Rate the Look of the PS5

[GrahfsLament]

My initial impression of the PS5’s look was that it was hideous, so I decided to wait a bit and mull over the design aesthetic before responding.

Unfortunately, I still really dislike the look and have rated it a 2/5. To me, the design doesn’t look futuristic but rather like a hackneyed attempt at channeling some sort of Futurism architectural design aesthetic (e.g. LAX’s Theme Building). In other words, I think the PS5 looks like a prop you might find in an American show from the 1960s that is trying to look like it’s from the 2000s (or some other temporally distant era). And I agree that the digital-only version looks better (because symmetry), but that version is not the version for me (a different thread topic, to be sure).

However, I will say that I do like what I understand to be the blue accented lighting along the PS5’s inner trim (this is the only reason I gave the design a 2/5 instead of 1/5). To be fair, my own aesthetic preferences tend to skew in favor of accent lighting in my electronic devices. In fact, while I disliked the look of every model of the PS4 overall, I really liked the light bar running along the top (if it's placed horizontally) of the original model with the glossy quarter-panel (the original original – not the all matte one). I then lamented the loss of this light accent on the PS4 slim and was naturally pleased to see it return on the PS4 Pro (albeit on a different side, in a different orientation, and with a luminescent gradient). I also found the light accent on the Wii’s disc drive extremely appealing (especially on the black Wii) and would have loved a setting to toggle it to stay on during gameplay.

I also have to admit that I chuckled at Leynos’s post/picture and have to agree with Leynos’s assertion regarding secondhand PS5s. As I noted in a different thread, I worked at a video game retailer for several years and, while my Wii and XB360 are still just as white as they were on day 1, many of those which were traded into the store, to put it charitably, were...much less so. Even now, as just a consumer, many (but not most) of the secondhand white consoles I see on shelves/in cabinets match my experience on the other side of the counter. While it will ultimately come down to how the materials Sony decides to use breakdown and/or how said materials' chemical compositions interact with the chemicals of consumer’s homes, habits, etc., I wouldn’t be surprised to see at least some systems in secondhand stores that approximate Leynos’s photo in a few years.

At any rate, how the system looks and whether it will eventually become discolored will obviously have no bearing on its ability to play games. The original Xbox was my favorite system of its generation, and I definitely think it was the ugliest amongst its contemporaries by quite a wide margin. :D

Last edited by GrahfsLament - on 17 July 2020