If you still was unable to use your feet on the PlayStation 5 (and you not alone) then get ready to join the party. Sony says it is ramping up production of the console, which has been notoriously hard to find since its late 2020 release because of lingering supply chain problems.
In a call with investors this week, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan said the material shortages that kept the PS5 off the shelves were “improving” and that Sony was planning to “strongly increase more” in production.
According to a Reuters report Ryan said Sony hopes to produce 18 million consoles by 2022, compared with 11.5 in 2021. That’s a jump of 57%.
The news came when several cities in China instituted new key to slow the spread of Covid-19, which analysts fear could further disrupt production schedules and further increase global shipments of consumer products. Sony says that its own production system is improving despite these new developments.
Sony also announced that Other State of Play events will take place on Thursday, June 2. Stay tuned for the live broadcast to see trailers and trailers for new PlayStation titles, as well as updates on upcoming games on PlayStation VR2. .
Here’s what else happened this week.
Xdongle Cometh
Microsoft has confirmed that they are working on a streaming stick. Whispers about a Chromecast-like device that connects to Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service have been going on for years, and now the company has told Jez Corden at Windows Central that such a thing is indeed coming.
The Microsoft codename for this device is Keystone. We don’t know what it looks like or any other details, but the concept is clear: connect a cheap dongle to the TV’s HDMI port, then use it to access Xbox games live on cloud. This not only allows Xbox fans to play all their games anywhere (in the dorm, at home, at friends’ houses) but also opens up the game in console style — and Xbox Game Pass subscription — for those who don’t own an expensive Xbox console.
Microsoft hasn’t given any details on pricing or release date, though you shouldn’t expect to see this until next year at the earliest.
Watch this, Google
If you are one of these millions of people Samsung Galaxy Watch4 owners, take a quick look at your wrist and check your notifications. An update to WearOS rolled out this week, adding support for the Google Assistant on wearables. So now you can talk to your Assistant by speaking into your sleeve or by pressing and holding the home button. The update (available May 23) also adds Google Pay, YouTube Music, and Maps to the Galaxy Watch4’s list of gadgets.
Our own Julian Chokkattu reviewed Galaxy Watch4 and Watch4 Classic last year. These watches are Samsung’s first watches after abandoning the homegrown Tizen mobile operating system in favor of Google’s WearOS. That change gave the watch a 7/10 rating and the coveted “Wired Recommended” badge. Huzzah.
Surrounded by sound
In 2017 I visited a very cool music venue in San Francisco called Envelope. It’s a room designed for spatial acoustics, with 32 speakers built into eight stacks arranged in a wide oval around the audience. It’s completely immersive and completely dreamy. One of the coolest parts about attending a concert at Envelop is that you can go to each individual speaker stack to hear different details, then find a spot in the room to stand or sit with. brings you unique combinations based on your position in 3D Space.
The nonprofit organization of the same name that runs Envelop also makes it possible for digital musicians to use software plug-ins to organize their works for a 360-degree sound environment. Now, the same team has developed a streaming version of the experience called Envelope Flow allowing virtually anyone in the world to attend the venue’s concerts via a web browser.
Metaversal attendees can purchase tickets to an event, glide into a simulation of the Envelop space complete with virtual speaker stacks, then navigate around the room and remix the streaming audio on the fly. by changing their position. Check out the demo. It works best with a 5.1 surround sound system or quadrophonic setup, but headphones also work.
A series of event included in the summer schedule, which includes acoustic baths, immersive sound systems, celebrity listening parties and DJs orchestrated by Tycho. The shrooms are strictly BYO.
