As pressure mounts over Sony and Microsoft's (in)ability to deliver their current-gen PS5 and Xbox Series S|X consoles at a fast enough pace to satisfy demand, it seems that users now have yet another reason to throw their gamer hands up in the air in frustration. Stocks of new PS4 / PS4 Pro and Xbox One S|X have been increasingly harder to come by in recent times, and especially in the US, stock of the last-gen consoles on Amazon, Target, Walmart and GameStop is virtually non-existent. The only choice prospective gamers have is to find a second-hand last-gen console - and pricing on those seems to be (predictably) going up.

When one looks at it, it does make sense that last-gen consoles are also becoming hard to find, despite the fact that they haven't been discontinued yet. It all pertains to the finite resources at manufacturers' disposal. Even if there are no common components between last and current-gen consoles, the difficulties faced by the supply chain in procuring even raw materials for fabrication means that manufacturers have to prioritize resource allocation - and it seems obvious that both Sony and Microsoft would prioritize current-gen consoles over the alternative. The stock issues even extend to peripherals - controllers for Sony's PS4 are also out of stock, and while the PS5's Dual Sense sees healthy stock levels, that controller has no backwards compatibility, meaning that users looking for a replacement or additional PS4 controller have to make do with either used ones or third-party alternatives. As for Xbox controllers, fear not - they're in stock, for both current and last-gen systems.

Cyberpunk 2077 was originally released on December 10th for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation as the most anticipated game of 2020. The game launched with a multitude of performance issues and bugs which made the game nearly unplayable on the PlayStation 4 and as such was promptly removed from the store. CD Projekt Red has worked to improve the game's performance with various hotfixes and patches and it appears Sony is happy with this progress as the game has been reinstated on the store after 6 months. The game is now officially recommended to be run on PS4 Pro or PS5 for the optimal experience however the PS4 will continue to be supported.

CD Projekt RedYou can play the game on PlayStation 4 Pro and PlayStation 5. Additionally, a free next gen upgrade will be available for all owners of the PS4 version of Cyberpunk 2077 in the second half of 2021. Users may continue to experience some performance issues with the PS4 edition while we continue to improve stability across all platforms. The PS4 Pro and PS5 versions of the game will provide the best experience on PlayStation.

It's not only graphics cards and CPUs that are best kept on the edge of manufacturing processes; in truth, one could even say that consoles have more to gain from these transitions when it comes to their manufacturers' financial outlooks. This happens because usually, consoles are subsidized by manufacturers in that their actual retail price is lower than manufacturing costs; this works as a way for console players to increase their platforms' attractiveness and user base, so they can then sell them games and subscription services, where the big bucks are actually made. We knew this already, but Microsoft's head of Xbox business development, Lori Wright confirmed it yesterday at the Apple vs Epic Games hearing. Lori Wright is quoted as answering "We don't; we sell the consoles at a loss" when asked whether Microsoft does or does not turn a profit on Xbox Series S | X hardware sales.

Considering the similarities between the Xbox Series X and PS5's SoC, it's very likely that Sony doesn't make a profit on console hardware sales either - or if it actually does, it's nothing actually meaningful. This is part of the reason why consoles are usually actually in the forefront of manufacturing processes' advancements, as it's a way for console players to quickly reduce the BoM (Bill of Materials) for their consoles. Since the specifications don't change within a console generation (discounting Pro models, which both companies have taken to launching some years into their generations), they choose to take advantage of process advancements due to the transistor density increases that allow for both lower silicon area for the SoC, and lower power consumption - which sometimes enables them to develop slim versions of their gaming consoles.

Sony has announced that it has shipped 7.8 million PS5 consoles since the release of their latest generation gaming system on November 12th. These 7.8 million consoles were sold at the tune of 4.5 million consoles in 2020 (remember that 2020 only starts in November 12th for this matter), and the remaining 3.3 million units were shipped in the three first months of 2021. This places PS5 launch sales higher than PS4's (and obviously higher than the ill-fated release of the PS3). You might think there's a decrease in momentum in sales, but part of that lower average monthly console sales likely comes from the fact that Sony had more PS5 stock at launch (in a veritable stockpile) than the current production output is capable of processing on a monthly basis.

Sony also announced that they have increased the number of PS Plus subscribers to 47.6 million, up 14.7 percent YoY. These numbers mean that Sony too had a very significant first quarter, and great YoY growth. The company announced that its Game & Network Services segment, which includes its PlayStation business, broke revenue ($25.03 billion) and operating profit ($3.22 billion) records for the 2020 financial year. Just keep those PS5 rolling off the presses, Sony. There's much more money to be made here, and many more consumers to make happy.

The Sony PlayStation 5 comes with an internal 825 GB PCIe 4.0 SSD which offers around 667 GB of usable storage for games and other content. With new games such as the latest Call Of Duty easily taking over 100 GB the need for more storage has never been more evident. Sony has prepared for this eventuality by including an internal M.2 drive bay on the PS5 to expand the available storage. The shift to ultra-fast storage on this latest generation of consoles has limited their ability to support external storage as new games developed for the consoles will expect a certain level of performance. Sony will reportedly enable software support for the M.2 slot with a limited selection of tested PC drives to ensure these minimum performance requirements are achieved. The approach by Sony differs from that of Microsoft who has created a proprietary connector for storage upgrades.

We recently reported about the class action lawsuit being filed against Sony surrounding the alleged drift on their DualShock 5 controllers. We now have some new evidence from iFixit which points towards this physical issue being present on all DualShock 5 controllers. The DualShock 5 controllers use "off-the-shelf joystick hardware with a long history of predictable, preventable issues" according to iFixit. They also estimate that the life-time of these joysticks is just over 400 hours of game time which is significantly less than what would be expected on a 70 USD controller.

The controller drift will get worse as the controllers are used due to several design faults. The main issues identified by iFixit include the specific potentiometers used in the joysticks which will wear down from use quickly making the reading more unreliable. The springs used to bring the joystick to a neutral position will fatigue over time creating a new neutral point and shifting readings. The plastics used in the DualShock 5 controller will inevitably deteriorate with time. The controller will also accumulate grime and dust in the housing from use which increases the severity of drift. The best way to minimize controller drift is to clean your controller regularly; however, this will not solve the hardware faults.

4A Games is one of those rare developers that seemingly gives more to its fans and game-owners than it takes. The company has just announced they're readying a new, Enhanced Edition version of Metro Exodus - receiving significant graphical updates that are mostly focused on added raytracing capabilities. The new version of the game will be made available for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles - but carries additional features in the all-powerful PC version, including Ray Traced Reflections (which will not be included in the console version) as well as support for NVIDIA's DLSS 2.0, the best iteration of the technology so far.

According to the developer, the engine changes are so substantial that they couldn't push it as a simple update/game patch - the entire game has had to be recompiled to allow for the seamless integration of the new features. 4A Games announced that the new, Enhanced Edition, which will be available later this year, will be available for all Metro Exodus owners as a free, additional download. The new version makes such extensive usage of raytracing - every light source is now raytraced, per-pixel-raytraced global illumination, and a plethora of other changes you can see in the feature comparative below - that the company is now listing a raytracing-capable GPU (whether AMD or NVIDIA) as the minimum requirement. Now if only one could find decent raytracing graphics cards readily available...

Members form the UK Parliament are apparently preparing to introduce a bill that would regulate the scalping phenomenon that's being witnessed worldwide. According to Scottish politician Douglas Chapman, in an interview to IGN, "The issue of scalping first came up with constituents contacting me to explain their frustration about being unable to get hold of certain games consoles or computer components pre-Christmas." He then expanded on that by adding that "On investigation, we uncovered more details of the unscrupulous practice of 'scalping' by automated bots to bulk buy these goods and sell them on at inflated prices." Oh, and this bill is unlikely to pass, by the way.

Scalping, however, isn't done only in the UK; it's a pervasive international issue that crosses borders. And scalping, as it is known, is nothing but a form of speculation, which some might say is part of the backbone that keeps the world's capitalist blood pumping through the economy - some might even argue that scalping occurs directly due to mechanisms of supply and demand, and thus, isn't an unlawful activity in and of itself. Companies, corporations, and all other legal entities, however, have to adhere to strict anti-monopoly/anti-cartelization laws, which deal with the same base issue, although in another facet of it. The problem is that it appears that in some countries, speculation is regulated at the enterprise level, but not at the citizen level. And herein lies the crux of it.

Sony has confirmed that it is paying some of the upfront cost in acquiring their latest PS5 games console by pricing it below manufacturing cost. Consoles being priced as such isn't a new move in itself; manufacturers have often sold their consoles at a loss so as to keep consoles attractive to buyers and thus increase their install base. This, in turn, equates with higher sales of software - which is often where Sony or Microsoft recoup their margin loss on hardware.

Sony has also confirmed that its PS5 console has sold around 4.5 million units since launch, putting it in a similar footing with the PS4 in the corresponding period, despite the higher retail price at launch. The sales figure also puts Sony's PlayStation division results for 2020's Q3 FY as their historical best ever since the company started selling games consoles. Revenue increased 40 percent to 883.2 billion yen ($8.4 billion), partly driven by PS5 sales, whilst operating profit increased by 50 percent to 80.2 billion yen ($763.3 million) due to higher software and services sales (such as PlayStation Plus subscriptions), and better margins on PS4 hardware, which still shipped around 1.4 million units.

As it stands, Cyberpunk 2077 is the game many either love or love to hate. The game launched last December 10th after three delays to a great reception of the PC platform - and a good one on current-gen PS5 and Xbox Series X|S - but was a fiasco on last-gen consoles and their mid-life refreshes to such an extent that Sony removed the game from their digital store. A great deal of digital ink has already been written on CD Projekt Red's handling of the situation, and it could - really could - have been handled better.

Now, CD Projekt Red co-founder Marcin Iwiński has released a 5-minute video where he approaches Cyberpunk 2077's release state; assumes, alongside the direction, full responsibility for the state of the game; and doubles-down on CD Projekt Red's commitment to improve the Cyberpunk 2077 experience. he doesn't go into too much detail as to how and why things went awry, but says that a smattering of management decisions led to today's situation. And considering the current situation, plans for post-launch DLC (akin to those that happened with The Witcher 3, which featured new armor, weapons, haircuts, missions, and a New Game + mode) will be arriving slightly later than predicted, so as to allow the team to fully focus on straightening out the games' rough patches.

Ikea has created some new PS5 and Xbox Series X shaped enclosures to help customers find suitable Ikea products to house them. These placeholder game console boxes come with some clever comments including; "Which IKEA media storage unit will be able to fit my new, meme-ishly oversized, game console?" on the PS5. These fake consoles include dimensions that help when looking for suitable media cabinets to store the consoles. This is a clever move from Ikea as many people will be looking for a complete media center upgrade along with their new console. This smart marketing strategy has been well received by customers who have been posting about it online.

Michael Driscoll, an Oracle data engineer, has written a data scraper that runs through eBay listings for the latest hardware, comparing products with their sale price. The objective was to see just how pervasive scalping actually is, and to get a (flawed and incomplete, but still extremely interesting) outlook at the scalping ecosystem and their gains with the current hardware and console shortages. Driscoll analyzed sales for the Xbox Series X|S, the PS5 (discless and disc-based) as well as NVIDIA's RTX 30-series, AMD's RX 6000 series, and Zen 3 processors. There are some assumptions on the gathering and analysis of this data, but that is part of the beast.

The results are potentially desperation-inducing. AMD's Zen 3 CPUs have sold for sometimes 240% of their MSRP (looking at the biggest offender, the Ryzen 9 5950X. The RX 6800 XT graphics card has been selling for within an inch of 200% of its MSRP as well, with a median price over the past week set at $1247 (compare that to the $649 MSRP). The RTX 3080 has been selling at 180% of its MSRP for the past week, but it has been moved at 220% of its MSRP before. The case repeats with several degrees of severity for the Xbox family and PS5 consoles.

Thanks to our most recent Steam client update, all games currently using the Steam Input API are now fully compatible with the new PS5 controller - with no developer updates required, it just works.

Full support for the LED, trackpad, rumble and gyro features are available for players to configure in games such as Death Stranding, No Man's Sky, Horizon: Zero Dawn and more. This support is now available for players opted into the public beta Steam desktop client with platform wide support targeted to ship after further testing.

The title says it all, really. We've only just been able to add AMD's latest RX 6800 and 6800 XT graphics cards to our shopping carts in multiple etailers, but the cat is already out of the bag and into scalpers' pockets. This has been a recurring event for all gaming-related tech, from DIY PC parts to the latest-gen games consoles from both Microsoft and Sony. At this point, it becomes moot to talk about availability issues, or demand issues, or reaching a conclusion between the two - the stock just isn't there for anything gaming-related, period.

Some etailers are only selling their graphics cards in-person, as a way to both control flow of stock and protect themselves from scalpers buying up the entire inventory with recourse to some digital sidekicks that automate the purchase process, and then allow them to resell anything from graphics cards from NVIDIA to AMD, passing through AMD's latest Ryzen 5000 series and the Xbox Series X and PS5 gaming consoles.

CORSAIR, a world leader in high-performance gaming peripherals and enthusiast components, today launched the CORSAIR HS70 BLUETOOTH Wired Gaming Headset with Bluetooth, the latest addition to the award-winning HS Series of gaming headsets. With two wired connection options - high-fidelity 24-bit / 96 kHz USB and 3.5 mm - along with Bluetooth, the HS70 BLUETOOTH simultaneously mixes wired gaming audio on Switch, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/Series S, or PC and wireless Bluetooth audio from a mobile device, enabling clear voice chat with your team or incoming phone calls, while still hearing everything you need on the battlefield. Constructed with high-quality 50 mm neodymium audio drivers and plush memory foam ear cups, the HS70 BLUETOOTH puts you comfortably in command.

The HS70 BLUETOOTH combines wired gaming audio from a console or PC with wireless Bluetooth audio on your mobile device, enabling seamless connection with voice chat apps, music, or phone calls without interrupting gameplay. Bluetooth connectivity enables a comprehensive audio experience with apps such as the Switch mobile app, integrated seamlessly alongside wired game audio from the Switch console. A detachable noise-cancelling uni-directional microphone reduces ambient noise for superb vocal clarity, and a rechargeable battery lasts up to 30 hours on a single charge so you can play long into the night.

Do you remember No Man's Sky? Yes, that procedurally-generated game that mostly flopped at release, promising an endless universe for you to explore. Well, the game may have launched way back in 2016, but it's become one of the most well-supported releases in the history of videogames - at least, for a release that doesn't count on a subscription-like service to generate revenue. Hello games has now announced that they will be launching a next gen version of No man's Sky for both the PS5 and Xbox Series X - and gamers who already own a PS4 or Xbox One version of the game are eligible for a free upgrade.

The new, next gen version bumps the visuals to 4K resolution running at 60 FPS; severely diminishes loading times; features cross-play support; and there's also support for 32-player multiplayer, the first time this has been implemented in the console version of the game. There will also be a measure of graphical improvement beyond the increase in resolution, such as improved shadows and volumetrics. Improvements to spatial audio have also been baked in, due to the next gen console's support for more advanced soundscapes. PC users, of course, are already entitled to the update (it's one of the positives of having machines that can always slot in alongside the current generation of consoles). Whatever your opinion on the games' release state, the amount of content and support that has been delivered after the games' release should place Hello Games at the top of your developer short list.

Developer CD Projekt Red has announced that Cyberpunk 2077 is now facing another delay - this one of just 21 days. The game is now slated for release on December 10th, which gives the developer more time to work on the launch-day patch so that everything runs as smoothly as possible when the game is out in the wild and in the hands of millions of expectant gamers.

The developer clarified that the reason for the game's delay is the need to launch it concurrently on all platforms they've committed to - current-gen, next-gen, PC, and Stadia. In total, the developer is working on polishing and testing nine different versions of the game (PS4, PS4 Pro, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox One S, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PC, and Stadia). This is just mind-bogglingly complex, as you might expect. We also have to take into account that CD Projekt Red has its own shoes to fill when it comes to final quality, and we must remember that first impressions make or break a videogame's reception in the current climate (remember Mass Effect: Andromeda or any other number of games). It seems that the cautious, methodical approach may be the best one for such a high-stakes release. I, for one, would much rather enjoy a game with less chances of game-breaking bugs than a rushed release - especially considering the amount of platforms the game is shipping for.

Sony yesterday at its PlayStation Showcase finally revealed pricing and exclusive launch titles for their PS5 console. First things first: the PS5 will be launching in two version, as we've known for a while, with different pricing according to the console version you choose. The "vanilla" PS5 which includes a 4K Bluray disc drive will be going for $499; its price-reduced cousin, the PS5 Digital Edition, forgoes the 4K Bluray disc drive to deliver a $399 pricing.

Alongside pricing details, Sony also announced the PS5 exclusive games we can count on the consoles' launch, which is set for November 12th. These include Astro's Playroom (Japan Studio), which will be pre-installed on the PS5 and is thus a free game; the highly-awaited next-gen version of Demon's Souls (Bluepoint Games / Japan Studio) - $69.99; Destruction All Stars (Lucid Games / XDEV) - $69.99; Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales - $49.99; Marvel's Spider-Man: Mile Morales Ultimate Edition - $69.99; and Sackboy A Big Adventure (Sumo Digital / XDEV) - $59.99.

Phil Spencer, head of Xbox at Microsoft, said in an interview that he is confident in the Xbox Series X's hardware advantages against Sony's PS5. After witnessing PS5's reveal, Phil said that he "felt good after seeing their show. I think the hardware advantages that we have built are going to show up as we're talking more about our games and frame rates and other things." Being a good sport as he usually is, Phil Spencer also said that he felt Sony had done a good job with their PS5 announcement.

Of course, Xbox Series X's hardware advantage over PS5 is a hotly debated topic already, so there is not much to see there. However, some might say that Sony's show was much more impressive than Xbox's when it comes to the - well - platform-defining metric - games. PS5 showed some very interesting exclusives during its show, and Sony knows that this a field where they have an historic advantage against Xbox - generally speaking, Sony's exclusives are usually held in a much higher regard that Microsoft's.

Square Enix and Marvel have partnered to bring gamers from all around the world a perfect combination - science fiction movies and the ability to play one as a game. Together, Square Enix and Marvel have made a game called Avengers, based off of the Avengers movie trilogy. Today, Square Enix will be hosting a live stream at 10 AM PT time, to show off the gameplay, showcase missions and co-op abilities, and much more. You can join the live stream once it starts here. Besides the live stream, the company has announced that it will offer a free upgrade to the next generation of consoles, for anyone who buys the game for the current generation. That means that if you purchase the game for your current Xbox One or PS4 console, you will get a free upgrade for PS5 or Xbox Series X consoles. The game is going to launch on September 4th.

Sony today via a livestream finally showcased their hardware design for the next generation of consoles, and let's get one thing right out of the way: the company will be launching two console versions. This is a relatively unexpected twist - unexpected, because if anything, we were expecting two new consoles from Microsoft (remember the Lockhart rumors?), not from Sony. However, the PS5 will be eventually launching in two versions - a mainline console, and an all-digital spinoff.

For now, details are all but absent - the only thing we know for sure is that the digital version of the PS5 won't be carrying a 4K BluRay player. That will undoubtedly reduce the final pricing of the digital version compared to the mainline console. It's unclear whether this console has some sort of streaming integration with a service such as PS Now, offloading games processing to the cloud. If it doesn't, though, and if the only hardware difference between the two versions is the presence of the 4K BluRay player, we're likely talking about a $100/€100 difference - tops. Remember that the Xbox One S, which currently retails for around $250, too possesses a 4K Blu Ray player, so there's only so much that can be recouped from cutting that particular hardware piece. As you might've guessed by now, pricing is still being manifested as if it were a unicorn.

Microsoft has been praised for its continued support of previous console generations with the latest Xbox Series X maintaining compatibility with some games going back to the original Xbox along with controller and accessory inter compatibility. It seems that for the first few years most games will be released for both the Xbox One and Xbox Series X families of consoles. Sony seems to be taking a much conservative approach and hoping to take full advantage of the new PS5 features and updated DualSense controller to create iconic exclusives for the console.

In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Sony's Interactive Entertainment's CEO, Jim Ryan confirmed that the company plans to create games "that can really only be enjoyed on PS5." This approach will likely irritate PS4 users who have invested heavily in the console with controllers and other accessories, Sony believes that this approach will help the company to make the most out of their new console hardware.

Epic Games has just recently unveiled its Unreal Engine version 5, which was demonstrated on next-generation PlayStation 5 console. Showing off some impressive details, Epic Games has managed to use all of the power available to them from the new hardware in the PS5 console. Rocking a custom APU from AMD, the PS5 console has 10.28 TeraFLOPs of computing power, which is paired with a fast NVMe SSD. Such a combination allows for the impressive demo we have seen just a few days ago.

However, if you wonder what equivalent PC hardware would you need to run the demo on, World Today News has concluded that you would need at least to have NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER graphics card to run a demo if you could. The RTX 2070S GPU has 9 TeraFLOPs of computing power, and the demonstration would "run pretty good" on that GPU. By the time first Unreal Engine 5 based games come out, next-generation graphics cards should already be available and you wouldn't need to worry if you are getting an upgrade. For the people owning RTX 2070S and faster, they should be good to go for when games based on Unreal Engine 5 hit the market.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon was one of last week's game reveals via Microsoft's Xbox 20/20 program, which aims to provide monthly digital events leading up to the Xbox Series X's release in "Holiday 2020". Up to now, the new console release was expected somewhere around November. However, a retail listing of Yakuza: Like a Dragon has set an October 23rd release date for the title. And since it was announced as being an Xbox Series X day one title, that places the new Xbox console's launch right alongside it. The Yakuza: Like a Dragon listing has been posted by a small Finnish retailer, who apparently only posts release dates when they have been all but confirmed.

Previous rumors had already put forth a PS5 release in October, due to a job listing for one of its collaborators mentioning that month as the release window. However, Sony has already come public saying that the expected October release date is not an official stance on the matter, thus killing our aspirations. However and whenever these consoles launch, it's bound to be an interesting back-and-forth between the two companies as they jockey for position amongst consumers' wallets - both with their respective release dates and launch pricing. Look after the break for the official trailer for Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

EA has confirmed that it's existing games for Xbox One and Playstation 4 will receive free patches to upgrade them for next-generation consoles. The PS5 and Xbox Series X both feature ways to play current-generation games, both consoles will attempt to automatically boost games up to 4k resolution. While these options ensure broad inter-generation compatibility issues can arise from game limitations, this is where manual patches come in allowing developers to take advantage of the extra performance and radically overhaul their games.

Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen confirmed in a recent earnings call that EA would not charge consumers for these patches. "As usual, we have presented the quarterly phasing of our net bookings in our earnings presentation. Note that this year, the phasing includes the effect of revenue recognition from the games we are launching for the current generation of consoles that can also be upgraded free for the next generation."