North American Update

April’s PlayStation Plus Essential Lineup

• Meet Your Maker (PS5/PS4)
• Sackboy: A Big Adventure (PS5/PS4)
• Tails of Iron (PS5/PS4)

PS4 & PS5 Games

• Arcade Archives DIG DUG II
• Cannon Dancer – Osman
• De-Exit – Eternal Matters
• Disney Speedstorm
• Don’t Destroy The Rocket
• Faircroft’s Antiques: The Forbidden Crypt Collector’s Edition
• Farm Slider
• Finding America: The Heartland Collector’s Edition
• God of Rock
• Hyper-5
• The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story PS4 & PS5
• Megaman Battle Network Legacy Collection
• Minecraft Legends
• Montgomery Fox and the Revenge of Victor Draven
• Murderous Muses
• My Lovely Pets Collector’s Edition
• Rubberduck Wave Racer
• Sable’s Grimoire: A Dragon’s Treasure
• Sherlock Holmes The Awakened
• Sokolor
• SpelunKing: The Mine Match
• Thea 2: The Shattering
• Ultra Pixel Survive

Next Page: European Update »

The post PlayStation Store Update Worldwide – April 18, 2023 appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

How to set up and update a PS5 console

Most young children will be happy with a console they can play straight out of the box, but unless you put in the updates and install the games beforehand, this won’t be happening. Here’s how to then make sure the PS5 console is set up and ready to go.

1. Attach the base to the side or bottom of the console. If putting the console back in the box afterwards, you’ll need to detach it again.
2. Connect the console to the TV and turn it on.
3. Follow the instructions on the TV to connect the console’s DualSense controller, read the user agreement, and set up language, internet settings, display settings, and power options.

The console should install the latest update but you can check whether this has happened by going into the System Settings:

1. Go to Settings > System > System Software > System Software Update and Settings.
2. If the console software needs updating, this menu will display Update Available. Hit this button to install the update.

Finally, you’ll want to install games from disc and make sure they’ve been updated:

1. Put the disc into the console. The console will automatically begin installing the game from the disc.
2. Highlight the game icon on the home screen and press the options button on the controller.
3. Select “Check for Update” from the dropdown menu

If you’re wanting some advice on the best games to get for the console, here is our selection of best horror games, sports/racing games, single-player games, and multiplayer games for 2022. We have more categories coming over the next few days, including our overall game of the year.

The post A Parents’ Guide to Set Up and Update a PS5 Console appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

How to fix the PlayStation Wrap-Up 2022 “Application error: a client-side exception has occurred” not working message

When trying to visit the PlayStation Wrap-Up site, most players are greeted with an error message that reads “Application error: a client-side exception has occurred (see the browser console for more information)” halfway through the loading process. There is a way to get around this error message, but you may have to be quick!

1. Sign in to the PlayStation website through the PlayStation Store.
2. Make sure you’re not signed back out when you close the site.
3. Open the PlayStation Wrap-Up site
4. If the error message appears, refresh the page. This may clear the loading error and let you begin the process
5. If a page refresh doesn’t work, quickly click on the “View My Page” link while the Loading screen is showing

Once into the website, some players are finding they cannot generate their stats. To be able to take part in PlayStation Wrap-Up 2022, players must:

• Be 18 years of age or over
• Have played 10 or more hours on PS4 or PS5 between January 1 and December 31, 2022
• Consent to the collection of “Full Data” from their PS5 system settings
• Consent to the collection of “Additional Data” from their PS4 system settings

If you meet all of the above criteria and your stats still aren’t being generated, you may have to wait until demand on the site has been reduced.

The post PlayStation Wrap-up 2022 Not Working For Some PS5 and PS4 Owners appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

How to generate your PlayStation Wrap-Up for 2022

The Wrap-Up allows players to see their stats for the number of earned trophies, the number of games played, total hours played across PS4 and PS5 games, and the number of PlayStation Plus monthly games downloaded, just like previous years. To generate those stats, you need to:

1. Go to the PlayStation Wrap-Up site
2. Sign in to your PlayStation account
3. Hit the Start Now button
4. Click on each of the four PlayStation symbols to get your stats

Doing this will also generate a voucher code for a free Astro Avatar. There are six codes to get all together and they are multi-use codes. These are the six codes you can redeem in the UK and Europe:

• XJAK-XHN5-J6NQ
• E2EC-A4NE-NK8C
• G82P-9GN6-LX56
• 88QQ-GPN2-C4JB
• MKQG-B9N7-H3KE
• 4NAG-MQN6-B3FG

These are the six codes for North America:

• C5CD-C2NJ-R239
• CPDR-JFN9-TJA2
• H75N-8HNP-H5EP
• MNNX-CXNG-L6GB
• BA5N-RNNE-P3EK
• 2LJB-8JND-4H9G

How to share your PlayStation Wrap-Up for 2022

After your wrap-up has been generated, hit the Share Your Summary Card button below the four stats sections. There are then buttons to share to Facebook and Twitter, as well as to download the card as an image file. Finally, there’s a URL that can be copied to clipboard and pasted elsewhere for embedding.

The post How to See Your PlayStation Wrap-up 2022 appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

PS5 SSD drives — do I need a heatsink?

Both the Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD and the WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe have versions with or without heatsinks. However, Sony’s recommendation is that “using an M.2 SSD with your PS5 console requires effective heat dissipation with a cooling structure, such as a heatsink and a heat transfer sheet.” If you have the know-how to add a heatsink to an SSD drive then by all means get a drive without one built-in, but if you’re like me and aren’t very technically minded, you’ll want to get an SSD with a heatsink already.

Most people have likely used up the storage space provided within their PS5 console. After all, the machine only launched with 667.2 GB of usable space thanks to its operating system. However, you have to make sure that you buy one that meets the PS5 SSD requirements but the good news is that all three of the drives on sale on Amazon Prime Day meet those requirements. Now that we’re focusing purely on SSD drives with built-in heatsinks, which PS5 SSD upgrade is best for you?

1. WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe PS5 SSD

This is the most obvious choice of the three after Sony officially licensed the drive for use with PS5 consoles earlier this week. Even before this, PlayStation architect Mark Cerny had endorsed the SSD drive as his choice of PS5 storage expansion. The WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD offers 7 GB/s read speeds and 5.3 GB/s write speeds, which isn’t the fastest of drives but does meet Sony’s requirements. It also comes with a write endurance of 600TB, which should cover the entire lifespan of the PS5, and a five-year warranty. Our review called it “a great SSD expansion drive for the PS5 that will do exactly as advertised.” The SSD comes in three different sizes — 500GB, 1TB, and 2TB — although only the latter two are on decent sales during Amazon Prime Day.

• WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe Internal Gaming SSD with Heatsink 500GB – 5% off – now $89.99
• WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe Internal Gaming SSD with Heatsink 1TB  – 29% off – now $113.99
• WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe Internal Gaming SSD with Heatsink 2TB  – 64% off – now $197.59

2. Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD

Seagate was one of the first brands to announce a PS5-compatible SSD when Sony finally unlocked the PS5 SSD memory expansion bay for players to use. As well as Seagate’s own seal of quality, the drive comes with a custom heatsink from EK. The Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD offers 7.3 GB/s read and 6.9 GB/s write times, making it the fastest of the three drives on offer. It also comes with a write endurance of 640TB and a five-year warranty, making it slightly more generous than the WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD. Our review said that if you “want the peace of mind that comes with quality and performance that you know is going to work, the Seagate FireCuda 530 is a great SSD expansion option for PS5 players.” The SSD comes in four different sizes — 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB — although strangely only the smallest and the largest have significant discounts for Amazon Prime Day.

• Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD with Heatsink 500GB – 35% off – now $109.99
• Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD with Heatsink 1 TB – 12% off – now $159.00
• Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD with Heatsink 2 TB – 10% off – now $299.99
• Seagate FireCuda 530 SSD with Heatsink 4 TB – 32% off – now $689.99

3. Samsung 980 Pro SSD

The Samsung 980 Pro SSD is one that’s flown under the radar when compared to the other two, which isn’t exactly fair bearing in mind the PS5’s own drive was once thought to be the Samsung NVMe SSD 980 QVO. The SSD drive offers 7 GB/s read speeds and 5.1 GB/s write speeds, making it the slowest of the three but still sufficient for Sony’s requirements. It also comes with a five-year warranty but no write tolerance equivalent. The SSD comes in just two different sizes — 1TB and 2TB — both of which have been reduced for Amazon Prime Day.

• Samsung 980 Pro SSD with Heatsink 1TB – 39% off – now $139.99
• Samsung 980 Pro SSD with Heatsink 2TB – 38% off – now $249.99

Of course, there are other PS5 compatible SSD drives on the market, such as the ADATA XPG Gammix S70 Blade, Addlink AddGame A95, Corsair MP600 Pro LPX, Gigabyte AORUS Gen4 7000s, Kingston Fury Renegade, Patriot Viper VP4300, PNY XLR8 SSD Gaming Kit, and Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus Heatsink, but these are not on sale during Amazon Prime Day. If you want to consider one of these instead, you may be best waiting for another set of offers.

In other news, we have more of the Amazon Prime Day deals that also include games and other accessories. Elsewhere, Supermassive Games has been entirely acquired by Nordisk.

The post The Best PS5 Internal SSD Available Through Amazon Prime Day Deals appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

The issue came to my attention when Forbes’ Paul Tassi mentioned not being able to hear Julianna’s audio during gameplay. A number of people replied telling him that her audio was supposed to be coming out of the DualSense speaker to make it sound like she was speaking to the player via a radio. Tassi had his DualSense speaker audio turned off in his PS5 settings.

Lmao oh my god she’s supposed to be talking to me through the PS5 controller speaker, but I turned that off because it was annoying me in other games

— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) September 14, 2021

A number of other players reported either running into the same issue, or mentioned that they’ve turned their DualSense speaker off as well. Deathloop doesn’t seem to give you any notification that the controller speaker is off, and it doesn’t output Julianna’s voice lines through the normal audio channels automatically if it is. There’s a toggle in the game’s Audio menu (under settings) to disable the DualSense speaker audio, and if you don’t, you’ll simply get odd gaps of silence between Colt’s voice lines (and her subtitles, if you have those enabled).

If you play using a headset, however, and have the DualSense speaker turned off, it will output all audio to the headset, so this issue only impacts players who use either TV speakers or some kind of sound system. This also affects live streams of Deathloop. If a stream only takes the audio from the HDMI stream, it won’t transmit Julianna’s voice unless you manually toggle the setting in the Audio options, as shown in the Eurogamer live stream of the early hours of the game.

If your DualSense speaker is disabled, you’ll either want to also disable the feature in Deathloop’s menu, or reenable the speaker via your PS5 to get the full Julianna radio dialog. While some see it as a gimmick, others like the level of immersion it adds, being like a radio in the player’s hands. We praised the banter between Colt and Julianna as one of the many amazing things about Deathloop, and to not hear one half of those conversations would be a shame. However you choose to fix the issue, make sure you are getting her dialog to come through.

Deathloop is available now on PS5 and PC.

The post Deathloop PS5 PSA: DualSense Speaker Confusion, Here’s How to Fix if You Can’t Hear Julianna Radio Dialog appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

How to Get the Last Gold Bolt on Savali

The final Savali Gold Bolt is quite possibly both the hardest and simplest one to find in the game. The trick is that the last Gold Bolt on Savali can’t be found your first time there, and it won’t appear on your Map-o-matic until later, leaving you to wonder where it is. Late in the story, you’ll return to Savali, which is when you are finally able to see it on the map and obtain it.

When the story takes you back to Savali, you’ll play briefly as Ratchet before switching to Rivet for a short time. When you’re Ratchet again, you’ll want to open up the new passage that leads underground. it’s part of the progressing the story, so you’ll be required to do this anyway. Head to the newly opened passage that you couldn’t enter before. It’s in the upper left side of the map.

Once you’ve jumped down, turn away from the door that requires the bolt crank to open. That’s the way forward. You’ll see another door with a virus-infected panel near it. This is the door you want to open.

Use Glitch to open the door—you can either play through the challenge (required for a Trophy) or skip the puzzle—and the last Savali Gold Bolt will be yours! Step inside and claim your prize.

If you’ve collected all Gold Bolts up until this point, this should be Gold Bolt number 22, which will unlock two additional ship skins for you to use (Wasteland and Bubblegum). If you’ve played all of the other Glitch sequences, this will also be the final Glitch challenge and will net you the “Glitch, Uh, Finds a Way” Bronze Trophy.

Collecting Gold Bolts will also help you unlock the ability to wield a keyblade as Ratchet and Rivet, so they can each do their best Sora impersonations. Here’s how to get the Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart keyblade.

Don’t miss our full review for Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, which heralds the Insomniac title as a continued PlayStation legacy.

The post Where to Find the Last Gold Bolt on Savali in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Here’s how you can give Ratchet and Rivet a keyblade, along with an assortment of other implements with which to bash enemies over the head.

How To Get the Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart Keyblade

Giving Ratchet and Rivet the ability to wield a keyblade is as simple as collecting Gold Bolts. For every Gold Bolt you collect, you’ll unlock new modifiers and bonus features.

By earning 12 Gold Bolts, you’ll unlock the Wrench Swap Pack 1, which allows you to swap out Ratchet’s wrench for a variety of items. You can wield a couple of swords, a hammer, or even a fish. In the Gold Bolts menu, select the keyblade after earning 12 Gold Bolts—simply labeled “Key”—to have Ratchet look like he’d be right at home with Sora and King Mickey taking on swarms of Heartless.

Likewise, finding and collecting 13 Gold Bolts will unlock the Hammer Swap Pack 1, which will allow you to do the same thing for Rivet. Simply select the “Key” option, and she’ll do her best Sora impression. This way both Ratchet and Rivet can wield keyblades in their adventures across the dimensions. Just don’t expect to run into any Disney characters.

If you are keeping up with the collectibles in each world as you play, which isn’t too hard to do, you should unlock the keyblades for both Ratchet and Rivet by the time you finish up Blizar Prime. Enjoy the rest of the game pretending that Nefarious is a member of Organization XIII and his army of goons are swaths of Heartless and Nobodies.

And it’s as easy as that to get the Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart Keyblade.

Having trouble finding that last Gold Bolt on Savali? We’ve got a guide that will help you finish up the collectibles on this planet that’s a little bit more open than the rest of the environments in the game.

Don’t miss our full review for Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, which heralds the Insomniac title as a continued PlayStation legacy.

The post How To Wield a Keyblade as Ratchet and Rivet in Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

Discovered and researched by French outlet Les Numeriques, they found that among five PS5s they took apart (one review console from Sony, and four others owned by members of the staff), two came with a quieter fan while three came with a different slightly louder fan. What’s more, both of these fans (pictured below) are different from the fan shown in Sony’s pre-release PS5 teardown video (shown at the top of the page).

In their research, Les Numeriques found that one fan (Fan A) ran 38 dB at the air inlet while the other (Fan B) ran 43 dB at the inlet under the same conditions. It’s not a massive difference, and still much quieter than the PS4, which could exceed 60 dB at times. The different PS5 fans are the same size, fitting into the PS5 in the same way. Where they differ is in the blades, with vastly different configurations on each one. The quieter fan blades don’t extend all the way to the central spoke of the fan. The blades of Fan A are also more densely packed.

It’s easy to check which fan you have, and you don’t need to void your warranty to do it. All you need to do is remove the white side panels of the PS5 and look at the fan, which is easily visible underneath. Make sure to replace the panels when you are done, though. They are engineered to create air pressure and suction to get the air moving. Without the panels installed, airflow and cooling on your PS5 won’t be as efficient.

It looks like there’s no way to tell which fan you’ll be getting when you buy a PS5. All five of the PS5s checked by Les Numeriques were model number CFI-1016A. Apart from the audible and visual differences, however, it’s unknown what performance and cooling differences there are between the two fans, and whether or not one is better than the other at keeping up with Sony’s unique liquid metal cooling solution for the PS5. It’s also unknown how and if the different fans correlate with the PS5 issues that some users have been reporting.

For now, the different PS5 fans appear to make little difference to the console overall, and are simply the result of Sony trying to source enough parts to meet the overwhelming demand. Many people have been unable to even pick up a console yet, with scalper groups scooping up thousands of inventory and preventing legitimate customers from getting their hands on one. 5 dB of noise difference with the PS5 fan is a small price to pay compared to the enormous markups and inventory shortages that players without a PS5 are facing right now.

The post PS5 Uses Different Models of Fans for Cooling, Yours May Be Louder Than Others appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.

One of the PS5’s many new features is notifications for in-game accomplishments, allowing you to quickly see when your spot on a leaderboard is being knocked down a peg. You can even jump directly back into the level from the notification to immediately try to improve your times and beat your friends. For the competitive among us, this is a great feature that allows friends to challenge each other and keeps you aware of your position without having to load up the game.

However, if you’ve Platinumed a game like Astro’s Playroom and moved on, you probably don’t want to see a notification every time someone beats your score, especially if you’re an early adopter of the PS5 and you still have friends yet to pick one up. Those notifications could be coming in for years.

So there are two options here: Either set a record time that’s so good for every Network Speedrun level that none of your friends can beat it, or turn off the Astro’s Playroom notifications on your PS5.

How to Disable Astro’s Playroom Notifications on PS5

Unfortunately, there is no way to turn off Activity Notifications for a specific game. There is an option to select games to disable notifications from, but it’s only for “news, updates, limited time content, and more.” Currently I don’t even have any games installed that use this feature, so no games are listed under this option.

For now, the best workaround is to limit when you get Activity Notifications, which is what is popping up when friends claim better leaderboard times in Network Speedrun.

1. Head to “Settings” on your PS5 dashboard
2. Select “Notifications”
3. Go to “Activity Challenges”
4. From here, disable the “During Games” toggle, so that these won’t pop up while you’re playing other things. You can also turn off the popups entirely if you don’t even want these cluttering your notifications at all.

The downside here is that it will disable all Activity Notifications for all games, not just Astro’s Playroom. The other potential solution is to delete Astro’s Playroom altogether, but as one of the highlight showcases of the DualSense controller, it’s a game I like to keep on my console.

Hopefully Sony adds a way to easily disable Activity Notifications from specific games in a future update. It would be nice to be able to manage notification settings for games right from the game itself, rather than diving into the settings menu. For now you’ll have to decide if it’s worth turning off all Activity Notifications just to be rid of the Astro’s Playroom speedrun level spam. As of yet, I haven’t discovered any other games that make significant use of this feature.

Have you been getting annoyed by notifications of your friends beating your Astro’s Playroom speedrun level times? Or have you set a time so unbeatable that no friends can overcome it?

The post How to Disable Pop-Up Notifications for Astro’s Playroom Speedrun Levels on PS5 appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.