PlayStation 4 Released 294
Today marks the launch of the latest entrant to the next-gen console race: Sony's PlayStation 4. A number of reviews for the system have already gone up, but many outlets are waiting for next Friday's Xbox One launch before passing final judgment. With regard to the PS4's hardware and UI, Digital Foundry praises the DualShock 4 controller design and the improvements to background downloading, while worrying about fan noise in warmer environments. iFixit provides a step-by-step teardown of the device, giving it an 8/10 repairability score. Ars has many good things to say, but many bad things as well: "The PlayStation 4 has an excellent controller, decently powerful hardware, some intriguing, well-executed new features, and an interface that shows belated acknowledgment of some of Sony's most user-unfriendly past designs. It also has a lot of features that are half-assed, missing, or downright bewildering at this point." Polygon's review is more visually oriented, filled with pictures, videos, and drawings. They conclude, "[T]he PlayStation 4's focus on gaming — and only gaming — is undermined by a distinct lack of compelling software. That failing is sure to improve — better games and more of them will appear on the PlayStation 4 — but right now, this is a game console without a game to recommend it." Eurogamer's coverage includes has a round-up of launch title reviews and gameplay videos. IGN has coverage of the roughly 0.4% of PS4s that arrive broken out of the box, and Kotaku explains how they fixed theirs.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:5, Informative)
^ My sentiment exactly.
Sony has repeatedly engaged in anti-consumer activity, so I see no reason to support them. I own all the last gen consoles, but I've had it with MS and Sony (and Nintendo's showing this round is not really compelling, IMHO).
I'm going to hold out for a really powerful Steam machine for the living room. Valve seems like a friendlier company, and most of us here probably already own over a hundred titles via Steam.
Re:Why is it broken out of the box? (Score:5, Informative)
"If you cannot even afford a basic Internet connection of around 1~5 Mbps then you probably can't afford a PS4 either."
Spoken like a complete fucktard that has never been to Brazil.
Or any place where electronics and such are taxed so heavily that in many places the only entertainment you have is an internet connection through your shitty cell phone.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:5, Informative)
Download firmware in advance! (Score:5, Informative)
There is a mandatory day-one firmware update, which is just north of 300 MB. If you have an internet connection and a USB drive (aka, if you are reading this) go to PSN [playstation.com] to pre-download.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:5, Informative)
After removing the "Other OS" feature in the Playstation 3, which enabled running Linux, I'm no longer interested in your devices.
well you should be happy then that they're this time releasing it with zero features they can drop and instead are to gradually insert them..
You don't know how true this is. Bluray and DVD movie playback don't work out of the box, you need a Day 1 patch...
Re:Why is it broken out of the box? (Score:5, Informative)
Who said anything about "afford"? Not everywhere has good internet. Internet connectivity is not necessarily portable. Game consoles are.
And you don't even have to go to the third world. I was working out on remote mine sites for a few years. I was on 100-150k/yr (low paying IT job compared to what many others would get on a site). Really poor, or in some cases, no internet connectivity in my room. Which means entertainment is either reading a book, watching TV (barf), drinking beer or gaming.
Money isn't necessarily the problem, if internet is simply not available.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:2, Informative)
This again for me. I will never buy Sony Products again. They aren't the only company out there that makes mistakes, but the track record speaks volumes of why I won't do anything Sony.
Just some of the things at the top of the list:
Rootkits part of game installations
PSN Got hacked and didn't immediately disclose the accounts that got hacked, and tried to cover up the extent of it.
and yes - removing functionality from the PS3 (OtherOS) against customer wishes
Granted - Microsoft isn't exactly high on my list either - I do own an Xbox 360, but probably won't own an XBone
I'm saving my money for a Steam Machine - whether Valve succeeds or flops with it, I'd rather support them - and the streaming feature alone is a huge win for anyone with a large Steam collection anyway.
Conditions under which I might move on (Score:4, Informative)
Other people however have moved on
I have moved on, from Sony products that is. I'll consider moving back under either of two conditions: A. SCE reverses the decision and embraces hobbyist development of apps and games for PlayStation 4, or B. those in charge of SCE's decision are no longer with SCE. But incidentally, after Microsoft initially announced that only disc game publishers could publish download games for Xbox One [slashdot.org], SCE publicly announced one step toward A, allowing indies to self-publish on PlayStation Store [slashdot.org] in much the same way as on mobile app stores, and got Microsoft to reverse this [slashdot.org].