Games By James Plafke Jan. 14, 2014 1:59 pm
Sony’s PS4 launched about three months ago, and now that we’ve all spent some time with the console we have a much better idea of what’s lacking. Though the PS4 has a very clear sales lead on the Xbox One — which should grow significantly next month when the console finally launches in its home country of Japan — that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Certain features added to the console would be nothing more than a comfortable luxury, while other missing features are so integral that it seems crazy they weren’t included in the first place.
[h=3]DLNA and external media support[/h]It has been touched on many times already, but that’s because both DLNA support and the ability to play external media (such as from a USB drive) helped make the PS3 a truly great home entertainment hub. While the PS4 is an above average home entertainment hub, it won’t play*your files — all of that music you’ve collected over the years, your still-hilarious college film projects, and so on. By removing this feature, Sony has at least curbed piracy — in that you can’t play nefariously procured media on the console anymore, unlike the PS3 — but doing so has also crippled the PS4′s ability to be the ultimate answer in a living room entertainment hub.
The Xbox One doesn’t perform any better in this regard, but it’s odd to remove the features considering the PS3 was — and still is — used in such a fashion. Sony has previously stated that it was surprised about the user backlash in response to the features’ removal, and it isn’t opposed to putting them back into the PS4. So, hopefully we’ll be able to run our own files on the PS4 sometime soon.
[h=3]All of the lights[/h]Perhaps Sony was listening to Kanye West a bit much during the development of the PS4 aesthetics, because it seems as though Sony really wants us to see all of the lights. The DualShock 4′s instantly infamous light bar still harasses our eyes whenever we turn on the console. Playing games like*Tiny Brains, it is amusing how the light bar color changes to match the color of the character you switch to, but other than that, it’s a big, glowy reflection in your television. If you play from a reclined angle, you might employ the old controller-below-your-nose position, which means that ever-glowing light bar is aimed directly at your eyes.*Sony has given developers the power to disable it, but for some reason, has yet to mercifully grant gamers the option.
Meanwhile, the light strip on top of the PS4 console is a nice aesthetic touch, but two-thirds of the common light indicators are chosen poorly. When the PS4 is running fine, the light strip is a bright, solid white. When the PS4 has an issue — such as an audio visual problem — the light strip is the blue color that has been famously associated with the brand since the PlayStation 2. A small, unimportant issue, but the the “everything’s fine” color should’ve been the brand’s iconic blue, while a white light should signify that something is amiss, but nothing too bad (which is what the red light is for).
Next page: The UI, wobbling, and batteries
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[h=3]DLNA and external media support[/h]It has been touched on many times already, but that’s because both DLNA support and the ability to play external media (such as from a USB drive) helped make the PS3 a truly great home entertainment hub. While the PS4 is an above average home entertainment hub, it won’t play*your files — all of that music you’ve collected over the years, your still-hilarious college film projects, and so on. By removing this feature, Sony has at least curbed piracy — in that you can’t play nefariously procured media on the console anymore, unlike the PS3 — but doing so has also crippled the PS4′s ability to be the ultimate answer in a living room entertainment hub.
The Xbox One doesn’t perform any better in this regard, but it’s odd to remove the features considering the PS3 was — and still is — used in such a fashion. Sony has previously stated that it was surprised about the user backlash in response to the features’ removal, and it isn’t opposed to putting them back into the PS4. So, hopefully we’ll be able to run our own files on the PS4 sometime soon.
[h=3]All of the lights[/h]Perhaps Sony was listening to Kanye West a bit much during the development of the PS4 aesthetics, because it seems as though Sony really wants us to see all of the lights. The DualShock 4′s instantly infamous light bar still harasses our eyes whenever we turn on the console. Playing games like*Tiny Brains, it is amusing how the light bar color changes to match the color of the character you switch to, but other than that, it’s a big, glowy reflection in your television. If you play from a reclined angle, you might employ the old controller-below-your-nose position, which means that ever-glowing light bar is aimed directly at your eyes.*Sony has given developers the power to disable it, but for some reason, has yet to mercifully grant gamers the option.
Meanwhile, the light strip on top of the PS4 console is a nice aesthetic touch, but two-thirds of the common light indicators are chosen poorly. When the PS4 is running fine, the light strip is a bright, solid white. When the PS4 has an issue — such as an audio visual problem — the light strip is the blue color that has been famously associated with the brand since the PlayStation 2. A small, unimportant issue, but the the “everything’s fine” color should’ve been the brand’s iconic blue, while a white light should signify that something is amiss, but nothing too bad (which is what the red light is for).
Next page: The UI, wobbling, and batteries
More...
