The triggers have seen the most love in terms of new functionality, with additional haptic feedback motors and tech that allows developers to set the tension. That means the trigger could be easier or firmer to pull back depending on your in-game vehicle, weapon etc. There is also now a microphone and speaker embedded in the pad, so you can have quick chats with other players with no headset required.

Finally the buttons and other inputs are largely the same as on the DualShock 4, though the Share button has been renamed "Create", indicating there may be more ways to package and broadcast your gameplay than simply posting screenshots or videos to Twitter.

As for the internals of the machine itself, in March system architect Mark Cerny laid out the nerdy specs while leaving a lot of the more consumer-friendly details to our imaginations. Combined with the few tidbits we learned from earlier exclusive interviews with WIRED, we have a decent overview:

• The console will run on a CPU based on AMD's Zen 2 architecture. There's also 16GB of GDDR6 memory and a custom AMD graphics processor putting out 10.28 teraflops of power.
• Unusually for a console, the power of the CPU and GPU will be variable based on workload and temperature, so those numbers listed are the maximum.
• The GPU will include hardware for ray tracing acceleration (for advanced lighting, among other things), in step with upcoming PC gear.
• There will be an 825GB solid state drive in place of a traditional hard disk, meaning dramatically faster loading and booting, and bigger worlds. Of course this means you can't add your own off-the-shelf drive to add more storage right now, but Sony says once similar spec NVMe SSDs are on the market users will be able to open up the PS5 and install their own.
• The PS5 will support 3D audio, 8K video and up to 120Hz refresh rate.
• There will still be an optical drive, with retail games coming on 100GB Blu-rays, but the contents will need to be transferred to the internal solid state drive to play.
• The optical drive will also play 4K Blu-ray movie discs.
• Games can be installed in chunks, for example you could have just the campaign or just the multiplayer portion installed, saving you storage space. Content will also be indexed so you can jump to a specific mission or multiplayer event directly from the PS5 home screen rather than having to boot the game first.

Importantly Sony has committed to backwards compatibility, meaning your PS4 games and PSVR headset will work on PS5. However the more details about this that come out, the more questions there are. The PS5's custom GPU has legacy modes for PS4 and PS4 Pro, meaning those games might not be visually improved on the new console but they should work without too much developer tweaking. Yet Sony has stopped short of saying all PS4 games will work, confirming instead that "most" of the 100 best-selling titles would work at launch, with more to come. At this point PS3 and older compatibility seems unlikely, barring a cloud processing solution.

Xbox Series X

In December, at The Game Awards, Microsoft gaming boss Phil Spencer unveiled the Xbox Series X; a tall black obelisk that more closely resembles a compact PC tower than a traditional console.

The look reflects a change of focus at Xbox which has been taking place since Spencer took over in the middle of the current generation. Xbox is now less a line of machines and more an ecosystem of games you can access from any number of machines — including PCs and various consoles, and soon any device with a screen thanks to the cloud — and in some ways the Series X is merely a more powerful system in the same line as current Xbox devices.

For example Microsoft isn't planning to make exclusive games for the Series X in the first year after the console launches; all its new games will work on the existing Xbox One as well. Additionally, every single game you own that works on Xbox One — including Xbox 360 and original Xbox games — should work on Series X and will be able to take advantage of its new tech for better load times, higher resolution, better frame rates and even HDR visuals (applied via an AI software solution).

Microsoft has detailed a technology called Smart Delivery, in which games you've bought from the store will download in the appropriate format for your devices. For example if you buy Halo 5 on Xbox One, downloading it on Series X could get you a version totally reworked for that console rather than the Xbox One version, at no extra cost. Microsoft will use this mechanism for all its games, but says other developers may choose to sell separate Xbox One and Xbox Series X versions if they want (though both will work on Series X).

As for the internals of the Series X, Spencer has detailed them fairly thoroughly:

• The console will run on a CPU based on AMD's Zen 2 architecture. There's also 16GB of GDDR6 memory.
• The custom AMD graphics processor features 3328 stream processors spread across 52 compute units for a total power output of 12 teraflops. To put this in perspective, AMD's current consumer flagship RX5700 XT features only 2560 stream processors across 40 compute units, meaning the Series X will be competitive against very high end PCs for a while.
• The GPU will include hardware for ray tracing acceleration (for advanced lighting, among other things), in step with upcoming PC gear. It will also use variable rate shading, a technique which prioritises rendering objects closer to the player to free up processing power.
• There will be a 1TB solid state drive for storage, meaning dramatically faster loading and potentially bigger worlds. Microsoft also says it will enable you to suspend multiple games at a time so you can jump in where you left off instantly.
• You can plug in USB drives to store games or run Xbox One and older games, but Series X specific software needs to be on the SSD to run. Microsoft will sell tiny additional SSDs that plug into the back of Series X.
• The goal is for games to run in 4K and at 60 frames per second, but the machine will be able to output up to 8K and 120Hz. It will support variable refresh rates with a compatible monitor or TV, and will be able to automatically switch your TV to a low latency game mode.
• Series X is compatible with all Xbox One accessories.
• The machine will feature a 4K Blu-ray optical disc drive.

While Microsoft has said all Xbox One accessories will work on Series X, the console's hardware design would indicate the truth isn't so straightforward. There is no longer an HDMI-in, so if you're one of the few people running your TV set-top box through your console you may be disappointed. The optical audio port has also been ditched, leaving it unclear how headsets which rely on that will work with the Series X. There's also of course no Kinect port, and I'd be very surprised if the Series X will work with Microsoft's ill-fated depth camera/microphone even if you plugged one in with an adapter.

All Xbox One controllers will work here, including the recent Elite Series 2, and the newly redesigned controller packaged with the Series X will play friendly with your old Xbox One too. The new controller has seen only slight tweaks in shape, with a new directional pad and share button the only obvious changes. Microsoft is working on improving latency between the controller and screen, and says Xbox One controllers will be able to reap the benefits via a software update.

How will the consoles compare in performance?

On paper the consoles are very similar, using the same architecture for their chips, packing the same amount of RAM and each with a cutting edge SSD for storage. Comparing the two really comes down to the nitty gritty.

Both Sony's CPU and GPU operate a lot like a desktop processor; working at full speed when required and if it isn't getting too hot, and throttling back to cool or when there isn't much going on. The CPU's max frequency is 3.5Ghz. On the Xbox, the CPU will stay at either 3.8Ghz or 3.6Ghz depending on whether the developer has opted to use it in a single- or multi- thread mode. Either way, on paper, it's faster than PS5.

On the GPU Sony's silicon packs fewer compute units but a faster frequency than Microsoft's, meaning the Series X again wins on raw power. Even for tasks that might benefit from the PS5's higher clocks, you again need to consider they will dip under high temperatures. A lot will depend on Sony's thermal design.

So taking all the numbers at face value, the next-gen Xbox would offer a significant advantage over the next-gen PlayStation, but it's worth taking that conclusion with a grain of salt. For starters there's still a lot about the consoles we don't know, and there's always the X factor of what individual developers will manage to do within the limitations of hardware. The PlayStation 4 Pro is less powerful than the Xbox One X, for example, but it's a moot argument if you're comparing God of War to Crackdown 3.

And then looking beyond power to which machine will be more popular, you have to consider how they'll be positioned in the market. If one is significantly less expensive then processing power might not factor in as much, while there are also rumours of a less expensive and less powerful "Xbox Series S", as well as a more powerful "PlayStation 5 Pro", which could even out the numbers. And in terms of games, which are always the most important factor, we're still yet to see much of a lineup from either side.