Sony took to the CES 2023 stage earlier today. Whilst it said that it won’t be talking about about TVs until later in the year, it did have quite a few updates that were worthy of their moment on the stage.
AFEELA IS SONY AND HONDA’S ELECTRIC CAR
It’s been talked up for quite some time, but Sony and Honda revealed Afeela, which is their self-driving, electric car. They plan to have it ready by 2026 in North America with pre-orders set to open in 2025, so we’re not too sure what that means for the rest of the world. Pricing is set to be competitive with other luxury EVs.
The car has over 40 sensors including cameras, radar, ultrasonic and lidar and will be able to drive autonomously and detect objects quite well.
In terms of software, Sony had previously said it had thought about putting PS5-type hardware into the system, to compete with Tesla on the gaming front, and we’d think this will definitely happen.
PROJECT LEONARDO IS SONY’S ACCESSIBILITY CONTROLLER FOR PS5
Sony has been widely criticised for not having an accessibility controller in a similar capacity to Xbox’s accessibility controller, but that’s all set to change with the Project Leonardo, an accessibility controller for the PS5.
Project Leonardo is described as a highly customisable controller kit that not only looks like it fits with the PlayStation 5 family, but also has many of the same buttons that we’ve seen on PlayStation controllers since its origins.
Sony has said that Project Leonardo is in development without a release date and it will continue to seek valuable feedback from the community as it heads toward release of the product.
SONY IS TRYING TO BRING VIRTUAL SPORTING EXPERIENCES TO FANS
Sony announced that it was working with the EPL club, Manchester City to bring the next generation of online fan communities to life. At CES, it those that visit Sony’s booth can attend a Metaverse experience as if they were in Etihad Stadium, that has been reproduced in a virtual space. Attendees will be able to create their own avatars on their smartphones and pull them into the experience.
Further to this, the experience will apparently use real-time data to create virtual content in real-time and will showcase Sony’s ability to capture and distribute animated 3D reconstructions of people, objects and space in real-time.
EVEN MORE PLAYSTATION VR2 GAMES ARE COMING
Sony confirmed that Gran Turismo 7 would be coming to PlayStation VR2 at launch with a free upgrade for those that own the game on PS5. Beat Saber was also confirmed for PlayStation VR2 although this was not confirmed as a launch title.
SONY ANNOUNCED A 27″ SPATIAL REALITY DISPLAY
Sony announced a 27″ prototype of its Spatial Reality Display which reproduces the world with 3D spatial images. Basically, this is used for the likes of CAD, which shows 3D objects and gives perspective.
THE PS5 HAS SOLD 30 MILLION UNITS AND THE SHORTAGE IS OVER
Sony announced that the PlayStation 5 has sold over 30 million units, and Jim Ryan, said that “everyone who wants a PS5 should have a much easier time finding one at retail”.
WE GOT OUR FIRST LOOK AT THE GRAN TURISMO MOVIE
Ahead of its August release date, we got to see the Gran Turismo movie in action, which stars Orlando Bloom and Archie Madkwe.
