First look: PlayStation 5’s next-generation user experience

[Aranea Highwind]

 

 

With less than a month until launch, we’re thrilled to share our very first look at the PlayStation 5 console’s user experience (UX). The new UX is completely centered on the player – to provide you a truly next-generation experience with deeper immersion that quickly connects you to great games and a passionate gaming community.

 

We believe your play time is valuable and should be meaningful, and all the new features we’re delivering are inspired by that concept and vision. The new UX introduces several new features designed to make your gaming experiences more fun, engaging, personalized and social.

 

One of the highlights is a new Control Center, which provides immediate access to almost everything you need from the system at a single press of the PlayStation button on the DualSense wireless controller – all without leaving the game.

 

 

We’ve also added a new feature called Activities, designed to bring you closer to the key elements of gameplay. Activities are displayed via on-screen cards in the Control Center, which enables you to discover new gameplay opportunities, go back to things you missed, jump directly into levels or challenges you want to play, and much more. Some Activity cards can be put in picture-in-picture mode, so you can view them without having to leave the game.

 

Navigating the interface, switching between games, and hopping into online matches occurs quickly, as we rebuilt the entire software stack from the console to the network to bring you a truly next-generation experience. We believe the less time you spend waiting to interact with the system, the more time you will have to spend playing games.

 

We wanted to give you an early peek at a part of the PS5 UX journey in our video walkthrough, so we hope you enjoy the tour. Also, keep in mind this is in a pre-production environment, so there may be some minor changes, but it’ll give you a taste of what to look forward to when PS5 launches in November.

 

We can’t wait for you to check out PS5’s next-generation UX for yourself next month! Let us know which feature you’re most excited about in the comments.

 

https://blog.playstation.com/2020/10/15/first-look-playstation-5s-next-generation-user-experience/

Edited October 15, 2020 by Aranea Highwind

[DerHennek]

That was faster than expected

[sepheroithisgod]

While I can clearly see the trophy tracking system, I didn't see a specific trophy section of the UI...

[DaivRules]

Personal playtime estimates. Wow, if developers put play time estimates in their game, that would be an interesting statistic to extract.

[Lordidude]

Looks nice.

 

Tbh I don't care about all of that "Social Media" stuff and it is kind of annoying since it is part of the console itself. 

 

But thankfully it's the games that matter anyway. 

[BlackTorito]

Looks amazing, pretty interesting stuff, i’m surprised how much they have innovated and specially improved on simplicity and speed.

 

It’s really tedious and slow to join party chats and now is boom, join, don’t even need to go out to the menu.

 

The objectives cards and being able to watch quick videos right there is pretty cool stuff too, and useful.

[Alantor32]

Oh nice. Still gonna wait till next year to get a PS5.

[Scorpiio93]

I really really like the look of this! 

[TugaSonic]

That trophy progress is nice

 

Edited October 15, 2020 by TugaSonic

[Undead Wolf]

I'm not really a fan of the activity card thing it has. Like I appreciate how you can view different levels and the progress made in them right from the UI, but it looks kind of cluttered/unorganised with how it shoves all this other stuff in there like official news, screenshots, etc. I do like that you're given time estimates for levels and you can view official hints when going after bonus objectives (weirdly locked behind the PS+ paywall), but I have my doubts about third party developers actually making use of it.

 

I think the home screen itself is really slick-looking and I find it strange that they didn't show this right at the start. It's nice that they're separating Games and Media into two different tabs so I don't have to even look at that stuff going forward. On PS4, I just shoved all that stuff into a folder to get it out of the way. 

It's kind of funny that the PS5 has a Picture-in-Picture mode similar to the Snap feature Xbox One used to have (they eventually removed it). I don't see myself using it. 

[Dangisuckatgamin]

Netflix: the gaming console. What my thoughts went too seeing it for the first time.

The trophy progression is nice. There's way too many boxes on the screen though and some are sort of misaligned making it look kind of messy.

[Paperclip1776]

My initial impressions is that the new UI is a very thoughtful, easy-to-use format, with new functional features available for everyone.  

 

My personal favorite features are:

1. No more typing a message!  Just hit the mic icon on the keyboard and talk!  Hopefully this feature will be less frustrating and more helpful but I'm excited.

2. The new Activities and progress cards in game on the Control Center.  Also, the Control Center itself is a nice touch to reduce time.

3. Approximation of game time left on a particular level.  I realize this feature is available on a game-by-game basis but if the feature works well, more and more developers will use it.

4. The layout itself looks fantastic!  Looks to be easy to use, easy to navigate.

5. Picture in picture with ease to join friends.  I don't think the picture-in-picture feature will be used by most of us after the initial excitement wears off but it's a cool feature to include.

6. Not suspending a game and jumping right into another is not a sexy feature but one everyone will appreciate and will never look back once you enjoy the ease and speed of it.

7. The card reference with the trophy % was very nice and a welcome update to see!

 

As more info is shared, I'm really getting excited for launch.  Less than a month ago I really didn't have a sense this launch was going to get a lot of hype but now I'm really getting excited for launch day!

Edited October 15, 2020 by Paperclip1776
Updated with new info

[EIdain]

Lots of the new features to like, particularly the PiP screen sharing, play-time ETA's, trophy tracking. But I too think the cards look really cluttered. I also much preferred having a home screen that was minimal and then you pan down to expand things like game info, rather than having the game info being permanently on the home screen itself. I love my Ghost of Tsushima theme so I'll a bit disappointed if they're no longer a thing.

Also disappointing that it looks like the party changes are here to stay too. Also why didn't they show the media tab or actually go into the store? Bit of a missed opportunity there.

Edited October 15, 2020 by EIdain

[snakebit10]

I like the look of everything except the in game video of a friend playing. I think that would be distracting. Doubt I would use that feature much. Every thing else looks cool. 

[Xionx]

Looks like the game is not pausing in bachground after pressing PS-Button . Not that it matters much but some games/trophies/speedruns actually benefited from this "system-pause" . Looks ok , but i hope you can remove or sort some of these cards . The spoiler screenshot feature could be useful .

 

[Gisquared09]

Yeah most of those features they showed off I’ll probably never end up using but the Picture in Picture mode for hints in gameplay *chefs kiss*

[GoldenShaka]

Finally a ps+ benefit that feels that is for everyone, no for mp gamers or digital buyers.

Nice feature that Game tracker.

[Xylobe]

Honestly, a lot of these new features seem convoluted and unnecessary to me. I'm glad that it seems like others will get use out of them, but I'm hoping there are options to customize or disable them.

[dannyswfc9]

Nice

[Helyx]

Cute.

 

Gimmie Demon's Souls.

[Ghost]

Looks nice. The share screen feature is cool - I always wanted to share what I'm doing with a friend without starting a stream broadcast. Only thing I want to see on the card activities is the trophy progress and maybe hints.

[Cryogenicide_X]

I can't believe that they didn't even show the Trophy collection. I couldn't even see the Trophy icon on the UI. Disappointed...

[Mathieumatic]

That trophy progress tracking system and the objective tips are gonna be a game changer for everyone on this forum. Don't care about the share/create functions personally, the overall UI and loading speeds got me super excited though. However, i'm still gonna wait for a price drop/interesting bundle to buy this console in a year (or maybe two).

[Gommes_]

That looks great. Especially the help section. Going for collectibles and being able to open a video on the console while playing is fantastic!

[Ghost]

"One final piece of good news. We're firm advocates of game preservation at Digital Foundry. We believe that when you buy a physical game, you should be able to install and play it offline. The code on the disc matters. PlayStation 4 will always let you run that code, patches are never mandatory except for totally online titles - and Hideaki Nishino says that the same is true for PlayStation 5. Not being able to run the disc code would be "out of the question". There will be a PS5 Digital Edition, of course, but beyond the brand new bells and whistles with the new UI, it's good to see that the commitment to the physical disc is still there for those who stick to the standard console."

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2020-a-first-look-at-the-ps5-user-interface