The PS5 will have an “Activities” feature that will allow players to enter specific parts of a game directly from the main menu.
We’ve learned this thanks to Gematsucon on Twitter (via TechRadar), who cites a now offline preview of WRC 9 by Gamereactor that mentions the feature.
In the case of the WRC 9 rally driving game, the activities seem to allow users to enter the races from the main menu, without having to enter the game normally and then select a race from there.
The Activities feature is something that has been hinted at for some time for the PS5, though we haven’t had a name for that before. PS5 Chief Architect Mark Cerny previously described how the PS5 menu will allow you to view single-player missions and their rewards, or a selection of available multiplayer activities, which you can then select and access.
It seems like a natural extension of the instant resume features on PS4 and Xbox One too. Not sure if Activities is Sony’s name for this feature, or if it’s what WRC 9 developer Kylotonn has decided to call it. just for your own game.
We have seen patents made by Sony that establish plans for a menu that also allows a quick exchange between different applications. This may not make it to the PS5 if Sony has just sketched out the idea, but at least it sounds like something that could hit the console in a future update.
The PS5’s hardware allows for some cool features of its own. Sony’s custom SSD design is said to allow almost instantaneous level loading. Meanwhile, the combination of haptic feedback on the DualSense controller and 3D audio support for the console should make next-gen gaming more immersive than ever.
If you’re looking to buy a PS5, the standard and Digital Edition versions of the console will probably go on sale around November. It is at the same time that we should see that archrival Xbox launches the Xbox Series X, which offers similar features but greater graphic output and broad cross-compatibility on Xbox One and Xbox Series X thanks to Microsoft’s Smart Delivery system.
