Here's everything we know about the upcoming PS5 - including specs and release date

Tech giant Sony officially announced that the PS5 is in development last last year, choosing to make the next move in the so-called 'console wars' by quietly confirming the next PlayStation in an interview with Wired.

Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan and PS5 system architect Mark Cerny divulged details on technical specifications, new features and that all important release date.

And yes, it will be called the PlayStation 5. "It's nice to be able to say it," Ryan said. "Like a giant burden has been lifted from my shoulders."

Here's everything we know so far:

How powerful will the new console be?

As more powerful hardware is developed, the console will be able to play games that look even more visually pleasing than the current crop.

That also means a machine that can easily play games at 4K resolution - the next step up from 'high definition' - and at the fabled 60 frames per second, which gives a much smoother playing experience.

However, the Financial Times reported that the PS5 "might not represent a major departure from the PS4, and that the fundamental architecture would be similar".

That makes sense given the 2016 release of Sony's PlayStation 4 Pro; an incrementally improved version of the PlayStation 4 that runs the same games as that earlier console, but faster and at higher resolutions.

For the first time on games consoles, the PS5 will support 'ray tracing', a graphical technique that models the travel of light to simulate complex interactions in 3D environments.

"While ray tracing is a staple of Hollywood visual effects and is beginning to worm its way into $10,000 high-end processors," say Wired, "no game console has been able to manage it."

"Because it mimics the way light bounces from object to object in a scene, reflective surfaces and refractions through glass or liquid can be rendered much more accurately, even in real-time, leading to heightened realism."

The console will also feature a solid state drive (or SSD), which means it will be able to load games much faster than machines with more typical hard disc drives (HDDs).

To demonstrate the benefits of a solid state drive, Cerny fired up a PS4 Pro playing Spider-Man for Wired, a 2018 PS4 exclusive that he worked on.

"On the TV, Spidey stands in a small plaza," they reported at a previous PS5 demonstration. "Cerny presses a button on the controller, initiating a fast-travel interstitial screen. When Spidey reappears in a totally different spot in Manhattan, 15 seconds have elapsed."

"Then Cerny does the same thing on a next-gen devkit connected to a different TV. What took 15 seconds now takes less than one: 0.8 seconds, to be exact..."