We've had our PS4 since launch day (Knack, Killzone and Assassin's ordered separately, a bunch of downloads added as they appeared on the Plus) and we are very happy so far. As soon as we got it out of the box (pretty), we connected to our Wi-Fi, did a rather thorough tour of the system and took note of its capabilities (good stuff but some disappointments), checked out the new menu system (impressive), ran the mandatory update and did a quick round of Knack (fun). Many more rounds of Knack followed, especially by our 10 yr. old with occasional co-op help from me or one of her older brothers - yes, you can easily drop into a game and help out if you feel like it.
Given the DualShock 4's rather short life on a charge, getting a bundle with a second controller makes a lot of sense. Or just order one separately because, even if you are a lone player you will almost certainly miss a standby, charge controller if you don't have one.
So, without regurgitating published specs... let's talk about what we're getting.
THE AWESOME AND THE GOOD
Here they are, first briefly, then discussed below. Still under 'first impressions' so I may add or remove some as we keep playing, learning and exploring.
- Awesome, flawless graphics. Day one games are just that, probably not taking full advantage of the system but Knack hints at what's possible.
- Near-revolutionary new DualShock 4 controller.
- 10x the processing power of a PS3 and it shows.
- 32x more RAM
- Games on physical disks can be borrowed, traded
- Digital content made available at whatever PS4 you log into
- HDD still upgradeable without voiding warranty - our 1TB 7200 RPM upgrade should arrive later today.
- No power brick
- Game and chat audio can be sent to a headset through DS4's 3.5mm port
- All or most media apps (Netflix, Amazon, etc.) currently on PS3 are available on PS4 as well.
- Online access is 100% optional. Yes, you can do it all, including system patches without ever connecting your PS4 to the Internet.
- PS Plus subscription only required for (most) multiplayer games, not for media services
- Remote play (tested it on a Vita with Killzone and it works)
- Plenty of sharing, social features
- DualShock 3 chargers can be used with DualShock 4 controllers
- Move is supported with the new camera
I will rate the system's graphics capabilities as approaching the level of 'awesome. They are good enough to make me a little concerned that some of my current favorite PS3 games may lose some of their appeal. The graphics improvement is not as radical as in PS2 vs. PS3 but, believe me, it's significant and you just can't miss it and if you got used to frame rate drops and 720p or less resolution well... be prepared to get yourself unused to them because they're not going to happen much on the PS4.
The DualShock 4 controller, while looking familiar from a distance, is a major redesign and everything that changed or was added was for the better. The touchpad (clickable, multi-touch, etc.) is the most visible addition or... actually the light bar is more visible and games may or may not take advantage of these two but they are not the only changes. The better designed (concave tops) analog joysticks, the trigger-like R1/L1s, the in-controller little speaker, the audio jack, the more precise Sixaxis motion detection, the new hand-filling form factor make of a significantly better controller. Sony calls the DS4 'evolutionary' and clearly it's not a full redesign but it improves over the DS3 in a big way.
Sony claims that the PS4 has 10 times as much processing power than its predecessor. I don't know how this is measured but the PS4 is clearly and without a doubt much more powerful than the PS3. Everything appears to be smoother, more responsive and after one hour or so with Knack's sometimes super-busy environments, it seems that frame rate drops and low-res games are going to be very much things of the past, even when hundreds/thousands of little particles are moving independently on the screen as things break, explode or in the case of Knack re-form.
Then there is the memory. It's not something that we 'see' but, when compared to the PS3, there is 32 times as much system RAM (8GB of GDDR5) and, without going into technical details, it's a lot faster and a lot easier for a game to use than PS3's memory. I tend to play 'huge worlds' RPGs and I expect to see some awesome ones for the PS4 in the near future and the extra memory should help a lot.
As Sony's PR guys keep reminding us every time they get a chance, physical discs are not tied to individual accounts so you can still sell them, swap them with a friend's game or give them away. It should be great for as long as the publishers don't do 'online passes' and they won't if enough of us refuse to buy the titles that have them. Speaking for myself, that encouraged me to order three 'big' games at launch time knowing that I may be able to swap or sell one or all if I didn't feel like keeping them after trying them out.
The PS4 should allow us to access our digital content on someone else's PS4. It's something that I may try over the weekend because we are going to be at a friends' house that got their PS4 at about the same time we received ours. I will update my review if it doesn't work.
A few PS3 digital downloads are already available for the PS4 and are 'free' if already purchased for the PS3. We should ask that the list is greatly expanded.
The HDD is still upgradeable. Yes, it's something that we had on the PS3 and I am happy to see that Sony kept this option alive. My original 60GB PS3 was upgraded twice to the point where it became a 500GB PS3 and everything would have become very very frustrating if upgrading it wasn't an option.
Online is completely optional if you are willing to jump through hoops. Patches can be downloaded on a PC and ran off a USB drive if you really, really want to avoid ever going online.
We already have a PS Plus subscription and we are happy with what get out of it but not everyone wants quick access to indie games or online multiplayer. Yes, it's not as good a deal as PS3's always free online but it's still 'good' when compared with other platforms.
And, of course, there's a bunch of things I didn't try yet such as sharing stuff with everybody and some things that were promised but not implemented yet such as the ability to drop into someone else's game and help them out. I will update my review once I experience them.
THE UGLY AND THE BAD
And... yeah, not everything is awesome and here it is what needs to be fixed or get better so that we all become a happy gaming family. This may seem to be a long list but I am confident that quite a few of the items below are going to be addressed sooner rather than later and nearly all of them before the end of 2014.
- No MP3 support (how dumb is that?)
- No Media Server/DLNA support (see above)
- No support for audio CDs (no big deal to most but still dumb)
- No support for Bluetooth headsets (I bet they'll fix this soon)
- No support for mice of any kind (Bluetooth or USB)
- No support for an external, USB-connected HDD (it's probably coming with a future update)
- DS4's lightbar can't be turned off, camera or no camera
- Doesn't play PS3 games (inevitable but worth noting it because it's a fact)
- Not too many games at launch (see above, but it's getting better already)
I can't believe that Sony decided not to support MP3 and DLNA and they MUST fix this ASAP. These were good features on the PS3 and taking them away to force us into Sony's paid Music Unlimited service is not going to work and it's not going to win Sony any friends. And while at it, where's Pandora? Most of the shortcomings above are fixable and, if Sony wants us to be a bunch of happy gamers they better address them all as soon as possible.
[NOTE: I just read a couple of news stories stating that Sony will in fact add MP3, audio CD and DLNA support very, very soon. They better. They also claim that the PS4 lacking them at launch has had nothing to do with Sony promoting their Music Unlimited service.]
WHY GET ONE TODAY?
Unlike the original PS3, this one won't play most previous generation games except for those you can get at the PS store. There's a couple dozen launch titles and big promises for some really big games to be released soon, some of them big exclusives but I predict that my PS3 and the PS4 are going to sit next to each other for at least a couple more years in my living room unless Sony makes playing PS3 games possible on the PS4 and they just might do that soon through some 'off the cloud' service.
These being said, now that I have one, I am happy that I placed my preorder back in June. Anyone buying their first console should probably go with the PS4. Yes, there are great PS3 games out there but Sony will stop developing anything major after Gran Turismo 6 and lots of great games are coming to the new generation. As for those like me who already have a PS3, I know that we'll all end up with a PS4 or Xbox One or maybe both at some time in the future. Speaking for myself, PS4 or not, I'm still going to get my Dark Souls 2 on the PS3 and play it all throughout 2014 and beyond unless they announce a PS4 version but I'm looking forward to play at least half a dozen announced and soon to be released PS4 titles.
WHY FIVE STARS
The big MP3/DLNA/CD disappointment notwithstanding - and this WILL be fixed - the PS4 has the potential of becoming a great gaming platform. Seven (in the case of Xbox actually eight) years between consoles generations is a lot of time and gaming changed a lot over all these years. The technology improved and there was a lot of innovation, some of which is going to play a lot better on the new gen platforms.
I love the PS4 for all the technical improvements over the last gen and for being a new and improved gateway to great and greater games, for the greatly improved but still familiar DS4 controller to the not so familiar but easy to navigate new menus and for all of its raw power. I also appreciate it being a lot more affordable at launch then the PS3 was 7 years ago and for keeping tradeable disc-based games and offline playing still viable. Not everybody has access to the Internet all the time and some of us want to be able to play offline every now and then, Internet access or not. It's possible that my rating will change after another day or another week or month of using the PS4 and it will definitely change if most of the issues I noted above don't get fixed but, as of right now, it's a five star rating for the great experience so far and for the promise of it actually getting better in time.
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UPDATE:
Just upgraded the HDD to a HGST Travelstar 2.5-Inch 1TB 7200 RPM SATA III 32MB Cache HDD (awesome). It was all done in minutes and we now have some 820 GB free space vs about 320 GB before the upgrade. And game loads appear to be faster too. As for the original 500 GB HDD, it's not going to waste. It's now inside an inexpensive Sabrent Ultra Slim 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 2.0 External Aluminum Hard Drive Enclosure and attached to our Wi-Fi router as shared storage for our media files that, hopefully, the PS4 will soon be able to access.
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>> Brush your teeth, it's the law! <<
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