How to Get a PlayStation 5
Uncanny Valley | WIRED
WIRED
4.1 • 572 Ratings
🗓️ 19 February 2021
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Do you have a PlayStation 5? If so, good for you. If not, well, join the club. Sony’s newest game console has been very difficult to purchase since it was released in November—so much so that folks have resorted to using sniper bots, inside sources, and other shady practices to sidestep the scrum and snag that PS5.
This week, we’re joined by Alan Henry and Saira Mueller from the WIRED video games team, and Jeffrey Van Camp from WIRED’s reviews team to talk about the issues keeping PS5 supplies low. They’ll also tell us about their own experiences trying to buy a console. At the end of the show, we share some shopping tips you can use on your own quest to get this year’s most scarce gadget.
Show Notes:
Read some advice about how to (maybe) buy a PS5 here. Read more about the scalper bots buying up all the PS5s here.
Recommendations:
Saira’s recommendation is to try cryotherapy. Brrr! Alan recommends Discord, which is great for gaming parties. Jeff recommends that you get a snow shovel, because you never know when you might need it. Lauren recommends this CBS guide to how you can help people in Texas during this deadly cold weather. Mike recommends the Vice show Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia, now in its third season.
Saira Mueller can be found on Twitter @SairaMueller. Alan Henry is @halophoenix. Jeff Van Camp is @JeffreyVC. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. The show is produced by Boone Ashworth (@booneashworth). Our theme music is by Solar Keys.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Lauren. Mike. Lauren, have you tried to get, well, you know, have you tried to get one of those? Oh, one of those. Well, I would, except that I'm hearing it's, you know, it's limited to certain groups right now, and it's just really hard to go online and figure out how to get one. Yeah, I know. I can't believe we waited this long and now there are supply and demand |
| 0:21.7 | issues. I know. All right. Well, let's get into this week's show where we're going to talk about |
| 0:25.7 | the PlayStation 5. Hi, everyone. Welcome to Gadget Lab. I am Michael Colori, a senior editor at Wired. |
| 0:38.9 | And I'm Lauren Good, a senior writer at Wired. |
| 0:41.1 | We have a full house here today. First, let's welcome Wired's service editor, Alan Henry. Hello, Alan. |
| 0:47.5 | Hi, hello. Welcome back to the show. We have you on because Sony's new game console is a big deal and you know a lot about it. |
| 0:55.7 | Even though it's only been out for a few months, it's still nearly impossible to get a PS5. |
| 1:00.7 | And in a moment, we're going to bring in some of our own colleagues who have been trying to get their hands on one with mixed results. |
| 1:05.8 | But first, Alan, if you would, please tell us, what is new about this console and what makes it such a hot commodity? |
| 1:12.7 | Well, it's a really great new console in the first PlayStation for like, what, seven years? |
| 1:18.8 | I mean, 4K gaming is a thing. The controller is awesome. It has plenty of new titles. I mean, |
| 1:26.9 | not as many as arguably it should have launched with, but there are some great new |
| 1:31.1 | games for it. |
| 1:32.8 | And in general, people just wanted a new PlayStation. |
| 1:36.8 | There's a lot of hype and buildup prior to its launch that made people really, really |
| 1:40.9 | line up and be like, oh, I got to pre-order that thing. |
| 1:43.6 | But as far as why it's such a hot commodity, it's kind of counterintuitive, right? |
| 1:49.0 | The real reason it's a hot commodity is because it's so difficult to get. |
| 1:54.1 | And the people who do seem to have them are scalpers and people who are selling them for above |
| 2:00.0 | retail price. |
| 2:01.3 | So there are all these convoluted systems and tools and things you can do to try and score one. |
| 2:08.0 | Or you can head over to Craigslist and spend a whole bunch of money to a shady guy who has like 20 in the back of a van. |
... |
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