Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson)

Microsoft’s decision to ease off its 23-year competition with Sony and Nintendo over supremacy in games hardware has opened a path for Japan’s return as the world’s undisputed home of the console.

The prospect of a new, less internationalized era of console wars has raised hopes of happier times for the Japanese survivors but has also caused analysts and investors to revisit the question of how much longer the whole genre of dedicated games machines will continue to exist.

Microsoft head of gaming Phil Spencer last month revealed plans to release what would previously have been exclusively Xbox games for use on rival platforms, as part of a new focus on cloud-based gaming.

Enlarge / Who doesn't want less recoil? Unless, that is, you're someone competing against the person getting this benefit with a $100 "emulation" device. (credit: Cronus)

The Cronus Zen describes itself as a hardware tool for "universal controller compatibility," letting you plug in a third-party controller, an Xbox controller into a PlayStation, or even your keyboard and mouse into a console. But you can also use its scripting engine to "amplify your game" and set up "GamePacks" to do things like reduce recoil animations in games like Call of Duty. And that is where Cronus seems to have gotten into trouble.

As first noted by the Call of Duty news channel CharlieIntel, the latest update to the PlayStation 5's system (24.01-08.60.00) software blocks the Cronus from connecting. The update is "NOT mandatory," Cronus claims in a notice on its website, so Zen players can hold off and keep playing. Still, there is "currently no timetable on a fix … it could be 24 (hours), 24 days, 24 months, we won't know until we've dug into it." There is, for now, a " Remote Play Workaround " for those already too far updated.

Ars attempted to reach Cronus for comment and reached out to Sony as well and will update this post with any new information.

Enlarge / It's the same chip in the PS5 Slim, but there are some changes in where the heat goes. (credit: Dave2D )

You aren't supposed to be able to buy Sony's redesigned PlayStation 5 yet, but because global commerce is just too complicated, some people have already gotten their hands on them. One of those people is YouTube vlogger Dave2D. He gently took apart the unofficially named "Slim," noted the savings in weight, if not so much size, and detailed some intriguing details about the new heat management and detachable disc drive.

Sony has made a smaller, usually slimmer version of each of its PlayStation consoles available as its market matures: the PS2 , PS3 , PS4 , even the PS One , kinda-sorta. Usually there is no question that the newer, smaller version is an all-around better pick. But the newest version of the largest home console in decades isn't a straightforward improvement in efficiency, at least as seen by Dave2D and Linus Tech Tips .

The new console is now divided into four panels, and the finish is different between the top and bottom. That's because, on the newer, slimmer PS5 standard edition, the disc drive is now detachable. There are visible screws on the module, but the drive itself connects through a single socket port.

Enlarge / Sony wants you to make an online check in before using that external drive with your PS5 Slim. (credit: Sony)

The upcoming launch of a redesigned "PS5 Slim" model will mark the first PlayStation to support an optional disc drive add-on for the shrinking number of players who want to stick with physical media . But players who want to use that drive to enjoy their PS5 discs offline must first perform a mandatory online check-in to pair the external disc drive with a specific console.

That's according to Call of Duty news site CharlieIntel, which posted early pictures of the packaging for a new PS5 Slim bundle that includes a disc drive and a copy of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 . That packaging includes some tiny disclaimer text notifying players that an "Internet connection [is] required to pair Disc Drive and PS5 console upon setup."

The odd-sounding requirement may be part of an anti-piracy effort by Sony to ensure that only authorized, validated drives are connected to their hardware (preventing the connection of modified or generic drives that might aid in decrypting the data on those discs, for instance). In 2020, Wired tried swapping the stock disc drives included in two launch-era PS5 consoles, only to find that the new consoles didn't recognize the "unpaired" daughterboard on their "new" disc drives . Similar drive-pairing security is built into the drive assemblies for consoles going back to the Xbox 360 era at least.

Enlarge / Horizon: Forbidden West .

Sony has announced a launch date for a new feature that will allow PlayStation Plus Premium members to stream PS5 games, just like they've been able to do with PS3 and PS4 games for a while.

The streaming service will roll out first in Japan on October 17, then in supported European countries (the full list is in Sony's blog post) on October 23, and finally in North America on October 30.

Not all games will be supported, but it sounds like quite a few will. Sony platform experience executive Hideaki Nishino writes in a blog post that streaming will be available "for supported PS5 digital titles within the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and Game Trials, as well as supported titles in the PS5 game library that PlayStation Plus Premium members own."

Enlarge / You'll need an optional $29.99 stand to display your new, slimmer PS5 vertically like this. (credit: Sony)

When we got our first glimpse of the PlayStation 5 over three years ago now, we made immediate note of how the hardware's black-and-white curves concealed the largest home game console in decades . Today, Sony is ready to do something about all that bulk, announcing new models of both the PS5 and the PS5 Digital Edition in a "new slimmer size."

The new units—which will be rolling out via "select local retailers" and PlayStation Direct this month—sport the same internal hardware power as the circa 2020 PS5. But these new models come with a 30-plus percent reduction in volume and an 18 to 24 percent reduction in weight compared to current PS5 models, according to Sony. They also feature a 1TB SSD that the PlayStation Blog describes as "more internal storage" than the original units, which officially listed 825GB of storage space .

From this angle I can't help but see the slit in the new faceplate as a bemused cartoony mouth... (credit: Sony)

Besides the thinner profile, the slimmer units also feature a striking curved slit bisecting each faceplate into "glossy" and "matte" sections (new colored faceplates for these models will be available for $54.99 starting in early 2024, Sony says). Unfortunately, the redesign means the new models won't be able to stand vertically out of the box—a $29.99 Vertical Stand will be required for that orientation now. But the front-facing USB-A port on the current PS5 has also been replaced with a second USB-C port on the new models, fully cementing the move to the new standard.