If you believe half of the rumors and leaks, it looks like the PS5 will feature a lot of cool stuff From a state-of-the-art controller with haptic feedback to 8K graphics and silky smooth frame rates, the PS5 is going to be phenomenal hardware

According to the latest new information, Sony is working on something special for its next-generation gaming console A smart speaker-type AI that can be called "PlayStation" and will not only perform basic commands, but will work throughout the game and help you when you get stuck on certain parts of a particular level Consoles are about to get even smarter

A patent filed by Sony and published on Patentscope last month shows what Sony calls an "in-game resource surfacing platform" This platform takes the form of an AI, which can be seen in the diagram below The player asks, "PlayStation, what do I have to do to beat the boss?" and PlayStation responds with the strategies that other players have used to beat the same level or to skip this point in the challenge

This reveals several important features about the console One is that connectivity will be as important in PS5 as it was assumed to be in PS4 In the era of live streaming games and dedicated "share" buttons, it appears that every PS5 will be connected, and PlayStation will collect data from all new consoles, aggregate it, and use it as a resource to assist players in completing difficult parts of the game The company plans to do this

However, there are two very troubling words in this picture: "Buy Now" All of this information may be aggregated, but it seems set up to cost money to access it Whether it's a new weapon or piece of equipment for your character, or a cache of information about the game that will help you play the game better, hiding it behind a paywall sets a troubling "pay to win" precedent

Last year, EA came under fire for microtransactions in Star Wars: Battlefront 2 EA set up some of Star Wars' most famous characters, such as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker, as unlockable playable heroes The game was designed to be a game that would be played by the characters However, while the points gamers needed to "earn" to unlock them were ludicrously high, EA had a helpful "pay-to-unlock" system, charging real-world money to unlock parts of the game that gamers had already paid for

The resulting backlash, including the most downvoting comments in Reddit history, forced EA to release an update to change the game, but the damage was already done Over the past 15 years of gaming history, we have seen this trend slowly increase with the rise of downloadable content, but creating a "pay to win" environment is the absolute worst thing Sony could do with the PS5 They could lose the trust of gamers for a generation

So far, all we can see is a smart AI like smart speaker to recommend information, but a PlayStation interface like Amazon's Alexa or Microsoft's Cortana would make perfect sense to add to a gaming console With about 8 months to go until the "Holiday 2020" release date, it would be possible to add it to the console

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Watch: stunning PS5 renders from ZoneOfTech