Articles by Jennifer Locke

Black Friday is almost here so get your wallets and credit card ready. The capitalist holiday saves us hundreds of dollars each year, so it’s hard to complain. With the pandemic going on things will be a bit different as most people do their shopping online, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of deals to take advantage of.

Whether you’re looking for PS5, video games, or accessories, you’ll find your favorite retailers offering steep discounts. If you were holding off buying any games before the holidays, now’s your chance to take the plunge. Be sure to keep an eye out for BOGO deals and for when the PS5 and its accessories come in stock at various stores. Walmart, in particular, will have the PS5 in-stock starting on Nov. 25 at 7 p.m. ET.

Best Black Friday PS5 Deals:

PlayStation 5 From $399
PS5 Games Demon’s Souls, Miles Morales, and more
Accessories Controllers, headsets, and more
PS4 Games Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War, and more
PlayStation 4: Starting at $300
PlaySta…

Best answer: Yes. While there are more premium headsets out there with additional features, the PULSE 3D wireless headset from Sony was specifically designed to take full advantage of the PS5’s Tempest 3D AudioTech. Given its affordable price, compared to other wireless headsets, it’s well worth it to pick it up for PS5.

Next-gen audio: PULSE 3D wireless headset ($100 at Amazon)
An upgrade: Arctis 7P ($150 at Amazon)

PS5 PULSE 3D headset Superior audio

Sony made a big deal that the PS5 supports Tempest 3D AudioTech, and it was correct to do so. 3D audio on PS5 adds greater spacial awareness by emulating sound waves coming from all directions in a 3D space. This is different from surround sound, which is usually created with multiple speakers. Because sound waves can overlap with surround sound, 3D audio generally provides clearer sound.

Tempest 3D AudioTech is a big deal.

As Sony puts it, “With 3D audio on PS5, the sounds you hear while playing will offer a greater sense o…

You don’t need to wait until Black Friday to try and grab a PS5.

What you need to know

Walmart will have the PS5 in-stock today (November 19) starting at 3pm ET.
The retailer is also getting more PS5 stock on Wednesday, November 25 for Black Friday.
PS5 sales will be online-only.

While Walmart is getting more PS5 stock for Black Friday, you don’t need to wait that long to try and get your hands on it. The company will have PS5 consoles available today starting at 3pm ET / 12pm PT. Previous stocks used to go up in intervals of three hours, but as of right now it looks like this may be the only wave of PS5s for the day.

Next-gen

PS5

$499 at Walmart
$399 at Walmart

Buy it for the holidays

Shortly ahead of Black Friday, Walmart is getting more PS5 stock. Sony’s system has been in high demand and sells out almost as quickly as it’s put up for sale. You’ll get to play some amazing exclusives like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the upcoming Horizon Forbidden West on Sony’s grea…

PS5 stock is selling out fast so be sure to have your credit card ready.

Want to buy a PS5? Well, so do millions of other people and the stock levels that we’ve seen so far are tight. Every time a retailer puts stock up for sale, it sells out super quickly. The longest we’ve seen them stay in stock is like 15 – 20 minutes, and that’s at random times, so finding one for yourself can be a difficult task. Sony has warned that it will be difficult to find stock, but retailers are promising more is coming.

In our PS5 review, we called it a technical marvel with a groundbreaking controller.

Jump to:

When are retailers releasing new stock?
Buy in the U.S.
Buy in Canada
Buy in the UK
Where to buy PS5 accessories
Tips for buying a PS5
Which PS5 games you should buy

When are retailers releasing new PS5 stock?

Updated, November 18 @ 7pm ET

In the UK, it is now November 19, so the PS5 is now available to pre-order and you can find all the details on stores and availability below.

…

PS5 stock is selling out fast so be sure to have your credit card ready.

Update: The console is back in stock and the queue is open at Sony as of 2:45 pm ET on Tuesday, Nov. 17!

Want to buy a PS5? Well, so do millions of other people and the stock levels that we’ve seen so far are tight. Every time a retailer puts stock up for sale, it sells out super quickly. The longest we’ve seen them stay in stock is like 15 – 20 minutes, and that’s at random times, so finding one for yourself can be a difficult task. Sony has warned that it will be difficult to find stock, but retailers are promising more is coming.

In our PS5 review, we called it a technical marvel with a groundbreaking controller.

Jump to:

Where to buy PS5
Where to buy PS5 Digital Edition
Where to buy PS5 accessories
Tips for buying a PS5

Where to buy PS5 in the US

In the U.S., there are a bunch of retailers that are selling the PlayStation 5, including Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon and others. They all seem to be dro…

This might be your last chance to get a PS5 before the new year.

What you need to know

Walmart will have the PS5 in-stock for Black Friday.
These will go on sale starting at 7pm ET on Wednesday, November 25.
All PS5 sales will be online-only. You cannot pick up the PS5 in-store.

Walmart will have more PS5 consoles in-stock soon, the company revealed in a new Black Friday ad. According to the listing, the PS5 will go on sale starting at 7pm ET on Wednesday, November 25, the day before Thanksgiving. Due to the pandemic, there will not be any in-store sales of the PS5.

Next-gen

PS5

$499 at Walmart
$399 at Walmart

Buy it for the holidays

Walmart is restocking the PS5 for Black Friday, so you’ll want to act fast. Sony’s system has been in high demand and sells out almost as quickly as it’s put up for sale. You’ll get to play some amazing exclusives like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the upcoming Horizon Forbidden West on Sony’s greatest machine to date.

Other retailers ha…

PS5 stock is selling out fast so be sure to have your credit card ready.

Want to buy a PS5? Most stores should be getting launch day stock throughout the day starting at around noon, but there’s always a chance PS5 consoles will go on sale early. This has been a hectic launch with preorders of the PS5 selling out almost immediately after they were available. If you were unable to preorder a console beforehand, this may be your last chance to buy a PS5 before the new year. Sony warns that systems will be extremely difficult to get ahold of.

In our PS5 review, we called it a technical marvel with a groundbreaking controller.

Jump to:

Where to buy PS5
Where to buy PS5 Digital Edition
Where to buy PS5 accessories
Tips for buying a PS5

Where to buy PS5 in the US

Several retailers will have the PS5 in stock through the day. Walmart in particular is putting PS5’s up for sale starting at 12pm and going out in waves following at 3pm, 6pm, and 9pm ET. Other stores have been less ki…

If there’s one thing that can be said about the PS5, it’s that it’s fast. The SSD can load optimizing games in just a few seconds, nearly eliminating loading screens entirely in others. But the SSD won’t make your downloads go faster if your internet is poor. When you want to increase the download speeds of your games, there are a few things you can try to make it happen.

Jump to:

Manage your PS5 downloads
Using a wired connection instead of Wi-Fi
Using Rest Mode to increase download speeds
Update to the latest firmware
Change your DNS settings
Check your modem’s bandwidth
Upgrade your internet service

Managing your PS5 downloads

Think of your PS5 like a brain. The more tasks it’s asked to do, the slower it can do those tasks simultaneously. When you want the fastest download speeds possible, it’s then within reason that you should download one thing at a time and shouldn’t be playing online multiplayer games while they download. With only one thing to focus on, the PS5 c…

It can get tiresome going through games individually and setting difficulty or camera preferences for each one. The PS5 now allows you to control some of these settings on a system level for games that support it. In addition, you can also choose whether subtitles display automatically and if a game should favor performance or resolution modes. You can now hop into some of the best PS5 games with ease.

How to setup preferred game presets on PS5

Go to Settings in the top right corner of the homescreen.
Scroll down and select Saved Data and Game/App Settings.

Select Game Presets.

From here you can set your preferred settings, which will then be automatically applied to games that support this feature. Selected settings will be applied differently depending on the game.

Difficulty: For games with difficulty settings, you can set the default to Easiest, Easy, Normal, Hard, Hardest. Not selecting any option uses what the game normally defaults to.
Performance Mode or Resolutio…

This modern 3D platformer is fueled by brand love.

There was once a time when pack-in bundled games were regarded as the very best games available for that new console. You bought a Super Nintendo to play Super Mario World because it came in the box. The Sega Genesis came with Altered Beast, but eventually they switched that to Sonic the Hedgehog. Those days are mostly gone since game and console bundles are instead used as marketing devices to boost sales mid-generation.

Luckily, Sony seems intent on reliving their past in more than one way with the launch of the PS5. Not only is Astro’s Playroom a fantastic little 3D platformer that proves Astro has real mascot potential for the PlayStation brand, but it’s also an excellent demo for the DualSense controller and a no-brainer recommendation as the first game anyone should play on their newly opened PlayStation 5.

At a glance

Astro’s Playroom

…