Oct 10, 2016 09:10 AM
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In the seven years since the introduction of the PlayStation 3, we've seen our gaming consoles transform into living-room hubs through constant evolution and software updates. Those updates weren't always smooth – though on PS3, they were always happening – but it's easy to see just how far the platform has come.
Meanwhile, the designers of the PlayStation 4 were taking notes and designing a console that, feature by feature, sought to address the failings of its predecessor. The PS3 was notoriously difficult to program for, thanks to its proprietary silicon. So the PS4 was built to be developer-friendly, with a familiar, PC-like architecture. The PS3 was announced with a bizarre, boomerang-shaped controller, and launched with the rumble-free Sixaxis controller before settling into the never-great DualShock 3 controller. So the PS4 comes with the DualShock 4, inarguably the best controller Sony's ever made. And the PS3 launched at an abnormally high price point, costing$200 more than its competition. So the PS4 carries a far more aggressive price, asking$100 less than the competition this time around.
While Sony in 2006 was focused on driving adoption of the Blu-ray standard, envisioning another home media boom that never quite materialized, Sony in 2013 has no such distractions. The PS4 isn't built to sell 3D TVs, or Blu-ray discs or any other corporate mandate. It's a gaming console, a clear message that Sony has been quick to repeat.
That focus has resulted in a console that's better positioned than the PlayStation 3 was in 2006 to compete in an expanding turf war for the living room. But that same focus has also kept Sony from taking the kinds of chances that make generational leaps so exciting.
The PS4 is Sony's most attractively designed piece of hardware. It's a beautiful system, with a sharp, slightly angled profile accented by a light bar that acts as a console status indicator.
On the back, PS4 has gone digital-only with HDMI/optical ports, and no analog audio or video outputs. We appreciate the internal power supply — it sounds like a small thing, but it's one less object to sit on the shelf next to or behind the PlayStation 4.
Rear
Front
In the bad column, it's a collection of moderate to minor annoyances. The PS4 doesn't support the new 802.11ac wireless standard, instead relying on an 802.11b/g/n radio at 2.4 GHz — no 5 GHz support here either, all of which is disappointing to see on a consumer device in 2013. More annoyingly to many on staff, the PS4 doesn't include an IR port for universal remotes, nor does it support Logitech's PlayStation 3 Bluetooth Harmony adapter or the PS3 Bluetooth Blu-ray remote. This omission seems to signal Sony's abandonment of the media aspirations that drove much of the PS3's basic design.
Players who want to game privately on their consoles might be temporarily annoyed at the absence of Bluetooth headphone audio support for the PS4 at launch.
This is offset somewhat: the PS4 can broadcast all game audio(and voice chat) to the audio/mic jack on the DualShock 4, which is compatible with all headphones and mobile headsets using 1/8 inch audio adapters — though enabling game audio output on the DualShock 4 disables all audio via HDMI and optical out.
Despite these problems, Sony nails the fundamentals with the PS4 hardware. The half-gloss, half-matte finish is a pleasant visual compromise. It's a grown-up machine, designed more like a stylish DVD player than a gaudy video game console. It's a small, attractive system, and one that also happens to pack more powerful hardware in its diminutive frame than any other console.
The PS4 is Sony's most attractively designed piece of hardware.
It's an impressive technical achievement. It's also compact enough to fade into your entertainment center without being distracting or ostentatious, and we appreciate that it retains the PS2's and PS3's ability to stand vertically. Those of you with frisky pets or children may want to invest in the vertical stand, sold separately, for some added stability.
Oh, and it will charge controllers over USB while in standby mode. Finally.
We can say this unequivocally: The DualShock 4 is the best controller Sony has ever made.
Now that the PlayStation 4 and a new console generation are upon us, a contingent of Polygon's editorial staff feels free to finally admit a deep, unbridled hatred of the DualShock 3. The sticks were too close together, too squishy; the triggers weren't triggers; those of us with bigger hands had difficulty using the controller for very long.
DUALSHOCK 3DUALSHOCK 4
DUALSHOCK 4
Sony has solved every one of these problems with the DualShock 4. Its sticks are farther apart, with semi-concave pits in the middle designed to hold the tips of your thumbs in place. The shoulders feature actual concave triggers with pull similar to an Xbox 360 controller.
The controller is just a little heavier, just a little bigger. It's much more comfortable to hold over long periods of time. Making even die-hard DualShock 3 haters on the Polygon staff converts, the DualShock 4 is the most immediately apparent improvement offered by the PS4.
The DualShock 4 is the best controller Sony has ever made.
There are several small touches that, as with the console itself, underscore a sense of general hardware quality and polish. The DualShock 4's front-facing light glows blue for the primary connected player and changes colors based on the order in which it's synced to the console. Games can also take over the light and change its color, but the most practical use is the amber glow the DualShock 4 emits while it's charging.
While Sony has seemingly done nothing to expose or surface it, the DualShock 4 also introduces refined gyroscopic and accelerometer-based motion control. It's an incredible improvement from the Sixaxis and the DualShock 3. Rear
Front IMPERFECTIONS
The DualShock 4 isn't without some minor issues: the new options and share buttons are far too flush with the face of the controller and take too much pressure to use. It quickly proved easier to use the PlayStation button — now situated between the controller's analog sticks — to suspend a title to take quick breaks.
But our biggest complaint for a controller that some at Polygon otherwise consider the best they've ever used: the battery life.
The new touchpad works well for certain functions, like selecting weapon modes in Killzone: Shadow Fall. But it proved a poor mouse substitute in Assassin's Creed 4's map screen, with slow, latency-prone movement. We'll need more opportunities to use it in more titles before we can determine whether this is a hardware or software problem.
But our biggest complaint for a controller that some at Polygon otherwise consider the best they've ever used: over the course of 100-hundred plus hours with the DualShock 4, the battery life appears to sit somewhere in the 7- to 8-hour neighborhood, a fraction of the 30-hour battery life on the DualShock 3. As the system only includes one micro USB cable 1.5 - 2m in length, marathon sessions might happen on your floor near the PS4. As with the DualShock 3, the DualShock 4 battery isn't intended to be replaced, though enterprising users may be able to find replacements online in the coming years.
OPERATING SYSTEM
USER INTERFACE & EXPERIENCE
At first glance, it may appear that the PS4's user interface shares little in common with the PlayStation 3's "XrossMediaBar" interface, a familiar sight for owners of Sony's 2006-era televisions. But the PS4's interface is again similar to Sony's current televisions and with use, a clear evolution of the XMB is apparent. It retains its predecessor's speed, while adding a flexibility that the rigid XMB hierarchy never allowed.
IMPROVEMENTS
Little things stand out. You can temporarily suspend a game at any time by hitting the PlayStation button and, say, change your display or audio settings without quitting the game in question. After seven or eight years of the Xbox 360 and PS3, navigating the PS4's menus and UI quickly and with little lag is one of the more refreshing elements of the next-gen console experience.
One major, appreciated change: the bifurcated User/PSN ID system of the PS3 is gone. You can now skip the PS3's user ID/PSN ID association process and directly download your profile onto the PS4. The PS4 also supports greatly improved user switching, and its guest feature allows you to temporarily download a PSN profile onto a friend's PS4 and delete it when logged out. Other small touches delight — like double-tapping the PlayStation button to toggle between active apps and games.
The legacy of the Playstation 3's operating system remains in the PS4's often confusing hierarchy of menus, sub-menus and hidden options. For example, the console's Notifications menu includes Notifications, Invitations, Game Alerts, Downloads and Uploads, all as distinct inboxes. The Friends menu includes separate inboxes for Friend Requests and Name Requests, both of which also appear under Notifications. Perhaps the utility of these discrete areas will become more clear with more time spent using the system.
After seven or eight years of the Xbox 360 and PS3, navigating the PS4's menus and UI quickly and with little lag is one of the more refreshing elements of the next-gen console experience.
Local media playback, a major feature of the PS4's predecessor, isn't supported. The PS4 also lacks any meaningful digital library management. Games are listed in an endless horizontal line with no organizational options whatsoever. Every single PS4 disc that you insert into the drive automatically installs and slots itself into that list, surely an impediment to finding what you're looking for quickly.
Other advertised PS4 features haven't made it in time for even the system's day one update. The console lacks a sleep feature, meaning it requires a full reboot whenever it's shut down — and active game sessions are closed. We also hope that Sony takes a second crack at the PS4's native video capture and sharing. It's a cool idea, and the implementation works, but the video we've seen is heavily compressed and muddy. It robs games on the platform of some of their wow factor
It's also worth pointing out that while the interfaces of the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita are both well-suited for their respective mediums, a television and a touch-controlled portable, respectively, the differences between them provide a curious contrast for two current products bearing the PlayStation brand name.
PLAYSTATION NETWORK
ONLINE PLAY
The PS4 makes some fundamental improvements to basic network functionality. You can now join friends' games from your friends list. The PS4 also introduces game-independent party chat for up to eight people, a godsend for multiplayer gamers hoping to avoid toxic public lobby audio.
IMPROVEMENTS
The PS4's home screen includes a feed of your friends' activity called "What's New, " and this demonstrates quite a bit of potential. It shows what games your friends started to play, when they're livestreaming and … maybe too much stuff, actually. The What's New feed is a wall of informational text and from a distance, it's difficult to parse. This is indicative of a general tendency toward too many options, and an excess of surfaced information throughout the PS4's PSN functions.
There are other additions that seem beneficial, but have strange oversights that make them potentially problematic. The PSN friends limit has been increased to 2, 000, which is great — but there's no way to organize them. Narrowing your friends or joining larger groups remains outside the abilities of the PlayStation 4 at present, despite system-wide Facebook integration, and sharing options that include Facebook groups. The PS4 also supports real names for friends, which could be a lifesaver — but it requires two-way authorization between both people to activate. PSN is full of small examples of a system that badly needs reorganization and some cleanup. But make no mistake: Sony seems determined not to get left behind or leapfrogged in online this time around, and the basic functionality that eluded PSN on PS3 is now present.
The day-one inclusion of Twitch integration works well, and it's a good thing — the PS4 encrypts its entire HDMI signal in HDCP, which prevents it from working with most capture devices out of the box. For most users, the Twitch streaming is all you'll need, though we have concerns about general video quality via the system's internal hardware.
Trophies work similarly to the way they did on PS3, but now also include trophy rarity — something we hope everyone everywhere steals as quickly as possible. PLAYSTATION STORE
Meanwhile, the PlayStation Store is very similar to the current PS3 store, which has made enormous strides over the last few years — but it shares the discoverability and organization problems of the existing store as well. It's not fair to crucify Sony over this, as every online marketplace shares these issues to some degree or another. But we're still waiting to see if anyone can address these problems.
And if multiplayer gaming isn't your thing, the PS4 doesn't lock any of its media apps behind the PS+ gate.
After seven years, Sony is joining the competition by charging for multiplayer gaming on the PlayStation 4. Players will need a subscription to Sony's PlayStation Plus service, which thankfully provides much more than unfettered access to multiplayer gaming; it also provides regular discounts on digital releases and a regular stable of free games. For the right player, it's a tremendous value. And if multiplayer gaming isn't your thing, the PS4 doesn't lock any of its media apps behind the PS+ gate. Netflix, perhaps the most prominent example, requires nothing more than its own subscription to watch on the PS4.
Perhaps as a signal to how seriously Sony is taking online multiplayer, it's included a headphone jack on the controller and a headset with every PlayStation 4. That inclusion, coupled with a new party chat system, brings PlayStation 4 to feature parity with existing competition and sets it up for continued innovation in the online gaming space.
CAMERA
FEATURES & CAPABILITIES
While Sony nixed plans to include the PlayStation Camera with the PS4 by default, it is still for sale, and adds some options to the system. Sony has touted the addition of voice commands to the PS4, though our limited time with this feature yielded mixed results. Commands were limited and poorly explained, and frequently went unanswered.
The easiest comparison would be with the early feature set of the Xbox 360's Kinect. The PlayStation Camera is a higher-definition device, and is likely more advanced, but there is a distinctive "first attempt" feel to the camera that seems at odds with the PlayStation 4's efforts at broader platform streamlining and refinement. But worse for Sony, its capabilities and functionality look downright primitive in comparison to the Xbox One's Kinect.
The PlayStation Camera's overall place within the PlayStation 4 ecosystem and Sony's intentions for the camera are unclear at this time.
There's no IR component, which forces users to maintain a minimum amount of light. The PlayStation Camera adds facial recognition to PS4's account system, with the procedure for adding biometric data requiring a short setup for each user. At the login screen, the camera scans the scene and, as long as it's well-lit, identifies faces it recognizes. If a user wants to log in, they simply raise the controller to match a box on the screen. The catch is, if you're using a controller here, it's easier to perform the same task with the controller.
The PlayStation Camera's overall place within the PlayStation 4 ecosystem and Sony's intentions for the system are unclear at this time. While there were elements of the new console that were clearly designed with the camera's capabilities in mind — the somewhat vestigial indicator light on the DualShock 4 comes to mind — most traces of the potential future are difficult to find in the system as it exists now.
At least it's unassuming. Whether with its stand or alone, it's a small device that doesn't occupy the same kind of real estate as the original Kinect or its hefty successor. But that's also sort of the problem. This is Sony's third attempt at a camera peripheral for a PlayStation system.
Each previous attempt was marked by an initial burst of enthusiasm and software support, something the PlayStation Camera lacks outside of the cute but minimal Playroom application included on every PS4. More damning, every previous camera was quickly abandoned, with little software support and zero official acknowledgement of its relevance.
SETUP & PERFORMANCE
PATCHES & INSTALLS
We found the initial setup of the PlayStation 4 to be a relatively painless process. Upon first booting up the system, we had to download an initial patch to connect the system to PSN.
As of the time of this review, that patch is about 300 MB and took less than 15 minutes to download and install(though more crowded servers on launch day could slow that considerably).
Once the system is up to date, connecting to an existing PlayStation Network ID is a smooth process, taking just a few minutes. This brings in all the friends and trophies lists from the PS3 and Vita.
The console will also ask you if you'd like to make your real name accessible to specified friends. This Real Name functionality is a great addition and doesn't feel overly cumbersome, despite essentially requiring both parties to accept.
When PlayStation Network is humming along and working as expected, it's smooth and downloads games quickly.
If you find yourself at a friend's house, you can opt for a "guest" account. This will let you sign into your own PSN account, but not have to worry about leaving secure data behind when you log off. A handy addition, especially for dorm dwellers with cagey roommates.
Installing our first games, both from disc or through PSN, was mostly painless, though we did run into some connectivity issues that resulted in downloaded games being inaccessible until the console re-connected to the network. But when PlayStation Network is humming along and working as expected, it's smooth and downloaded games quickly. It's just not terribly easy to navigate and will definitely take some getting used to, with vague iconography to guide you.
SECOND SCREEN
PS VITA & REMOTE PLAY
Remote Play of PS4 titles on the PlayStation Vita has been one of the system's most anticipated features.
Remote Play works well via wireless LAN in supported titles; several third-party releases have gone above and beyond basic support, including full Vita control in games like Battlefield 4 and Assassin's Creed 4. Sony's own first-party games like Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack also support the feature.
However, dreams of universal access to PS4 content from anywhere via the Vita will have to wait, as even locally, Remote Play suffers from issues similar to those encountered by Wii U users. Players who move too far away from their routers may lose their connection to the PS4 or otherwise render their game unplayable.
We are somewhat confused at Sony's aggressive pairing of the Vita and PS4's fortunes with the emphasis on Remote Play, as the former device has struggled to establish a sustainable install base outside of Japan after almost two years of availability. But the potential is there for Remote Play to present a meaningful differentiation from the PS4's competition.
The Vita also presents an avenue for second-screen functionality for PlayStation 4, but Sony has smartly expanded beyond their own handheld with this week's release of the PlayStation A
