Since the dawn of technology, the newer and better are always on the way. In this competitive market, HD is a given, while multitasking is a standard and online multiplayer is a must. The Playstation franchise has been in the gaming industry for more than 18 years now. Starting from Playstation 1 to the newest and best installment the Playstation 4 has been one successful journey for the Sony Computer Entertainment Co.
After the announcement in February 2013 to the release in November 2013, the Playstation 4 has been a hot topic and a top prioritized gamers’ choice because of its affordability, design, features and so forth. The rival, Microsoft, also got their hands-full with the newest member of the Xbox family, the Xbox One. While the Xbox One had a lot of issues with DRM facilities, Kinect, Low powered GPU it wasn’t much of a competition for the Sony to win the ultimate title of the winner of Console war.
The event of “See the Future” by Sony, back in February 2013, which Sony pulled off a great stunt by showing the hardware and some features of the new gen console, the Playstation 4. However, they managed to keep the fans tongue wagging for quite some time till back at E3, where they showed off the amazing and sleek Playstation 4. Mark Cenry, the guy behind the designs of Playstion 4, was even kept unaware of the physical shape of the console. This piece of hardware took away most gamers heart on the first glance.
After the announcement in February 2013 to the release in November 2013, the Playstation 4 has been a hot topic and a top prioritized gamers’ choice because of its affordability, design, features and so forth. The rival, Microsoft, also got their hands-full with the newest member of the Xbox family, the Xbox One. While the Xbox One had a lot of issues with DRM facilities, Kinect, Low powered GPU it wasn’t much of a competition for the Sony to win the ultimate title of the winner of Console war.
The event of “See the Future” by Sony, back in February 2013, which Sony pulled off a great stunt by showing the hardware and some features of the new gen console, the Playstation 4. However, they managed to keep the fans tongue wagging for quite some time till back at E3, where they showed off the amazing and sleek Playstation 4. Mark Cenry, the guy behind the designs of Playstion 4, was even kept unaware of the physical shape of the console. This piece of hardware took away most gamers heart on the first glance.
Console :
305 x 275 x 53mm (12.01 x 10.8 x 2.09 inches) is in fact a very remarkable shape over its predecessor the PS3. Its earlier fat models or the slim models are still bigger than the PS4 model. The PS4 extends just by 15m than the PS3 superslim and it weighs only 2.8kg.
305 x 275 x 53mm (12.01 x 10.8 x 2.09 inches) is in fact a very remarkable shape over its predecessor the PS3. Its earlier fat models or the slim models are still bigger than the PS4 model. The PS4 extends just by 15m than the PS3 superslim and it weighs only 2.8kg.
The front side of the console has 2 USB 3.0 and a Blue Ray 6x disc drive. The back side of the console has HDMI out, digital out, Ethernet and the PlayStation Camera's auxiliary cable. The power brick remains inside the console as usual, so no need to worry about the bulky power cable. PS4 runs quietly and smoothly. Although, the console makes really great sounds that would let a gamer give the feel of owing a great console, while loading up discs or starting the console itself.
The new DualShock feels and looks great, comfortable and better than any DualShocks. The left and right triggers are a greater achievement. The thumb sticks are outfitted with a little lip around the edge, keeping fingers to slip off. The concave designed controller looks more like the DualShock 3 with vast improvements. The standard two parallel thumbsticks, the d-pad on the left face, a four-button layout on the right, two triggers and two shoulder buttons up top continue to be the main forms of input. The tilt sensor on DS4 and the rumble motor on DS4 are both from DS3 but with minor tweaks. These offer tighter precision and a detailed vibration which offers a tremendous gameplay experience.
The convex thumbsticks from DS3 were harder and imprecision in use. Now with DS4, Sony has one again proven that, it listens to the fans, as in gamers. The DS4 feels and is ergonomically so great that it’s a rather new feel to hold it than it was with the blocky DS3.
Apart from these improvements, Sony has added a speaker, a clickable touch pad and a light bar on the controller. The traditional start/select buttons are also gone, with the replacement of share/option button. Both these buttons have their new workarounds. These additions are great obviously but the light bar has very little use and causes more harm than it helps. It’s very bright and eats up the charge a lot more than it helps.
A few games like Outlast, Backlight Retribution, and Kill zone Shadow Fall uses its functionality. There will be more games on the way which will have better use of it. But the fact that it’s on the back side of the controller, very few gamer would appreciate and look back to see the cool changes it does in game. For example, in Outlast, it glows a white like color, which is the same as the camera’s night vision mode, makes a greater feel. In killzone, it glows reddish when the player is about to die. While these are some cool features, the dualshock 4’s light bar causes the charge to damp down to only 4-5 hours of straight gameplay which is half of the dualshock 3. This is a rather disappointment as the light bar cannot be turned off. However Sony did promise an update on its way featuring the dim of the light bar.
The clickable touch pad is a really cool feature. Games like Warframe, Killzone uses its functionality like no other. Warframe’s player can use powers with this touch pad, while Killzone lets player cast a deadly robot owl upon the enemies. Assassin’s Creed 4 makes good use of it in the map selecting options. In the near future, there might be more games on the way, which will use the responsive and precise touch pad to a greater use.
The share button is another great improvement. Sharing a video/screenshot in Facebook, Twitter is a very easy and simple process. While kept that aside, players can also broadcast their gameplay in Twitch and Ustream. The share button also allows gamers to record the previous 15 minutes of gameplay with just the press of the share button.
Finally, we can say that the dualshock 4 is a tremendous experience and a vast improvement over the dualshock 3 and with a little more improvements its sure to be a gamers number one choice. The comfy, sleek and elegant design is what anyone wanted from Sony for its new gen console. And they have got what they wanted. The controller is not the one that we put up with, while thinking of playing PS4 exclusive, it’s the one what we choose playing multiplatform games.
UI/OS/Software:
The Orbis operating system of PS4 works much smoother than PS3. The 8GB GDDR5 puts its effort in making the games looks as fantastic as possible. The Cross Media Bar or also known as XMB menu from PS3 is back. And It looks fresher. The blocky applications and other options look and feels right at home. The XMB from PS3 was a lot laggy and quite confusing to use. On PS4, the XMB is organized. But the major issues arise when a lot of applications are downloaded and installed. The download options are in the notifications sections. The library contains all the applications that were bought from the PS Store. Speaking of PS Store, It’s a major improvement than any other PS System. The PS Store remains in the main menu and it’s really organized. The Indie games, The Free-to-Play games, The AAA titles all of them are organized and easy to find. The friends list contains all the friends from the other PS System.
The Whats New! Has all the updates from friends and PS Store, and it tracks progress of trophies, new games, upcoming movies as well. The Day One Patch is mandatory to run most of the things in PS4. The current Software update improved a lot of things. But I felt like they should make the main menu a little more organized while considering the applications being a lot. Also the HDCP off, USB transfer of the videos recorded via SHARE button update should be on the way soon.
The IGN, Netflix, Music Unlimited, Video Unlimited all works smoother. The gamers do lack the YouTube applications. It’s inevitable as it is. The Playstation Now, which will allow users to stream PS3, games to PS4. This application is on Beta stage and its being sent as an invite to a lot of users to test it completely. Sony promised a fully functional Playstation Now to hit the marked by the end of 2014.
Backwards compatibility was a hot topic for quite some time. A lot of gamers wanted a backward compatible PS4 which will allow PS3 games to run in PS4. But this did not happen. However, rumored PS1 and PS2 emulation is on the way and it should be able to run those games from PS1 and PS2 in full 1080p scale. It’s a matter of time.
The download options are a really upgraded one. Any application or game or updates will download in the background and will continue to download on the standby mode. This mode will also charge controllers. The orange light bar on the console indicates the console being on standby mode.
Games:
Games are why consoles exist. If a console does not have or will not have games it will die sooner or later. The PS4 is a fine example of a gaming console. While the Xbox One fails to deliver true gaming experience and it being an “entertainment” system rather than a “gaming” system, the PS4 is just the opposite. It focuses more on the games and the fans. The PS4 system lets users have a true experience for gaming. The 8GB GDDR5 GPU makes sure it’s a 1080p experience while gaming and the controller makes sure it is being enjoyed purely. The combination works like a charm. Most of the games on Xbox One are 720p resolutions, even exclusives are also on 900p. On the other hand, PS4 delivers a sweet 1080p experience and also in case of multi-platform games. However some games like BF4 was a 900p but the looks were superb.
Remote play, a great addition to PS4, lets users of PS Vita and PS4 enjoy combining both consoles. PS Vita working as a second screen and a remote play feature has no lag while delivering a punch. Also, games can be enjoyed while not staying at a single spot.
Another important thing to look out for is the Playstation Plus usability. In case of playing multiplayer games, users are required to have Playstation Plus subscription. Multiplayer was a free experience on PS3 but this time around, it needs a fee. However, this may be a downside; the Playstation Plus itself has a brilliant value of its own since the launch of it back in March 9, 2011. It saves games online, having a storage capacity of 2GB, it gives away free games (2 on PS3, 2 on PS vita and 1 on PS4 so far).
Playstation App may have been introduced and a curious one but apparently this free app which is available on iOS and Android doesn’t do much other than showing What's New, Store, Friends, Settings, Trophies and Profile. It can also be used as a second screen if used in a tab. It’s a nice new addition for gamers.
The Playstation is a very user friendly and bang for the buck device. It’s a masterpiece for gaming. It has a really nice User Interface, with a great Operating System making it more powerful than any modern day average PC. This $399 console is a must buy if you are a true hardcore gamer. Popular PS4 Games is Destiny and FIFA 15 .
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