As confusion reigns around new consoles, Microsoft’s money makes the clearest statement of the generation so far

We’ll be candid, because somebody has to be: our next-generation transition has not exactly been going swimmingly. In all fairness, we imagine much of the rest of the industry, from the CEOs to the developers to the marketing teams and beyond, might say the same thing. The arrival of COVID-19 has thrown even the best-laid plans into disarray, and everyone has scrambled to readjust. But never have we experienced such a dearth of information when it comes to the new consoles from Sony and Microsoft.

HANDS OFF

Currently, PS5’s big next-gen hardware play appears to be the DualSense controller. But naturally, beyond a few artsy ad spots, it’s been impossible for PlayStation to demonstrate its power and appeal as a next-gen peripheral, with COVID-19 putting paid to the hands-on events that were no doubt planned for this. The big selling point appears to be its ability to immerse you in the sensations of games like never before: adaptive triggers can recreate the feel of pulling a bowstring taut, or a gun jamming; haptic feedback works to convey the gritty resistance of spinning car tyres through mud. Which all sounds very futuristic, although so did Switch’s HD Rumble feature, and it’s not exactly proven a game-changer in the grand scheme of things. Add in the recent confusion around controllers - first Sony said you can’t use a DualShock 4 to play PS5 games, but then confirmed the likes of Horizon: Forbidden West for PS4, making us wonder why we can’t use the PS4 pad after all - and we remain sceptical.

Normally, we’d have had at least a few opportunities - E3, absent this year, being the big one - to speak with the top execs on both sides by now, to quiz them on the finer details of the machines and the strategies around them. We’d also likely have had the chance to go hands-on with each machine, and to make a considered assessment. On the cover of E256, a full five months out from launch, we were able to show you a PS4 and tell you: “This is your next console”. At present, we’re not sure what to say. It’s indicative of the most confusing transition period ever, thanks in part due to the administrative grenade that is the global pandemic, but also the increasingly fine differences between the current generation and the next.