connect directly to the PS1 GPU and enable up to 1080p HDMI output, upscaled from 480p. On the other hand, the XStation interfaces with the console's CD drive, essentially replacing it by allowing you to play ROMs off of a microSD card.

After all the soldering was done and the custom PCB was ready, it was time to power on the Hybrid PlayStation. Since this is still an ongoing project, there was no 3D-printed shell or anything like that; the modder used alligator clips to directly inject power into the PCB's voltage rails. On the opposite end was an HDMI cable, with a DualShock controller connected up front, and the entire setup came to life.

The YouTuber showed off a bunch of games, all running smoothly with a clean HDMI output that even had scanlines built overlayed atop the picture, similar to a CRT shader. The whole motherboard draws less than 2 watts on its own, working perfectly at 3V, so it's incredibly efficient and can branch off into a separate handheld project as well.

A few wires are still present for the controller and Memory Card connector (not SD card) for now, but Secret Hobbyist is working toward integrating those into the PCB as well. Whatever the final form of this project turns out to be, these are relatively small quirks that can even be addressed within the chassis. All the important work is already done, and Hybrid PlayStation will soon become a finished product.

If you're interested in console modding, someone recently transformed a PS4 Slim into a handheld with an OLED screen, while an entire PC was fit inside an Xbox One S. If you like to software-mod your devices then you'll love seeing Linux running on a PS5, but if you don't care about PC gaming and just want all the consoles, check out the "Ningtendo PXBOX 5" that combines a PS5, Xbox Series X, and a Switch 2 in one.

The global component crisis has reached an inflection point where even consoles, historically a bastion of affordability against the fluctuating PC market, are now affected. Sony has just announced that all PlayStation 5 models are receiving price hikes, going into effect from April 2, 2026. It's your last chance to buy a PS5 or a PS Portal, because they're about to get $100 to $150 more expensive in just a few days.

• Buy PlayStation 5 Digital (slim)
• Buy PlayStation 5 Disc (slim)
• Buy PlayStation 5 Pro
• Buy PlayStation Portal

The base PlayStation 5 with a disc drive is now $649.99, up from $549.99, while the digital edition will now cost $599.99, up from $499.99. Both of those face only $100 hikes, but the PlayStation 5 Pro is $150 more expensive now, going from $749.99 to 899.99. Remember, the PS5 Pro doesn't come with a disc drive either. The PlayStation Portal, on the other hand, is now $249.99, up $50 from its original $199.99 price.

Sony says these changes were necessary given the current economic climate and that the company understands the community vitriol that'll stem from this decision. The PlayStation 5 already received another price hike in August 2025, where all models were made $50 more expensive. The new prices announced today are sure to upset many, but they won't surprise most of us.

This announcement comes at a time when most of the world, not just the tech industry, is reeling from an economic and political crisis tied to the Iran-U.S. war. The Strait of Hormuz, a major trade route in the Gulf region responsible for carrying a large chunk of the global oil supply, is still closed. The conflict is showing no signs of fizzling out.

The chipmaking sector is on the verge of facing a helium crisis, impacting the manufacturing process of silicon used in all sorts of devices around us. That includes the APUs Sony puts inside its PlayStation 5 consoles, and the future chip that'll power the PS6 and Microsoft's Project Helix. Let's not even get started on the memory shortage that the AI boom already caused, driving RAM and SSD prices up by as much as 500%.

Prices for PlayStation 5 consoles have risen in the UK, Europe, and Japan as well, so countries that import units from there will also experience the inflation soon. In Europe, the PS5 Pro will cost €899.99 from next week; that translates to a whopping $1,037. In the UK, at least, Sony offers PS5 rental services through a third-party vendor, and we assume they'll start to get a lot more popular now.

We've previously talked about how the upcoming Steam Machine isn't trying to hit console-level prices, but seeing what's happening to those in real time, one can only wonder the situation Valve is in.

The PlayStation platform will reportedly receive frame-generation technology, according to the console’s architect. Mark Cerny, who is the lead system architect for the PS4 and the PS5, said in an interview with Digital Foundry that machine-learning-powered frame generation will arrive on Sony’s gaming console. However, it’s unlikely to arrive this year, and gamers seeking higher FPS on the same hardware will likely have to wait until 2027 (or longer) to achieve that capability.

Cerny said in the interview, “The new PSSR uses the same core co-developed algorithm as FSR Redstone’s Upscaling.” AMD released the latest version of its upscaling and frame-generation technology in late 2025 to compete with DLSS 4, with FSR 4.1 dropping recently for RX 9000-series GPUs. The PlayStation architect said that AMD and Sony also co-developed the technology behind FSR Frame Generation and that “an equivalent frame generation library should be seen at some point on PlayStation platforms.”

However, Cerny was quiet when asked whether frame generation would hit the PlayStation 5 Pro or the upcoming PlayStation 6, which will have GPU upgrades that will enhance AI-rendering performance. “All I can say is that we have no more releases planned for this year,” he told the publication.

AMD is working with Sony to develop the next-generation PlayStation, which typically launches about 6 to 7 years after the current one. The company released the PS5 in 2020, with the PS5 Pro following in 2024. Because of this, many expect the PlayStation 6 to launch in 2027. Unfortunately, there are rumors that the company might delay the console until 2028 or even 2029 due to the ongoing chip shortage.

Some hardcore enthusiasts dismiss AI-powered technologies like super resolution and frame generation, calling them “fake pixels” or “fake frames.” However, this is one way manufacturers can deliver higher resolutions and faster frame rates without resorting to beefier, more expensive hardware that requires much more power. More importantly, the technology has improved over the years. Earlier versions of DLSS and FSR come with several downsides, like ghosting; newer releases have fixed those issues, with only the most keen-eyed gamers and pixel peepers able to spot the imperfections. So, by adding these machine-learning-powered features and pairing them with appropriate hardware, console gamers might finally be able to achieve the visual performance of a high-end gaming PC without shelling out the cash for one.

U.S. gaming retailer GameStop has “officially” declared that the Sony PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii U are, “for all practical purposes, now officially retro consoles.” This new classification, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, references the consoles’ age, lack of Fortnite, and their use of component cables as justification.

This isn’t just a joke, however. The change in policy means that gamers are now free to trade in these old timers, even if they’re defective or “aesthetically unfortunate,” as long as they power on. These consoles will likely go on sale in larger stores that cater to displaying old school consoles and games, as well as via its website, with GameStop also referencing other “beloved legacy hardware” like the Sega Saturn and Nintendo DS on its list.

The company shared its message in a letter shared on its social media channels. In the message, GameStop also confirmed that from now until March 21, anyone who trades in a Wii U, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, or any other retro console, game, or accessory will gain an extra 10% in trade credit on the transaction.

While confirming that these consoles are “still very cool” and that anyone who owned one at launch is “absolutely not old,” which is a relief to this writer, who happens to be among them, it’s not a huge surprise to see GameStop do this. Both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 launched in 2005 and 2006, respectively, and while the Wii U launched in 2012, that console has also been long superseded by the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. All three consoles are products of a different era, and modern gaming has simply moved on.

Of course, a retro console isn’t the only way to play games from this era. PlayStation 3 emulation has long been possible, although tricky to optimize, while emulators for the Xbox 360 and Wii U have also grown in strength and quality over the years. However, the best option remains, in many cases, to run these games on their native consoles —as long as they still work, that is.

Old or not, there’s likely to be a significant number of still-working PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii U consoles out there ready for a second life, and it looks like GameStop is preparing to support the transition. You can view GameStop's full list of retro consoles, games, and accessories over at GameStop’s Retro website.

Unless you're a low-level developer yourself, you probably don't realize how complicated emulator development is. To be frank, the RPCS3 emulator for PlayStation 3 is probably one of the most tightly-optimized pieces of software being actively developed today. Case in point: the project's official X account just posted a screenshot of the app running the PlayStation 3 version of Minecraft and achieving some 1558.84 FPS on the title screen.

There are a lot of "yeah buts" about this result. It's Minecraft, and more than that, it's not even in-game; it's the title screen. The thing you have to understand is that this isn't just "running Minecraft at over 1500 FPS." This is "pretending to be a PS3 that is running Minecraft at over 1500 FPS." That is an entirely different task, and in an entirely other galaxy of complexity.

As a refresher, the PlayStation 3 was released in November 2006. It's a game console that features a graphics processor, the Reality Synthesizer or RSX, that is a very close relation (though not identical to) an NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX, albeit with half the memory bandwidth and a few other tweaks. That GPU is mated to the IBM-Sony-Toshiba Cell Broadband Engine, a single-core PowerPC CPU with eight "Synergistic Processing Elements" (SPEs) hanging off the back of it, though only seven are functional in the final design.

So, a single-core CPU with SIMD and an old GPU. Easy to emulate on modern hardware, right? No. The design of the PS3 is legendarily idiosyncratic. The RSX and the Cell communicate with each other over a proprietary bus called FlexIO, which is extremely fast—sometimes. For certain transfers, it can be as slow as 16 megabytes/second. Complicating matters, the latency of a FlexIO operation varies depending on whether you're reading or writing, and which device you're doing either to and from. This matters because software is programmed to expect a certain latency, and screwing it up could crash a program or cause other unexpected behavior.

Moreover, the Cell's SPEs are not like a modern CPU's SIMD units. They're somewhere between that and discrete CPU cores, with their own 256K of "Local Storage" and their own memory controller that works independently of the "SPU", which is the actual functional unit inside the SPE. The SPUs can only work on data resident in their own Local Store, but loading data in and out of the Local Store has to be done manually by the developer by sending commands to the Memory Fabric Controller inside each of the six usable SPEs (one is reserved for OS functions).

Worse than that, the SPUs are spectacularly weird processors. They can only work with just a few data types, and they do things that modern processors simply aren't capable of without considerable work shuffling bits around; a single instruction explodes into dozens. In particular, the SPUs perform a lot of 128-bit atomic operations that require tons of complex, tightly-optimized code to emulate both quickly and accurately on x86-64 CPUs, and that's to say nothing of trying to perform said emulation with a "close-enough" latency. Recently-added instructions as part of the AVX-512 ISA extensions help with this, but don't fully resolve it.

All this to say that yes, it's Minecraft's title screen. It's Minecraft's title screen coming out of an application that's emulating all this arcane PlayStation 3 hardware within less than two-thirds of a millisecond (0.64ms). I wasn't kidding when I said RPCS3 is one of the most heavily optimized pieces of software on the planet. The recompiler is doing things normal developers would stare at in befuddlement for speed.

Still, the replies to the Twitter post are largely unappreciative. It's easy to understand how they feel; when a game from 2009 won't run smoothly on your 2026 hardware, it feels ridiculous—although we have to point out that actual 2026 hardware generally will run everything just fine; even God of War III and Metal Gear Solid 4 are mostly playable on the best CPUs for gaming.

The simple reality is that the PS3 was a beautiful disaster of a machine, and the way it does things is just fundamentally different from the way we do things in x86-land. The fact that the app exists at all is a testament to the hard work put in by kd-11, Nekotekina, Whatcookie, and the dozens upon dozens of other contributors to the open-source project. Our very humble hats off to the team for donating countless hours of their free time to push the state of PS3 game preservation ever forward.

One of the upsides of playing on PC is the sheer variety of sales and discounts you can accumulate across different marketplaces. In contrast, a console — like the PS5, is locked down to just the first-party PS Store, which doesn't operate as generously. However, it seems that Sony might be shifting gears on this avenue as a new report from PSprices claims that the company is now experimenting with dynamic pricing, or more specifically, dynamic discounts.

According to the outlet, Sony has been running A/B testing on the PlayStation Store for more than three months. The test reportedly started with 50 games in 30 regions and has expanded to 150 titles across 68 regions now, including Sony's own first-party games. Certain users have been seeing lower prices for these games in the PS Store, varying from a 10% discount to all the way up to a 17.6% discount.

During sales where everyone can enjoy price cuts, some players were targeted with even more aggressive discounts; Helldivers 2 was off 25%, but for users participating in the A/B testing, they saw up to a 56% reduction in prices. Games like The Last of Us, God of War, and Gran Turismo 7, all important PlayStation exclusives, along with third-party titles like Rockstar's RDR2, were part of this testing.

During routine tracking, PSprice discovered what it calls 'unusual offer structures' with never-before-seen identifiers like "IPT_PILOT," "IPT_OPR_TESING" in the PlayStation API. That led them to discover certain listings were dynamically altered. Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Africa are all participating regions where users are seeing personalized discounts, while America and Japan are notably omitted.

To be clear, if the experiment is limited to just discounts, then it's technically not dynamic pricing because, by definition, that involves price hikes as well. Think of concert tickets and how they become more expensive when demand is high. That predatory tactic is why dynamic pricing is very controversial amongst customers, but if Sony is just offering discounts to incentivize sales, that's different.

Steam has regional pricing for developing or third-world countries with weaker currencies. A $60 game might sell for half of that in Pakistan or Brazil, and even upcoming releases on pre-order will be discounted to ensure gamers in those regions can afford them. Sony's A/B testing looks more similar to this, especially because the United States is not part of the experiment.

Sony fortifying its home base by offering more and more PC-like features doesn't come as a surprise when the company is widely reported to be shifting back to a console-first strategy. New first-party exclusives are likely not coming to PC anymore, and with the next-gen Xbox running Steam to offer better, more personalized sales anyway, it's only sensible that the Japanese giant gets in on the action, too.

In light of Sony's heavily-rumored decision to pivot away from PC releases, one security engineer took matters into his own hands and turned the PS5 into a PC. Andy Nguyen ported Linux to a PlayStation 5 console, hacking through several layers of hardware and software barriers thanks to full-chain exploits. Not only did he manage to get Linux running, but the modded console actually performs well in games.

As the video below shows, that's a PS5 Slim running full-fat Linux with no illusions. Now that it's a PC, it can do anything a standard computer can, which includes running GTA V Enhanced Edition via Steam. It's set to 1440p resolution, with ray tracing enabled as denoted by the "High RT" preset in settings. The gameplay is steady at a smooth 60 FPS with barely any fluctuation, and even the sound is working.

Andy says this Linux-PS5 (LinuxStation 5?) supports 4K HDMI and audio output, and all USB ports are working. The CPU is sitting at 3.2 GHz, while the GPU is at 2.0 GHz, but both can go higher — the CPU can boost to 3.5 GHz, and the GPU can boost to 2.23 GHz. But the PS5 Slim doesn't have the thermal headroom to keep up with those numbers and simply overheats if pushed any harder.

To achieve this, Andy used a PS5 running significantly older firmware, between 1.0 and 2.0, that was released around five years ago. The author used the 'Byepervisor' exploit to say bye to the hypervisor Sony uses on its console, gaining kernel-level control to run unsigned code. GPU acceleration is still incomplete, and some functionality remains limited, but the community's efforts are impressive nonetheless, as Andy demonstrates.

To be clear, GTA V Enhanced Edition, the game Andy tested on this, is natively available on PS5 as well, but where's the fun in that? Under the hood, the PS5 is essentially a locked-down x86-based PC that's very similar in architecture to a modern computer. If Sony's hypervisor weren't in place, you could probably boot Linux directly on it. In fact, Sony used to allow that back in the early PS3 days as "OtherOS."

In a way, this is a tease of what the upcoming Steam Machine will be since it'll feature similar performance and run SteamOS, based on Linux. Through Proton, it can play pretty much any Windows game, sometimes with even a slight FPS bump. The Linux-PS5, therefore, is like the best of both worlds because it can go back to being a regular exclusives-playing machine after the tinkering phase is over.

Sony has released PlayStation exclusives on PC for a few years, starting with Horizon: Zero Dawn back in 2020. At the time, the gap between its PS4 release and its PC launch was 3 years, but those windows have shrunk considerably, with just 8 months between Death Stranding 2's debut on both platforms. Now, it seems like Sony is reconsidering this strategy from the ground up.

Bloomberg reporter Jason Schrier, speaking on the Triple Click podcast, revealed that Sony is "backing away from putting their exclusive console stuff like traditional single-player stuff on PC." He implied that Sony no longer sees PC as an important outlet for some of its titles and is ready to relinquish the revenue generated from the platform (which apparently wasn't much to begin with).

PlayStation is renowned for its single-player story games, such as God of War and The Last of Us franchises. Still, the company also produces and/or distributes multiplayer titles like Arrowhead's highly-popular Helldivers 2. It's only the former that Sony seems to be pivoting on, deciding to keep its AAA exclusives exclusive to the PS5, while live-service games will continue to be available as usual.

"Sony is shifting their PC strategy, absolutely," said NateTheHate on the ResetEra forums, backing up Schrier's comments. Another prominent leaker, SneakersSO, also agreed. If that's not enough, even Digital Foundry's John Linneman said he has "an inkling that [they’re] pulling away from PC," going on to add, "PC has become less important" for Sony under the current leadership.

Schrier brought up Insomniac's Wolverine, which is due for release this September on PS5, citing it as an example of Sony's new strategy — that game may never come out on PC. "I'm not sure how successful those PC releases were," said Schrier, implying that they didn't sell well enough to justify keeping first-party titles on the platform. Sony can afford to lose that audience to focus on fortifying its home base.

That audience has been very vocal about this development online. Scouring through a few subreddits presents wildly different perspectives on Sony's purported decision. Zooming in on r/pcmasterrace, the comments unanimously infer they would never buy a console and that Sony has foolishly given up the chance to potentially recoup their investment via a PC release. That's precisely the point.

Not everyone has a competent gaming PC, and many can't build one these days, even if they wanted to. Consoles are still a significantly cheaper entry point (barring online play fees), and Sony wants to ensure people make the jump quicker and more easily, not leaving the option open that PS5 prestige will eventually land on PC. The audience that's open to exploring different platforms is Sony's fishing ground.

The timing of the decision makes sense when you look around the gaming landscape. Nintendo is an indirect competitor, and Xbox seems pretty much done for with Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond leaving the outfit. Sony has no real rival except for PC, and with a global component crisis, even that seems to have sorted itself out for now. Valve's upcoming console-esque Steam Machine is not even in the same price bracket.

With the next-gen Xbox essentially being a PC, PlayStation wants to stand tall as the only option (left) in its class. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume the Japanese giant doesn't want people on the Green Team easily playing its first-party exclusives, no matter the nuances of the platform. The PS5-PC "Cross-Buy" feature we reported on earlier also seems to have been cancelled now. In addition, Sony recently shut down Bluepoint Games, its in-house remaster/remake specialist.

Play Has No Limits — except if you're trying to buy a console. Amidst the dire wastelands of the tech industry, Sony has decided that enjoying its PlayStation 5 console should remain its top priority. Even if you can't pay for one outright, the company will now lease it to you every month with recurring payments, thanks to a local collaboration with Raylo in the United Kingdom called "Flex."

Raylo is a "tech subscription service" in the UK that allows customers to lease all sorts of stuff, including TVs, phones, appliances, and consoles. PS5s were already available on Raylo's site, but this new program, in partnership with PlayStation Direct, makes the process even more accessible. In fact, even this offer has been active since at least March 2025, so the company is simply readvertising here.

Instead of buying from third-party vendors or retailers like Amazon, you can buy PlayStation hardware "directly" from Sony via its online store. Every item sold here is authentic and official, adding another layer of legitimacy to the purchase. Raylo's leasing partnership is limited to PlayStation UK.

Speaking of which, the offer includes four options: 12 months, 24 months, 36 months, and an indefinite rolling plan. The longest lease is the cheapest, starting from £9.95 per month ($13.55) for the base PS5 Slim across 36 months. The most expensive plan is the flexible one, where you pay a flat £19.50 per month ($26.56) for the same PS5 Slim and £37.49 per month ($51.06) for the 2 TB PS5 Pro. Prices vary across hardware.

You can choose from a range of devices, including the PS5 Pro, as well as newer additions such as PSVR2 and the PlayStation Portal. The DualSense Edge controller, for instance, can be leased for as little as £6.50 ($8.85) per month for 36 months. Regardless of whatever item or plan you choose, at the end of the contract, you have to return the console or "upgrade for free."

That means this is not a financing situation; you're not paying installments as part of a payment plan to own the console at the end. You're simply renting it for the time being, but Raylo says you can contact them to discuss buyouts as well. On the other hand, Microsoft offers a similar leasing solution through "Xbox All Access," but that option lets you keep the console after you've fully paid it off.

Now, some quick math shows that renting a PS5 Slim over 36 months at £9.95 per month would total £358.2 ($487.89) — that's not too far from the console's upfront cost, and it's been on sale for less before. Perhaps short-term renting is the best use for this service: you can simply get the console for a month when a new exclusive comes out, play it, then return it as part of the 20 quid rolling plan.

Of course, then there's the doom and gloom of it all. Everything is a subscription service nowadays; you will own nothing,g and you will be happy. Beyond the obvious long-term disadvantages of this service, it's not a bad deal entirely. Even the maximum contract length of 3 years makes sense if you plan to upgrade to the next-gen PS6 at the end. Raylo says you can also keep paying after the lease ends if you don't want to return or upgrade the console.

The PlayStation 5 ROM keys leak has ignited a frenzy, signaling that a firmware 12.00 jailbreak for the PlayStation 5 is imminent. Gezine — a leading developer and security researcher in the jailbreak community — confirmed that a physical disc copy of Star Wars Racer Revenge is now essential for the exploit. The revelation has sent prices rocketing to all-time highs, prompting jailbreakers and gamers to go on a buying spree.

Star Wars Racer Revenge, which sports the CUSA-03474 game code, hides a rare vulnerability that lets developers inject code directly into the PlayStation system—an exploit that’s quietly evaded patches since the game’s 2002 PlayStation 2 debut. Critically, only the PlayStation 4 physical edition (not the PlayStation 2 original) is vulnerable to the jailbreak. That version was released as an ultra-limited run of just 8,500 copies worldwide, making it a hot ticket for jailbreakers.

The game’s usual $59.99 price tag has vanished, replaced by empty shelves at every major U.S. retailer—including Best Buy and Amazon. The only way to snag a copy now is through resale platforms like eBay, where opportunistic scalpers and savvy collectors are driving prices sky-high. As of now, 80 copies are up for grabs on eBay in the U.S., with jaw-dropping price tags ranging from $230 to $399.99. Before the PlayStation 5 jailbreak news, the same game was going for as low as $20 on eBay.

The jailbreak isn't available to the public yet — Gezine is still refining the code before making it available. The developer acknowledged that the requirement to use a specific, ultra-rare game for the jailbreak has frustrated many in the community. Star Wars Racer Revenge is notoriously hard to find. Gezine also cautioned enthusiasts not to expect a BD-JB exploit just yet.

The skyrocketing prices for Star Wars Racer Revenge may only be a temporary phenomenon. Once early adopters finish jailbreaking their consoles, many will probably resell their copies, which could bring prices back down to earth. If you’re not desperate to be among the first to join the jailbreak scene, waiting it out might be the smartest move.

But for those who want instant access, your best shot could be to scour local game shops, retro stores, or check listings on platforms like Facebook Marketplace. Don’t count on big retailers—Best Buy, Amazon, or even Playasia—to restock anytime soon, as this ultra-rare game remains firmly in the hands of early jailbreakers and opportunistic resellers.

The PlayStation 5’s ROM keys have allegedly been leaked, meaning anyone who can get their hands on the hex strings now has the hardware code that will allow jailbreakers to try decrypting and analyzing the console’s bootloader. According to The Cybersec Guru, this is an unpatchable problem for Sony, because these keys cannot be changed and are burned directly in the APU. The only way that the company can invalidate the leaked codes is to replace the chips on yet-to-be-manufactured units, meaning consoles that are already in the wild could possibly take advantage of future jailbreaks stemming from the use of these leaked codes.

When you turn on the PS5, its CPU runs the BootROM code that’s baked in the chip and uses the ROM keys to ensure that Bootloader is valid. Now that the ROM keys have been leaked (and assuming they are valid), a hacker could then decrypt and study the official bootloader and potentially use that as a starting point to understand how the PS5’s boot system works. Since the issue is at a hardware level, Sony would not be able to release an update that will stop consoles with the compromised chip from loading kernel-level exploits in the future, should one become available.

Note that this leak does not automatically mean that we will see jailbroken PS5s on the market right now, especially as Sony has other security measures that hackers need to bypass. However, the appearance of these codes means that one of the biggest security features of the console has likely already been compromised, making it easier for those working on creating custom firmware to have a deeper understanding of how the console works and use that knowledge to maybe build a modified (or even a totally different) operating system for it.

This isn’t the first time that Sony has had to deal with a security crisis with the popular PlayStation family. The PlayStation 3 was previously hit with a vulnerability when the company made a mistake with their cryptography on the console, allowing users to install homebrew software and allow piracy and cheating on popular titles. We also saw this with the Nintendo Switch, when a flaw in the Nvidia Tegra X1 chip that it used let tinkerers run Linux on the handheld.

Sony has yet to release a statement regarding the hack, but the company could release revised hardware in the near future to rectify the situation. Another solution is to issue a recall for all existing PlayStation 5 consoles on the market and replace their motherboard to change the hardware codes, but this is unlikely to happen as it’s either going to be too costly for the company or gamers would be unwilling to pay extra for a mistake that was ultimately not theirs.

The original PlayStation wasn’t built to be particularly compact, but later revisions like the PS One managed to get pretty small, while retaining CD media compatibility. However, console hacker Thedrew has managed to condense that already dinky PS One revision motherboard down to less than a quarter of its prior size. This custom PlayStation motherboard is the smallest ever made, according to Hackster, and perfectly timed to celebrate today's 31st anniversary of the console's release.

Thedrew’s creation is an “Original hardware for the win” design. Sure, it could have gone much smaller if the project had been propped up by an FPGA, a modern SoC with an emulator, or some similar electronic/software concoction. This is the real deal, though, with original PS One rev PM-41 chip packages onboard. In other words, it uses Sony’s original CPU, GPU, SPU, RAM, and BIOS chips.

With these components in hand, Thedrew designed the most compact supporting motherboard his skills and resources would allow. The current working model is a quarter size of the PS One mobo, says the console hacker in the above video. Actually, Rev.1 of the compacted mobo measured just 73 x 59mm. That gives us the following rough comparison:

• Original PlayStation motherboard – about 10 x 7-inches
• PS One motherboard – about 7.5 x 5.5-inches
• Thedrew’s PS One redesign – less than 3 x 2.5-inches

Now that the custom PlayStation motherboard is ready and working, we eagerly await the next steps from Thedrew. Towards the end of the video, he says, “now we have a working prototype, let’s make it even better.” This work should find its way into a range of projects under the umbrella term of “The PS One Redesign Series.”

The original PlayStation's anniversary

31 years ago today, Sony released its first blockbuster games console to the unsuspecting public. Commonly abbreviated as the PS, PSX, or PS1, this affordable box of wonders sparked the immersive 3D gaming home console revolution. The PS One (year 2000) was a significantly smaller footprint console that played the same first-gen games.

In 1994. Sony's $299 TV-connected gaming system clearly outshone most contemporary PCs in 3D prowess. Remember, it wasn’t until late 1996 that the legendary 3dfx Voodoo appeared on the scene to bring new levels of 3D realism to PC gaming. Coincidentally, the Voodoo would also cost $299 at launch. You'll have to pay a lot more to buy the best PC gaming graphics card in 2025.

About this time last year, we reported on the new-improved grooved heatsink design that was discovered under the PlayStation 5 Pro’s cooling apparatus. Now these same improvements have reportedly dripped down to the mainstream. Specifically, the same style of heatsink has been spotted in the latest revision of the PS5 Slim.

Click 'See more' to reveal Modyfikator89's image gallery and further replies.

Console modder and fixer Modyfikator89 on X appears to have been the first to spot this revision by Sony, sharing some images to verify his observations.

The console enthusiast reckons this “silent upgrade” from Sony is “the MOST important hardware update of the year.” Moreover, he goes on to remark that this is an early upgrade to the PS5 Slim cooling system, modeled on the Pro’s, and one which represents “a GIANT step for console longevity and stability.”

Benefits of the change for ‘standard’ PS5 buyers will be threefold, reckons the PS5 hardware expert. In addition to better thermals and thus system stability, the new consoles starting with model CFI-2116 should be “free from the metal leak issue that affected older PS5 FAT/ OG and Slim CFI2016 from 2023,” comments Modyfikator89.

In our earlier coverage of a very similar-looking heatsink design, which debuted last year, we noted that the machined grooves were expected to reduce the chance of heatsink dry spots and oxidation. That’s an occurrence which seemed all too familiar to expert repairers like TronicsFix. Indeed, it became part of PS5 lore that vertical standing PS5 consoles would inevitably suffer a liquid metal leak. Sony's feedback from the Pro rollout must have signalled this leaky issue had been tamed. But since this is a "silent upgrade," we might never know the stats behind the engineering change.

Modyfikator89 seems rather pleased with the heatsink upgrade, declaring that it represents a “huge engineering victory,” and that the new Slim is “the most stable PS5 you can buy right now.” It is certainly good to see these small refinements continue, as the PS5’s successor is probably still three to four years away. As such, some would say this generation is still in its prime – especially with launch issues, and niggles ironed out, and the game library and system affordability being better than ever.

Back in 2021, AMD's crypto-mining-focused BC-250 graphics card, powered by the Sony PlayStation 5’s APU instead of regular GPU chips, started popping up on eBay for around $500. Fast forward to the present day, and similar units are now available in China for as low as £96, or about $120. One such unit was ordered and procured by the creator of the YouTube channel Budget-Builds Official, notably sold as the “PS5 graphics card.”

The unit received by the YouTuber indeed looked like a GPU; however, in reality, it was a server-style motherboard with a large passive heatsink, power and fan headers, I/O ports including DisplayPort, USB 2.0/3.0 ports, Ethernet, as well as a CMOS battery slot. The unit also included a standard 8-pin PCIe connector to feed power and an I/O shield. According to the YouTuber, at its core, the custom board included the BC-250, a cut-down version of the APU used on the PS5, with six Zen 2 cores (compared to eight on the console), 12 threads, 24 compute units (compared to 36 on the console), and 16GB of GDDR6 memory. Interestingly, the board did not include any provision for standard DDR memory; instead, the GDDR6 memory was divided equally between the system and the Radeon GPU.

To power up the board, a standard 1,000W PSU was used along with an SSD, peripherals, monitor, CMOS battery, and a standard 120mm fan to actively cool the heatsink. To the YouTuber’s surprise, the janky system came to life, booting directly into the BIOS. After loading Linux, initial testing with Half-Life 2 and 3DMark’s Time Spy and Fire Strike benchmarks failed, likely due to issues with Linux drivers.

After some tinkering, the YouTuber was eventually able to run Half-Life 2 at over 200 FPS, however, 3DMark benchmarks did not show any signs of stability. Additionally, more games were tested, including GTA V Enhanced Edition, which ran at an average of 65 FPS at 1440p high settings and 25–30 FPS with ray tracing enabled. Counter-Strike 2 rendered fairly well at 1440p in a competitive setting, averaging 130 FPS. Surprisingly, demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Hitman 3 also managed to run at 1080p high settings with 42 FPS and 47 FPS, respectively.

While the performance of the custom BC-250 board may not be able to replace your Nvidia RTX or AMD Radeon GPU-powered gaming rig any time soon, it is interesting to see a PS5 APU converted into a working desktop. At $120, it might be one of the cheapest gaming PCs out there, but in reality, it is truly a collector’s item and highlights how inventive PC enthusiasts can get when given the right hardware and a bit of determination.

The past few years have witnessed a shift in Sony's strategy for first-party exclusives, as more and more titles make their way onto PC. While there's no sign of those titles also showing up on Xbox, the Japanese game company seems comfortable giving them up to Microsoft's other baby: Windows. And now we have our first look at what could be PlayStation's version of Xbox Play Anywhere — "Cross-Buy," a service that will let you purchase one game and own it across multiple platforms.

The news was first spotted by Amethyst on X, and now popular leaker billbil-kun on Dealabs is corroborating that they've found a "Cross-Buy" option in PSN, along with a "PS5 / PC" icon — both hints suggesting the new feature could be dropping soon. Billbil-kun reportedly managed to access the CSS files for PlayStation Store's website and discover a reference to "crossbuy-tag," which was recently added in June 2025.

Sony used to have a Cross-Buy feature back in the day, where you could buy one game and own it across PS3, PS4, and PS Vita, but it's been dormant for some time. The June 2025 date confirms that we're looking at something new. Since it was found alongside a PS5 / PC logo, it's pretty easy to connect the dots and conclude that you may soon be able to buy a game on PS5 and also own it on PC.

Microsoft already does this with its Xbox Play Anywhere program, in which buying the game on Xbox also gets you the Microsoft Store version. But Sony doesn't have a native PC launcher — it relies on Epic Games and Steam to distribute exclusive games, so it'll be interesting to see what sort of licensing deals are chartered up to make this whole ordeal work.

The other, more exciting possibility could pertain to the long-rumored PS6 handheld in the works. Since Cross-Buy is already associated with the PS Vita in some way, a spiritual successor building upon its legacy would be the perfect time to revive this branding. Realistically speaking, such functionality wouldn't be added in the files this early for a product that's at least two years away. Only time will tell if Cross-Buy extends to the next generation, though, while we wait for it to show up in the current one.

The creator of the Tiny PS5, Not From Concentrate, has announced a new initiative, the Tiny PS5 Redux. In its most recent installment, which offers guidance on reducing the size of your PlayStation 5, the YouTube channel has supplied a comprehensive tutorial, including a parts list and 3D-printable files, available for $10, enabling you to replicate the Tiny PS5 Redux.

The Tiny PS5 Redux is comparatively less extravagant than the water-cooled PS5 Slim from several years prior, yet it is more practical. Nonetheless, the project is still a challenging undertaking due to the significant time and financial resources required. Beyond repurposing the PlayStation 5's existing hardware, it is necessary to procure additional components, such as a CPU air cooler, cooling fans, and a FlexATX power supply. This project is exclusively compatible with the CFI-1215A and CFI-1215B models of the PlayStation 5. Nevertheless, one advantage of 3D printing is that you can modify the design to accommodate other revisions of the PlayStation 5.

The project fundamentally converts the PlayStation 5 into a portable mini-PC, featuring a high-quality exterior with a premium aluminum body and a Cerakote finish. Cerakote, a ceramic-based coating, is frequently utilized in firearms for its protective properties against corrosion and impacts. Although it increases the overall project cost, it is an excellent choice for safeguarding the exterior of the Tiny PS5 Redux, particularly when it is frequently transported between locations.

As its name suggests, the primary goal of the Tiny PS5 Redux is to reduce the PlayStation 5's size so it's easier to carry around. The device has a volume of six liters, which is 19% more compact than the PlayStation 5 Slim and up to 43% smaller than the original PlayStation 5.

The Tiny PS5 Redux is not only more portable but also incorporates several enhancements, including improved heat dissipation and wireless connectivity. The PlayStation 5's PCB is positioned between two custom-printed heat sink plates. Additionally, a low-profile Alpenföhn Black Ridge CPU cooler, equipped with two slim 120mm Noctua Chromax fans, maintains optimal thermal performance for the custom AMD 6nm Obreron SoC. Cool air enters the device through the rear, while three 60mm Noctua fans expel hot air through the side panel.

The original antennas on the PlayStation 5 are located within the Tiny PS5 Redux, but they connect to a pair of external antennas to enhance connectivity. Due to spatial constraints, an M.2 extension cable links to a 3D-printed M.2 bracket, facilitating the use of the best PS5 SSDs with M.2 2280 support and a maximum capacity of up to 8TB. A 500W GaN power supply powers the Tiny PS5 Redux to ensure sufficient electrical provision.

According to the modder's benchmark results, the Tiny PS5 Redux pulled around 220W in Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 with temperatures up to 50 degrees Celsius. It ran cooler and drew less power than the creator's original Tiny PS5 project (220 to 225W and 56 degrees Celsius) and a stock PlayStation 5 (230 to 235W and 59 degrees Celsius).

We are approaching the PlayStation 5's fifth anniversary in just one week. Although Sony has introduced numerous special, game-themed editions of the PlayStation 5, including the PlayStation 5 30th Anniversary Edition, the Tiny PS5 Redux is definitely in a class of its own. It's a great way to give your PlayStation 5 a distinctive makeover, provided you have the funds and access to the right equipment.

The rumors (via billbil-kun) regarding Sony's revision of the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition have been confirmed through various overseas Amazon listings. Although the new CFI-2116 revision maintains the original pricing, Sony has decreased the internal storage from 1TB to 825GB, representing a 17.5% reduction in capacity. This change further emphasizes the importance for owners to upgrade their consoles with one of the best PS5 SSDs.

The PlayStation 5 has been on the market for nearly five years, during which time the console has undergone multiple hardware revisions. These modifications have varied from minor optimizations, such as improvements in heatsink design, to substantial hardware alterations, including a die shrink, culminating in the transition to the PlayStation 5 Slim models. Consequently, the most recent CFI-2116 revision feels like a regression.

The original PlayStation 5, colloquially referred to now as the PlayStation 5 Fat, was equipped with 825GB of internal storage, of which approximately 650GB was accessible to the user, depending on system updates and other variables. The shift to the PlayStation 5 Slim introduced numerous enhancements, including an increase to 1TB of storage, providing the user with approximately 850GB of available space (subject to similar factors).

The CFI-2116 revision, also known as "Chassis E," marks the return of the 825GB SSD, which Sony advertises on the new packaging. Consumers are losing close to 200GB, or 24%, of usable, high-speed storage with the latest revision. You could argue that 200GB isn't a lot, and that's true in a way since some AAA titles — specifically, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War — are pushing over 300GB of installed size. But under normal circumstances, 200GB should be enough for one or two games.

Gaming accessory maker Turtle Beach has announced the Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded, a new modular game controller under its Victrix esports brand. Successor to the original Victrix Pro BFG, the new controller builds on the design by Performance Designed Products (PDP), the manufacturer behind the original model which was acquired by Turtle Beach in 2024.

The latest Reloaded model now comes with a reconfigured Fightpad module with improved ergonomics, as well as updated Hall Effect thumb sticks and triggers. The company will be offering it in black and white color variants with a dedicated model for Xbox which is compatible with Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Windows. An officially licensed PlayStation version will also be available, offering compatibility with the PS5 and PS4 consoles alongside Windows, again.

The modular aspect of the Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded controller allows it to adapt to various genres and play style, including fighting games, first-person shooters, and RPGs. Users can swap between three modules and 11 interchangeable components including various thumb sticks, a selection of D-pads, and thumb stick gates that can attach to the bottom of a joystick or thumb stick limiting the directions in which the stick can move.

The controller also comes with patented 5-stop hall-effect clutch triggers with a Hair-Trigger mode that allows adjustable sensitivity, which makes it suitable for FPS gamers. Additionally, there is a 6-button Fightpad module which features Kailh microswitches that are claimed to deliver tournament-level accuracy.

The included USB Type-A dongle offers low-latency and a range of up to 30-feet, while the 2,000 mAh inbuilt-battery offers up to 20-hours of backup. Alternatively, players can use the included braided USB-C cable for wired operation. There is also a 3.5mm audio jack with Sony 3D Audio support on the PlayStation variant.

The Victrix Pro BFG Reloaded is on sale in the UK and EU regions starting at £179.99 and €199.99 respectively. For customers in the US, the controller is now available for pre-order on Amazon at $209.99, and will officially start shipping on September 28.

Jace from self-confessed “silly tech” YouTube channel MetraByte has shared a video documenting their attempts to get Windows 95 and Doom up and running on the Sony PlayStation 2. In brief, Windows 95 eventually yielded to attempts to get it to boot, and it was possible to fiddle around in the standard apps, but there was no way Jace could get Doom to launch.

Both these platforms are very long in the tooth in 2025, of course. Windows 95 arrived in 1995, and the PS2 debuted in the year 2000. With its half-decade tech-age advantage, you might expect the PS2 to sail through the Windows 95 and Doom challenge. Indeed, it might have, but the hacky nature of getting x86 code to run on Sony's MIPS machine, plus the well-known foibles of Windows 95, built on DOS, meant there were lots of hurdles.

So, how did Jace do/not do it? It is quite a long story, but Jace condensed tens of hours of coaxing the PS2 to run Windows 95 into less than half an hour (video embedded above).

All Jace’s testing took place using a modded PlayStation 2, a game controller with a QWERTY keypad, plus a USB stick and a hard drive inserted into the fat PS2 for storage and data transfer. In parts of the video you can see Jace use a specially prepared USB stick or HDD which packed in the following contents:

• A PlayStation .ELF file. This is the homebrew code to run on the modded PS2. DOSBox and Bochs emulators for the PS2 were both tried.
• A virtual DOS boot disk or image file
• A Windows 95 install HDD or .ISO image file
• A free partition or image file for installing Windows 95 and Doom

Jace's initial time-consuming effort to use DOSBox to achieve their Windows 95 and Doom goals stalled, and after at least “47 attempts” to persuade the vintage OS to boot to desktop, our mad scientist decided to switch to another emulator called Bochs. The former is designed primarily for enjoying simple games, where the latter is billed as an accurate (and slower) general-purpose x86 emulator.

If you watch the full video, you will almost feel Jace’s pain. Such is the slow and frustrating process of getting an x86 OS onto this MIPS console. Nearly every process took an ungodly amount of time, hampered by limited and slow I/O on the PS2, the emulation layer, and these early editions of Windows sitting precariously upon DOS.

Using Bochs wasn’t plain sailing, either. Jace had to deal with a wide range of system hurdles, complaints about read errors, write errors, boot order, drive letter and mounting configurations, missing files, drivers, and more. However, they eventually saw the Windows 95 setup screen appear on their PS2 screen.

Dutch PlayStation gamers are up in arms about what they call the unfair 'Sony tax.' Their collective anger has been mobilized today in a class action suit against Sony, alleging monopolistic practices. In brief, legal representatives of the 'Fair PlayStation' campaign say that “consumers pay an average of 47% more for these digital versions than for exactly the same game on a physical disc” (machine translation used), as Sony leverages its monopoly on digital sales.

Research undertaken by the Dutch collective indicates that Sony has been “exploiting its dominant position in the console market for at least ten years,” with things made much worse by barring other app stores from the platform. It concludes that “at least 1.7 million Dutch PlayStation owners pay too much for digital games and in-game content.” In total, Dutch consumers have thus had to shell out €435 million ($505 million) more than they should have done since 2013, according to campaigners.

Wherever you live, though, new PlayStation 5 releases are expensive, and typically arrive at $69.99 in the U.S., for example. While Sony can easily control game pricing in its digital store, competing sellers of physical game media releases will often race to cut the margins they enjoy per game to aim for the volume market. This kind of healthy competition is being eroded by the introduction and promotion of the digital-only versions of consoles.

An electronics enthusiast has designed and prototyped what they say is the “first custom PlayStation 1 motherboard created in 30 years.” Moreover, it wasn’t created by a team of Sony engineers but an individual with access only to an original PS1 motherboard, a scanner, some sandpaper, old service manuals, and a passion for reverse engineering. With the project now at an advanced stage, creator Lorentio Brodesco has shown off a manufactured sample of the nsOne, and recently set up a Kickstarter page.

On social media, Brodesco explained that the creation of the nsOne has been a reverse engineering labor of love spanning many months. The PCB shown is said to be fully PS1 compatible. “This isn’t an emulator. It’s not an FPGA. It’s not a modern replica,” asserted the Italian engineer. Rather, it was emphasized that the project is a new drop-in motherboard, which is compatible with all the original chips Sony will have mounted to it (e.g. CPU, GPU, SPU, RAM, oscillators, regulators, etc.).

PlayStation console aficionados might also be interested to hear that the design of the nsOne offers some other unique appeal. It is fully compatible with the original console’s case, of course, but it also improves on the PU-23 series (from the SCPH-900X compact models) by reintroducing the parallel port. Thus, Brodesco explains, the nsOne is effectively a desirable “hybrid that never existed.”

With the advent of the Kickstarter campaign, Brodesco is promising various levels of rewards to backers, deliverable in January 2026. The lowest level of funding which promises a hardware reward is just €35 ($40.50). For this, a project backer can expect an exclusive nsOne 4-layer motherboard, which is compatible with the original PlayStation 1 case. Such buyers will have to bring along their own SMD components and ICs to create a fully functioning motherboard.

Another potentially attractive option for backers is at the €80 ($92.50) level. For this, backers are told that they will get the same motherboard, as above, but populated with all the required chips and ICs from original PS1 consoles. Moreover, all passive SMD components are brand new, “ensuring greater durability and reliability compared to the original parts,” says the campaign page.

In addition to the hardware, Brodesco hopes to share “comprehensive documentation, design files, and production-ready blueprints for manufacturing fully functional motherboards,” to the community.

Today marks the release of the Nintendo Switch 2, but if Nintendo consoles and games aren't to your tastes, how about getting your hands on the current most powerful games console on the market? Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro is the current console king with its mid-life refresh. Everything has been upgraded, from the graphical power to the base amount of available storage. Unfortunately, the price was also upgraded, so it's nice to see a discount on Sony's latest console.

Available at Amazon, you can pick up the Sony PlayStation 5 Pro for just £636. This is a tasty discount from the £699 list price and almost matches the all-time lowest price seen for the PlayStation 5 Pro of £635. This offer is for the console and a single DualSense controller. The console is a "digital-only" version, but you can upgrade with a separate disk-drive addon like in this bundle deal from John Lewis, where the PlayStation 5 Pro, DualSense controller, and Digital disk drive are on offer for £709.

The PlayStation 5 Pro is the refreshed version of the PS5, sporting more storage (2TB) as standard, and using new PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution or PSSR tech to upgrade and enhance image quality and framerates of PlayStation games from the PS5 and PS4 era. The PS5 Pro even has upgraded tech for ray tracing capabilities, for more immersive lighting effects in your games.

As I briefly touched upon, this deal only includes the console tower and a controller. If you want to upgrade the PlayStation 5 Pro tower to include a disk drive, you need to purchase a separate Sony PlayStation 5 Disk Drive like this one from Very for £69, reduced from £100. This will allow you to play PlayStation 5 games from physical disk media, where you might be able to pick up games cheaper second-hand, or use collectors' edition disks.

A games console modder has revealed a crab-themed PS One creation dubbed the 'Playstacean.' GingerOfOz's real-world remake of an artwork of the same name by Anh Dang, a concept artist on League of Legends, is crab-solutely stunning. It is a fully functional Sony PS One, as demonstrated in the video, but GingerOfOz humbly admits that the claw controllers are "not comfortable to use."

GingerofOZ's regular (crab)shtick involves taking retro consoles like the Wii, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and others and documenting his work in turning these classics into portable consoles on his YouTube channel. The Playstacean is something of a diversion for the modder, though, as it remains a (cru)stationary device designed to be plugged into your TV at home.

GingerOfOz has had the idea to build a real-life Playstacean in his mind for a few months, ever since he first spotted Anh Dang's artwork. As with many similar projects, the starting point was to hunt down a cheap and cheerful yet functional example of the console at the heart of the project—a PS One from eBay.

With the actual console in hand, GingerOfOz started work on 3D CAD artwork, melding the original Playstacean visual with the real-world console's physical form. That's easier said than done due to the compact PlayStation's curvy nature. Other art-meets-reality tweaks to the Playstacean design were caused by the console being thicker than the concept art, and conversely, the controllers needed to be made a bit heftier to fit the thumb stick and buttons and be rugged enough to game with.

The original PS One's motherboard didn't survive this project unmodded. GingerOfOz documents several trims of the ground plane, but nothing major or too worrying.

After many hours of design, modifications, and test prints, GingerOfOz was happy enough with his Playstacean to call it a day. We think it looks great. If you want to learn more about the concept and process, the I Built A Playstacean video is worth 20 minutes. There's also a bit of insight into using the Bambu Lab X1-Carbon, which our reviewer summarized as "one of the best prosumer desktop FFF 3D printers on the market."

For a wider perspective on the 3D printers on the market right now, our regularly updated Best 3D Printers for Home, Workshop, or Business in 2025 feature is worth a look.

PlayStation uploaded a video yesterday of Mark Cerny presenting a PS5 Pro Technical Seminar at Sony Interactive Entertainment HQ. The system architect provided a deep dive into Playstation 5 Pro's new hardware and chose to clarify some rumors floating around the new console. Mark spent some time addressing "FLOPflation" since an "erroneous 33.5 TFLOPs number" was leaked due to a misunderstanding of the hardware by a leaker assuming deeper use of RDNA 3-inspired architecture.

In reality, the PS5 Pro achieves 16.7 TFLOPs compared to the PS5's 10 TFLOPs. Meanwhile, one of the accurate pre-release leaks pointed toward the PS5 Pro achieving 300 TOPS when performing 8-bit calculations. 16-bit calculations, meanwhile, can achieve 67 TFLOPS. As Cerny clarifies, RDNA 2.X, Sony's customized AMD RDNA 2 architecture, uses many RDNA 3 features but maintains enough of the original architecture to not force code rewrites on the new hardware.

According to Mark Cerny, the biggest improvements of PS5 Pro are considered to be its new Ray Acceleration structure using BVH8 (Bounding Volume Hierarchy) and leveraging improved "Stack management in hardware," which means that graphics shader code is now better-managed, simpler, and more performant on the new hardware.

BVH refers to how bounding boxes, a common feature of 3D rendering, are used to make graphics calculations like reflections. BVH4, with bounding boxes in groups of 4, was used on PS5 for RT calculations, while PS5 Pro can now leverage BVH8 (8 bounding boxes) for its RT calculations. Similarly, the Ray Intersection Engine has doubled from checking rays against 4 boxes and 1 triangle (PS5) to 8 boxes and 2 triangles (PS5 Pro).

These improvements to ray tracing hardware in the PlayStation 5 Pro, made possible through an incredibly customized version of the RDNA 2 GPU architecture used within the PS5, give great performance gains with curved and bumpy light reflections but only moderate gains with shadows and flat reflections.

The full 37-minute video on the PlayStation 5 Pro is recommended for more technical information. It includes lots of interesting hindsight into the console market and the technologies required to compete in it.

A Kickstarter campaign is touting its PlayStation 5 cooling unit that purportedly resolves overheating and instances where the rear I/O can melt. The campaign was at $89,000 when we wrote this, with a stretch goal of up to $125,000. Pricing for the cooling element starts at $39.

The add-on is dubbed the Arctic PS5 cooler and is advertised as the world's first AI-powered PS5 cooler. The device is a clip-on vent that hooks onto the rear exhaust of Sony's PS5 console, featuring either four or six fans that actively dissipate heat. The device is powered with a single USB port and features a pass-through USB port, negating any reduction in port selection from the console.

SCRY, the creators of the new Kickstarter, are offering three unique models, one for each PS5 version, the original PS5 (SCRY is dubbing the "fat" model), the PS5 slim, and the recently launched PS5 Pro. The PS5 Pro and Slim models are very similar, with four fans in total, three at the top and one at the bottom. The PS5 "fat" version comes with six fans.

As highlighted several times on the Kickstarter campaign page, the three cooling add-ons are powered by "smart thermal AI" that adjusts fan speed based on the PS5's internal temperature. It's unclear how or if this is different from the way PC fan speeds have been controlled for decades. At 50C, the fans are purportedly programmed to ramp up to maximum fan speed to keep the console as cool as possible.

SCRY says its new cooling element provides a 30% reduction in temperature compared to stock operation, dropping from a max of 64C to a max of 55C. Thermal camera imaging on the site shows a 9 degrees Celsius reduction in temperature at the hottest point at the rear of the PS5 chassis, the ethernet port.

The goal of these PS5 coolers is to prevent any overheating issues that might occur on Sony's latest console. Last year, reports were swirling regarding overheating problems in several titles, such as Final Fantasy XVI. In some rare instances, reports have shown the PS5 can overheat to the point where some of the rear connectors can melt.

In addition to the PS5 coolers, SCRY is also promoting a Gen 4 M.2 SSD with a heatsink as part of its Kickstarter campaign.

Again, the main page shows a stretch goal of up to $125,000 with that milestone arriving with a free "vertikal" universal PS5 stand. Stretch goals for $75,000 and $100,000 are also in place but will purportedly be "announce when unlocked."

This week, developers behind the PlayStation 3 emulator RPCS3 announced that RPCS3 had now achieved stable, native Arm64 architecture support for Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms— Arm64 architecture support so definitive that it even includes the Raspberry Pi 5, of all devices, utterly pushing the limits of emulation believed possible on the Raspberry Pi 5. In the past, Raspberry Pi 5 has also been seen emulating GameCube and Wii (Wii less effectively) — but with the correct settings adjustments, it seems even PS3 emulation is possible on today's entry-level Arm hardware.

Running PS3 emulation on Raspberry Pi 5 is very much "challenging the limits of PlayStation 3 emulation"— considering the settings used, which make the affair look like a genuine PlayStation Portable (PSP) game by scaling down to the PSP's output resolution of just 273p versus PS3's native 720p. But this makes running some 3D games actually possible, including God of War (and God of War II) HD (originally PS2 games), Catherine, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, and more. 2D games will be a lot more playable across the board, of course, but even being able to turn around playable framerates in PS3-era 3D titles is well beyond the emulation capabilities most would expect from a Raspberry Pi 5.

Over on the MacOS side of things, native support for Arm architecture versus simply emulating x86 has netted some massive performance gains on Apple Silicon playing PS3 games. Framerates are seeing increases of anywhere from 50-100% just by running natively instead of being forced through x86 translation on top of intensive PS3 hardware emulation, making truly performant Arm-powered PlayStation 3 emulation a reality instead of a far-off dream.

Unlike the Raspberry Pi 5 testing which more or less approximates a PlayStation Portable, the Apple Silicon testing shows off high performance in some true PS3 powerhouses, including the likes of God of War III and Skate 3. These titles are much harder to emulate than PS2-to-PS3 HD ports like God of War HD, but they are still quite playable on Arm architecture hardware, so long as it has the muscle to back the experience.

Sony is working on a portable gaming console that will aim to compete against Nintendo and Microsoft, according to reports. This portable gaming device will allow gamers to play Playstation 5 games irrespective of the location, unlike the PlayStation Portal which is a connected remote play device. However, the standalone device may still be "years away from launch," leaving plenty of time for Sony to change or abandon the project.

Earlier, Microsoft CEO Phil Spencer said that the development of a portable Xbox gaming device would take a few more years, which now seems similar to Sony. Nintendo is a major player in the handheld gaming market, and its next-gen Switch is expected to be released next year.

Sony's spokesperson declined to comment regarding its plans.

In recent years portable gaming has evolved dramatically with Valve's Steam Deck and its newer OLED version making big waves. This encouraged others to step into the market- namely Asus, Lenovo Legion, Logitech, MSI, and many more. The major benefits both Microsoft and Sony have are their wide collection of games in their libraries and the ability to attract more IPs and developers for their platforms- either exclusive or cross-platform - by indie and AAA studios.

Making a portable device to work with the PlayStation 5's games will take time as it will need suitable hardware and specially optimized firmware. Since this project is still in its initial design phase, it remains a distinct possibility that Sony may change the design goal or abandon it completely.

The State of Portable Gaming- Then Vs. Now

Sony is familiar with the portable gaming market, as it released the original PlayStation Portable, PSP Vita, and PSP GO years ago. According to Bloomberg's earlier report, the PlayStation Portal was meant to be a standalone device, but the company ended up opting for a remote gaming device with an 8-inch screen that wirelessly streams games from the user's PlayStation 5 via WiFi.

Irrespective of its success with the PSP in the past, Sony has many competitors now. Sony will also be competing with cloud gaming services that are device agnostic - led by Nvidia with GeForce Now and Microsoft's Xbox cloud gaming offerings.

There are major benefits to going portable, as it opens its offerings to a wider audience base who may not play games on either PC, cloud, or console. If Sony decides against marketing a new portable, it is going to be the only gaming platform not to enter the handheld gaming market.

Digital Foundry tested the PlayStation 5 Pro's power consumption and discovered some surprising results. According to its three-way discussion piece on YouTube featuring Richard Leadbetter, John Linneman, and Oliver Mackenzie, the PlayStation 5 Pro consumes practically no additional power than the base PS5, despite featuring a significantly more powerful GPU.

Digital Foundry tested the PS5 Pro in Elden Ring, Spider-Man 2, and F1 24. All three games were compared to the launch model of the PS5, the refreshed variant dubbed the PS5 Slim, and the Pro model, with the Pro running the Pro-exclusive version of all three games with enhanced graphical capabilities.

Elden Ring saw the PS5 Pro operating at virtually identical power draw to the PS5 Slim. In one instance of the video, the Pro model operated at 214.1 watts of power consumption, the PS5 Slim model at 216.2 watts, and the PS5 Launch model at 201.3 watts. Frame rates were inevitably much higher on the Pro, operating at 52 FPS, the PS5 Slim at 40 FPS, and the PS5 launch model at 37 FPS. (The frame rate variance between the Slim and launch models should be taken lightly, as the information displayed was taken from one snapshot of Digital Foundry's benchmark run. Both consoles are the same in terms of performance.) Effectively, the PS5 Pro was operating at the same power as the PS5 Slim, while providing a 30% higher frame rate.

Spider-Man 2 showed a slightly different story due to the game being locked to 60 FPS on all three consoles. In the same scenario, the PS5 Pro yielded the highest wattage at 232 watts, the PS5 Slim at 218.2 watts, and the PS5 launch model at 208.1 watts. In Spider-Man 2, the Pro consumed 6% more power than the PS5 Slim and 11% more power than the launch version. There were no comparisons for the F1 24 title, but Digital Foundry showed the PS5 Pro operating at around 235 watts in-game, locked at 60FPS.

Note the launch model and Slim should not be taken lightly; power consumption can change based on silicon quality, which explains why the Slim is performing worse than the launch model. Variance in silicon quality means that certain consoles can operate at their advertised CPU clock speeds at lower voltages compared to others.

Digital Foundry's testing confirmed that the PS5 Pro operates at very similar power consumption targets as the base PS5 models, despite featuring a significantly more powerful GPU. This came as a surprise to Digital Foundry, who thought the console might consume upwards of 300 watts.

The PS5 Pro is armed with an 8-core Zen 2 CPU and a 16.7 TFLOP capable RDNA-based GPU, with 576 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The regular PS5 models ship with the same CPU (though CPU clocks could be different) but with a significantly weaker 10.28 TFLOP RDNA-based GPU, featuring and 448 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

Sony’s new PlayStation 5 Pro has quietly introduced a very interesting heatsink design change. Popular console repair YouTube channel TronicsFix discovered that the PS5 Pro heatsink isn’t glossy-smooth – it features a rectangular spiral surface detail.

TronicsFix postulates that the deliberately machined surface pattern was implemented to reduce the occurrence of dry spots and surface oxidation caused by liquid metal thermal interface material (TIM) migrating across the heatsink. He also reckons it slightly increases the contact surface area.

If you’ve ever tried to evenly spread liquid metal, you will probably be aware that the material likes to form pools. It is also much more susceptible to flowing where you don’t want it, compared to traditional pastes. Systems designed for liquid metal heatsinks will therefore use a seal or dam around the heatsink to make sure this electrically conductive substance can’t get out and contaminate or cause damage to other system components.

TronicsFix also thinks that the movement of liquid metal over time is exacerbated in PlayStation systems that are kept and used in their vertical orientation. We know Steve at Tronicsfix has repaired and tuned a considerable number of PS5s (and other consoles), so his observations probably aren’t far from the ground truth of the situation.

It is interesting to see Sony has implemented the rectangular spiral ‘grooves’ on the heatsink that interfaces with the AMD APU as in some ways it goes against conventional cooling wisdom. Extreme overclockers and tuning enthusiasts sometimes spend a lot of time ‘lapping’ the processor surface and making sure the heatsink is just as polished and flat - but liquid metal has shifted the goalposts. Sony must surely have A/B tested this new heatsink vs a mirror-smooth one and found it a worthwhile thermal design change to implement.

With the PS5 Pro's boost in processing power – the much beefier GPU in particular - we assume these heatsink ‘grooves’ are one of the changes made to keep the specter of thermal throttling at bay.

The PS5 Pro was officially unveiled in early September but only started to become available to consumers earlier this month. Enthusiast and expert teardowns are still uncovering the secrets of the new design, but we learned most of the technical details from lead architect Mark Cerny during a launch live stream.

Pizza Hut has melded the disparate worlds of bready, cheesy foodstuffs and console gaming with the new PIZZAWRMR. This innovation is designed to sit atop your Sony PlayStation 5 console and keep your takeaway of choice piping hot while you enjoy your heated gaming session. This isn't a new retail product or a giveaway, though. Pizza Hut Canada has made the 3D printing source files free for anyone who signs up to download, modify, and print.

The PIZZAWRMR design is inspired by the pizza-centric restaurant's red roof. The lid opens laptop-style for convenient pizza slice access. According to Pizza Hut, several slices of pizza can fit into the top box. Diagrams show that the hot exhaust from the console is channeled under and into the pizza area, which is the appliance of "science and engineering for the greater good," says the Pizza Hut marketing team.

The archive includes STL files and a PDF guide, which are included in the Pizza Hut Canada download. You will find 3D printer files for the body, left stand, lid, manifold, and suitable stand. According to the PDF guide, the design, as provided, is "specifically engineered to be compatible only with the console that has rear ventilation measuring 11.7 x 1.31 inches." Your 3D printer should have a bed at least 15 x 15 inches to accommodate the pizza, erm, PIZZAWRMR. That rules out many of the best 3D printers (unless you cut the model up). You'll need an Elegoo Neptune 4 Max, a Prusa XL or perhaps an Elegoo Orange Storm Giga?

Further user measures are needed to protect your expensive console from the real and present danger of crumbs and grease. Pizza Hut suggests PIZZAWRMR users insert a 34 x 23 x 2.5cm foil tray inside the warmer.

We don't know why Pizza Hut switched to the metric system for foil trays—perhaps it's a Canadian thing. According to the fast food firm, the last piece of advice in the PDF is to start gaming to warm up the PIZZAWRMR and then place your pizza slices in the tray. Pizza Hut's medium pizza slices will fit best.

Fast food firms developing side-projects to appeal to gamers isn't exactly a new marketing strategy. In 2020, KFC famously presented the bucket-shaped KFConsole. The idea started as a joke but snowballed into a fully-fledged Intel NUC-powered console with a fried chicken storage drawer.

Save state functionality has been part of the emulation scene for many years but it seems that it may make the move to consoles. A recent patent made by Sony outlines a future version of the PlayStation controller with a dedicated Save State button, per a legal document spotted on PatentScope by the folks at Tech4Gamers. An exact quote from the document states, "The user is able to enter the rewind mode from the live game play using one or more controller inputs to view recent game play (e.g. rewinding, fast-forwarding, playing, etc.) and returning to live game play afterwards." Keep in mind that not all patents become real products.

To users of various emulators, this descriptor of a "rewind mode" recalls the save and load state functionality common to those applications. Even Nintendo Switch Online's retro games support save states and brief rewind windows, these days. Instead of setting this functionality to a key bind like on PC emulators or a custom button combination like on Switch, though, Sony is looking to implement a dedicated button for this specific functionality, likely within immediate proximity to the D-Pad.

Outside of official and unofficial emulators, there are some other uses of save states in gaming— and not just regular old save files. One of the most interesting examples of this has to be Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, a 2003 action adventure game originally released for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube in November 2003. That game's titular sands of time mechanic allowed players to reverse time to undo unfortunate deaths to the game's many enemies and environmental hazards, quite similar to how system-level save state functionality often allows users to rewind death or other mistakes in emulators.

Of course, it's worth noting that such a button like this, even implemented system-level, simply will not work with all games. For example, multiplayer titles that rely on synchronizing game states between players, servers, or both won't allow for functionality like this. A dedicated button like this would only be usable in single-player games, and some fans may even argue it would taint those experiences— particularly Soulsborne fans and their devotion to a static difficulty.

The launch of Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro is imminent, set to arrive in four days (on November 7) to the tune of $699 USD. At this price point, Sony is promising massively improved resolution and framerate through the use of AI upscaling with PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), and a souped-up CPU and GPU compared to the base PlayStation 5 released back in November 2020. Considering the absence of a similar upgrade from Microsoft's Xbox brand, it seems the high-end console gaming throne has truly been ceded to Sony — and an apparent teardown of the new strongest console appeared on YouTube just last night.

The video teardown of the PlayStation 5 Pro ahead of its street release date seems to be from a Portuguese console repair shop, with the process revealing an internal layout quite similar to the PlayStation 5 Slim model. Other sources have noted that these similarities would make PlayStation 5 Slim faceplates compatible with the Pro were the interlocking mechanisms not seemingly changed specifically to prevent that functionality, so this teardown also seems legitimate.

Aside from some noted similarities to the PS5 Pro, there isn't too much else immediately notable about this PlayStation 5 teardown unless you specifically wish to see the internals. You can't exactly gauge the way these internals will perform based on a teardown, though, since you'll just be left looking at circuit boards instead of numbers that could establish some expectations. For those, we'll be looking to a Twitter post that's also been drawing lots of press attention this week.

This supposed PlayStation 5 Pro specifications leak was posted yesterday afternoon on Twitter by user @videotechuk_, previously known for posting Rockstar Games leaks. This leak mostly includes information we already knew or expected, including that PlayStation 5 Pro will still be using the same Zen 2 architecture that its immediate PlayStation 5 predecessor is using. Sticking with Zen 2 is likely a conscious choice for strict compatibility with the base PlayStation 5, though some prior reports have mentioned the PS5 Pro could potentially support boosted clocks compared to the base.

What sticks out most about this purported specifications leak is that the PS5 Pro GPU is now slated to perform at an expected 16.7 teraflops and have a full 16GB of dedicated GDDR6 VRAM, not having to share it with CPU like on base PlayStation 5 models. Rumors also indicate the PlayStation 5 Pro will have 2GB of DDR5 RAM dedicated system memory. This marks quite a departure from previous PS5 models with unified memory.

Four years on from the original November 2020 release date of PlayStation 5, it's clear that gamers are more eager than ever to get their hands on the new PlayStation Pro console, even though it's Sony's second mid-generation "Pro" upgrade. If Xbox won't be doing it and you are unwilling to engage with PC gaming, the PlayStation 5 Pro still makes sense, and early benchmarking of its improvements in PSSR image quality and support for real-time ray tracing graphics look promising.

YouTuber Restore Technique has uploaded a immensely detailed 27-minute video demonstrating his personal PlayStation 4 handheld project. Using a 3D-printed custom shell, some custom PCBs, a 7-inch screen, and the original PlayStation 4 Slim console motherboard, Restore Technique was able to create a true handheld PlayStation 4 (249 x 156 x 49.2mm and 1.7 Kg). Some would say that compared to the streaming-only PlayStation Portal, this is far and away the better successor to the PlayStation Vita.

As Restore Technique discusses in the full video, this Portable PlayStation 4 project is set apart from most of handheld console mod contemporaries by using a more powerful console than the commonly modded Nintendo consoles (GameCube and Wii) used for such projects, i.e. Nintendo Kawaii and the recent first-ever handheld Xbox. PlayStation 4 and broadly-equivalent PC hardware of the era can still run quite a few games, so this is much more ambitious than those projects— though it helps that the PlayStation 4 Slim chosen by Restore Technique actually uses an altered low-power design that made it easier to reach the desired heat and power (TDP) balance for this handheld PlayStation 4.

Restore Technique was thorough in their approach. Choosing a model of PlayStation 4 that uses less power and so has a smaller PCB. Some ports and components were removed using the best soldering stations (there was a lot of hot air used to remove the components) and a Dremel rotary tool was used to reduce the size of aluminum heat spreader that serves the all of the motherboard components. They were savvy enough to includes a fan controller, a means to keep the PlayStation 4 cool by speeding up the fan past its original speed. They speculate in the video that such a setup may still be prone to overheating.

A Dual Shock controller was also integrated into the handheld, with lots of wires from the many test points of the controller being broken out to new locations around the handheld.

A handheld like this needs a big battery and Restore Technique has made their own 3S2P LiPo 12V 10,000 mAh battery pack. This is charged via a DC power jack, which they had to upgrade to a 10 Amp model in order to safely charge and game at the same time. Restore Technique used DC buck converters to control the voltages for the 12V and 5V rails, as the screen operated at the lower voltage and would not take kindly to overvoltage.

Restore Technique does share some gaming footage in the video (where they play The Last of Us for 86 minutes), making this a handheld best played with the charger. They also point out that the battery setup is of such high wattage that you wouldn't be able to take this console on most planes.

Besides extracting the PlayStation 4 Slim motherboard, the full video also details a multi-step prototyping process for the "PS4T" (PlayStation 4 Transport, supposedly) shell, done initially with FDM 3D printing before getting the final resin shell manufactured by PCBWay, since specialized material prints are be better for high-heat workloads like a portable PlayStation 4 Slim.

After initial assembly, some thermal and power issues cropped up with the PS4T that resulted in graphical glitches and slowdowns in numerous titles. After replacing the controller frames, improving internal electric shielding and heat dissipation, the handheld began performing stably without graphical glitches.

This is a great build, it covers electronics, 3D printing, soldering and the general maker ethic of learning from failure. Definitely one to watch.

Sony announced the PS5 Pro and its 30th Anniversary Limited Edition variant earlier this month, with pre-orders now available on the Sony website. The former will start shipping on November 7 for $700, while the latter becomes available on November 21 for $1,000, with only 12,300 units made globally. However, even though the release dates for these consoles are still more than a month away, a quick search on eBay shows several results marked as ‘Presale’ or ‘Confirmed Pre-Order.’

The PS5 Pro sells for about $1,000 on the e-commerce platform—a nearly 43% premium over Sony’s price—but the pricing for the PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary console is far more egregious. Most listings for the limited-edition console start above $3,000 — a 200% markup from the original—and we’ve even seen a listing asking for $12,300.

These prices are reminiscent of the PlayStation 5’s (and practically every other high-profile electronics, like the RTX 3000 series GPUs) launch during the height of the pandemic in 2020. While Sony has limited pre-purchases of the PS5 Pro and limited-edition versions to just one per user, scalpers seemingly find ways to bypass this security system to make money off the average consumer.

Hopefully, Sony has learned its lesson during the launch of the PS5 and has made enough units to avoid the scalper problem. After all, we don’t have Covid-related lockdowns anymore, so getting production up and running shouldn’t be a problem. However, the limited-edition run of the PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary Edition would be an issue. Given that Sony is keeping the number of units available low — with each individual numbered as a collector’s item — it is a prime target for scalpers, as we can see on eBay right now.

The only way we can combat scalpers is to not buy from them. It would likely mean you won’t get the PS5 Pro right at launch, but what’s a little patience to avoid getting stiffed by people taking advantage of a situation? But if you’re a hardcore PlayStation fan and didn’t get the chance to the PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary Edition, we still do not recommend buying from a scalper. After all, who knows what other types of scams they might be running to separate you from your hard-earned money?

Sony's PlayStation family of game consoles spans five generations and 30 years. To celebrate the anniversary of the launch of the original PlayStation in 1994, Sony on Thursday introduced a set of limited edition PlayStation consoles and accessories that come in the original dark gray color.  

The new family of limited edition PlayStation consoles in the original dark grey color includes the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition console with a DualSense controller and a gray cover for disc drive as well as the PlayStation 5 Pro 2 TB system with a DualSense wireless controller, DualSense Edge wireless controller, DualSense Charging Station, and a gray cover for a disk drive.  

These consoles will come bundled with various collector's items, including a USB Type-C cable designed to look like the original PlayStation controller connector housing, cable ties, stickers, a poster, and even a paper clip. 

Sony has not announced pricing of the limited edition consoles and Portal Remote Player for PS5, but keeping in mind that the PS5 Pro limited edition will come bundled with the DualSense Edge premium controller and all of the consoles will include collector's items, expect them to cost more than a typical PS5 and PS5 Pro.  

Also, Sony said that it will produce only 12,300 limited edition PlayStation5 Pro systems in dark grey for the whole world, so these are going to be rare birds (expect them on eBay from scalpers). 

Sony will also offer its PlayStation Portal Remote Player for PS5 in the original gray color for those who play on the go, as well as DualSense Edge controller, and DualSense controller in the same color scheme.  

The PlayStation 30th Anniversary Collection will be released on November 21. In regions where direct.playstation.com is available (U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Austria), customers with a PlayStation Network account can pre-order everything except the PS5 Digital Limited Edition starting September 26. The PlayStation 5 Digital Edition – 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Bundle will be available for pre-order starting October 10.

According to several reports on the web (Reddit, Twitter, etc.), this week's PlayStation 5 firmware update has resulted in severe graphical errors and crashes for several high-profile PS5 and PS4 games being played on Sony's base console hardware. This is the same week as the PS5 Pro's announcement ahead of its November, and two major PS5 timed exclusives making their way to PC has been interesting.

Considering how much the console gaming business model hinges on a plug-and-play gaming experience that "just works," this certainly isn't a good look for Sony. Final Fantasy XVI, one of the aforementioned major PC ports releasing this, is the most reported game suffering from the issue this week.

Still, others include Death Stranding, Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, Elden Ring, and more, according to user reports. Fortunately, not all base PS5 owners are experiencing this issue— and if you are one of them, we highly recommend you postpone that firmware update if you still can— but those who do bear witness to what may be described as "glitch horror."

So, you may be wondering: what's the cause of this issue, how will it be fixed, and when can we expect that fix? Unfortunately, we don't have answers to any of those questions, but we know the issue has been brought to Square Enix (Final Fantasy devs) and PlayStation's attention via a Tweet. With any luck, we can expect a fix sooner rather than later— consumers paid an effective fee of hundreds of dollars to play these games on this hardware, so it should just work.

However, one can't help but notice that at least this week, it does seem like PC is the best place to play PlayStation 5 games. Sure, you have to wait a year or two for the PC port, but you get support for multiple image upscalers, you get way more graphics, resolution, and FPS options, you get mod support...and you don't have to wait for Sony to fix the problem for you. On PC, a lousy driver update or a harmful component is easily reverted or replaced— not so on the console.

According to Reuters, Intel seemingly lost out to AMD in its bid to design and fabricate processors for the upcoming Sony PlayStation 6. According to three insiders talking with the source, Intel and AMD were the two final contenders in the PS6 chip design and fabrication tender. 

Intel’s loss was reportedly an excruciating blow to the hopes of its IFS contract manufacturing business (now known as Intel Foundry). The contract, considered worth approximately $30 billion in revenue, will instead feather the nests of rivals AMD and TSMC and their shareholders.

The Reuters sources say that Intel and its foundries division were bidding competitively against AMD and TSMC for the PS6 chip sometime in 2022. The chip design and manufacturing foes, the last contenders with hope for the lucrative contract after Broadcom was sidelined, fought to secure a deal worth as much as $30 billion. Winning this contract would significantly boost Intel, particularly its fledgling IFS division (now Intel Foundry). Conversely, if news of a PlayStation 6 with Intel Inside hit the wires, AMD’s fortunes would have dived.

Interestingly, Intel’s quibbling over profit margins is said to have led to a win by the currently established Sony processor design partner. Reuters sources say Intel locked horns with Sony over the profit margin per chip supplied. However, with the massive volumes of game consoles sold by Sony, sometimes upwards of 100 million per generation, smaller margins are more typical. Suppliers appreciate the steady, reliable income over several years and are usually happy to entertain smaller margins. In Intel’s case, getting its foundry business rolling should or would have been an extra consideration.

An Intel spokesperson responded to the Reuters report, saying they “strongly disagree with this characterization” but wouldn’t (understandably) comment further on customer conversations. AMD and Sony didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Intel is currently experiencing grave difficulties with vast restructuring and some of the biggest layoffs in its 56-year history on the cards. If the firm had landed the Sony PlayStation 6 contract in 2022, it would have had a useful source of recurring revenue for several years. Perhaps we wouldn’t know about it yet, though—and remember, today’s Reuter’s exclusive must be taken with caution, citing unnamed sources and so on.

Sony won’t be ready to launch the PS6 until 2027. Now, it looks like it will be based on AMD’s processor architectures, and both AMD and TSMC will benefit from steady income streams from this product. Sony only revealed its PS5 Pro console a week ago, and it is scheduled for a November release at $699.99.

Sony posted a recent blog post celebrating 30 years of PlayStation consoles, but the promo as noticed by Kami also gave a glimpse of an alleged and highly anticipated PlayStation 5 Pro. 

The blog post's featured images for many of the earlier consoles — including the PlayStation Portable (PSP), official accessories and physical media for the PSP. But, one of the grey silhouettes stood out as it did not resemble any of the earlier PlayStation consoles- but it does correlate with the fabled PlayStation 5 Pro design- nestled behind the PlayStation logo. 

While Sony hasn't named this console or revealed information to officially confirm it, the design that can be seen within the featured image is no different than the alleged sketch leaked a few days ago. Based on the PlayStation's history of previous consoles, it was only a matter of time before we saw signs of the Pro (or an update) iteration of its current-generation console. What the update will bring is still shrouded in mystery but we can hazard a guess.

The design sketches imply the PlayStation 5 Pro differentiates itself with three black stripes across its white console cover. The standard PlayStation 5 has a plain cover design, while its 'Slim' nomenclature has a single one black stripe. There is a possibility that the PS5 Pro may have both digital and disc variants. The former being a more preferred format for those who wish to collect consoles and their library. 

Youtube channel Technizo Concept made renderings based on the earlier leaks that match the print on the 30th-anniversary image. 

As for hardware specs, nothing concrete has been revealed. But earlier leaks suggest up to 45% higher rendering performance boost and possibly two to four times the ray-tracing performance compared to the standard PlayStation 5. Leaks indicated the inclusion of an AI accelerator up to 300 TOPS of 8-bit computation for PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) upscaling. The console maker is expected to use a 'High-Frequency Mode' for its CPU, giving a boost up to 3.85 GHz. Using an AI-based PSSR upscaler would suggest the use of RDNA4 architecture in the PS5 Pro, compared to the RDNA1 used in the original PlayStation 5. To keep up with near-future-ready requirements and the ability to have good gameplay at higher resolutions, such significant changes will be needed.

Judging by the number of leaks occurring over the weeks, one can't help but speculate that the PlayStation 5 Pro launch is sooner rather than later. Originally, the PlayStation 1 was launched in Japan on 3rd January 1994 with launches happening in other regions on the 9th and 29th September in North America and Europe. 

It's also very likely that at the time of release, there will be some titles available with the purported PlayStation 5 Pro which would use its enhancements. The blog post does mention that we should be on the lookout for more announcements in the near future- and all we need to do now is wait.

Just before September, we may have the first look at the PlayStation 5 Pro's design, courtesy of a sketch based on a leaked photograph provided to a journalist. The source of this story is Dealabs Magazine, a French gaming magazine owned by the Pepper.com shopping platform. The reporter who wrote the story goes by Billbil_kun on both Dealabs and Twitter and (officially) has been operating as an investigator for Dealabs since 2016.

Reportedly, this design is being shared as a sketch instead of a photograph because sharing the (likely leaked/taken against NDA) photograph could potentially infringe on copyright. While we can't comment on how the sketch approach holds up as a legal argument, the sketch is at least detailed enough to infer lots about the upcoming PlayStation 5 Pro design, provided it holds.

For one, if this sketch is based on a finalized retail model, the Sony PlayStation 5 Pro will either come in digital and disc drive-supported models like the base PlayStation 5 or only in digital form. If the latter approach is taken, it will likely be seen as a controversial move since many console gamers like to take advantage of the secondhand games market, and disc drives are better for long-term game preservation.

Aesthetically speaking, the sketched PlayStation 5 Pro design already resembles the PlayStation 5 disc model more than the digital model since the digital model does not have centered stripes like the disc model. The original PS5 disc model only has one stripe, though, whereas the PlayStation 5 Pro has three stripes.

Regarding dimensions, the sketched PlayStation 5 Pro also seems closer to the PS5 Slim than the original PlayStation 5 designs, though slightly thicker than the PS5 Slim. Since the PS5 Slim also supports an attachable disc drive, the PlayStation 5 Pro may also help the feature through the same peripheral, even if there's only a single digital model on launch.

The rumor mill seems to point toward an official PlayStation 5 Pro announcement soon, considering how much information has already leaked about the hardware specifications and the expected PS5 Pro Enhanced requirements. Rival console manufacturers Microsoft and Nintendo have also been reasonably active with new models of Xbox Series S|X and open confirmation of Nintendo Switch 2, with the rumor mill on the latter pointing toward a release in early 2025.