If Amazon allowed reviewers to post half stars, I'd give my new PS4 4&� stars.
Some of my "peeves" have to do with "Destiny" (see below), but as I bought the Destiny Bundle, I think it's still fair to include it in my overall score.
I own every Playstation from the original on up, so I knew it would be a great console, and it is:
Small, sleek footprint - no power "brick" (I am no Xbox One basher, but it is pretty funny to watch those YouTube comparisons). The build quality seems good, it runs fairly quiet, and Glacier White is a nice change of pace.
In my opinion, all of the improvements to the Dualshock 4 controller are welcome, including the slightly bigger and rounder handgrips and improved trigger (shoulder) buttons. The new touch pad is also a big "button" itself, and has some interesting possibilities.
The operating system is (for the most part) cleaned up and pretty easy to navigate (much improved over PS3).
System utilities are improved - you can charge the controller without the console needing to be fully powered up, you can download updates in the background, etc. You can change the brightness of the lightbar on the controller, and you can adjust the controller speaker's volume. One weird thing is that to turn off your controller (which I did a lot while playing Blu Ray movies on my PS3), you have to drill down a couple menu steps - on the PS3, this operation is a lot quicker.
Most important of all of course, currently available PS4 games look good and play very smoothly and are great fun - really looking forward as the PS4 exclusive titles pick up momentum in the next few months!
I did some research before buying, so I knew some things this system would be missing, but in case you don't know:
The PS4 will not play PS3 games, and let's face it, there's still a lot of play left in PS3 titles.
Unlike its predecessors, the PS4 doesn't have a dedicated RCA audio output - if you are just using your TV's onboard speakers, then sure, HDMI is a one connector solution, but if you want to route the PS4 audio to a separate sound system, that system needs to have an HDMI or optical input. I've got an Onkyo amp that isn't ancient and has hosted my PS3 for several years - but all it has are RCA ins, so I can't use it with my PS4. Sure, RCA is old technology, but Sony STILL puts cassette players in most of their boom boxes, for cripes sake! How much would it have cost them to include RCA outs like they've always done?
The hard drive is only 500Gb - that might seem big, it's really not, considering that some games now require a minimum of 50Gb, and it'll probably go up. Yes, you can buy a DIY drive upgrade, but not everybody wants to dive into their PS4's guts. I wish Sony would have tiered the product - i.e., made it also available with a 1Tb drive - I think a lot of people would have paid the extra cost if it were an option.
I knew about the non backward compatibility, the lack of RCA outs and the smallish hard drive -what I didn't know was that for "Destiny," a "sufficiently robust WI-FI connection may be required". Yep, even if you just play the campaign, you have to be online because apparently even the campaign has multiplayer elements. I can appreciate that they have a grand plans for this game, but I hope this isn't the start of a trend for other titles. I have a decent WI-FI setup, but not the best. Every PS4 title I had purchased loaded without incident, but I struggled with the online requirements of "Destiny," and that was frustrating. When I finally got the update downloaded, I was able to play for about 45 minutes without a glitch, and yes, it is no doubt an awesome game. I just don't like the idea that every time I fire up "Destiny" I'll also have to power up my network and hope that it's "sufficiently robust" that day. :)
Worth mentioning:
Several people have been having trouble with the coating on the thumbsticks (joysticks...whatever) on their PS4 controllers disintegrating with regular use, and others have had no such issues. I don't think it's mishandling, it might be an interaction with the oils & sweat from some people's hands and that particular formulation of material. I have a not too old Logitech mouse with a rubberized coating that's doing the same "shedding" thing. Anyway, if you have a new PS4 controller, it might be worthwhile to buy one of the many brands of protective "caps" out there - this is what I bought: Grip-iT Analog Stick Covers and they work fine.
I don't regret my purchase at all - just wanted to document my opinion of some pluses and minuses...
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