PS5 Color Faceplates & Load Time Talk

By
Garth Franklin
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UK company PlateStation has revealed four color variations of PS5 side panels that they will have available in time for the console’s launch next month.

This series of third-party colored faceplates, the first to be announced anywhere online, includes black, red, blue and chromatic silver and are available to order for $39.99 each. It’s expected plenty of other designs and colors from other companies will be available before the year’s out.

In related news, multiple first-party PS4 games have reportedly been quietly updated in recent weeks in preparation for backwards compatibility support on PS5. As a result of this however, a surprising side benefit has come with it – shorter loading times on PS4 thanks to a new compression system.

A recent patch to “The Last of Us: Remastered” has seen its initial load time cut from 97 to 14 seconds, while other first party titles like “God of War” and “Until Dawn” have also seen a severe reduction in (and in the latter’s case outright removal of) loading screens.

It has been speculated that “Ghost of Tsushima,” which raised eyebrows over its incredibly fast loading system, utilised the new tech in its development and proved to be a successful example of the new tech.

The PS5 is expected to make loading much faster than even these cut times thanks to both its high-bandwidth SSD and a hardware unit dedicated to decompressing files.

It has also been confirmed that the Apple TV app is coming to PS5 and will allow not just access to the Apple TV+ service, but more importantly the iTunes Store’s TV and movie catalog. iTunes boasts the largest range of 4K HDR & Dolby Vision titles to buy and rent and one of the best quality streaming networks across the globe.

This marks the first time Apple’s streaming service has been made available on video game consoles. The app is also scheduled to arrive on PS4 in the near-future.

Sources: TechRader, EuroGamer