PS5: all the features of the user interface
Beyond of the judgments on the approach used to reveal the PlayStation 5, its games and its features, we are faced with an extremely important aspect of the next-gen console, which concretely affects the use that each of us will make of this promising platform .
It is therefore interesting to analyze the PS5 user interface in detail, trying to understand exactly what awaits us once the new console is turned on.
Control Center
After having pressed the PlayStation button on the DualSense controller, the PS5 interface allows you to select a user and then return without waiting times in the middle of the activity we had previously interrupted, and which visually reflects in its facets the game we were using until at that moment. For the demonstration video, for example, Sackboy: A Big Adventure was chosen.At the bottom of the Control Center you can see small icons with the main options: home, game running, notifications, friends online , music, audio, microphone, controller (with indication of remaining charge), user active and shutdown. At the center of the interface there are instead of large cards that all revolve around the title we are playing, presenting various activities related to that specific experience.
Activities
In the first tab we find the official news about the game published by the development team, including the stories, while proceeding to the right we have the last screenshot taken in-game using the Create button on the controller and the Activities, which can give us instant access to certain levels of the campaign, complete with an indication of the percentage of progress and even an estimate of the time required to complete the stage.This is the most relevant news of the PS5 dashboard: a sort of hub through which to directly access the missions of a game, with a large amount of contextual information and even the possibility, reserved for PlayStation Plus subscribers, to view an official guide in the form of a video, to be played parallel to the gameplay, which may help us find a particular object and / or unlock a certain Trophy.
Chat
During the taking ntation of the PS5 interface was also shown how simple it is to access the chat, always during a game with Sackboy: A Big Adventure. At the top right appears the notification that a friend of ours has started a Party, with an option to join instantly, using the microphone integrated in the DualSense to be able to communicate without even having to connect a headset to the controller.The interesting thing is that the chat works in cross-platform mode: our interlocutor may be using a PS4 or the PlayStation app on a smartphone, but for the system it makes no difference and the conversation is handled in the same way, with simplicity. and unprecedented immediacy.
Party
With PlayStation 5, Parties become permanent places, a bit like groups on WhatsApp, rather than something volatile and momentary. We will therefore be able to come back from time to time, share content with other members and organize multiplayer sessions with great ease: a feature that was really needed to raise the bar of interactions between users on the Sony platform. We will also have the ability to write text messages through a voice dictation system, eliminating the cumbersome virtual keyboard from the controller.Not only that: we will be able to follow the live broadcast of a friend's gameplay, viewing it next to ours game or picture-in-picture mode: moving and managing the panel in question is somewhat reminiscent of the one introduced by Apple on iPadOS, and the hope of course is that it will be possible to control it with equal ease.
Multiplayer
We come then to access to multiplayer, which in the video made by Sony is illustrated with the example of Destruction AllStars. Among the activities shown by the interface we see a multiplayer game in which some of our friends are participating: to participate, simply select that tab and enter the online sector of the spectacular combat racer directly.During the presentation of the dashboard it was decided not to show the match in order to stick to the main theme of the video, but a taste of the functionality related to the Create button was provided, which allows you to share gameplay videos and screenshots captured up to 4K on PS5, with the possibility to edit them and select the best shots before publication.
Home Screen
We then discover the Home Screen, that is the appearance of the PlayStation 5 interface immediately after switching on the console . Note how in this case the tabs are displayed as icons of modest size, placed at the top of the screen, which explode their content once selected and scrolling vertically: a reference to the classic Cross Media Bar. The speed of the SSD also in this case it allows to have graphic assets loaded instantly, without waiting times as it happens on PS4.Going to the left of the row of tabs we find the Explore item, which offers a stream of official content in order to keep us updated on all the news on the PlayStation world: a feature that will be tested starting from the American launch of the console, set for November 12, and which therefore will not boast definitive characteristics already from day one.
PlayStation Store
The last part of the presentation was dedicated to the PlayStation Store which on PS5 is integrated into the system rather than acting as a separate application, with obvious advantages in terms of ra pidity of access and organization of contents. Similarly to what happens now, we will find on the PS Store the latest news, all the games for PlayStation 5 and some backwards compatible for PS4, the inevitable offers and the various initiatives organized from time to time by Sony.The proverbial icing on the cake for a presentation that no doubt satisfied users, judging by the 6.2 million views on YouTube, and that provided an in-depth look at the exciting new features of Sony's next-gen dashboard.
