First Look at the PlayStation 5's UI

Nessus · Oct 16, 2020

Found it a little weird how the guy in the video kept going on about how the UI was optimized for 4K.

As someone who was watching the video on a 4K TV, but set to 1080p I didn't see anything that looked wrong or that I could imagine would have looked appreciably better if it were in 4K.

Is it just a dig at Series X's rumored 1080p dashboard?

Disco · Oct 16, 2020

Nessus said:
Found it a little weird how the guy in the video kept going on about how the UI was optimized for 4K.

As someone who was watching the video on a 4K TV, but set to 1080p I didn't see anything that looked wrong or that I could imagine would have looked appreciably better if it were in 4K.

Is it just a dig at Series X's rumored 1080p dashboard?

Im pretty sure he just means the ui is outputting at 4k. So text and images will look crisp

degauss · Oct 16, 2020

Nessus said:
Is it just a dig at Series X's rumored 1080p dashboard?

It seemed to come out a day before the Xbox 1080 UI story broke, dunno tho.

reclaimerzzzzz · Oct 16, 2020

Nessus said:
Found it a little weird how the guy in the video kept going on about how the UI was optimized for 4K.

As someone who was watching the video on a 4K TV, but set to 1080p I didn't see anything that looked wrong or that I could imagine would have looked appreciably better if it were in 4K.

Is it just a dig at Series X's rumored 1080p dashboard?

No, the 1080p rumor for Xbox came after this video was posted. They probably thought it was worth mentioning because the PS4 pro UI changed resolution depending on the game being played.

Stillmatic · Oct 16, 2020

Nessus said:
Found it a little weird how the guy in the video kept going on about how the UI was optimized for 4K.

As someone who was watching the video on a 4K TV, but set to 1080p I didn't see anything that looked wrong or that I could imagine would have looked appreciably better if it were in 4K.

Is it just a dig at Series X's rumored 1080p dashboard?

Vid would've been made before the 1080p info came out.

Nessus · Oct 16, 2020

reclaimerzzzzz said:
No, the 1080p rumor for Xbox came after this video was posted. They probably thought it was worth mentioning because the PS4 pro UI changed resolution depending on the game being played.

Ah, that makes sense (wasn't aware of the PS4 Pro UI changing, but I've always kept mine at 1080p and used Boost Mode).

vivftp · Oct 16, 2020

Nessus said:
Found it a little weird how the guy in the video kept going on about how the UI was optimized for 4K.

As someone who was watching the video on a 4K TV, but set to 1080p I didn't see anything that looked wrong or that I could imagine would have looked appreciably better if it were in 4K.

Is it just a dig at Series X's rumored 1080p dashboard?

PlayStation couldn't give a crap what others are doing. They're talking about their own features.

I imagine the 4K HDR UI will just make things more pleasing to the eye, especially for those with larger displays.

Izzard · Oct 16, 2020

Nessus said:
Found it a little weird how the guy in the video kept going on about how the UI was optimized for 4K.

As someone who was watching the video on a 4K TV, but set to 1080p I didn't see anything that looked wrong or that I could imagine would have looked appreciably better if it were in 4K.

Is it just a dig at Series X's rumored 1080p dashboard?

Probably easier to see the Picture in Picture stuff, like your friends playing games.

the-pi-guy · Oct 16, 2020

Nessus said:
Found it a little weird how the guy in the video kept going on about how the UI was optimized for 4K.

As someone who was watching the video on a 4K TV, but set to 1080p I didn't see anything that looked wrong or that I could imagine would have looked appreciably better if it were in 4K.

Is it just a dig at Series X's rumored 1080p dashboard?

The Series X's UI being 1080p came out in commentary by Digital Foundry, about the PS5 UI.
The 1080p UI was a response to the 4K UI.

mangdo · Oct 16, 2020

Custom activity cards would be very cool. Something almost like the iOS Shortcuts feature.

AndyD · Oct 16, 2020

reclaimerzzzzz said:
No, the 1080p rumor for Xbox came after this video was posted. They probably thought it was worth mentioning because the PS4 pro UI changed resolution depending on the game being played.

This. Plus hdr. And some tvs and receivers don't always handle those changes well, so to have a 4k hdr continuity from game to dash is actually notable.

Cosmo Kramer · Oct 16, 2020

It would be amazing if Sony allowed users to create cards and post them online, put a rating system in place and have them be contextual to where players are and make the best rated ones show up on the activity bar/menu

2Blackcats · Oct 16, 2020

Cosmo Kramer said:
It would be amazing if Sony allowed users to create cards and post them online, put a rating system in place and have them be contextual to where players are and make the best rated ones show up on the activity bar/menu

Depending on how something like that would be curated it could be really cool.

AndyD · Oct 16, 2020

Cosmo Kramer said:
It would be amazing if Sony allowed users to create cards and post them online, put a rating system in place and have them be contextual to where players are and make the best rated ones show up on the activity bar/menu

Since games allow user created levels and challenges. If they get rated high, why would they not surface to the dash? Think highly rated custom levels in LBP.

klauskpm · Oct 17, 2020

Cosmo Kramer said:
It would be amazing if Sony allowed users to create cards and post them online, put a rating system in place and have them be contextual to where players are and make the best rated ones show up on the activity bar/menu

It would be awesome to at least have a way to create/pin cards as shortcuts. Like, you could have pinned cards for your favorite games/modes, like queueing a Warzone match directly from a card or have your favorite apps in there to quickly jump on them.

bushmonkey · Oct 17, 2020

The activity cards would be amazing in Dreams to show new highly rated custom levels or to jump straight into the games you've been making.

cooldawn · Oct 17, 2020

I like it but I hope it can be customised to a large degree. I'd like to get rid of the Activities feature, replace them with something more interesting and useful.

Doctor Avatar · Oct 17, 2020

9 million views.

nocontent · Oct 17, 2020

shadowsdarknes said:
Rather then talking about attention span, I think the cards that forecast estimated completion time, you boot right into challenges and levels are quite helpful time management tools that can drive engagement.

Knowing you have ten minutes to completion on a level might cause the player to stick it out another ten minutes during a game session before bed.
Or it means the player can jump in for a quick ten minute session.

Booting directly into a match or a level from the OS gives players direct satisfaction.

Video tutorials for hints in game with PIP allows the player to play the game and look for a hidden item while looking at one screen. I use YouTube for all kinds of in game hidden items. Having the option to do this on the OS level could be great.

The cards that feature challenges and activities may be closely tied to trophies, too. So rather then navigating to the trophy section to see what trophies I may be able to achieve in a particular area, the activities cards may be able to guide me. This is all good stuff.

This is definitely a great addition!
Considering they added these additional features they analysed the needs of their current customer base prior to this as they wouldn't waste money and development time to create this.
It was just my highly subjective take on this topic.

Because the problem of having less and less time to for gaming certainly certainly well known and I and I suffer from this as well. But for me the solution is not segmenting the playtime and having shorter sessions - it is simply playing less and when you finally get a time slot that is long enough I would like to reduce the distraction from it to a minimum.

Again, the additions are great, having these possibilities only add to the experience especially when some of them are able to reduce the time of side activities which took some time before - all in all you cannot complain, my problem was probably the missing killer feature for me (not even knowing what it could be).

tiebreaker · Oct 17, 2020

If they are tracking so many shit already, then give us some kind of activity logs.

ThisOne · Oct 17, 2020

tiebreaker said:
If they are tracking so many shit already, then give us some kind of activity logs.

Such a simple feature. I really hope it's there in some form.

Meus Renaissance · Oct 17, 2020

why are the icons on the Home Screen so small?

PS9 · Oct 17, 2020

bring back xmb

Pheonix · Oct 17, 2020

Meus Renaissance said:
why are the icons on the Home Screen so small?

How big do you need them to be? Especially when hovering over any of them covers the screen with fanart. I don't know why some people just like it icons lol.

PS9 said:
bring back xmb

Please no.

SixelAlexiS · Oct 17, 2020

I found it extremely redundant and confusing, with screenshots and icons placed everywhere, which create an absurd visual noise.

First of all the "cards" of Sackboy with a screenshot as background, then the classic circle with the hinge to symbolize the level and at the top left the game logo, all of that with multiple white writings (of various formats and sizes) without outline or shadows to make them more readable:

The one indicated with the arrow should be the game logo, good luck to understand something from that, it is a splash of colors on a screenshot.

The main menu is no exception:

Destruction AllStar selected with giant screenshot in the background, another game logo on the bottom left and again the game logo on the right with a the price tag (why if I'm already playing it? Are they showing demos? I don't understand ...).

How many times do you want to tell us that we're on Destruction AllStar?

And then, again, these screenshots placed everywhere are ugly:

Random image of PS5 taken by Google with other screens and writing scattered everywhere, it seems to be on one of those sites that want to be cool with screens and transparencies placed everywhere but then they are a pain to browse.

I find it really ugly, I'll rather get the PS4 interface all day with a theme of your choice and the big squares, a lot cleaner.

EssBeeVee · Oct 17, 2020

Meus Renaissance said:
why are the icons on the Home Screen so small?

how are you watching it? Because it's not small?

WhovianGamer · Oct 17, 2020

Loving the UI and the functionality so far. It is clear that Sony are trying to transform the gaming experience more than Microsoft, who are focusing more on delivery. With the Dualsense and these UX features I'm really excited. Given we know there is more to come, it'll be interesting to see just how Sony can surprise us.

I honestly thought the UX and UI would be quite barebones.

JuniperAndSage · Oct 17, 2020

Any clarification on whether the guide videos are made by the developer, Sony, or crowdsourced from the community?

Deleted member 52190 · Oct 17, 2020

SixelAlexiS said:
I found it extremely redundant and confusing, with screenshots and icons placed everywhere, which create an absurd visual noise.

First of all the "cards" of Sackboy with a screenshot as background, then the classic circle with the hinge to symbolize the level and at the top left the game logo, all of that with multiple white writings (of various formats and sizes) without outline or shadows to make them more readable:

The one indicated with the arrow should be the game logo, good luck to understand something from that, it is a splash of colors on a screenshot.

The main menu is no exception:

Destruction AllStar selected with giant screenshot in the background, another game logo on the bottom left and again the game logo on the right with a the price tag (why if I'm already playing it? Are they showing demos? I don't understand ...).

How many times do you want to tell us that we're on Destruction AllStar?

And then, again, these screenshots placed everywhere are ugly:

Random image of PS5 taken by Google with other screens and writing scattered everywhere, it seems to be on one of those sites that want to be cool with screens and transparencies placed everywhere but then they are a pain to browse.

I find it really ugly, I'll rather get the PS4 interface all day with a theme of your choice and the big squares, a lot cleaner.

It is not that hard to understand....

If the price is there, that means it is a demo.

Deleted member 52190 · Oct 17, 2020

JuniperAndSage said:
Any clarification on whether the guide videos are made by the developer, Sony, or crowdsourced from the community?

As of right now, they are by the developer, since someone at Insomiac confirmed they did it for Spider Man Miles Morales.

If they will implement a community guid, it is possible but that whould require a Sony team to upload does guides.

DrDeckard · Oct 17, 2020

I think it looks fine. It's just the ui. Nothing mind blowing but I'm looking firward to seeing if they have any other tricks. I don't think I'll ever have a window with my friends game on screen while I'm playing. Just not for me

SixelAlexiS · Oct 17, 2020

Snakeeee said:
It is not that hard to understand....

If the price is there, that means it is a demo.

So both Sackboy and Destrucion All Star will have a demo, since they both show the price... you confirm that.

Ok, we'll see how will go once they will be released.

Deleted member 52190 · Oct 17, 2020

SixelAlexiS said:
So both Sackboy and Destrucion All Star will have a demo, since they both show the price... you confirm that.

Ok, we'll see how will go once they will be released.

I dont work for Sony, it is the same with the ps4 when you download a demo, the only difference is that in the ps4 you need to go the product page to see the price, in the ps5 they will show you right of the bat.

DavidDesu · Oct 17, 2020

Cosmo Kramer said:
It would be amazing if Sony allowed users to create cards and post them online, put a rating system in place and have them be contextual to where players are and make the best rated ones show up on the activity bar/menu

Yeah I can see in a game like GT7 you could set up a specific time trial with a set track, car and conditions and post it up to your friends to jump straight in to compete with. This has so much potential for really changing how we interact with some of our games.

F-Pina · Oct 17, 2020

Really liked this.
4K HDR UI is most welcomed as the TV won't be jumping around and switching modes
PS Store integrated reminds me of the first versions of the store on PS3. It was fast and snappy until they moved it to an App / browser thing.
And everyone talking about the 4K or 1080p UI I can confirm I immediately noticed it when moving from PS4 to PS4 Pro. Some might not notice it but its so good to see everything super crisp.

Some things I hope are there as well, either now or with an update:

UI
- Give me costumization. Not only with folders but reorganizing where things are
- Make it easier to have 2 PS5 machines with the same account without any strange issues
- Family account
- Spotify integration is great, but give us the option to use others like Apple Music and SoundCloud etc.

Store
- Wishlist on the store in PS5, not just the webstore
- Store preview shows the cards with discounts on the games you have wish-listed
- Buying games for your friends / gifting
- Better system to rate games, maybe even leave a review
- If you follow someone like you already do on PS4, let me see their ratings on the games they are playing
- If PS5 supports dictation to text, it will be great to search for games

And a big one would be for the laws in Europe to change and force everyone across the board to allow digital goods to be resold / given aways by the user if he chooses too. Sony can even set it up so the Publiher gets a cut on these sales. Yeah, a man can dream.

Hey Please · Oct 17, 2020

Just watched Aofie Wilson's reaction at Eurogamer and it deeply resonated with me (as a multi-console, multi-device owner):

JuniperAndSage · Oct 17, 2020

Snakeeee said:
As of right now, they are by the developer, since someone at Insomiac confirmed they did it for Spider Man Miles Morales.

That's what I assumed at first, but I've heard a couple podcasts now mention that they could be crowdsourced, and it got me wondering.

Fizie · Oct 17, 2020

Aesthetically, it's not great. The busy backgrounds they've chosen really don't help to show it off.

Will be curious to see the functionality of this.

Deleted member 52190 · Oct 17, 2020

JuniperAndSage said:
That's what I assumed at first, but I've heard a couple podcasts now mention that they could be crowdsourced, and it got me wondering.

I mean, it is possible.

A lot of the stuff on steam is comunity base on, not sure if Sony will be that open but if they are they are. they have a gold mine on their hands.

Pheonix · Oct 17, 2020

SixelAlexiS said:
So both Sackboy and Destrucion All Star will have a demo, since they both show the price... you confirm that.

Ok, we'll see how will go once they will be released.

Or the version of the UI being shown was still a "demo" and basically showing a lot of placeholder stuff.

But as for the other stuff you complained about. The cards are color-coded, and what's important is that they convey hey information they are supposed to convey. As for the main home screen, I personally like that your content is the focus, you hover onto something and it takes over the screen. You almost don't even have to look at the smaller icons. But in case that's all you are doing, then it makes sense for the games name to be there. The other name of the game at the bottom is like fan art or box art or whatever you wanna call it and would be n the style of the titles art or whatever. that makes sense too. And notice that when on DAS, and he scrolled down, the smaller icons disappeared and the total art become the focus with play highlighted?

Gradly · Oct 17, 2020

SixelAlexiS said:
I found it extremely redundant and confusing, with screenshots and icons placed everywhere, which create an absurd visual noise.

First of all the "cards" of Sackboy with a screenshot as background, then the classic circle with the hinge to symbolize the level and at the top left the game logo, all of that with multiple white writings (of various formats and sizes) without outline or shadows to make them more readable:

The one indicated with the arrow should be the game logo, good luck to understand something from that, it is a splash of colors on a screenshot.

The main menu is no exception:

Destruction AllStar selected with giant screenshot in the background, another game logo on the bottom left and again the game logo on the right with a the price tag (why if I'm already playing it? Are they showing demos? I don't understand ...).

How many times do you want to tell us that we're on Destruction AllStar?

And then, again, these screenshots placed everywhere are ugly:

Random image of PS5 taken by Google with other screens and writing scattered everywhere, it seems to be on one of those sites that want to be cool with screens and transparencies placed everywhere but then they are a pain to browse.

I find it really ugly, I'll rather get the PS4 interface all day with a theme of your choice and the big squares, a lot cleaner.

As I said before it's still undercooked and from the screenshot taken this demo was from like 3 weeks ago. It's obvious they're still working on it hence they didn't show anything earlier. We still don't know if it supports themes which may just change the icons/tiles for the Home Screen or whatever. From what I saw everyone thought the icons on Home Screen looked so small so I hope they address this issue. I also think you can pin them too which is yet to be shown (it was referred to in a patent iirc).

Anyway, we still need to see Spider-Man and demons souls to kinda fully understand how those cards will apply to a different variety of games

cmdrshepard · Oct 17, 2020

Hey Please said:
Just watched Aofie Wilson's reaction at Eurogamer and it deeply resonated with me (as a multi-console, multi-device owner):

Some really great points raised here and a couple that I have missed:

1) In game help as an accessibility feature being locked behind the plus paywall - this was something that I missed before but it is definitely there and mentioned and now that I know, I think that is quite a shit move tbh. While we don't know if this community or developer or a combination driven in terms of the feature (you would think developer), locking this extra work by either party to a plus sub I think means that this feature will be DOA for third party games if it is solely developer driven and they don't get any slice of the plus revenue.

2) The tiles on the home screen to select games are small. Like I hope there is an option to customise that and make those tiles at least double the size hopefully. Otherwise I think unless you scroll through, those tiles would be hard to see some titles names at an average distance away(for me at least).

nicoreese · Oct 17, 2020

When logging in, the Switcher icon in the Control Center is quickly shown before it's replaced with the currently running game. This surely looks like a multitasking/quick resume button as many speculated. But this is more evidence than just a game's icon.

imgur.com

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

imgur.com

pappacone · Oct 17, 2020

Hey Please said:
Just watched Aofie Wilson's reaction at Eurogamer and it deeply resonated with me (as a multi-console, multi-device owner):

they should be more wary on how their titles get cut

Patitoloco · Oct 17, 2020

nicoreese said:
When logging in, the Switcher icon in the Control Center is quickly shown before it's replaced with the currently running game. This surely looks like a multitasking/quick resume button as many speculated. But this is more evidence than just a game's icon.

imgur.com

Imgur: The magic of the Internet

imgur.com

That definitely looks like it. Maybe it's just a switcher between recent apps, or video app/game app, but the prospect is good.

M.Bluth · Oct 17, 2020

cmdrshepard said:
1) In game help as an accessibility feature being locked behind the plus paywall - this was something that I missed before but it is definitely there and mentioned and now that I know, I think that is quite a shit move tbh. While we don't know if this community or developer or a combination driven in terms of the feature (you would think developer), locking this extra work by either party to a plus sub I think means that this feature will be DOA for third party games if it is solely developer driven and they don't get any slice of the plus revenue.

I agree from the perspective of it being an accessibility feature. Though I'd also get it if Sony are going to cover the cost of implementing the feature, which then would make sense why it's behind the PS+ paywall.

But we'll have to wait and see, it's definitely going to die a quick death if there's no upside for devs to implement it.

Zemst · Oct 17, 2020

I hate how tiny the icons are.

Hey Please · Oct 17, 2020

In the day and age of multi-devices, trying to integrate game related news (which already is part of PS4 and I have barely ever used) is reminiscent of how MS were trying to integrate "snap" mode for XOne back in the day. Aside from the potential PiP pseudo split screening possibility, some of these features feel superfluous at best (makes me wonder how much of a resource hog they are).

cmdrshepard said:
Some really great points raised here and a couple that I have missed:

1) In game help as an accessibility feature being locked behind the plus paywall - this was something that I missed before but it is definitely there and mentioned and now that I know, I think that is quite a shit move tbh. While we don't know if this community or developer or a combination driven in terms of the feature (you would think developer), locking this extra work by either party to a plus sub I think means that this feature will be DOA for third party games if it is solely developer driven and they don't get any slice of the plus revenue.

This.

In the day and age where MS is pushing accessibility options in their HW peripherals, their games and their OS, this is a rather bad look and as you aptly put limits how much resources, esp. third parties will put into it being cognizant of paywall constraints.

2) The tiles on the home screen to select games are small. Like I hope there is an option to customise that and make those tiles at least double the size hopefully. Otherwise I think unless you scroll through, those tiles would be hard to see some titles names at an average distance away(for me at least).

Yea, I am curious to see Sony's approach towards accessibility when it comes to UI. For now, not only are they comparatively much smaller than what competitor's OS provides, but are smaller compared to the sizes seen on PS4. I would hazard a guess that it is a product of Sony's touting of "4 Khay" UI but the sizes of those icons have a narrow appeal (viewing distance + screen size) even for able bodied people.

cmdrshepard · Oct 17, 2020

M.Bluth said:
I agree from the perspective of it being an accessibility feature. Though I'd also get it if Sony are going to cover the cost of implementing the feature, which then would make sense why it's behind the PS+ paywall.

But we'll have to wait and see, it's definitely going to die a quick death if there's no upside for devs to implement it.

I mean it only makes sense if they are putting it behind the plus wall if some of that plus revenue would be going to third party developers to put in the work to make it happen. If not, then Sony putting it behind the plus paywall and expecting developers and/or community to develop/provide that content with 0 incentive is pretty bad.

It is possible that there might just be trophy integration into those tiles and help for developers that choose not to go the step further and make specific help like Sackboy is doing but surely that will still require some input from someone.

McFly · Oct 17, 2020

nicoreese said:
When logging in, the Switcher icon in the Control Center is quickly shown before it's replaced with the currently running game. This surely looks like a multitasking/quick resume button as many speculated. But this is more evidence than just a game's icon.

Great catch.

First Look at the PlayStation 5's UI

Mambo Number PS5

Prophet of Regret - Chicken Chaser

Mambo Number PS5

▲ Legend ▲

Nerd Monkeys