Advising SSHDD rather than SSD - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGjSJwlHK6M
PS-PHWOARRR: We review Sony’s next-gen PlayStation 4
Taking the PlayStation 4 out of its box, my first thought was that it’s monolithic: the kind of object that 2001: A Space Odyssey’s hairy, belly scratching apemen would have danced around in worship. Sony PS4 Black monolith: Sony’s PlayStation 4 The console’s perpetual forward slant lends it an overtone of kinetic energy …
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 12:30 GMT JDX
re:I assume it'll be making me *rent* the same game that I've already purchased...
It'll also let ME rent games I never purchased. And you don't need to keep those old games to have a lciense either.
Anyway this is a stupid argument. You wouldn't claim it's unfair you have to buy a separate XBox/PC version to play the same game on multiple platforms.
If you already OWN the games, just use your old console and stop complaining about something the rest of use will find useful.
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 11:41 GMT Pahhh
I will get one because....
I want a PS4 because its new and shiny. I'm a Sony fan-boy. It is a bit difficult to justify though.
As my 6 year old 50" plasma HDTV has no media capabilities my PS3 has been an excellent media center, initially also used as a bluray player and of course a game console. Its been quite frankly indispensable.
But if I purchase a PS4 I can expect the wife to say "so what does it do different?". I need to come up with some justification other than its new. So far the only reason i can think of is the new version of Assassins Creed which my son likes (but hold no interest to me).
Ideas?
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 22:16 GMT DiViDeD
Re: I will get one because....
Chaps, your arguments are all good if you want to persuade the OP to get one. The problem is to find something his WIFE will find compelling. I don't think 'I'll be able to spend hours and hours on it playing immersive FPS's while you are reduced to watching Trinny & Susanna's Big Brother Bake Off on the 18 incher in the bedroom' quite cuts it with today's modern liberated woman somehow.
Ah. 18 inches in the bedroom. I see what I did there.
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Friday 29th November 2013 00:51 GMT Sean Timarco Baggaley
Re: I will get one because....
'But if I purchase a PS4 I can expect the wife to say "so what does it do different?"'
May I suggest ask your wife why she is fine with spending hundreds – if not thousands – of quid on shiny lumps of rock artfully nailed into equally shiny bits of metal, or ooh-ing and aah-ing over a pretty arrangement of vegetable genitalia... yet she believes YOU are the shallow one for wanting to spend a few hundred quid on a new home entertainment* centre that actually does something besides merely looking shiny.
* a concept that also includes games. There's no need to make a distinction.
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Friday 29th November 2013 11:09 GMT naw
Re: I will get one because....
"But if I purchase a PS4 I can expect the wife to say "so what does it do different?". I need to come up with some justification other than its new. "
Well you could always use the argument that because the product has been launched prematurely, you will be spending much less time using it and more time with her ;-)
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 12:06 GMT Anonymous Coward
Ho hum
I predict a lackluster Christmas for Sony. The PS4 would be a good console for someone who has never had one before, but lets face it, the PS3 is very good, as is the Xbox, and I can't see Mr and Mrs Cash-strapped Family forking out a ton of money for it. One to watch in the sales I think.
Amusingly, if Apple had produced the PS4 they would have probably delivered the same amount of function but in a significantly better looking package, and we'd all be queuing up to buy it. that big black box is fricking uuuugggglllyyyy.
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Monday 2nd December 2013 02:15 GMT Rimpel
Re: Ho hum
to paraphrase^H parody AC 27th @ 12:06
I predict a lackluster [sic] christmas for microsoft. The XB1 would be a good console for someone who has lived in the middle ages, but lets face it the next gen is a bit better, and i cant see anyone who has money issues buying either.
Amusingly if apple had produced a gaming console it would cost 2k. and some twats might buy it [sic]
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 12:20 GMT Gareth Perch
I'll get one when they release Wipeout for it...
...if they ever do, now that Sony has closed Studio Liverpool.
And an XBox One, when they release Halo for it. So I'll probably just end up with an XBox One this generation.
I don't really play any other games on my PS3 or XBox 360 (or PC - but I'm looking forward to Elite: Dangerous - I expect I'll treat my PC to a new graphics card for that)
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 12:44 GMT Amorous Cowherder
I'm curious to see what it offers but I usually skip every other generation console, I owned an original Playstation but didn't bother shifting until the XBOX360 made it worthwhile. You spend shed-loads on the titles so it needs something truly stellar to make me invest in all the latest incarnations of those titles.
Good luck to anyone looking to upgrade though, the more people invest at the start, the more support goes behind a console, the more companies start coding releases for it thus bringing down the prices of consoles and titles for when the rest of us catch up.
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 12:55 GMT JeeBee
At least it's getting most of the TV catchup services (well, no 4od yet, and nobody cares about itv player) and streaming video services (Netflix, Lovefilm) on its release date in the UK.
But the important thing for a games console is that they've got a decent controller and the console's hardware can do the games at 1080p. Sure, it needs more good games right now, but it's the same with every new console launch.
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 13:33 GMT Fogcat
First I'll declare that I currently own an Original Wii, an XBox 360, a PSP and a PS3.
The Wii hasn't been turned on for months and was mostly used for Zelda games.
The Xbox360 also hasn't been turned on recently and that's mainly used for platform exclusives.
I can't remember the last time the PSP was turned on, that's really been superseded by smartphones and tablets.
The PS3 (original fat model with hardware PS2 compatibility) is my main gaming machine (primarily because I "know" more people on PSN than XBox live) and is currently getting used for GTAV. It also gets used as the BluRay player so since I've had a 3-D TV for about 9 months I was rather startled the hear the PS4 doesn't support 3D BluRays. I never really used the PS3 for media as Sony never provided .MKV support.
Currently neither the XBox One or the PS4 have me thinking "I want one". If the PS4 was backwards compatible I *probably* would have gone for it after Christmas, just to have the new shiny. But with a backlog of games and several new ones due that I fancy playing I'm happy with the PS3. And I don't want to run a PS3 and 4 - there are enough wires and plugboards round the back of the tell as it is.
So.... until the next Uncharted gets released as a PS4 exclusive I'll probably be sitting on my hands; I can't see the sales being massive.
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 13:36 GMT Anonymous Coward
The problem is that the current gen is still current
When The Xbox360 and PS3 were released the GameCube and PS2 had stalled, good games were still coming out of course but they were almost indistinguishable from what was being released the year before and the year before that with God of War being the only "There's still some life in her yet" game.
Outside of graphical pretties on the PS4 and XboxOne current gen owners are still enjoying new releases of Grand Theft Auto, Assassain's Creed and Gran Turismo is only around the corner. Not only is there little reason in owning the next gen consoles but we still have reasons to keep playing on the current gen.
Both Microsoft and Sony shot their loads too early and I think customers would have waited an additional 8 months for the consoles to be released without the bugs and rough edges and games that didn't feel rushed.
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 13:45 GMT Unicornpiss
I'd just be happy if...
It doesn't thrust a software update down your throat to get it to just play a movie. I come home, I'm tired, I don't feel like gaming, I just want to watch Netflix or similar for an hour before going to bed. I find I must spend an extra 10 or more minutes to update to version x.x.01 to add the ability to put frilly doilies on all my (not) shared photos before it will let me use any application. And be signed into PSN even though Netflix, etc. requires separate credentials anyway.
It's maybe nitpicking, but this has always peeved me and has made me resolve to not buy another PS.
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 14:02 GMT jai
Re: I'd just be happy if...
but i thought one of the big things about the PS4 is that the OS/game/app updates are all done in the background now?
so at the most, you've only got a small wait for them to install when you switch it on.
that said - doesn't that already happen with the ps3? or is that because i'm on PS Plus?
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Thursday 28th November 2013 00:17 GMT Oninoshiko
Re: When you talk about the evolving functionality of the PS3
The took away two. Reverse compatibility which they never did completely get working (some games worked, some didn't), and the other-os.
Say what you will about Other-OS being useless for the average gamer, but reverse compatibility WAS a useful feature (excepting it's buggyness).
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Thursday 28th November 2013 10:11 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: When you talk about the evolving functionality of the PS3
I know it's easy to change facts that happened a while ago to suit, but here is what really happened with backwards compatibility:
Every PS3 still supports ps1 games.
Launch PS3 units had fully working ps2 support because they included ac full ps2 chipset. However everyone bitched about the cost of the ps3, so it fit the chop.
Later units had a halfway house, the gpu hardware was there. The cpu was emulated. It reduced the cost of the PS3 significantly but was less compatible. Most of the big hitters worked well enough.
People still bitched about price (despite being only fifty quid more than an Xbox and having a really good bluray player and bigger hdd), do when the slim launched, they removed the remaining ps2 hardware chip. By this time nobody really wanted ps2 support anyway, all you heard about was people crying about price.
The moral of the story, be careful copy and pasting what Microsoft ask for Sony might just do it.
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 13:57 GMT Anonymous Coward
This Generation is known for what is missing
All previous generations have been improvements and added features.
Made these releases exciting. "Oo! what this do now?!"
This time there is a battle for what to take away and add to their respective cloud services for a fee.
Very difficult to get excited about that or the premium add-ons your £70 game will need to complete.
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 14:02 GMT David Gibson
I won't be upgrading because...
I typically upgraded my old console because of the technological leap that came with each new iteration. But with the PS4 I find myself continuously asking myself "What's changed?"
When was the last time I played a PS3 game and thought "Hmm, the graphics in this game are detracting from the gameplay".
I'll stick with the PS3 for the cheaper titles and move to the PS4 when the price drops to something more respectable. But I have to say that I wouldn't be surprised if this is Sony's last foray into the games console market. The days of the console are almost over I declare (again).
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 14:09 GMT Anonymous Coward
In short
A couple of software features didn't make it for launch, but the hardware is spot on.
I'll take that any day over the Xbone, where the hardware is so badly flawed it's laughable.
it's odd that after 5 years of bashing the PS3, El-Reg suddenly now consider it so advanced, that you shouldn't buy a PS4. What gives?
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 15:40 GMT Anonymous Coward
'But you still need the disc in place to play the game.'
....................WTF?
How about asking for the disk once in a while instead?... How hard would that be?
What's the point sacrificing all your HD space, when you still need the disk?...
Probably for performance, but its not enough of a bonus...
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Wednesday 27th November 2013 15:47 GMT Anonymous Coward
'if sharing is to become a generation-defining success'
Yay, lets focus on the narcissistic crowd.... like they need any more attention... Is this what gaming is now really about.... WTF?
"Perhaps the Share button is its nearest claim to have something that little bit special. Here the PS4 takes advantage of its ability to constantly record gameplay footage to allow you to upload videos or even live-stream if you’re feeling particularly brave.
You can choose between Twitch and Ustream streaming services when uploading and watching videos but the video quality, even when set to "best", is poor. Sony will certainly need to address this if sharing is to become a generation-defining success. Especially since the competition lets you do this too."
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Thursday 28th November 2013 10:12 GMT Anonymous Coward
hardware in ps4 supports it, but not the software
Guessing it will be along sooner rather than later. Dlna and mp3 are coming in a future update. Sony rightly focused on hardware and gaming
What this review didn't cover was the better media support in the UK. The ps4 has several key services the xboner doesn't. Bbc iPlayer and bbc sport, vidzone and tune in radio for example.
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Thursday 28th November 2013 12:21 GMT Anonymous Coward
What free games?
"PS3 stalwarts might be perturbed by the need for a PS Plus account to play online but the service pays for itself in free games"
Only problem is that those games aren't free, you're basically renting them. As soon as your subscription is over so is your access to these "free" games.
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Thursday 28th November 2013 21:18 GMT pewpie
Does Mike work for Sony?
"PS3 stalwarts might be perturbed by the need for a PS Plus account to play online but the service pays for itself in free games..."
They are not free games - unless you consider paying for them for ALL ETERNITY free.. Shame on the writer for using this intentional misnomer..
Don't accept my word for it? Find me one piece of Sony marketing for PS Plus that uses the word 'free' - you can't because thier lawyers, who fill the halls of PS HQs - not gamers as they would have you believe, know damn well they would be stepping into a legal minefield.
Pewpie quick capsule review (borrowed from the late William Hicks): Piece of shit - walk away. Come back when the price drops, the PSN online bullshit is recinded due to unpopular demand, and the hardware faults are removed.
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Friday 29th November 2013 15:08 GMT Anonymous Coward
Where is the USP game?
I bought this gen Xbox 360 (and later a PS3) when there was a reason to get it - that was GTA4.
After that I got into some great gaming experiences with the Bioshock, Forza, Fallout, Project Gotham, Elder Scrolls, Gran Turismo series.
Currently playing GTA5 on the PS3, I'll follow that with the Bioshock Infinite DLC.
However at that point it would take a really interesting game to get me to buy the new generation.
The rumours of a new Fallout might be just that.
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Friday 29th November 2013 15:11 GMT Joerg
Some day soon? Powerful console? WHAT ?
And since when a bunch of more debris or a few more players on a multiplayer environment justified the "next-gen" tag to a console?
These are fake next-gen consoles!
Not talking about hardware specs it's rather silly because the games can't be any better if the hardware sucks.
And both Playstation4 and XBoxOne hardware clearly sucks. The AMD APU Jaguar it's even slower than Intel Atom CPUs. It's on average 50% of the slowest Intel Core i3 CPUs.
There won't be any improvement in the future. The consoles hardware can't run the algorithms on current 3D engines already at 1080p 60fps maximum detail settings.. in order to achieve 1080p 60fps they need to disable almost all the effects, lights, physics, use flat textures, use simplified 3D models with less polygons and so on.
And no.. none of these games looks better on a Playstation4 compared to the Playstation3. Really none.
The textures are bigger because there is more available RAM yes.. but that's it. They don't look anything better in real world usage. You can notice the textures for a few seconds and that's it.. So far for the "next-gen" thing...
There won't be any games with real next-gen graphics. Next-gen graphics should mean true photorealistic quality, like the CGI on movies .. Pacific Rim, Transformers, District9, Iron Man.. and so on..
The hardware just can't do that. These fake next-gen consoles are obsolete already. Are a farce and a joke. A real scam!
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Friday 29th November 2013 20:07 GMT SIMONWELLS
Re: Some day soon? Powerful console? WHAT ?
I am inclined to agree. In some respects both new consoles provide graphics sub par of current PC gaming tech. That is utterly appalling and quite frankly not good enough. If Sony or MS want me to buy next-gen that is what it has to be, this isn't it.
I'm talking about the time I went out and spent a fortune on my first voodoo 2 3dfx card and plugged it in. That jaw dropping moment when 3d graphics became what they are today. And that is the problem, they may have got visually more polygons in them, but the whole gaming industry has gone stale.
Sorry but I want, no strike that, expect every next-gen title to be like running "unreal" for the first time. Because unless it is like that, THAT "JAW DROPPINGLY" OFF THE CHARTS BLOWING AWAY EVERYTHING THAT CAME BEFORE IT, YES THAT MUCH OF AN IMPROVEMENT! it aint next gen.
These hairy fairy 360 and ps3 games on the ps4 and xbone with a few more snazzy lighting effects and reflections in astronauts helmet visors are all well and good, but it aint next-gen.
Its a cop out, that's what it is.........and don't get me started on the ps4's lack of media playback software! *face-palm*
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Saturday 30th November 2013 17:55 GMT MJI
Zap zap zap bang and it............
Getting a swapped out one Tuesday.
Icon is what happened to my PS4.
I think the mains cable would not go in properly and it arced and then fried it.
Make sure those cables are fitted corrected.
managed to get it up long enough to rescue Shadow Fall and to deprimary it.