Sony has revealed its next generation games console will be released in time for “Holiday 2020” featuring a “next-gen” haptic controller and UHD Blu-ray, and that, as expected, it will be called the PlayStation 5. 

Neither pricing or an exact release date were announced but the console will be available in late 2020, Sony confirmed in a press release. 

"Today I’m proud to share that our next-generation console will be called PlayStation 5, and we’ll be launching in time for Holiday 2020," Jim Ryan, Sony’s president of Interactive Entertainment, said in a statement.

Further details about the PS5 were revealed in an article in Wired.com, including the fact it will be the first PlayStation console to be equipped with a UHD Blu-ray drive that can also play movies in addition to games. Players will be able to buy games on a 100GB disc, or else buy them online and download them to the console’s solid-state drive, Sony said. 

The PS5 will also feature “ray-tracing acceleration” inside its graphics processing unit hardware. Ray tracing is an advanced technique for rendering computer graphics more realistically. Relying on a machine learning algorithm to trace the path of light sources and shadows, it can simulate how these interact with the virtual objects they fall upon in a computer-generated environment. The end result is far more realistic light effects, which should ensure a more superior HDR game experience .

Another interesting feature is the ability to install games in segments in order to save time. For example, it will be possible to install just the single-player segment of a particular title, omitting the multi-player part. 

The “next-gen” game controller meanwhile packs several new features including “haptic feedback”, which replaces the old “rumble” technology found inside the current PS controller. The L2/R2 trigger buttons will also have “programmable resistance”. Sony said. Other innovations include an improved speaker, a larger battery, and a USB-C port. 

Sony said the haptic feedback delivers a “broader range of feedback” so that gamers will immediately be able to feel the difference between, say, crashing a car into a wall or being brought down by a sliding tackle in FIFA. 

“You can even get a sense for the variety of textures when running through fields of grass or plodding through mud,” Sony said. 

As for the L2/R2 trigger buttons, Sony says games developers will be able to specify the level of resistance they provide so that players can feel “the tactile sensation of drawing a bow and arrow or accelerating an off-road vehicle through rocky terrain.” 

Sony is rumoured to have an event planned for February 2020, where it’s expected to reveal a lot more about the PS5, including the possibility of a new voice assistant feature.