PlayStation

Sony is launching a fancy free demo for Gran Turismo 7 with the clever name My First Gran Turismo. It’ll be available on December 6th on both PS4 and PS5, and is aimed at newcomers to the franchise, and racing sims in general. And if you get hooked? You can transfer over your progress to the full game.

Bilibil-kun, the Dealabs leaker who correctly revealed the design of the PlayStation 5 Pro, now says the currently white PS Portal will soon be available in black for the same $200 price.

While the PS Portal can only stream games, it recently got updated to stream some of them from the cloud. Meanwhile, Sony’s also reportedly working on a true Nintendo Switch / Steam Deck rival.

Sony launched a site outlining the history of PlayStation, and it includes a fun tidbit: the PS2 has officially sold 160 million units. That strengthens its position as the best-selling console of all time. Nintendo is nipping at its heels with the Switch, though its momentum is slowing for obvious reasons.

The former president of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Worldwide Studios and current head of indie initiatives has been a part of PlayStation since it started in 1993, but now he’s leaving in January.

Shuhei Yoshida (aka @yosp) explains on the official podcast and in another in-depth interview that he felt it was time and that PlayStation is in good hands.

Sony is giving you another shot to try and buy the retro-gray PS5 slim, DualSense, and DualSense Edge tomorrow at 12PM ET from PlayStation Direct, as spotted by Wario64. Good luck!

Simogo’s mind-melting puzzle noir is getting a PlayStation version on December 3rd, following its initial launch on PC and Switch. No matter what platform you’re playing on, though, make sure to keep a notebook handy.

Ratatan doesn’t just look and sound like Patapon, it even has Hiroyuki Kotani, the designer of the PSP original, working on it.

Oh, and it’s a four-player co-op roguelike? Okay, that’s it — I’m dead. Someone please res me when this launches in 2025.

Based on the video, the inside of Sony’s most advanced PS5 looks pretty similar to the inside of the slim PS5. It’s still pretty cool to see, though — and the PS5 Pro at least has an easier way to access the CMOS battery.

Check out our PS5 Pro review if you want to learn more about the console.

I’ve got a whole series of these hands-on gadget videos — find more on my Threads — but with the PS5 Pro, it’s only now I’ve been able to make one! At Sony’s preview event, journalists couldn’t touch the final hardware so I focused on what it’s like to play; at review time, my video tried to show off the graphics.

Speaking of...

The just-released PS5 Pro (here’s my review!) has a bunch of ways to amp visuals. But since Sony says most people prefer 60fps, we’re comparing the 2020 PS5’s 60fps “Performance” modes, and the new “Performance Pro” modes that give you higher detail at the same 60fps target. Plus Bloodborne for PS4.

Hopefully Meta doesn’t compress the video too much!

Need I say more? If you’re determined to hear every little morsel about Sony’s upgraded console and a thorough breakdown of which games benefit most from the added GPU horsepower and PSSR upscaling, here you go. No one does it quite like the folks at Digital Foundry.

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered is out today on PC and PS5, but like previous games in the series, its release has been overshadowed the launch of another, more anticipated game. Horizon’s original release in 2017 got obliterated by Breath of the Wild. Then, Horizon Forbidden West launched the same week as Elden Ring. This time, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, also launching today, is the specter looming on Horizon’s shoulder.

PlayStation has revealed the trailer for Death Note Killer Within... and it’s basically an Among Us-style social deduction game. Instead of hunting for the “imposter,” L’s team must try to find Kira.

Insomniac has released patches adding PS5 Pro support to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and both updates add new “performance pro” and “fidelity pro” graphics modes and toggles for ray tracing. The studio didn’t share screenshots or video alongside the updates, so we’ll have to wait and see if the improved graphics are worth the cost.

Alan Wake 2 developer Remedy Entertainment shared details of the game’s enhancements for the PS5 Pro. As shown in a video, reflections in Quality Mode look seriously impressive.

The game will also be getting an “Anniversary Update” on October 22nd, the same day as the launch of The Lake House DLC, that adds quality-of-life features and some great accessibility settings.

Remember the Dbrand Darkplates that pissed off Sony and eventually let you make your PS5 retro-translucent? You can now buy a $60 black version for PS5 Slim that unifies the original split panels — and for $70, it’ll come with a self-aligning magnetic stand.

Stand doesn’t work without panels; panels don’t work with Sony’s tiny stand.

The Go! Explore PSP GPS accessory for directions still works today, and even looks surprisingly modern, as Jon Cartwright shows in this Good Vibes Gaming video. He says it worked well.

But also, I never knew that Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops had a GPS feature! I miss that era of Sony.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, because that era of 3D platformers haven’t necessarily aged well — but I’m feeling some nostalgia well up anyhow! The three-game Tomb Raider collection is coming February (trailer below), while Jedi Power Battles (trailer here) is coming January.

As Reddit, Push Square, and others are pointing out, the very good 2022 game is suddenly sporting a “PS5 Pro Enhanced” badge. Sony hasn’t yet confirmed a patch, nor do we have details on how the game might get enhanced.

Here’s our running list of PS5 Pro Enhanced games, and our hands-on with 11 of them.

As reported by friend of The Verge Cameron Faulkner for Polygon, the refurbished consoles, revealed last month, are now on sale. A digital PS5 costs $349.99 (half the price of a PS5 Pro!) while the model with a disc drive costs $399.99.

Grab the game and any DLC you might want before they go away on October 31st, 2024. If you already own the game and any content for it, you’ll still be able access that after everything is delisted.

Sony shut down the game’s servers earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the original game has been delisted on Steam, Polygon writes. (You can still get it in a bundle with the remaster, which requires you to link a PSN account.)

Sony introduced the same requirement for God of War: Ragnarök earlier this year, and unlike with Helldivers 2, it hasn’t taken that decision back.