If you still have not been able to get your paws on a PlayStation 5 (and you are not alone), then get ready to join the party. Sony says it is increasing production of the console, which has been notoriously difficult to obtain since it was released in late 2020 due to persistent supply chain issues.
During a conversation with investors this week, Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, said that the material shortage that kept PS5s off the shelves had “improved” and that Sony was planning “heavy further increases” in production.
According to a Reuters report on the call, Ryan says Sony hopes to produce 18 million consoles by 2022, compared to 11.5 by 2021. That’s a 57 percent jump.
The news comes as some cities in China introduce new shutdowns to slow the spread of Covid-19, which analysts fear could further disrupt production plans and continue to chew global shipments of consumer products. Sony says its own production pipeline is improving despite these new developments.
Sony also announced that another State of Play event will take place on Thursday, June 2nd. Follow the live broadcast to see trailers and teasers for new PlayStation titles as well as updates on games coming to PlayStation VR2.
Here’s what else happened this week.
Xdongle Cometh
Microsoft has confirmed that it is working on a streaming stick. The whisper of a Chromecast-like device connecting to Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service has been flying for years, and now the company has told Jez Corden on Windows Central that something like this is really coming.
Microsoft’s code name for this device is Keystone. We do not know what it looks like or other details, but the concept is clear: Connect a cheap dongle to your TV’s HDMI port, then use it to access Xbox games that live in the cloud. This would not only allow Xbox fans to play all their games anywhere (in their dorm, at home, with friends), but it would also open up console games – and Xbox Game Pass subscriptions – for people who do not owns an expensive Xbox console.
Microsoft did not provide any details on pricing or a release date, though you should not expect to see this thing until next year at the earliest.
See this, Google
If you are one of the millions of people who own a Samsung Galaxy Watch4, take a quick look at your wrist and check your notifications. An update to WearOS rolled out this week that adds support for Google Assistant on the laptop. So now you can talk to your assistant by talking into your carpus or by pressing and holding the start button. The update (which became available on May 23) also adds Google Pay, YouTube Music and Maps to the Galaxy Watch4’s list of features.
Our own Julian Chokkattu reviewed the Galaxy Watch4 and Watch4 Classic last year. These watches were Samsung’s first after dropping its home-grown Tizen mobile operating system in favor of Google’s WearOS. This change gave the watches a rating of 7/10 and the coveted “WIRED Recommends” badge. Huzzah.
Surrounded by sound
In 2017, I visited a very cool venue here in San Francisco called Envelope. It is a space designed to experience spatial sound with 32 speakers built into eight stacks arranged in a wide oval around the audience. It is completely immersive and totally dreamy. One of the coolest parts about attending an Envelope concert is that you can go up to each speaker stack to hear different details, and then find a place in the room to stand or sit that gives you a unique mix based on your position in space. 3D room.
The anonymous nonprofit organization that runs Envelope also makes software plugins that digital musicians can use to arrange their compositions for 360-degree sound environments. Now the same team has developed a streaming version of the experience called Envelope Stream, which allows everyone in the world to virtually participate in the venue’s concerts through a web browser.
Metaversal attendees can purchase a ticket to an event, surf further into a simulacrum of the Envelope room complete with virtual speaker stacks, and then navigate around the room and remix the streaming sound on the go by changing their position. Check out a demo. It works best with 5.1 surround systems or quadrophonic setups, but headphones work too.
A lot of events are on the summer schedule, including sound baths, immersive soundscapes, listening parties for popular artists and a DJ set by Tycho. The mushrooms are strictly BYO.