Latest PS5 restock hit with more scalper problems

A PlayStation 5 restock on Tuesday was hijacked by a scalping group who claim to have secured over 2000 consoles.

GAME's latest stock release saw the PS5 sell out just minutes after it went live, with the scalping bot group Carnage claiming responsibility for buying thousands of the next-gen console.

On its now private Twitter account, Carnage said: "2K+ Checkouts, thousands in profit made. Just keeps getting easier every time," as spotted by VGC.

Users of Carnage's bots also posted about their success on Twitter.

GAME responded to reports of bots infiltrating its stock release by reassuring gamers that it will reinforce and enforce the '1 per customer' rule.

This comes after various other reseller groups such as Crep Chief Notify have also boasted of succeeding in collectively buying up thousands of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles.

Crep Chief Notify claimed most of its purchases were not through bots, but via notifying members (Hence its name) of when restocks were occurring. This appears to differ greatly from the latest scalping faction, which is more focused on bots beating virtual queues.

According to its Twitter bio, Carnage is a "miscellaneous collectibles bot" focused on the UK and EU. It costs £250 to initially join, with a monthly fee of £25. Given the cost of membership is already over 50% of a PS5's price, we'd assume that the people using this bot are not seeking out just the one console for personal use, but instead looking to resell the PS5 for a higher mark-up on eBay.

Keep reading for all the latest PlayStation 5 news and developments following the console's full release...

Check out this Fan-Made PS5 Power Glove

One YouTuber clearly irked by the lack of portability of Sony's PlayStation 5 has taken matters into his own hands- literally.

The YouTuber 'My Mate VINCE' uploaded a video in which he showed off his homemade PS5 Power Glove, that allowed him to play the PS5 on his wrist.

By soldering a Raspberry Pi screen, power bank and Xbox controller chatpad (for the speaker) onto the original NES Power Glove, My Mate VINCE was able to play Astro's Playground direct from the Glove. This device, according to My Mate VINCE, "solves the well-known problem of having a cold right hand while gaming."

While it could have been easy to utilise the PS5's Remote Play feature for this Power Glove, My Mate VINCE instead used a wireless HDMI adapter. This ensured there was as little lag between the Raspberry Pi screen and the controller as possible.

Unfortunately, the Power Glove does not work as a controller in this creation, with the DualSense controller still required to play the games attacked to your wrist.

You can watch the whole video describing the PS5 Power Glove below.

The Power Glove was first released in 1989 as a peripheral to the NES. Despite its high-profile marketing, the Glove did not sell as expected, and has since become heavily mocked on the internet, albeit with a nostalgic tone.

READ MORE: Hitman 3 VR move controllers: Do you need them, and which ones should you buy?

Is Sucker Punch working on Ghost of Tsushima 2?

A new job listing at Sucker Punch has led to speculation that the studio is working on a sequel to its critically acclaimed Ghost of Tsushima.

In the listing for a Combat Designer, one of the requirements specified by Sucker Punch is: "Must have played Ghost of Tsushima and understand its core combat systems."

The listing also requires applicants to have "contemporary knowledge of modern combat design" and "experience working on Melee combat systems."

Given the reference to Ghost of Tsushima, many fans of the series have suggested a sequel to Jin's adventure could be in production as Sucker Punch looks to capitalise on the success of its recent title and its multiplayer mode - Ghost of Tsushima - Legends.

A sequel to Ghost of Tsushima could see Sucker Punch focus on the Mongol's second invasion and attack on Tsushima, which took place in 1281 - seven years after the original invasion. As Tsushima was not the only island targeted in either of the Mongol attacks, a sequel could expand the map out even further to Iki Island, which was invaded twice by the Mongol's following their landing at Tsushima.

Ghost of Tsushima was nominated for seven awards at The Game Awards 2020, including Game of the Year. It has reportedly sold over 5 million copies since its release in July 2020, and was the seventh best-selling game of the year.

READ MORE: Hitman 3 PS4 to PS5 upgrades: What is different in the PlayStation 5 version?

Sony hit with the worst annual PlayStation sales in Japan since 1994

Sony failed to sell over one million PlayStation consoles in Japan for the first time since the original PlayStation was released, according to the latest reports.

The Japanese outlet Famitsu recently released its annual sales reports that estimate the total number of hardware and software sales in Japan. Based on this report, Sony sold 797, 797 PlayStation consoles in 2020 (255,150 PlayStation 5 consoles and 542,647 PlayStation 4 units).

Based on this graph from ResetEra, we can see that PlayStation had its worst year in Japan since 1994. 2020 is a continuation of the steady PlayStation decline in Japan, with sales declining each year since 2016.

So, despite PlayStation confirming the PS5's launch was its best in history, what is the reason for this decline in sales?

As the ResetEra poster comments, the PlayStation 5's stock shortages have been bound to impact PlayStation's sales. Combining this with the PS4's position as a 'last-gen' console, 2020 was bound to have its issues.

It's also worth noting that in previous generations, the PlayStation portfolio was more diverse, including the PSP, PS Vita, and even the PlayStation 2 until very recently. With Sony now focused on the PS4 and PS5 only, these sales figures are likely to look worse.

READ MORE:PS5 Insurance: Should you buy insurance for the PlayStation 5?

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was the most downloaded PlayStation game of 2020

In a recent blog post, PlayStation revealed the most downloaded PS4, PS5 and PS VR games of 2020.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was the most downloaded game on both the PS4 and PS5 via the PS Store in the US. Black Ops Cold War was the most downloaded PS5 game in Europe but was beaten by FIFA 21to the top PS4 spot. Beat Saber remained top of the PS VR charts.

Spider-Man: Miles Moralesand Assassin's Creed Valhallawere the 2nd and 3rd placed PS5 games. Grand Theft Auto Vand Call of Duty: Modern Warfare took these spots for the most downloaded PS4 games in the US. FIFA 20 replaced Modern Warfare in the European charts.

The Game of the Year winner The Last of Us: Part II was the 6th most downloaded PS4 game in the US and the 8th most downloaded in the UK. Ghost of Tsushima was the fifth most downloaded in the US but did not reach the top 10 in Europe.

PlayStation also revealed the most downloaded free-to-play games. Call of Duty: Warzone was downloaded the most in both regions, followed by Rocket LeagueandFortnite.

READ MORE: Hitman 3 PS4 to PS5 upgrades: What is different in the PlayStation 5 version?

New Sony patent suggests Dark Souls-like in-game note system could be coming to PS5

The video game industry all-too-often likes to compare video games to the iconic Dark Souls, calling particularly hard games the 'Dark Souls of [insert any genre here].

It looks like the PlayStation 5 may become the Dark Souls of video game consoles, but not for the reasons you think.

A patent filed by Sony Interactive Entertainment last year, which was made public in January 2021 has revealed Sony's potential plan to utilise in-game notes and audio files throughout single-player and multiplayer titles.

The patent's description calls this the 'Placement of user information in a game space'. In its abstract, the patent states that "tags introduce an additional dimension of community participation to both single and multiplayer games."

"Through such tags, players are empowered to communicate through filtered text messages and images as well as audio clips that other game players, including top rated players, have generated and placed at particular coordinates and/or in context of particular events within the game space."

The patent also refers to being able to search for this user-generated content using labels, allowing players to find specific notes or files through a search.

This is a system found in From Software's Dark Souls series, in which players can leave hints (or tricks) to other players. Death Stranding also had some elements of 'community participation' in its strand-genre gameplay that saw user-generated structures appear throughout the open-world.

Sony's in-game note feature is similar to one of the other innovations introduced in the PS5 through its Activities feature that gives players walkthroughs and guides for various PlayStation titles, alongside allowing them to quickly open various aspects of a game.

However, as this is just a patent, we cannot know for sure whether Sony will implement such a feature in its PlayStation 5 console, or in any future technology. Many previous Sony patents, such as this robot device, have not come to fruition as of yet.

READ MORE:New PS5 patent could be a GAME-CHANGER for console rendering technology

Sony reveals release window for upcoming PS5 games, including Ghostwire Tokyo, Stray and more!

As part of Sony's CES 2021 presentation, the company released a short sizzle reel of the PlayStation 5, which included footage of the console and both recently released and upcoming games.

While the video gave us very little about these games, or Sony's future PlayStation plans, it included a collection of release windows for the featured upcoming titles.

The following games were issued with release windows:

• Pragmata: 2023
• Solar Ash: June 2021
• Kena: Bridge of Spirits: March 2021
• Stray: October 2021
• Ghostwire Tokyo: October 2021
• Little Devil Inside: July 2021
• Project Athia: January 2022

Sony also re-confirmed that Returnal will launch on March 19, 2021, a date previously revealed by Housemarque earlier this month.

Aside from these titles,Ratchet & Clank: A Rift Apartand Horizon Forbidden Westwere also shown off in the trailer, although Sony gave no new information about their release windows. Both games are said to be coming in 2021.

As these are just release windows, rather than concrete release dates, there's a very good chance some of these games could be pushed back depending on their development.

READ MORE: VIDEO: This is what Cyberpunk 2077 would look like on PS1

Fans raise $260,000 to rebuild broken shrine on Tsushima Island, the inspiration for Ghost of Tsushima

A crowdfunding effort has raised over 27 million yen ($260,000) to fix a Watatsumi Shrine situated on Tsushima Island - the setting for Sucker Punch's Ghost of Tsushima game that released in July 2020.

The campaign was launched by one of Watatsumi Shrine's priests- Yuichi Hirayama - who set an initial target of 5 million yen. The campaign surpassed this target easily, raising 542% of goal before its end date on January 10.

As reported by Famitsu, the torii gate was damaged when a typhoon struck Tsushima Island in September 2020.

Following the end of the fundraising efforts, Yuichi Hirayama tweeted out thanking everyone who supported the campaign. "I am very grateful for the support of so many people," he said, emphasising the generosity of people even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While support for the project came from all areas of the world, many of the backers referenced Ghost of Tsushima in their comments on the official Campfire page.

"I learned about the beauty of Tsushima in Ghost of Tsushima. I hope that the torii will regain its original appearance," one of the 2014 backers commented. "I fell in love with Tsushima through Ghost of Tsushima! I'm rooting for you, I'll definitely go when Corona is over!" another said.

Torri gates in Ghost of Tsushima are seen as challenging locations for players to reach, offering players charms to customise their classes with when they successfully reach the shrine.

Ghost of Tsushima has sold over five million copies as of November 2020.

READ MORE: Ghost of Tsushima Best Audio Settings

PS5 video put the console through a shredder

There's no shortage of PS5 videos out there in the world, now that the console has launched around the globe.

But this video below, of a PlayStation 5 going through a shredder, might just be the most heartbreaking vid of the lot...

PS5 price confirmed for USA, Europe, UK and Japan

If you're wondering how much the PS5 costs, that info is very much available now. A while back, Sony's second large-scale PlayStation 5 event confirmed the following prices for the PS5 and the PS5 Digital Edition...

When did the PS5 release?

This PS5 release date window was also confirmed in the aforementioned stream...

Will PS4 games work on PS5?

In short, yes. The long answer comes from a Sony blog post, which put it like this: “A quick update on backward compatibility – With all of the amazing games in PS4’s catalogue, we’ve devoted significant efforts to enable our fans to play their favourites on PS5.

"We believe that the overwhelming majority of the 4,000+ PS4 titles will be playable on PS5.”

Sony also announced that PS4 controllers will only work on the PS5 when playing PS4 games, while a DualSense will be able to do both. Considering the new features of the DualSense, it makes sense for the previous version to be slowly phased out like this.

You can read all about PS5 backwards compatibility right here.

PS5 Console Design and Features

We were first treated to a full console reveal in Sony's June showcase that showed off TWO PS5 consoles: the Standard and Digital Editions.

As we have all learned since, the PS5 is pretty huge, and can look quite intimidating next to other consoles. PlayStation's VP of UX Design, Matt MacLaurin confirmed on his LinkedIn of all places that the PS5's size is to ensure it keeps cool while playing next-gen titles.

When questioned about the size of the PlayStation 5 he simply replied "Thermals."

This is a relief to owners of the original PS4 who have to withstand the jet-engine level noise that the console's fans make in an attempt to cool the system down.

READ MORE:PS5 console size to scale

PS5 controller

The DualSense PS5 controller was dubbed as the future of gaming - and it certainly brings with it a load of changes.

The controller departs from the traditional PlayStation controller slightly, opting for a more ergonomic design. We also know that the DualSense controller includes Haptic Feedback, Adaptive Triggers, and a built-in mic.

Will my PS4 controller work with PS5?

Yes, but only for PS4 games. You can also check out what has changed about the PS5 controller right here.

We'll be sure to keep you posted as more PS5 news comes to light!

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