Key Highlights:
- A recent leak has showcased Demon’s Souls running on a Low Power Mode for the PS5.
- This could be our first look at what the next PlayStation Portable is capable of.
- The next gen PlayStation Portable is roughly as powerful as the Xbox ROG Ally X.
It’s been nearly 5 years since the PlayStation 5 was first introduced to the masses. Since then, the console has seen a ton of revisions and feature enhancements that have sought to make it a much more refined, capable product.
One of the much anticipated, rumored additions was the presence of a ‘Low Power Mode’, which drastically scaled back the PS5’s CPU and GPU horsepower to simulate a low powered system, likely in anticipation of porting the games over to a theoretical next gen PlayStation handheld.
A recent leak has showcased screenshots of Demon’s Souls running on the Low Power Mode, and this could very well be our first look at the kind of performance we can expect from the PS6 Portable.
Leaked Screenshots Showcase Demon’s Souls Running on a ‘Low Power Mode’ for the PS5
PlayStation recently unleashed a series of updates for its PS5 console, of which the patch notes included a mention of the ‘Power Saver’ option. Once enabled, this mode should drastically reduce the power consumption of the console, at the cost of lowering visual fidelity of the concerned game.
This was followed by a series of leaked screenshots on the Resetera forum, where Demon’s Souls was noted to be running in the same Low Power Mode, as indicated by a peculiar, leaf shaped icon next to the game.
These screenshots also showcased an additional ‘Power Saver’ option in the graphics settings, and was accompanied by another screengrab of the same game running at what appears to be a very low internal resolution.
Also Read: Despite Being Sold Out Almost Everywhere, the ROG Xbox Ally Is Quite the Disappointing Handheld
It’s obvious here that the game is making some drastic compromises to keep to its low power mode, as seen in the scaled back resolution. It could be that Sony is testing the waters, and trying to simulate a handheld device in this manner.
As such, this could be our very first look at the game running on simulated handheld hardware.
It should be noted here that this Low Power Mode likely only applies to first party titles (for the time being), and is not a feature that can be enabled across every game.
Additionally, this information should be treated for what it is – a leak, and as such should be taken with a grain of salt.
What to Expect From the Next PlayStation Portable
While Sony is yet to acknowledge the presence of a new PlayStation Portable, leakers have pointed toward its existence multiple times in the past. Known as ‘Canis’, this handheld is expected to be released after the PlayStation 6 launches, and should have full support for existing PlayStation 5 and 6 games.
While its speculated that Canis will be able to run PS4 games, its chances of running PS3 and older games natively remains slim, on account of the differences in CPU architecture.
Going back to the handheld, it is expected to be on par with the ROG Xbox Ally X, and as such will command a premium price to go with it.
Additional details on the console’s specifications and more are still hazy at the moment, but should (once again) be similar to that of the Xbox ROG Ally X.
However, the PS6 Portable will very likely use a custom operating system, instead of Microsoft Windows or SteamOS which could be a key advantage over similar Windows based competitors, like the ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go and more.
