PlayStation 5: Randomly powering on "by itself"

A few weeks ago my PlayStation 5 began turning on without intervention. I would be watching TV and there would be a sudden beep as it powered up all by itself or I would walk next to the TV and the PS5 would light up unexpectedly. Even when I left the house I would return to find my PS5 powered on and ready to play.

If you perform an internet search for "PlayStation 5 turns on by itself", you will find a string of websites trying to help you. Some pages are less than helpful (it could be ghosts! Oooohhh) and some are actually quite alarming. One theory suggests your PS5 is going to gradually deteriorate or even brick itself unless you intervene. The conclusion of these articles is that rest mode is faulty or badly implemented and they advocate that you shut down your console when finished with it. Some suggest that connected devices are turning on your PS5 and instruct you to disable HDMI device link to fix the problem.

But I was sure the sleep mode on my unit was just fine as it had been working without issue for 6 months. I also reasoned that my console was turning itself on when all other linked devices were turned off, so the HDMI link couldn't be to blame. 

So what has changed or been introduced in the last few weeks that could be causing the issue? The culprit was soon identified (the sharper ones amongst you may have noticed the picture -->). 

Yes, it seems that after a couple of months, the official Sony media remote will start to randomly turn on your console two to three times per day. The unit ships with two Sony branded AA batteries that deplete very quickly and a fresh set of higher quality batteries will fix the issue. It remains to be seen if the remote will chew through a set of batteries every few months or if it is merely an issue with the ones that have been included. Either way, I'm pleased there isn't a ghost.

Dishonored: a suprise discovery

Occasionally I will come across a game that I have never heard of that turns out to be quite good. I only discovered Dark Souls, Dragon Age and Prince of Persia many years after they had been released. Sometimes these discoveries turn out to be exceptional like Rage, The Last of Us or Uncharted. 

This week I am adding Doshonored to the list of exceptional games. The first I had ever heard of this game was when I Googled "Best games for PlayStation 3" a couple of weeks ago. Initially I assumed this game must have been a PlayStation exclusive and that is why I hadn't played it in 2012. However, I now see it was available across all platforms.

Therefore my working theory is that the only thing I saw of this game ten years ago was the cover. Based on a cursory review of the image I must have assumed this was some sort of horror game and spent my £40 on Halo 4 or Borderlands 2 instead. In 2022 I was able to buy the game for a couple of pounds and add it to my 'must play some time' pile. This week I decided to pull the game out and have a look at what I had bought.

I don't know why I like this game so much as, on paper, it shouldn't work. The design is far from original and it looks like a cross between Fable II and Bioshock Infinite. Some of the voice acting is a bit hammy and I'm not a massive fan of stealth gameplay (I have never got over the scars left by the brutal gameplay of Hitman 2 on the PS2). The storyline is highly derivative and lots of the mechanics seem to be directly lifted from Fallout. 

Yet this is a great game. The story is familiar, but it is familiar like a pair of old comfy slippers: it is enjoyable but doesn't work your brain into a jumble like it was with Halo 2 or Destiny. The graphics may borrow on the same Steampunk aesthetics as other games, but it does look very nice. Some of the voice acting is a little hit and miss but I recognised the tones of Lena Headley immediately (even with an American accent).

Things progress at a steady pace and make sense in the context of the story. We aren't just shooting cockroaches with a BB gun one minute and wearing Brotherhood of Steel armour the next. I also realised that developers Arkane created Prey (the good one not the Xbox 360 one) and Deathloop - so they have a good track record.

I'm only entering my first few missions on the game but can tell I am going to enjoy it as I haven't been instantly intimidated by its size (The Witcher 3), it is engaging and doesn't have me wandering around with nothing to do (No Man's Sky) and the controls aren't ridiculously clunky (Mass Effect: Andromeda). Let's hope it remains as engaging to the end.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales - PlayStation 4 vs. Playstation 5

When I bought a PlayStation 5 one of the first games I bough was Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Not only was it cheaper to buy this game digitally, but I could also download the PlayStation 4 version for the same price.

Having button mashed my way through about 60% of the game on both consoles, I have noted some differences in the gaming experience. 

Whilst the graphics are obviously less detailed on the  PS4 version, it still looks good and plays very well. The biggest difference I notice moving between platforms is actually the load times. Fast travelling across the map on the PS5 happens almost instantly; there are no loading screens or scenes of Spidey entertaining people on the subway. Similarly, if you restart a mission the game resets without any interruption. It's amazing how quickly you become accustomed to not waiting for a game to load and how frustrating it feels moving back just one generation of consoles.

The other big difference is the controller. The PS5 controller feels substantial and the adaptive triggers are much more engaging than the flaccid buttons on the PS4. I'm not sure if it is my imagination or not, but the speaker and the rumble in the PS5 controller also feel much more pronounced.

I'm going back to button mash my way through the same enemies for the hundredth time to try and get this game finished. I'll certainly get it done on the PS5 but the PS4 may have to wait.