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:4, Insightful)
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
No media (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:2, Insightful)
Liar liar pants on fire. You never used it. If you had, you'd know it was totally unusable as a Linux machine.
Why is it broken out of the box? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
That plus their network being horribly hacked, plus the root kits they used to do on their CD's, plus every other horrible thing sony has done is enough reason to never buy anything with a sony label.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, I was a Xbox fanboy for the previous two generations. But I'm heavily leaning toward the PS4 this time. With the exception of not including a IR input (damn you blutooth-only remote!!) Sony seems to be making all the right moves this time, and MS seems to be making all the wrong ones.
Sony is $100 cheaper, has better hardware muscle for games (allowing for higher resolution and framerates), has a nice new controller, has that GREAT new "Share" feature, and is focused heavily on the games.
MS has an annoying overlay for my cable box which I will never use (an IR blaster, seriously??), still requires a $60/year Live membership to access even basic stuff like Netflix and Hulu (no thanks, MS, my Roku lets me do it for free and it's quieter and has a better interface), a mandatory always-on camera and mic that creeps me the fuck out, and seems to treat gaming as an afterthought. Plus I've gotten more and more annoyed by their add-heavy interface in recent years.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe so, but thats not terribly relevant to this console, which never came with that feature to begin with.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
Why not? Is it not okay to hold a grudge for perceived betrayal? That's pretty much #1 on good reasons to hold a grudge.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
I bought both the previous Xboxen myself, and I just stopped caring once the homepage advertisements crossed my threshold for tolerance. I am not your damned captive audience.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
It is typical of their behaviour though. Basically it shows that you can't trust any feature they advertise to remain.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:No media (Score:5, Insightful)
At least with the ps4 released, I can snap up used PS3 for media consoles in the bedrooms now.
This is the main reason of why I'll buy Xbox One over the PS4.
There is no way I'm putting an Xbox One in my bedroom.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:2, Insightful)
Is it not okay to hold a grudge for perceived betrayal?
Methinks you're being overly defensive. I don't think the GP is telling you to drop your grudge. That's your freedom. Other people however have moved on, and they're also free to be tired of hearing you grumble about your lawn.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
> If it keeps the fuckwits off the service then maybe its not such a bad thing?
I take it you've never been on XBox Live... I know you said you've been a PlayStation person all these years, but if you've ever been over at a friend's house while they are on a multiplayer game, it can be quite horrific.
Re: Not this time, Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No media (Score:5, Insightful)
For now.
One of the greatest things about the Xbox One and PS4 is they're keeping Microsoft and Sony honest. When Microsoft announced the draconian DRM scheme, Sony countered, causing Microsoft to completely rethink their DRM position. Of course, Sony did a few more thins to keep Microsoft on its toes.
And now, the day AFTER Sony gave out its big FAQ, Microsoft announced the Xbox One will support MP3s and DLNA. Which caused Sony to announce it was coming in a future update now. Heck, the whole "voice control" think was hastily implemented by Sony to counter the Xbone's Kinect, which is why it's a bit hokey on release.
PS4 fanboys can mock the Xbone, while Xbox fanboys can mock the PS4 all they want, and analystics can say "Sony wins", but in the end, it's better that we have the Xbone with the PS4 than either/or.
Sony can't revert to draconian DRM because they promised not to (and the Xbone can't, either).
Regardless of which console is "better" (remember, the PS3 outclasses the Xbox360) technically, the best thing is both do well enough that neither decides to leave, and that Nintendo remains as a spoiler.
Heck, if you want to remember what happened when Sony last thought it had the upper hand on everyone, see the news in the months leading up to the launch of the PS3. Now that Sony's a bit more humbled from that, hopefully things will be more interesting. Microsoft got a bit arrogant during the 360 era, so hopefully they'll be smacked down a bit and have to actually compete. But not too much - just enough to keep Microsoft from thinking it can get away with anything.
And hell, you have Apple to thank for screwing up the whole business model as well - Apple's approval process is really a very "lite" version of how one develops on consoles and it's forced Sony and Microsoft to rethink how they do development.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:4, Insightful)
Also in practice.
You should know by now that it's not about running Linux on a Playstation at all. It's about a company deliberately removing functionality from a product they sold you. That's never okay, even theoretically. The fact that the feature did not enjoy widespread popularity does not justify it.
fine, have your grudge (Score:5, Insightful)
I agree that those things Sony did are 100% bullshit. Me personally, I was most disappointed by their insistence upon using a proprietary memory stick [wikipedia.org] that only worked on Sony devices.
fine...
but /. threads are going to be intolerable if we don't talk about **the alternative** while we bash Sony's dumb design choices...
**MICROSOFT ALSO SUCKS ASS**
if any random /.'er wants to vent about how 'Sony still sucks' I say fine, but let's not pretend we're having a productive discussion about which Next Gen system is better or will be more successful, or which one gamers should buy...
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:2, Insightful)
Less than honest? are you for real?
Sony were 100% honest, brutally honest in fact, when they didn't know how severe the hack was, they were 100% right to paint the worst case scenario, sadly the media raped them for doing this.
Microsoft on the other hand have been sweeping their Xbox Live account emptying problems under the carpet for the last two years.
Go figure.
Re:Not this time, Sony (Score:2, Insightful)
Well you guys shouldn't have use that feature to make it easier to pirate video games.
or
Adding a level of complexity to a system that is suppose to be very easy to use for average Joe, Where some game makers try to get people to jump threw hoops to install software because they didn't want to go threw the normal channels.
how about
Installing a different OS, with improperly configured drivers could do damage to the system. Like, some components running hotter then the case can handle, because a proper shutdown of the component when not in use wasn't sent, or a component was getting data faster then designed, and the software actually manages the speed...
perhaps
All those call to Tech support asking how to get X,Y,Z configured in some unknown OS/Distribution.
In short if you buy a video game console you should expect a video game console, not a general purpose PC. Sometimes companies need to block features because they do harm then good.
Re:Why is it broken out of the box? (Score:4, Insightful)
The Military is full of young men....game consoles are VERY popular in the military. From what I've read, bases tend to have reasonable connections...ships less so.