Almost 9 months in I realize my PS4 has really under-delivered. I got a PS4 at launch, knowing things are usually tough on early adopters. Firmware updates, unforseen issues emerging, and certainly an initial drought of titles to play. But how long is that supposed to go on and when is it no longer okay?
I took inventory of my PS4 library and found that my favorite games are all last-gen remakes. Of course, TLOU is at the top of my list. I am enjoying that, but its still a game I already had. Tomb Raider DE was really pretty and I enjoyed it immensely, but again, it’s a game I could have played for the first time, for free via PS+ no less, on my PS3. Same goes for Injustice, which was a lot of fun for me, but also on PS3. Wolfenstein is really the only game I really enjoyed that I didn't already have the chance to play on PS3. But of course, that was still an option for people without PS4's.
The answer to that problem is the first-party lineup. After all, most people buy a system right off the bat for the exclusives. For me, the draw was Killzone: Shadow Fall. It is definitely super pretty, but overall I feel its been done better before in the form of Killzone 2. Admittedly I skipped Infamous because I'm burned out on open-world GTA type games, and I skipped Knack because it just didn't appeal to me. So that's pretty much left me with a bunch of PS3 games that I've been playing prettied up versions of, in addition to a handful of free PS+ offerings.
To be fair, PS+ has really helped fill in the gaps and give an impression of added value. There have been quite a few free games, though I've only really gotten into Resogun, Don't Starve, and Outlast. The rest I can pretty much take or leave. Its been nice to have things to try though. Can you imagine if PS+ had not been there?
Now as much as I've complained about cross-gen/last-gen games making up the majority of my good times on the system, I'm actually disappointed there aren't MORE games from last gen with PS4 versions. Dark Souls 2, Ultra Street Fighter 4, and FF: Lightning Returns are just a few games I would have gladly played on PS4 in order to have better graphics and streaming abilities, but I guess it was not meant to be. I'd rather have these ports than nothing at all, and in the case of these 3 games I just mentioned, I had to keep my PS3 around. I've got over 80 hours into Dark Souls 2. That's 80 hours I didn't use my shiny new PS4. For some people that 80 hours is like 2 weeks, but for me it took about 2 months. That seemed like a long time to not even be turning on my PS4. Plus, I was kind of bitter that I couldn't stream the game or easily watch others playing it like I would have been able to had it released on PS4.
I also have to keep my PS3 around because my PS4's media abilities either don't exist or aren't as convenient. I have a bluetooth remote for my PS3, so I want to use that rather than drain my DS4 which has a pretty short battery life. But I can't. There's no option to sync that remote with the PS4. So the PS3 remains my Netflix machine, my Hulu machine, and my MKV/AVI player. Hell, my PS4 can't even play MP3s yet. That seems absurd in 2014. Granted, I bought some Turtle Beach headphones that let me plug in my PSP Go (which is my mp3 player, seriously) and add custom music to any game. So now I really don’t care about the custom music option Sony is offering through Music Unlimited because as long as I have these headphones I'll never need it.
Now I know Wii U had a very shaky start, but I just picked one up last month and discovered the thing has more games I want for it than I can actually afford or make time for. It would be really nice to feel that way about my PS4, but instead I can count the number of games I want for the rest of this year on one hand. (For the curious, its Diablo 3, The Evil Within, and Dragon Age. Maybe LittleBigPlanet 3) Again, a couple of those being cross-gen games. I understand there's hope on the horizon though with the next 6 months seeing some pretty big releases like Bloodborne for example. But for right now, I'm kind of feeling like I could've waited on the PS4 since its mostly been a way to stream pretty PS3 games so far.
The last thing I'll say is that the sort of "radio silence" on certain fronts is sort of annoying. On the other side of the fence, I am seeing Microsoft absolutely desperate for my attention and my money. They are talking constantly about the ways they intend to make the Xbone better and better. Seeing that makes me wish Sony would be a bit more aggressive on that end by reaching out and saying "Hey you want this feature? Yeah we're looking at having that in 3 months!" or something. How about fixing the recording issue where my system can't be relied upon to actually record the last 15 minutes of gameplay the way it was advertised to do so? How about fixing the layout so I can more easily navigate to certain things like how much HD space I've got left? This is the kind of stuff I'm looking for answers on and they're being kind of quiet about it.
As for streaming, I like that Twitch and Ustream are really easy to use, but now that Twitch is muting pretty much everything, can we have some way to stream to other services instead? I'd like to see something in place so I could use hitbox or whatever else I choose, instead of being limited to just Twitch or Ustream. Twitch muting my stuff has almost made that service totally irrelevant for any plans I had to produce some kind of content that I'd want people to be able to view anytime after the initial broadcast.
This is getting a bit long in the tooth now so I'll just wrap by saying its not quite what I had anticipated when I got it delivered from Amazon last November. There's definitely been some good times had and there's certainly promise, but overall I feel I let the hype get to me and really I wouldn't have been missing out much had I waited.
TL;DR - I got a Wii U and was like "whoa look how many exclusive games this thing has that I want that are either already out or hitting by December" and then I realized I had my PS4 for 9 months and have almost exclusively been playing dolled-up PS3 games on it and will continue to do so with only a couple of exceptions through 2014. And it can't do all the stuff my PS3 can do so I gotta keep the PS3 hooked up to the main TV still. And MS is really trying hard to get me to love them again and its slowly working meanwhile Sony is like "yeah, well, we're doing stuff and we got games coming in 2015 so hang in there and thanks for the money".
Your turn!
I took inventory of my PS4 library and found that my favorite games are all last-gen remakes. Of course, TLOU is at the top of my list. I am enjoying that, but its still a game I already had. Tomb Raider DE was really pretty and I enjoyed it immensely, but again, it’s a game I could have played for the first time, for free via PS+ no less, on my PS3. Same goes for Injustice, which was a lot of fun for me, but also on PS3. Wolfenstein is really the only game I really enjoyed that I didn't already have the chance to play on PS3. But of course, that was still an option for people without PS4's.
The answer to that problem is the first-party lineup. After all, most people buy a system right off the bat for the exclusives. For me, the draw was Killzone: Shadow Fall. It is definitely super pretty, but overall I feel its been done better before in the form of Killzone 2. Admittedly I skipped Infamous because I'm burned out on open-world GTA type games, and I skipped Knack because it just didn't appeal to me. So that's pretty much left me with a bunch of PS3 games that I've been playing prettied up versions of, in addition to a handful of free PS+ offerings.
To be fair, PS+ has really helped fill in the gaps and give an impression of added value. There have been quite a few free games, though I've only really gotten into Resogun, Don't Starve, and Outlast. The rest I can pretty much take or leave. Its been nice to have things to try though. Can you imagine if PS+ had not been there?
Now as much as I've complained about cross-gen/last-gen games making up the majority of my good times on the system, I'm actually disappointed there aren't MORE games from last gen with PS4 versions. Dark Souls 2, Ultra Street Fighter 4, and FF: Lightning Returns are just a few games I would have gladly played on PS4 in order to have better graphics and streaming abilities, but I guess it was not meant to be. I'd rather have these ports than nothing at all, and in the case of these 3 games I just mentioned, I had to keep my PS3 around. I've got over 80 hours into Dark Souls 2. That's 80 hours I didn't use my shiny new PS4. For some people that 80 hours is like 2 weeks, but for me it took about 2 months. That seemed like a long time to not even be turning on my PS4. Plus, I was kind of bitter that I couldn't stream the game or easily watch others playing it like I would have been able to had it released on PS4.
I also have to keep my PS3 around because my PS4's media abilities either don't exist or aren't as convenient. I have a bluetooth remote for my PS3, so I want to use that rather than drain my DS4 which has a pretty short battery life. But I can't. There's no option to sync that remote with the PS4. So the PS3 remains my Netflix machine, my Hulu machine, and my MKV/AVI player. Hell, my PS4 can't even play MP3s yet. That seems absurd in 2014. Granted, I bought some Turtle Beach headphones that let me plug in my PSP Go (which is my mp3 player, seriously) and add custom music to any game. So now I really don’t care about the custom music option Sony is offering through Music Unlimited because as long as I have these headphones I'll never need it.
Now I know Wii U had a very shaky start, but I just picked one up last month and discovered the thing has more games I want for it than I can actually afford or make time for. It would be really nice to feel that way about my PS4, but instead I can count the number of games I want for the rest of this year on one hand. (For the curious, its Diablo 3, The Evil Within, and Dragon Age. Maybe LittleBigPlanet 3) Again, a couple of those being cross-gen games. I understand there's hope on the horizon though with the next 6 months seeing some pretty big releases like Bloodborne for example. But for right now, I'm kind of feeling like I could've waited on the PS4 since its mostly been a way to stream pretty PS3 games so far.
The last thing I'll say is that the sort of "radio silence" on certain fronts is sort of annoying. On the other side of the fence, I am seeing Microsoft absolutely desperate for my attention and my money. They are talking constantly about the ways they intend to make the Xbone better and better. Seeing that makes me wish Sony would be a bit more aggressive on that end by reaching out and saying "Hey you want this feature? Yeah we're looking at having that in 3 months!" or something. How about fixing the recording issue where my system can't be relied upon to actually record the last 15 minutes of gameplay the way it was advertised to do so? How about fixing the layout so I can more easily navigate to certain things like how much HD space I've got left? This is the kind of stuff I'm looking for answers on and they're being kind of quiet about it.
As for streaming, I like that Twitch and Ustream are really easy to use, but now that Twitch is muting pretty much everything, can we have some way to stream to other services instead? I'd like to see something in place so I could use hitbox or whatever else I choose, instead of being limited to just Twitch or Ustream. Twitch muting my stuff has almost made that service totally irrelevant for any plans I had to produce some kind of content that I'd want people to be able to view anytime after the initial broadcast.
This is getting a bit long in the tooth now so I'll just wrap by saying its not quite what I had anticipated when I got it delivered from Amazon last November. There's definitely been some good times had and there's certainly promise, but overall I feel I let the hype get to me and really I wouldn't have been missing out much had I waited.
TL;DR - I got a Wii U and was like "whoa look how many exclusive games this thing has that I want that are either already out or hitting by December" and then I realized I had my PS4 for 9 months and have almost exclusively been playing dolled-up PS3 games on it and will continue to do so with only a couple of exceptions through 2014. And it can't do all the stuff my PS3 can do so I gotta keep the PS3 hooked up to the main TV still. And MS is really trying hard to get me to love them again and its slowly working meanwhile Sony is like "yeah, well, we're doing stuff and we got games coming in 2015 so hang in there and thanks for the money".
Your turn!
