Today, there was another call for an official announcement of the PS5. Now that the rival Xbox Series X has been announced internally and externally, the PS5 needs to bring something to the table: the Xbox Series X promises 12 teraflops of graphics power, incredible ray tracing, and backward compatibility with the previous generation.

Can Sony compete? We know some of the PS5's capabilities from interviews with PS5 architect Mark Cerny and game developers like Ubisoft. And now, thanks to GameStop, another big piece of the puzzle is in place.

The retailer has opened a registration page for the PS5. This is not a link to pre-order the console (we believe pre-orders will not begin until the console is announced in March), but simply to receive notification of when the PS5 will be available for pre-order.

On its registration page, GameStop states:

"While the world eagerly awaits the reveal of the PlayStation 5 hardware, Sony has revealed what's under the hood. While much is already known from Mark Cerny's interview with Wired last April, this is the first time all of this information has been officially announced and gathered in one place for potential buyers.

The prominent mention of backward compatibility is particularly encouraging. Just as Microsoft is making a big move to keep gamers around for generations to come with its pledge to honor multi-platform purchases, the PS5 is taking steps in the same direction.

PS4 games will be playable on the machine, but there is no word on whether older generation games will be playable or whether Sony will undertake cost-saving initiatives such as Microsoft's "Smart Delivery." Such information will probably be saved for the PS5 launch event. If not, the PS5 could give the Xbox Series X a significant advantage.

Other things that have been officially confirmed are the console's ray tracing and 8K graphics capabilities, and the much-touted "3D audio." Cerny expressed disappointment that audio advances have not kept pace with graphics and promised that the next generation will rectify this. 3D audio allows sound to come from above and below as well as from the surroundings, much like surround sound.

All in all, it's nice to get all the information in an easily digestible package, similar to the blog post Microsoft published earlier this week. Now all we need is for Sony to announce a gaming console and we'll have nothing to say.

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