13.3.2016

For starters I noticed many other amazon reviewers have been promoting the PS4. However after reading several I also noticed that the people are not getting the full picture of what exactly they're buying.I created this review in order to provide an in-depth technical review since i noticed the other reviewers haven't done so.I suggest reading this review if you want to know EXACTLY what you're buying.For your information, I have been a long time PC and Console gamer. I personally don't have a preference of the 2. However I specialise in PC Hardware and thought it was extremely interesting that consoles have now moved to more computer like hardware.Note: If you're a non-technical person i advise trying to understand the information provided.If you can't understand it at all, then I would then suggest skipping it.Let me just say the hardware provided inside the PS4 is some what similar to a PC worth £400+ or so and you're receiving excellent for value for performance.*Processor & Graphics*The PS4 has a Custom APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) created by AMD featuring the "Jaguar" architecture.For people who don't know what an APU is, its a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) combined.The Jaguar architecture was designed for notebooks, mini pcs and micro-servers offering low power consumption. It was created in Mid 2013. It is the successor of the older generation architecture "Bobcat". All the Jaguar based CPUs only offered up to quad cores before the announcement of the PS4.The APU has the CPUs, GPUs and shared memory controllers on the same dieThe CPU side of the APU is created on a 28nm manufacturing (smaller the nm the more transistors can be placed for efficiency as well as improved performance - however there is a limit to the amount of shrinking they can do to a chip) As a comparison the AMD FX 8350 has a 32nm manufacturing and the Intel i7 4770k has a 22nm manufacturing.The CPU uses Dual 4 Core Modules (x86-64) (Total 8 Cores) with a base clock frequency at 1.6GHz however there is an unknown uptick in speed for intensive CPU usage. My personal guess due to the PS4's maximum power consumption limit due to the PSU would be around 2.5GHz to 3GHz. Cooling is also a limiting factor to the lower GHz clock speed. Since AMD CPUs at higher clock speeds produce too much heat, the energy efficiency goes out the window and the PS4 doesn't have enough cooling potential for something like a 4GHz turbo clock. Modern games can't run at a 1.6GHz clock speed unless its featuring League of Legends graphics or something along those lines. Though ultimately the GPU is the graphics manager so there might be some optimisation i am unaware of for the consoles.Each CPU core contains a 32KB Level 1 instruction and data caches with 1 shared 2MB Level 2 cache for each module (In total 4MB Cache)The GPU side of the APU is based on the GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture.GCN is featured in 28nm graphics chips which for PCs are the HD 7000, HD 8000, and AMD R-series graphics cards. GCN is also featured in AMD's Latest APUs.I can assure you this is an extremely powerful graphics chip which they have placed in the PS4's APU. As other sources have announced, the chip is capable of producing 1.84TFLOPs which puts it almost on par with a HD 7850 / 7870 / R7 260x which are £100 graphic cards. They are considered to be the better mid range gamer cards for PC.No bias/fan boy intended however this is also dominates the Xbox One's graphical performance capabilities hence why games have better graphics on PS4 as to Xbox One. For example Thief runs at 1080p on PS4 and only 900p on Xbox One.Moving back to the main topic the GPU consist of 20CUs (Compute Units) - 2CUs are disabled meaning only 18CUs are running. This produces a total of 1152 Cores (64 cores per CU).AMD made some adjustments to the GCN architecture so that the GPU now has an additional dedicated 20GB/s bus which avoids Level 1 and Level 2 GPU cache for direct system memory access. This makes the overall system smoother during intensive graphical usage.They also added Level 2 cache support for many graphical and single compute tasks. Reducing graphical strain and general compute operations.The chip is clocked at a 800MHz frequency clock speed.Peak performance of 1.84TFLOPs / 1843.2 GFLOPsCan perform 25.6GP/s Pixel FillrateProduce a Texture Fillrate of 57.6GT/sCompare these numbers to a technical spec of an AMD R7 260x if you want to get a rough idea of what power the PS4's graphical chip has to offer.If people want to argue that the graphic card is weak. PLEASE just take a look at the price range that this console is fighting in compared to other Desktops and Laptops at this price. It's honestly the best you will get in a sub £350 PC build.This also means don't expect 4k gaming on a PS4. You need a £1500+ Gaming Desktop to even run 4K gaming.*Memory / RAM (Random Access Memory)*Now this is a really smart move from Sony. Instead of having a dedicated graphic memory which many graphic cards have they decided that the GPU and RAM should be shared. Average graphics card now have a standard of just 2GB DRAM which is more than enough for all the latest games out on the market. However higher end GPUs for PCs have 4GB DRAM which only really the higher texture games make use of. Such as 2k and 4k gaming.Incase people don't know, the GPU's DRAM is a lot faster than your typical system RAM. Modern GPUs use GDDR5 which is based off DDR3 SDRAM Memory. They have a much higher bandwidth compared to DDR3 because the GPU's GDDR5 needs to transfer data a lot faster to display the graphics.This also improves general loading times if data was to be pre-loaded into the GDDR5 RAM.GDDR5 works with 2 different clock types. A differential command clock (CK) and a forward differential write clock (WCK)The PS4 uses 16x 512MB GDDR5 Memory Chips to make 8GB of GDDR5 RAM which produces 176GB/s of Bandwidth.A CK of 1.375GHzA WCK of 2.75GHz (5500MT/s)It also features a 256 Bit Bus Width.The APU also benefits from higher clock speeds (I have read reviews and benchmarks for the AMD's A10 7850k in comparison to using standard DDR3 1600MHz and 2133MHz RAM) The faster RAM allows the APU to produce higher FPS in games due to bandwidth limitations.This being said, the combination of GDDR5 RAM and an APU creates an extremely powerful setup for gaming graphics at a cheap cost. "The most powerful APU built to date".Thanks to Sony's move on the RAM they have corrected the issues of the previous generation console. The PS3. Which believe it or not only contained 256MB of RAM. 8GB of RAM makes for future proofing. Though in my experience a maximum console's life expectancy is only about 7 years before they need to replace it with the next generation console.Unfortunately there is a drawback of using GDDR5 instead of DDR3 for system ram. Its because of the higher latency compared between the 2. This might explain for the 2nd processor they had installed for the console (Mentioned in the Additional Hardware Info).I have been also informed that the PS4 is set up to have 4GB dedicated for system memory. Which leaves the developers to have the other 4GB to work with for the games.*Additional Hardware Info*The Audio Processing Unit shares the same die as the rest of the APU components. It is a Digital signal processing SIP Block so it's pretty much the same as AMD's TrueAudio offered in their latest GPUs.Memory Controller is found on the die of the APU. As mentioned earlier is it shared by the CPU and GPU. It contains features similar to the Heterogeneous System Architecture resulting to a non-partitioned system memory meaning a portion of it is exclusively available to the GPU however its Unified allowing Zero-Copy hardware (another power saving feature).Auxiliary Processor. This is a secondary ARM Processor which is in the PS4. It contains a separate 256MB of DDR3 RAM to assist with the PS4's OS features and other background functions. Overall it adds smoothness to the interface of the PS4 making it a more fluent experience.*Storage and Optical Drive*The PS4 has a read-only optical drive which reads Blu-Ray at a speed of 6x with has a maximum read speed of 27MB/s (PS3's Blu-Ray drive only had a speed of 2x which capped it at 9MB/s)PS4 also has a hardware feature called a "on-the-fly zlib decompression module" which quickly decompresses the data on the Blu-Ray Disc which has been compressed to save space and bandwidthThis module allows higher bandwidth whilst at the same time the console caches the data onto it's HDD (Hard Disk Drive) also buffering unread data when a game is not accessing the Blu-Ray Drive.The Console's Hard Drive is a 2.5 inch HDD running at 5400RPM. Contains 500GB of storage. You can change this just like in the PS3. Due to how the game load on to the PS4 (Installation process)I can advise upgrading to a SSD (Solid State Drive) if you intend to benefit from the PS4's performance. It will offer you shorter load times, faster texture loading (the shift from the hard drive to the RAM) and overall a general smoother experience. It could improve any possible lag. However I don't advise having less than 250GB of storage since modern games eat up a lot of memory. However if you don't fancy spending much money even a 7200RPM HDD or a Hybrid HDD will be good enough. Might as well shove 1-2TBs in there which you're at it.This also improves the boot up time of the console.*Other additional stuff*The PS4 has a 802.11 b/g/n Wifi connectivity, a huge improvement over the PS3's G limited bandwidth. Thanks to this move you can now download all your games at maximum fibre optic speeds and make the most out of your super fast internet. If you don't have internet faster than 10 Mega Bits then you will see no difference other than slightly lower latency during online gaming aka reduced lag.An Ethernet port - For those who prefer a more stable and faster connection to the router.An Auxiliary port for the Playstation Camera.HDMI & Optical Audio port2x USB 3.0 ports (faster than the PS3's USB 2.0 ports) USB 3.0 is 10 times faster than USB 2.0. It can transfer up 4.8 Gigabits per second (480mb/s). Offers up to 900mA of power, at the same time as better power efficiency with even less power at idle states per port.2.1 Bluetooth connectivity + EDR.The console does not support analog audio/video outputs (You will need a new TV if it doesn't support HD)I am probably missing a few other stuff however this is all i can remember off the top of my head for "Other additional stuff".*PSU (Power Supply Unit) and Power Consumption + Cooling*The PS4 has an internal universal 110-240v AC power supply. It offers a maximum of 250w power rating. Which is your average power supply limit from a standard desktop.AMD manage to make the APU of the machine a pretty low power efficient one especially since it contains 8 physical cores.Depending on what you're doing on the console the power consumption will vary. Of course it will consume more during gaming compared to idling on menu. However rest assured, the PS4 can only consume up to 250 watts a second.The PS4's cooling system is a single centrifugal fan spinning at about . It draws air in from both sides of the console, then splits the flow above and below the Motherboard before going into the fan from bottom to top. The exhaust fan then calls the main APU which is connected to a heat pipe from the heatsink. The exhaust passes to the main power supply before it blows out of the rear of the console.#Added 09/03/15 - Mind you this is one quiet piece of hardware. It does produce a bit of heat whilst gaming (So don't shove this in a confined space if you care about its longevity) however causing a speed up on the fans regardless this console's noise peak is still quieter than my desktop on idle (My gaming PC is very loud. During gaming it sounds 3/4 as loud as a hoover due to not using liquid cooling and heavy overclocks + one fan is a Noctura 3k RPM Fan which is known to be loud) So as a standard noise to me this is extremely quiet, footsteps are louder. However people have different noise opinions when it comes to loudness so I'll just say its alot quieter than the PS3.#Added 15/03/15 - Also forgot to mention that the PS4 vibrates and does make some noise (nothing unreasonable of course) when the disc drive is in use however when it turns off the console is next to silent.Features? - Less technical now shall i say.The PS4 offers a lot of new features. Its using an OS called "Orbis OS"I must say the new user interface is some what of an improvement over the PS3's XMB Crossbar interface. Overall more fluent and certainly easier access to social media. It is possible to multitask during gameplay too unlike on the PS3.The interface is also customisable.The PS4's DualShock 4 Controller offers a new share button, a touch pad, a built in motion sensor, mono audio speaker and touch controls. Also the quality feels some what stronger and more sturdy as to the PS3's DualShock 3 Controller.DualShock 4 also uses a micro-USB, All the same buttons as the the PS3's Controller but with an added Share button. Options button has Select and Start merged.There is a light bar with colours to measure battery life, and can be used with the Playstation camera. The light bar isn't just for show by the way. It changes colour during in game situations for example. In Tomb Raider, when you light up a torch it turns bright red.The battery is a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 1000mAh (1210mAh less than the PS Vita's Battery, 200mAh less than the PSP Slims)You get approx about 7 hours of battery life before having to recharge.The Share feature lets you "share" your gameplays as video content or even screenshots just by pressing that share button (P.S. This is the best feature for me since i have an addiction of spamming Screenshots of my favorite Final Fantasy or Video game characters during PC gaming - getting video content is a huge bonus, i might need to upgrade to a 2TB HDD just for this.)You can also stream your gameplay just like everyone else does on Twitch with PC games. (Gaining popularity is a pain, so unfortunately just an added attraction for people)The thing is so great it lets me edit the clips too using the "SHAREFactory" app.I don't know if you got a PS Vita but I do. Lets me do Remote Play over Wifi so if i am feeling lazy instead of sitting at my PC desk i just play the PS4 on my PS Vita in bed. HUGE Bonus.Due to being accustomed to cheap games on sale on Steam for PC I also like the idea of how you can get some games on both the PS4 and PS Vita for just one price. Somewhat like a bargain.PS Vita can be used as a controller as well.Voice Control. Personally i find this very tedious and useless just like in all other mobiles. Though I guess its fun to play with for a bit.Many other apps such as Twitch, Facebook, Youtube, Amazon, iPlayer, Netflix etc... Personally i don't use these at all thanks to my PC. Though the apps are optimised for easy use on the console. But if there isn't something you're looking for you can just use the internet browser implemented on the console.The PS4 browser uses a WebKit based web browser. (Improvement over PS3's browser which uses NetFront) WebKit is the same stuff which is used to make Google Chrome, and Apple's Safari. Which excels in HTML5 making it the best out of all the consoles. Unfortunately PS4 does not support flash player.Due to no backward compatibility (Hardware and reducing cost) , Sony has attempted to counter this with a "PlayStation Now" cloud-based service which offers certain titles on PS3 to be played on the PS4 via active internet connection. Though I don't know how this will perform on slower internets. I have not used this feature yet. So I can't give any experiences on lag etc...Can't forget that the PS4 is pretty much a blu-ray player too. The successor of DVDs.Irrelevant to non-PC gamers however thanks to using computer like hardware in consoles. This will allow developers to make better and easier optimisation to Console Ports for PCs. Thus improving the overall gaming industry.PS4 is region free just like the PS3 so you can get a game from the US or Japan and it will work in your PAL/EU Console. However DLCs won't due to law etc... An example will be a Japan game will only work with Japanese DLCs. Not too sure about multiplayer.You can still copy your game saves on to USB! Useful if you fancy going around a mates house or something.There is a standby mode as well which you can still download games with. Ultimate power saving feature.#Added 09/03/15 - Basically on this mode the PS4 leaves a yellow standby light line on the top side of the PS4 as opposed to no light when properly turned off. On this mode the PS4 makes no sound as if it was off. Only difference is that its like in a hibernated state, the stuff you was doing is stored on to the RAM so then you can continue the downloads you was running in this mode. So if you're downloading a game and you want to leave the house. This is the best time to shove it on standby mode to allow the game to download in a very low power consumption state. Also you can charge your controller during this state so you can download your game and fully charge the controller in preparation for when you arrive back home to continue gaming. One of my top prefered features for sure.*What's in the box*PS4 Console UnitDualShock 4 ControllerMono HeadsetCords and cables, Standard AC Cable, USB Cable for charging the controller and a HDMI for the TV.Instructions and Manuals*Summery*Great for value console. Definitely exceeded my standards for the "best bang for buck".I extremely like the design of the PS4's case. The glossy finish black on the topside of the PS4 and how the console is shaped. Very attractive and space saving "computer" shall i say :)Definitely performs better than its price offered. I can assure you that graphical wise you won't find anything prebuilt from another company offering this much power. (System Builder for Desktops for over a decade) The AMD's HD 7850/7870 graphics cards was the best for value in 2013 offering decent performance at an affordable price. They was capable of running PC games on high to max during those days. At the very worst PC games was ran at medium high, 1080p for those cards. So i can assure you you're getting your money's worth from the PS4 from a technical perspective.Don't be put off by the lack of games which was out for the consoles. The game Developers are much more familiar with working on a PC x86/64 based hardware. Consoles moving on the PC like hardware is to show attraction to developers so that more games will be created on the consoles. So expect many many more attractive games to arrive on to the market to the PS4.Thank you for your time and reading my review, It took me about 3 and a half hours or so to write this up.My aim was to inform you, the readers of what exactly is the PS4, what it contains inside the console, and what it is capable of doing. Making sure you get the full description of what the PlayStation 4 actually is.

11.2.2017

For starters I noticed many other amazon reviewers have been promoting the PS4. However after reading several I also noticed that the people are not getting the full picture of what exactly they're buying.I created this review in order to provide an in-depth technical review since i noticed the other reviewers haven't done so.I suggest reading this review if you want to know EXACTLY what you're buying.For your information, I have been a long time PC and Console gamer. I personally don't have a preference of the 2. However I specialise in PC Hardware and thought it was extremely interesting that consoles have now moved to more computer like hardware.Note: If you're a non-technical person i advise trying to understand the information provided.If you can't understand it at all, then I would then suggest skipping it.Let me just say the hardware provided inside the PS4 is some what similar to a PC worth £400+ or so and you're receiving excellent for value for performance.*Processor & Graphics*The PS4 has a Custom APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) created by AMD featuring the "Jaguar" architecture.For people who don't know what an APU is, its a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) combined.The Jaguar architecture was designed for notebooks, mini pcs and micro-servers offering low power consumption. It was created in Mid 2013. It is the successor of the older generation architecture "Bobcat". All the Jaguar based CPUs only offered up to quad cores before the announcement of the PS4.The APU has the CPUs, GPUs and shared memory controllers on the same dieThe CPU side of the APU is created on a 28nm manufacturing (smaller the nm the more transistors can be placed for efficiency as well as improved performance - however there is a limit to the amount of shrinking they can do to a chip) As a comparison the AMD FX 8350 has a 32nm manufacturing and the Intel i7 4770k has a 22nm manufacturing.The CPU uses Dual 4 Core Modules (x86-64) (Total 8 Cores) with a base clock frequency at 1.6GHz however there is an unknown uptick in speed for intensive CPU usage. My personal guess due to the PS4's maximum power consumption limit due to the PSU would be around 2.5GHz to 3GHz. Cooling is also a limiting factor to the lower GHz clock speed. Since AMD CPUs at higher clock speeds produce too much heat, the energy efficiency goes out the window and the PS4 doesn't have enough cooling potential for something like a 4GHz turbo clock. Modern games can't run at a 1.6GHz clock speed unless its featuring League of Legends graphics or something along those lines. Though ultimately the GPU is the graphics manager so there might be some optimisation i am unaware of for the consoles.Each CPU core contains a 32KB Level 1 instruction and data caches with 1 shared 2MB Level 2 cache for each module (In total 4MB Cache)The GPU side of the APU is based on the GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture.GCN is featured in 28nm graphics chips which for PCs are the HD 7000, HD 8000, and AMD R-series graphics cards. GCN is also featured in AMD's Latest APUs.I can assure you this is an extremely powerful graphics chip which they have placed in the PS4's APU. As other sources have announced, the chip is capable of producing 1.84TFLOPs which puts it almost on par with a HD 7850 / 7870 / R7 260x which are £100 graphic cards. They are considered to be the better mid range gamer cards for PC.No bias/fan boy intended however this is also dominates the Xbox One's graphical performance capabilities hence why games have better graphics on PS4 as to Xbox One. For example Thief runs at 1080p on PS4 and only 900p on Xbox One.Moving back to the main topic the GPU consist of 20CUs (Compute Units) - 2CUs are disabled meaning only 18CUs are running. This produces a total of 1152 Cores (64 cores per CU).AMD made some adjustments to the GCN architecture so that the GPU now has an additional dedicated 20GB/s bus which avoids Level 1 and Level 2 GPU cache for direct system memory access. This makes the overall system smoother during intensive graphical usage.They also added Level 2 cache support for many graphical and single compute tasks. Reducing graphical strain and general compute operations.The chip is clocked at a 800MHz frequency clock speed.Peak performance of 1.84TFLOPs / 1843.2 GFLOPsCan perform 25.6GP/s Pixel FillrateProduce a Texture Fillrate of 57.6GT/sCompare these numbers to a technical spec of an AMD R7 260x if you want to get a rough idea of what power the PS4's graphical chip has to offer.If people want to argue that the graphic card is weak. PLEASE just take a look at the price range that this console is fighting in compared to other Desktops and Laptops at this price. It's honestly the best you will get in a sub £350 PC build.This also means don't expect 4k gaming on a PS4. You need a £1500+ Gaming Desktop to even run 4K gaming.*Memory / RAM (Random Access Memory)*Now this is a really smart move from Sony. Instead of having a dedicated graphic memory which many graphic cards have they decided that the GPU and RAM should be shared. Average graphics card now have a standard of just 2GB DRAM which is more than enough for all the latest games out on the market. However higher end GPUs for PCs have 4GB DRAM which only really the higher texture games make use of. Such as 2k and 4k gaming.Incase people don't know, the GPU's DRAM is a lot faster than your typical system RAM. Modern GPUs use GDDR5 which is based off DDR3 SDRAM Memory. They have a much higher bandwidth compared to DDR3 because the GPU's GDDR5 needs to transfer data a lot faster to display the graphics.This also improves general loading times if data was to be pre-loaded into the GDDR5 RAM.GDDR5 works with 2 different clock types. A differential command clock (CK) and a forward differential write clock (WCK)The PS4 uses 16x 512MB GDDR5 Memory Chips to make 8GB of GDDR5 RAM which produces 176GB/s of Bandwidth.A CK of 1.375GHzA WCK of 2.75GHz (5500MT/s)It also features a 256 Bit Bus Width.The APU also benefits from higher clock speeds (I have read reviews and benchmarks for the AMD's A10 7850k in comparison to using standard DDR3 1600MHz and 2133MHz RAM) The faster RAM allows the APU to produce higher FPS in games due to bandwidth limitations.This being said, the combination of GDDR5 RAM and an APU creates an extremely powerful setup for gaming graphics at a cheap cost. "The most powerful APU built to date".Thanks to Sony's move on the RAM they have corrected the issues of the previous generation console. The PS3. Which believe it or not only contained 256MB of RAM. 8GB of RAM makes for future proofing. Though in my experience a maximum console's life expectancy is only about 7 years before they need to replace it with the next generation console.Unfortunately there is a drawback of using GDDR5 instead of DDR3 for system ram. Its because of the higher latency compared between the 2. This might explain for the 2nd processor they had installed for the console (Mentioned in the Additional Hardware Info).I have been also informed that the PS4 is set up to have 4GB dedicated for system memory. Which leaves the developers to have the other 4GB to work with for the games.*Additional Hardware Info*The Audio Processing Unit shares the same die as the rest of the APU components. It is a Digital signal processing SIP Block so it's pretty much the same as AMD's TrueAudio offered in their latest GPUs.Memory Controller is found on the die of the APU. As mentioned earlier is it shared by the CPU and GPU. It contains features similar to the Heterogeneous System Architecture resulting to a non-partitioned system memory meaning a portion of it is exclusively available to the GPU however its Unified allowing Zero-Copy hardware (another power saving feature).Auxiliary Processor. This is a secondary ARM Processor which is in the PS4. It contains a separate 256MB of DDR3 RAM to assist with the PS4's OS features and other background functions. Overall it adds smoothness to the interface of the PS4 making it a more fluent experience.*Storage and Optical Drive*The PS4 has a read-only optical drive which reads Blu-Ray at a speed of 6x with has a maximum read speed of 27MB/s (PS3's Blu-Ray drive only had a speed of 2x which capped it at 9MB/s)PS4 also has a hardware feature called a "on-the-fly zlib decompression module" which quickly decompresses the data on the Blu-Ray Disc which has been compressed to save space and bandwidthThis module allows higher bandwidth whilst at the same time the console caches the data onto it's HDD (Hard Disk Drive) also buffering unread data when a game is not accessing the Blu-Ray Drive.The Console's Hard Drive is a 2.5 inch HDD running at 5400RPM. Contains 500GB of storage. You can change this just like in the PS3. Due to how the game load on to the PS4 (Installation process)I can advise upgrading to a SSD (Solid State Drive) if you intend to benefit from the PS4's performance. It will offer you shorter load times, faster texture loading (the shift from the hard drive to the RAM) and overall a general smoother experience. It could improve any possible lag. However I don't advise having less than 250GB of storage since modern games eat up a lot of memory. However if you don't fancy spending much money even a 7200RPM HDD or a Hybrid HDD will be good enough. Might as well shove 1-2TBs in there which you're at it.This also improves the boot up time of the console.*Other additional stuff*The PS4 has a 802.11 b/g/n Wifi connectivity, a huge improvement over the PS3's G limited bandwidth. Thanks to this move you can now download all your games at maximum fibre optic speeds and make the most out of your super fast internet. If you don't have internet faster than 10 Mega Bits then you will see no difference other than slightly lower latency during online gaming aka reduced lag.An Ethernet port - For those who prefer a more stable and faster connection to the router.An Auxiliary port for the Playstation Camera.HDMI & Optical Audio port2x USB 3.0 ports (faster than the PS3's USB 2.0 ports) USB 3.0 is 10 times faster than USB 2.0. It can transfer up 4.8 Gigabits per second (480mb/s). Offers up to 900mA of power, at the same time as better power efficiency with even less power at idle states per port.2.1 Bluetooth connectivity + EDR.The console does not support analog audio/video outputs (You will need a new TV if it doesn't support HD)I am probably missing a few other stuff however this is all i can remember off the top of my head for "Other additional stuff".*PSU (Power Supply Unit) and Power Consumption + Cooling*The PS4 has an internal universal 110-240v AC power supply. It offers a maximum of 250w power rating. Which is your average power supply limit from a standard desktop.AMD manage to make the APU of the machine a pretty low power efficient one especially since it contains 8 physical cores.Depending on what you're doing on the console the power consumption will vary. Of course it will consume more during gaming compared to idling on menu. However rest assured, the PS4 can only consume up to 250 watts a second.The PS4's cooling system is a single centrifugal fan spinning at about . It draws air in from both sides of the console, then splits the flow above and below the Motherboard before going into the fan from bottom to top. The exhaust fan then calls the main APU which is connected to a heat pipe from the heatsink. The exhaust passes to the main power supply before it blows out of the rear of the console.#Added 09/03/15 - Mind you this is one quiet piece of hardware. It does produce a bit of heat whilst gaming (So don't shove this in a confined space if you care about its longevity) however causing a speed up on the fans regardless this console's noise peak is still quieter than my desktop on idle (My gaming PC is very loud. During gaming it sounds 3/4 as loud as a hoover due to not using liquid cooling and heavy overclocks + one fan is a Noctura 3k RPM Fan which is known to be loud) So as a standard noise to me this is extremely quiet, footsteps are louder. However people have different noise opinions when it comes to loudness so I'll just say its alot quieter than the PS3.#Added 15/03/15 - Also forgot to mention that the PS4 vibrates and does make some noise (nothing unreasonable of course) when the disc drive is in use however when it turns off the console is next to silent.Features? - Less technical now shall i say.The PS4 offers a lot of new features. Its using an OS called "Orbis OS"I must say the new user interface is some what of an improvement over the PS3's XMB Crossbar interface. Overall more fluent and certainly easier access to social media. It is possible to multitask during gameplay too unlike on the PS3.The interface is also customisable.The PS4's DualShock 4 Controller offers a new share button, a touch pad, a built in motion sensor, mono audio speaker and touch controls. Also the quality feels some what stronger and more sturdy as to the PS3's DualShock 3 Controller.DualShock 4 also uses a micro-USB, All the same buttons as the the PS3's Controller but with an added Share button. Options button has Select and Start merged.There is a light bar with colours to measure battery life, and can be used with the Playstation camera. The light bar isn't just for show by the way. It changes colour during in game situations for example. In Tomb Raider, when you light up a torch it turns bright red.The battery is a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 1000mAh (1210mAh less than the PS Vita's Battery, 200mAh less than the PSP Slims)You get approx about 7 hours of battery life before having to recharge.The Share feature lets you "share" your gameplays as video content or even screenshots just by pressing that share button (P.S. This is the best feature for me since i have an addiction of spamming Screenshots of my favorite Final Fantasy or Video game characters during PC gaming - getting video content is a huge bonus, i might need to upgrade to a 2TB HDD just for this.)You can also stream your gameplay just like everyone else does on Twitch with PC games. (Gaining popularity is a pain, so unfortunately just an added attraction for people)The thing is so great it lets me edit the clips too using the "SHAREFactory" app.I don't know if you got a PS Vita but I do. Lets me do Remote Play over Wifi so if i am feeling lazy instead of sitting at my PC desk i just play the PS4 on my PS Vita in bed. HUGE Bonus.Due to being accustomed to cheap games on sale on Steam for PC I also like the idea of how you can get some games on both the PS4 and PS Vita for just one price. Somewhat like a bargain.PS Vita can be used as a controller as well.Voice Control. Personally i find this very tedious and useless just like in all other mobiles. Though I guess its fun to play with for a bit.Many other apps such as Twitch, Facebook, Youtube, Amazon, iPlayer, Netflix etc... Personally i don't use these at all thanks to my PC. Though the apps are optimised for easy use on the console. But if there isn't something you're looking for you can just use the internet browser implemented on the console.The PS4 browser uses a WebKit based web browser. (Improvement over PS3's browser which uses NetFront) WebKit is the same stuff which is used to make Google Chrome, and Apple's Safari. Which excels in HTML5 making it the best out of all the consoles. Unfortunately PS4 does not support flash player.Due to no backward compatibility (Hardware and reducing cost) , Sony has attempted to counter this with a "PlayStation Now" cloud-based service which offers certain titles on PS3 to be played on the PS4 via active internet connection. Though I don't know how this will perform on slower internets. I have not used this feature yet. So I can't give any experiences on lag etc...Can't forget that the PS4 is pretty much a blu-ray player too. The successor of DVDs.Irrelevant to non-PC gamers however thanks to using computer like hardware in consoles. This will allow developers to make better and easier optimisation to Console Ports for PCs. Thus improving the overall gaming industry.PS4 is region free just like the PS3 so you can get a game from the US or Japan and it will work in your PAL/EU Console. However DLCs won't due to law etc... An example will be a Japan game will only work with Japanese DLCs. Not too sure about multiplayer.You can still copy your game saves on to USB! Useful if you fancy going around a mates house or something.There is a standby mode as well which you can still download games with. Ultimate power saving feature.#Added 09/03/15 - Basically on this mode the PS4 leaves a yellow standby light line on the top side of the PS4 as opposed to no light when properly turned off. On this mode the PS4 makes no sound as if it was off. Only difference is that its like in a hibernated state, the stuff you was doing is stored on to the RAM so then you can continue the downloads you was running in this mode. So if you're downloading a game and you want to leave the house. This is the best time to shove it on standby mode to allow the game to download in a very low power consumption state. Also you can charge your controller during this state so you can download your game and fully charge the controller in preparation for when you arrive back home to continue gaming. One of my top prefered features for sure.*What's in the box*PS4 Console UnitDualShock 4 ControllerMono HeadsetCords and cables, Standard AC Cable, USB Cable for charging the controller and a HDMI for the TV.Instructions and Manuals*Summery*Great for value console. Definitely exceeded my standards for the "best bang for buck".I extremely like the design of the PS4's case. The glossy finish black on the topside of the PS4 and how the console is shaped. Very attractive and space saving "computer" shall i say :)Definitely performs better than its price offered. I can assure you that graphical wise you won't find anything prebuilt from another company offering this much power. (System Builder for Desktops for over a decade) The AMD's HD 7850/7870 graphics cards was the best for value in 2013 offering decent performance at an affordable price. They was capable of running PC games on high to max during those days. At the very worst PC games was ran at medium high, 1080p for those cards. So i can assure you you're getting your money's worth from the PS4 from a technical perspective.Don't be put off by the lack of games which was out for the consoles. The game Developers are much more familiar with working on a PC x86/64 based hardware. Consoles moving on the PC like hardware is to show attraction to developers so that more games will be created on the consoles. So expect many many more attractive games to arrive on to the market to the PS4.Thank you for your time and reading my review, It took me about 3 and a half hours or so to write this up.My aim was to inform you, the readers of what exactly is the PS4, what it contains inside the console, and what it is capable of doing. Making sure you get the full description of what the PlayStation 4 actually is

18.1.2015

For starters I noticed many other amazon reviewers have been promoting the PS4. However after reading several I also noticed that the people are not getting the full picture of what exactly they're buying.I created this review in order to provide an in-depth technical review since i noticed the other reviewers haven't done so.I suggest reading this review if you want to know EXACTLY what you're buying.For your information, I have been a long time PC and Console gamer. I personally don't have a preference of the 2. However I specialise in PC Hardware and thought it was extremely interesting that consoles have now moved to more computer like hardware.Note: If you're a non-technical person i advise trying to understand the information provided.If you can't understand it at all, then I would then suggest skipping it.Let me just say the hardware provided inside the PS4 is some what similar to a PC worth £400+ or so and you're receiving excellent for value for performance.*Processor & Graphics*The PS4 has a Custom APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) created by AMD featuring the "Jaguar" architecture.For people who don't know what an APU is, its a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) combined.The Jaguar architecture was designed for notebooks, mini pcs and micro-servers offering low power consumption. It was created in Mid 2013. It is the successor of the older generation architecture "Bobcat". All the Jaguar based CPUs only offered up to quad cores before the announcement of the PS4.The APU has the CPUs, GPUs and shared memory controllers on the same die.The CPU side of the APU is created on a 28nm manufacturing (smaller the nm the more transistors can be placed for efficiency as well as improved performance - however there is a limit to the amount of shrinking they can do to a chip) As a comparison the AMD FX 8350 has a 32nm manufacturing and the Intel i7 4770k has a 22nm manufacturing.The CPU uses Dual 4 Core Modules (x86-64) (Total 8 Cores) with a base clock frequency at 1.6GHz however there is an unknown uptick in speed for intensive CPU usage. My personal guess due to the PS4's maximum power consumption limit due to the PSU would be around 2.5GHz to 3GHz. Cooling is also a limiting factor to the lower GHz clock speed. Since AMD CPUs at higher clock speeds produce too much heat, the energy efficiency goes out the window and the PS4 doesn't have enough cooling potential for something like a 4GHz turbo clock. Modern games can't run at a 1.6GHz clock speed unless its featuring League of Legends graphics or something along those lines. Though ultimately the GPU is the graphics manager so there might be some optimisation i am unaware of for the consoles.Each CPU core contains a 32KB Level 1 instruction and data caches with 1 shared 2MB Level 2 cache for each module (In total 4MB Cache)The GPU side of the APU is based on the GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture.GCN is featured in 28nm graphics chips which for PCs are the HD 7000, HD 8000, and AMD R-series graphics cards. GCN is also featured in AMD's Latest APUs.I can assure you this is an extremely powerful graphics chip which they have placed in the PS4's APU. As other sources have announced, the chip is capable of producing 1.84TFLOPs which puts it almost on par with a HD 7850 / 7870 / R7 260x which are £100 graphic cards. They are considered to be the better mid range gamer cards for PC.No bias/fan boy intended however, this also dominates the Xbox One's graphical performance capabilities hence why games have better graphics on PS4 as to Xbox One. For example Thief runs at 1080p on PS4 and only 900p on Xbox One.Moving back to the main topic the GPU consist of 20CUs (Compute Units) - 2CUs are disabled meaning only 18CUs are running. This produces a total of 1152 Cores (64 cores per CU).AMD made some adjustments to the GCN architecture so that the GPU now has an additional dedicated 20GB/s bus which avoids Level 1 and Level 2 GPU cache for direct system memory access. This makes the overall system smoother during intensive graphical usage.They also added Level 2 cache support for many graphical and single compute tasks. Reducing graphical strain and general compute operations.The chip is clocked at a 800MHz frequency clock speed.Peak performance of 1.84TFLOPs / 1843.2 GFLOPsCan perform 25.6GP/s Pixel FillrateProduce a Texture Fillrate of 57.6GT/sCompare these numbers to a technical spec of an AMD R7 260x if you want to get a rough idea of what power the PS4's graphical chip has to offer.If people want to argue that the graphic card is weak. PLEASE just take a look at the price range that this console is fighting in compared to other Desktops and Laptops at this price. It's honestly the best you will get in a sub £350 PC build.This also means don't expect 4k gaming on a PS4. You need a £1500+ Gaming Desktop to even run 4K gaming.*Memory / RAM (Random Access Memory)*Now this is a really smart move from Sony. Instead of having a dedicated graphic memory which many graphic cards have they decided that the GPU and RAM should be shared. Average graphics card now have a standard of just 2GB DRAM which is more than enough for all the latest games out on the market. However higher end GPUs for PCs have 4GB DRAM which only really the higher texture games make use of. Such as 2k and 4k gaming.Incase people don't know, the GPU's DRAM is a lot faster than your typical system RAM. Modern GPUs use GDDR5 which is based off DDR3 SDRAM Memory. They have a much higher bandwidth compared to DDR3 because the GPU's GDDR5 needs to transfer data a lot faster to display the graphics.This also improves general loading times if data was to be pre-loaded into the GDDR5 RAM.GDDR5 works with 2 different clock types. A differential command clock (CK) and a forward differential write clock (WCK)The PS4 uses 16x 512MB GDDR5 Memory Chips to make 8GB of GDDR5 RAM which produces 176GB/s of Bandwidth.A CK of 1.375GHzA WCK of 2.75GHz (5500MT/s)It also features a 256 Bit Bus Width.The APU also benefits from higher clock speeds (I have read reviews and benchmarks for the AMD's A10 7850k in comparison to using standard DDR3 1600MHz and 2133MHz RAM) The faster RAM allows the APU to produce higher FPS in games due to bandwidth limitations.This being said, the combination of GDDR5 RAM and an APU creates an extremely powerful setup for gaming graphics at a cheap cost. "The most powerful APU built to date".Thanks to Sony's move on the RAM they have corrected the issues of the previous generation console. The PS3. Which believe it or not only contained 256MB of RAM. 8GB of RAM makes for future proofing. Though in my experience a maximum console's life expectancy is only about 7 years before they need to replace it with the next generation console.Unfortunately there is a drawback of using GDDR5 instead of DDR3 for system ram. Its because of the higher latency compared between the 2. This might explain for the 2nd processor they had installed for the console (Mentioned in the Additional Hardware Info).I have been also informed that the PS4 is set up to have 4GB dedicated for system memory. Which leaves the developers to have the other 4GB to work with for the games.*Additional Hardware Info*The Audio Processing Unit shares the same die as the rest of the APU components. It is a Digital signal processing SIP Block so it's pretty much the same as AMD's TrueAudio offered in their latest GPUs.Memory Controller is found on the die of the APU. As mentioned earlier is it shared by the CPU and GPU. It contains features similar to the Heterogeneous System Architecture resulting to a non-partitioned system memory meaning a portion of it is exclusively available to the GPU however its Unified allowing Zero-Copy hardware (another power saving feature).Auxiliary Processor. This is a secondary ARM Processor which is in the PS4. It contains a separate 256MB of DDR3 RAM to assist with the PS4's OS features and other background functions. Overall it adds smoothness to the interface of the PS4 making it a more fluent experience.*Storage and Optical Drive*The PS4 has a read-only optical drive which reads Blu-Ray at a speed of 6x with has a maximum read speed of 27MB/s (PS3's Blu-Ray drive only had a speed of 2x which capped it at 9MB/s)PS4 also has a hardware feature called a "on-the-fly zlib decompression module" which quickly decompresses the data on the Blu-Ray Disc which has been compressed to save space and bandwidthThis module allows higher bandwidth whilst at the same time the console caches the data onto it's HDD (Hard Disk Drive) also buffering unread data when a game is not accessing the Blu-Ray Drive.The Console's Hard Drive is a 2.5 inch HDD running at 5400RPM. Contains 500GB of storage. You can change this just like in the PS3. Due to how the game load onto the PS4 (Installation process)I can advise upgrading to a SSD (Solid State Drive) if you intend to benefit from the PS4's performance. It will offer you shorter load times, faster texture loading (the shift from the hard drive to the RAM) and overall a general smoother experience. It could improve any possible lag. However I don't advise having less than 250GB of storage since modern games eat up a lot of memory. However if you don't fancy spending much money even a 7200RPM HDD or a Hybrid HDD will be good enough. Might as well shove 1-2TBs in there whilst you're at it.This also improves the boot up time of the console.*Other additional stuff*The PS4 has a 802.11 b/g/n Wifi connectivity, a huge improvement over the PS3's G limited bandwidth. Thanks to this move you can now download all your games at maximum fibre optic speeds and make the most out of your super fast internet. If you don't have internet faster than 10 Mega Bits then you will see no difference other than slightly lower latency during online gaming aka reduced lag.An Ethernet port - For those who prefer a more stable and faster connection to the router.An Auxiliary port for the Playstation Camera.HDMI & Optical Audio port2x USB 3.0 ports (faster than the PS3's USB 2.0 ports) USB 3.0 is 10 times faster than USB 2.0. It can transfer up 4.8 Gigabits per second (480mb/s). Offers up to 900mA of power, at the same time as better power efficiency with even less power at idle states per port.2.1 Bluetooth connectivity + EDR.The console does not support analog audio/video outputs (You will need a new TV if it doesn't support HD)I am probably missing a few other stuff however this is all i can remember off the top of my head for "Other additional stuff".*PSU (Power Supply Unit) and Power Consumption + Cooling*The PS4 has an internal universal 110-240v AC power supply. It offers a maximum of 250w power rating. Which is your average power supply limit from a standard desktop.AMD manage to make the APU of the machine a pretty low power efficient one especially since it contains 8 physical cores.Depending on what you're doing on the console the power consumption will vary. Of course it will consume more during gaming compared to idling on menu. However rest assured, the PS4 can only consume up to 250 watts a second.The PS4's cooling system is a single centrifugal fan. It draws air in from both sides of the console, then splits the flow above and below the Motherboard before going into the fan from bottom to top. The exhaust fan then calls the main APU which is connected to a heat pipe from the heatsink. The exhaust passes to the main power supply before it blows out of the rear of the console.#Added 09/03/15 - Mind you this is one quiet piece of hardware. It does produce a bit of heat whilst gaming (So don't shove this in a confined space if you care about its longevity) however causing a speed up on the fans regardless this console's noise peak is still quieter than my desktop on idle (My gaming PC is very loud. During gaming it sounds 3/4 as loud as a hoover due to not using liquid cooling and heavy overclocks + one fan is a Noctura 3k RPM Fan which is known to be loud) So as a standard noise to me this is extremely quiet, footsteps are louder. However people have different noise opinions when it comes to loudness so I'll just say its alot quieter than the PS3.#Added 15/03/15 - Also forgot to mention that the PS4 vibrates and does make some noise (nothing unreasonable of course) when the disc drive is in use however when it turns off the console is next to silent.Features? - Less technical now shall i say.The PS4 offers a lot of new features. Its using an OS called "Orbis OS"I must say the new user interface is some what of an improvement over the PS3's XMB Crossbar interface. Overall more fluent and certainly easier access to social media. It is possible to multitask during gameplay too unlike on the PS3.The interface is also customisable.The PS4's DualShock 4 Controller offers a new share button, a touch pad, a built in motion sensor, mono audio speaker and touch controls. Also the quality feels some what stronger and more sturdy as to the PS3's DualShock 3 Controller.DualShock 4 also uses a micro-USB, All the same buttons as the the PS3's Controller but with an added Share button. Options button has Select and Start merged.There is a light bar with colours to measure battery life, and can be used with the Playstation camera. The light bar isn't just for show by the way. It changes colour during in game situations for example. In Tomb Raider, when you light up a torch it turns bright red.The battery is a lithium-ion battery with a capacity of 1000mAh (1210mAh less than the PS Vita's Battery, 200mAh less than the PSP Slims)You get approx about 7 hours of battery life before having to recharge.The Share feature lets you "share" your gameplays as video content or even screenshots just by pressing that share button (P.S. This is the best feature for me since i have an addiction of spamming Screenshots of my favorite Final Fantasy or Video game characters during PC gaming - getting video content is a huge bonus, i might need to upgrade to a 2TB HDD just for this.)You can also stream your gameplay just like everyone else does on Twitch with PC games. (Gaining popularity is a pain, so unfortunately just an added attraction for people)The thing is so great it lets me edit the clips too using the "SHAREFactory" app.I don't know if you got a PS Vita but I do. Lets me do Remote Play over Wifi so if i am feeling lazy instead of sitting at my PC desk i just play the PS4 on my PS Vita in bed. HUGE Bonus.Due to being accustomed to cheap games on sale on Steam for PC I also like the idea of how you can get some games on both the PS4 and PS Vita for just one price. Somewhat like a bargain.PS Vita can be used as a controller as well.Voice Control. Personally i find this very tedious and useless just like in all other mobiles. Though I guess its fun to play with for a bit.Many other apps such as Twitch, Facebook, Youtube, Amazon, iPlayer, Netflix etc... Personally i don't use these at all thanks to my PC. Though the apps are optimised for easy use on the console. But if there isn't something you're looking for you can just use the internet browser implemented on the console.The PS4 browser uses a WebKit based web browser. (Improvement over PS3's browser which uses NetFront) WebKit is the same stuff which is used to make Google Chrome, and Apple's Safari. Which excels in HTML5 making it the best out of all the consoles. Unfortunately PS4 does not support flash player.Due to no backward compatibility (Hardware and reducing cost) , Sony has attempted to counter this with a "PlayStation Now" cloud-based service which offers certain titles on PS3 to be played on the PS4 via active internet connection. Though I don't know how this will perform on slower internets. I have not used this feature yet. So I can't give any experiences on lag etc...Can't forget that the PS4 is pretty much a blu-ray player too. The successor of DVDs.Irrelevant to non-PC gamers however thanks to using computer like hardware in consoles. This will allow developers to make better and easier optimisation to Console Ports for PCs. Thus improving the overall gaming industry.PS4 is region free just like the PS3 so you can get a game from the US or Japan and it will work in your PAL/EU Console. However DLCs won't due to law etc... An example will be a Japan game will only work with Japanese DLCs. Not too sure about multiplayer.You can still copy your game saves on to USB! Useful if you fancy going around a mates house or something.There is a standby mode as well which you can still download games with. Ultimate power saving feature.#Added 09/03/15 - Basically on this mode the PS4 leaves a yellow standby light line on the top side of the PS4 as opposed to no light when properly turned off. On this mode the PS4 makes no sound as if it was off. Only difference is that its like in a hibernated state, the stuff you was doing is stored on to the RAM so then you can continue the downloads you was running in this mode. So if you're downloading a game and you want to leave the house. This is the best time to shove it on standby mode to allow the game to download in a very low power consumption state. Also you can charge your controller during this state so you can download your game and fully charge the controller in preparation for when you arrive back home to continue gaming. One of my top prefered features for sure.*What's in the box*PS4 Console UnitDualShock 4 ControllerMono HeadsetCords and cables, Standard AC Cable, USB Cable for charging the controller and a HDMI for the TV.Instructions and Manuals*Summary*Great for value console. Definitely exceeded my standards for the "best bang for buck".I extremely like the design of the PS4's case. The glossy finish black on the topside of the PS4 and how the console is shaped. Very attractive and space saving "computer" shall i say :)Definitely performs better than its price offered. I can assure you that graphical wise you won't find anything prebuilt from another company offering this much power. (System Builder for Desktops for over a decade) The AMD's HD 7850/7870 graphics cards was the best for value in 2013 offering decent performance at an affordable price. They was capable of running PC games on high to max during those days. At the very worst PC games was ran at medium high, 1080p for those cards. So i can assure you you're getting your money's worth from the PS4 from a technical perspective.Don't be put off by the lack of games which was out for the consoles. The game Developers are much more familiar with working on a PC x86/64 based hardware. Consoles moving on the PC like hardware is to show attraction to developers so that more games will be created on the consoles. So expect many many more attractive games to arrive on to the market to the PS4.Thank you for your time and reading my review, It took me about 3 and a half hours or so to write this up.My aim was to inform you, the readers of what exactly is the PS4, what it contains inside the console, and what it is capable of doing. Making sure you get the full description of what the PlayStation 4 actually is.

10.12.2015

Ever since I have been into consoles from the late 80’s, there has always been rivalries between manufacturers. Initially, it was Sega and Nintendo, then it was Nintendo and Sony and finally Sony and Microsoft. All this rivalry leads to childish arguments between the gaming community over which console is the best. Of course, conversations like this are purely academic as personal preference will always win the day. What this rivalry has done though, it to force manufacturers to constantly up their game to stay one step ahead of the competition.This is what happened in November 2013 when Sony and Microsoft released their new consoles. Both were significantly better than the previous generation with lots of new features.We had previously been an Xbox 360 household but were not that impressed with the direction Microsoft were heading so we opted to move to the PS4 as our console of choice.Having previously owned the PS2, this was not our first experience of Sony but things had changed greatly since the early 2000’s when the PS2 was king.Unboxing the PS4There is something about unboxing a console that brings out the big kid in me. Even though the PS4 was a gift for my son, I still took great pleasure in helping him unbox the console. Once we had got past the boring stuff such as the power cables and HDMI connector, we removed the console itself and the one joypad that comes with the console.Having been used to the Xbox 360, I was amazed how small the PS4 was in comparison. Although width ways it was a similar size, it was just under half the height and much more attractive to look at. The controller was similar to the one I was used to when playing on the PS2 with the main differences being that it was now wireless and had a responsive pad in the middle of the controller. Sony have included what can only be described as the cheapest looking microphone and earphone that money could buy. Having come from using the 360 standard headset, this contraption almost seems like an insult to gamers. Believe me, within a day or so of purchasing the PS4, you will be in the market for a dedicated headset to replace the out of the box offering.The final component in the box was the USB cable to connect the controller to the PS4. Whilst this could be used to play games, its main function is to charge the controller, usually when the PS4 is powered down into sleep mode.The PS4 came with a small amount of literature in the box. The quick setup guide was easy to follow and allowed us to configure the system in a short amount of time. The setup was pretty standard for any device connected to the Internet these days. We had to provide the network SSID and key as well as create an account to be used on the console and that was literally it. Once the network connection had been established, the PS4 immediately downloaded the latest firmware updates off the PSN (PlayStation Network) to ensure it was up to date in terms of functionality and security patches.Navigating the dashboardComing from the 360, it took a while to get used to Sony’s dashboard layout. I was never really a fan of the Microsoft tiles dashboard and I’m not really a great fan of Sony’s offering either if I’m being honest. Personally, I think both companies have tried to be too clever with their Interfaces and have taken the simplicity out of them. Maybe I’m getting too old for gaming or maybe Sony and Microsoft have lost the plot!On the PS4, your homescreen is designed to resemble something like a social media feed. You are able to see what your friends were last playing along with any achievements they have recently gained. This is a nice touch but I would much rather see things that were specific to me such as updates to any games I had purchased or my recently played games.From this screen you can easily navigate to other functionality that the PS4 offers such as music services, video on demand, settings, etc. One of the most common screens you are likely to visit will be the Sony store. This is where you can purchase games for the PS4 which is obviously the main reason you have bought the console for. Games can be purchased for real money by using a pre-registered credit card or by using vouchers that can be entered by scratching off a serial number on scratch cards, purchased from the usual high street stores. A word of warning, digital download games from the Sony store are extremely expensive as they are not discounted like they usually are on the high street or at places like Amazon. This is something you need to weight up. Do you pay a premium to get the game instantly or would you rather get the physical disk and usually pay a little bit less. Even if you do buy the physical disk, you will still need to install the game onto the hard disk to play it so at the end of the day, the game will be run in the same way regardless of the purchase method.One thing I do like about the PS4 dashboard, and operating system in general is that it now offers full multitasking. If you are in a game, you can quickly jump back to the dashboard to perform another function, such as change the song or maybe even purchase another game. During this time, your game will still run, just as it would if you were in full control of it on your screen. Although it might not sound like anything special, this is a really good feature which you will use time and time again when you see the benefit of it.The PS4 controllerI have to say, initially I struggled badly with the controller. Having used the 360 controller for 5 years, I was really surprised how different the PS4 controller was. The most obvious issue I had was that the two analogue sticks were placed differently. On the 360, they were at different heights which felt more natural to the way I held the controller. The PS4 sticks were at the same height and this just felt wrong for the first few weeks. This is not really a fault of the controller as the PS2 controller has the same design and I had no problem using this in the early 2000’s. This will only give you issues if you are coming from Xbox to PS4.The PS4 controller now has what can only be described as a trackpad in its middle section. Certain games make use of this where you use the trackpad like you would a screen on a mobile phone. By moving your finger over the trackpad, you are able to manoeuvre an object around the screen. The controller also has a share button which allows for quick streaming to third party services like Twitch.One problem we have found with the controller through use is that the covering is starting to come off the left analogue stick. This isn’t impacting on using the controller at the moment but it is an inconvenience. As the joypads alone are about £50, I would expect the build quality to be a little better than this.Additional ServicesThe PS4 is a full multimedia centre and not just a games console. For the exhibitionists amongst you, you can broadcast your gameplay in real time to the rest of the world by signing up and streaming to Twitch. This opens up so many opportunities to make extra money as some of the best streamers get paid handsomely in ad revenue and subscriptions to their channels. If this appeals to you, you are going to want to purchase the PlayStation camera and a good headset so that viewers can interact with you more professionally.The PS4 also allows you to watch video streams from services such as YouTube, Amazon Prime and Netflix. If you’ve got a smart TV or a set top box capable of receiving these services, this functionality will not appeal to you but if you don’t have any of these capabilities, the PS4 is a great way of delivering extra viewing content to your TV.Sony also now have a partnership with Spotify so that you can stream your playlists and other saved content through your PS4. This content is even available when you are playing games thanks to the multimedia capabilities of the console.PlayStation NetworkThe PlayStation Network is the name given to Sony’s online community. Every console owner will have a basic membership to PSN which will allow them to download game demos, purchase new titles and get news and reviews about the latest games. Premium membership, known as PS+ will give you additional content and will also allow you to play online games which is the main reason that people will buy it. PS+ comes in various packages ranging from 90 to 365 days. Personally, I think it is a bit of a cheeky to ask users to pay even more to get the full potential out of their games. It does seem that it is now an accepted model amongst games players as I tend not to hear many people complaining about it anymore.The techy bitI’ve deliberately left the technical section towards the end of this review so I didn’t lose half the readership early on. The PS4 is technologically a work of art with exceptional build quality and components.The processor comprises of 8 cores which means it is capable of managing 8 separate threads of information at any one time. When you compare this to the latest top of the range i7 computers with 4 (some have 6 or 8) cores, you can see how powerful the PS4 really is. There is also a background CPU which manages the downloading of data and the streaming of gameplay so as not to disrupt the normal performance of the console.The dedicated graphics card in the PS4 is an AMD Radeon GPU. This is similar to that used in the Xbox One so graphical display on both of these consoles will be similar but other factors such as CPU and memory will ultimately decide which console is better at rendering its display.The PS4 has 8Gb RAM which is the amount now recommended to run an everyday PC which will be surfing the web, listening to music or playing intensive games (or maybe all of these). When you allocate all this memory to the function of games playing, you have a beast on your hands. Games developers can be confident that apart from the operating system, the full allocation of memory will be theirs to use, making for some spectacular games.The hard disk drive in the PS4 is bordering on the skimpy side. Although 500Gb sounds a lot, in reality it will only allow you to have 10 games stored at any one time. As games continue to get better, and ultimately bigger, this number could drop over the lifetime of the console. Sony have already started to address this issue by releasing some consoles with a 1 terrabyte (1024Gb) hard disk. I would expect this to become commonplace within the next 12 months.Finally, the PS4 optical disk drive is a Blu-Ray reader. As well as reading game data, you will be able to watch your full Blu-Ray movie collection via your PS4 console.FaultsThere is no denying that the PS4 is a feat of technological excellence but it still has its faults, just like any electronic device that has ever been made. A couple of the most annoying ones we have encountered are listed below.Disk randomly ejectsPeriodically, the disk in the drive will automatically eject itself. There is no logical reason why this would happen and there is no set time or chain of events which trigger this issue. It is so rare and intermittent that we don’t really worry about it. It’s a slight inconvenience when it happens but it is just a case of pushing the disk back in and continuing with your game.Random beepsMy son has reported random beeps coming from the console, mainly at night. This issue started when the console had been turned on after a period of inactivity. He assumes that it is down to a build-up of static around the sensors underneath the buttons as the beeps are the same as you would hear if you physically pressed the buttons. Again, this is an intermittent issue which we are prepared to live with.VerdictThroughout this review, I have been deliberately critical of the PS4. For this console to have been a worthwhile purchase, it needed to offer a vast improvement in functionality and evolution over my Xbox 360. In my opinion, the PS4 succeeds in both of these measures and is a beautiful console. It was a big decision to make the jump from Microsoft to Sony and it is not one that I regret. The PS4 is more aesthetically pleasing than the Xbox One, retail figures point to the fact that the PS4 has greatly outsold the Xbox and I believe it is an all-round better console than its competitor. My major gripe would be that the games catalogue is not as big as I would like it to be for a console which is now two years old. This is being addressed as games are now rolling out at frequent intervals but we are still waiting for the first truly next-gen game (in my opinion).

1.12.2013

The Playstation 4 is simply a console 4 the gamers, hence the number 4.Design-At first glance the PS4 is a sleek, small machine which takes up little room and features no power brick so no fussing around. If you have other consoles and were worried about space, you needn't worry, this is smaller than a PS3 slim.The playstation 4 in terms of design is a a stunning object using a matte finish alongside a cool glossy front which you can take off to upgrade the hard-drive, meaning you can install larger ones, plus SSD's which can make games load and install even faster and thus making it more future-proof.The console is one appealing object which others will compliment. It's something which you want to show off,rather than hide. The fact the power brick is built-in is a nice plus, as it means no figuring out where to place and means no taking up even more space.The console features two touch sensitive buttons, off and on switch and eject button. The PS4 has one HDMI port two USB ports on the front, ethernet port and a port to plug in your playstation camera.Overall the console is dressed to impress and the design is future-proof meaning you don't worry about how large the hard-drive is as it is upgradeable.UI-The UI is improved and has a what's new section which is similar to the facebook homepage where it pulls new things such as, what is happening with your friends, making is more sociable when compared to the PS3. The new Dynamic menu reminds me of the XMB but more simplified and easy to get to things you want. For example when you load it up, you'll be taken to a page where it shows all the stuff you last used and stuff you want-Such as games installed and features TV apps such as BBC iplayer and Netflix.Where it impresses the most is how fast and slick it all is, not to mention seamless, for example, you could be playing a game and feel a sudden urge to want some tv, but are annoyed how you'd have to quit and go all the way back to the Dashboard or XMB and all the way to Netflix and back to the game after you've done. Well, not anymore! Now you can seamlessly pause the game, press the home button on the controller and load up netflix and guess what? You can go back to the game, where it paused and resume, vice-vera with Netflix. The seamlessness is useful and intuitive. The new Dynamic is also intuitive, with a press on the d-pad up, you can access settings and party chat quickly and and social features.Social features and integration-With a simple but powerful click on the new 'Share' button on the Dualshock 4 you can share edit and share videos or screenshots on facebook or PSN. With the PS4 continually recording the last 15 minutes of gameplay, you can edit and share it with your friends on PSN or Facebook. With the new Playstation app you can even message your PSN friends on the move, got a Vita? Well, you can hook it up to wi-fi and speak to your friends on the move, if they are on PSN, with up-to 8 player party-chat.Another feature that you can access once you clicked on the mighty share button is broadcast, it is how it sounds, enabling you to broadcast live gameplay on Twitch and other services. There is also a playroom feature where you can broadcast you and anyone in your room and people have used this to talk about video-games and even a show where people can call in! It's Rad!What's even more awesome is you can place your console in a standby mode to charge the controller and get automatic updates and download games while in this state, something which you couldn't do on the PS3! You can also connect a bluetooth keyboard if you can't be bothered to type using the controller, you can disable vibration in your controller if you want too!Overall, the social features are heavily integrated into the experience and UI, with the UI being simple and unobstructive it makes it easier to use and faster than the old XMB.List of common social features on PS4-15 second voice messagesText messaging2000 friend limit8 player cross game party chatGames, games, games-Did I say that enough?Yes, the PS4 is a gaming machine first and foremost, however there are TV streaming services, should you want or need them.Whilst the Playstation 4 lacks a killer launch title, the launch titles do fine at demonstrating the future. With simple games like Resogun representing the commitment to indie games and developers and AAA games such as Killzone showing the power of the PS4 and Knack showing the commitment to family friendly platformers. The PS4 has gamers covered. The future is bright, with over 170 games in development and 67 being exclusive, you won't have a gaming draught anymore! Every significant third-party developer is supporting the PS4, so rest assured your investment is safe. With games such as Uncharted, The order, Infamous, Driveclub and indie-gamers on board the library has potential to be even larger than the PS2!The Power of the PS4-There is no denying the PS4 is the most powerful and future proof console, where games will run at 1080p with some even running at 60FPS a second, there is denying the beauty and awe of next-gen games and with the PS4 being such a powerful object it's amazing how small it is! The PS4 is using off the self pc parts, such as a X86-64 8 core AMD processor which means the PS4 is easier to develop for and easier to juice all the power out of the machine. Game development times will be shorter, Knack would've taken an extra year, if developed on another system.Given how notoriously hard the PS3 it was to develop for, because of the complex cell processor, it meant multi-format games looked worse and exclusive games took longer to come out and with some rushed horrible looking ports, it put off developers and meant that the PS3 had rocky few years with lack of titles as developers had to get their head around the processors design.It's nice to see the PS4 is more approachable and easier to develop for. Meaning more games, shorter development times and ease of use for indie developers-Put it this way, you're going to see loads more games than were ever possible with the PS3. And another plus-Multi-format games will look the BEST on PS4, due to being more powerful and easier to develop for!Technical specs-PS4 has 10 times more processing power vs the PS3 and includes unified 8GB of high-speed GDDR5 RAM, an eight core X86 CPU and a 500GB hard-driveOther specs- Console Hardware SpecificationsCPUNumber of Cores/Threads: 8/8 [1]Frequency: speculated to be running a base clock speed of 1.6 Ghz on a 2.75 Ghz capable chipShared L2 Cache: 2 x 2 MB [2]Manufacturing Process: 28 nm [3]Custom CPU for background processing such as downloading and recording gameplay.GPU: AMD next-generation Radeon based graphics enginePeak Shader Throughput: 69.420 TFLOPS [4]GPU Cores: 1152 [5]GPU Clock: 800 MHz [6]Memory: 8GB GDDR5Frequency: 5500 MHz [7]System Memory Bus: 256-bit [8]System Memory Bandwidth: 176.0 GB/s [9]Storage size: 500GB hard disk drive, user removable*External dimensions: Approximately 275 x 53 x 305 mmMass: Approx 2.8 kg (6.2 lb)BD/DVD drive (read only): BD x 6 CAV, DVD x 8 CAV, Blu-ray and DVD playback, no audio CD supportInput/Output: Super-Speed USBx (USB 3.0) port x2, AUX port x1Networking: Ethernet x1, IEEE 802.11b/g/n (2.4 GHz only), Bluetooth 2.1+EDRAV output: HDMI out port, digital out optical port. SD output is supported for lower-resolution displays. HD output at 720p, 1080p and 1080i.Included Peripherals: PlayStation 4 system x1, Wireless controller (DualShock 4) x1, Mono headset x1, AC power cord x1, HDMI cable x1, USB cable x1Stereoscopic Output: Hardware supportedSource IGNWhat's in the box?PlayStation 4 System (Jet Black)DUALSHOCK 4 Wireless ControllerHDMI CablePower CableWired Mono HeadsetUSB Charging CablePlaystation Plus-For 39.99 a year, you will be able to access multi-player games and play games such as COD with friends. Whilst, this may sound seem steep, Sony has given us value out of this service. Playstation plus features a instant game collection where you are able to download free games. At the moment the free games are Contrast and Resogun, but expect this to grow every mouth. Playstation plus will save you hundreds of pounds on games which further enhances the value of the service.Other features-The Playstation will support your blu-rays, not 3d blu-ray though, promised to be patched however. It supports DVD's game discs obviously. However there is a lack of MP3 and CD support, but these have been promised to be patched in.Playstation Camera and playroom-The Playstation Camera may or not be essential to you. If you want to broadcast gameplay, it is, as without it, you won't be able to display your face alongside gameplay nor will you be able to play playroom, which is simple and fun and will be updated in the future.Playroom is a augmented reality games which demonstrates the features of the playstation camera. Basically playroom features a floating robot which you can interact with. It can also interact with the controller, as little robots will infect your controller and you press buttons and tilt to give an impression they are living in the controller. It's a game you will show off to your family and friends as a gimmick, some needless fun.Is it worth investing in the eye? Maybe not, if you don't want to broadcast live gameplay.Voice commands can be used with the mic provided, so it only matters if you want to broadcast gameplay with your face alongside the gameplay.Dualshock 4-The new dualshock is a massive improvement from number 3. This time the design has been given an overhaul, it still features sixaxis so you can play Flower. However this time it is different, as it includes a touchpad, which basically allows you to swipe on the pad, similar to a touchscreen, but with no screen. Your swipes will allow you to interact with games and has huge potential for indie games, the touchpad is the same one, as featured on the vita, but on the front rather than back. The new controller also has a loudspeaker, like the wiimote, so you can hear audio-recordings from games, which is awesome, as sometimes you can barely hear those in some games. It also adds to the immersion.The new dualshock is slightly bigger and more ergonomic in terms of user comfort. It has elongated, enlarged grips which fits the entirety of ones palm and is covered with a matte finish which allows the controller to feel more comfortable in ones hand, it just feels right. It is maybe the most comfortable controller I have ever used.The D-pad and and face buttons are perfectly spaced and this time the triggers actually feel like triggers making FPS games more enjoyable. I no longer feel discomfort in using the pad when compared to the dualshock 3.The dualshock 4 is rechargeable via Micro USB and so you can hook it up to any USB port and charge it. Very useful.The thumb sticks are the best on any pad ever made. They have a matt/rubberised finish which is comfortable and the shape is smaller than the 3's which means there is less of a slip and less of a deadzone, making your actions more precise and not needing auto-aim...In-fact this motivated Guerrilla games, the Killzone developers, to turn auto-aim off.Overall, the PS4 controller is one of the most comfortable gamepads I've ever used and is a huge improvement over the dualshock 3, which I didn't like. It is definitely one of my all time favourites and has potential to become even more awesome when developers start to utilise the touchpad more, given it is intuitive in killzone, it is just the start.In summary, the PS4 is 4 games and is the most powerful console this generation. The PS4 is focused around gaming with strong social integration. It has an intuitive UI which is further enhanced by a strong-set of social features. The PS4 has an awesome controller and is a small machine which has a sleek design and will compliment your living room. The PS4 might sound like a gaming machine, but has on demand services which includes Netflix, BBC iplayer LoveFilm and so on. The PS4 has a bright future which will be further enhanced by updates which will make the software even stronger. Whilst it might lack CD and MP3 support at launch these things are promised to be patched in the future. Overall, the future is bright for the Playstation 4.

6.12.2013

I am going to add some comments about my experience in buying the console from amazon but first here are my thoughts on the playstation 4.What can I say, since opening the box on Monday I have only turned it off in order to go to work and believe me if there was any way I could have avoided going to work in order to continue game time with my new console I would have. The Console itself to look at is very slick and looks well the set up in my living room.Controller: The new dual shock 4 is excellent and feels nice in your hands compared to the very much outdated dual shock 3. I do have one slight complaint with the controller and that is the batter life,it will only last about 6 to 7 hours on a full charge which probably sounds like a long time, but when you compare the batter life you got from the dual shock 3 it is in fact only a small a amount of battery life.U.I: The user interface is very quick and easy to use compare to the PS3 and at 1080P it absolutely pops when on my HD TV.Graphics: As above at 1080P the graphics are beautiful, in full HD they really stand out, I got Killzone and Fifa 14 for launch and you have to look at Killzone in complete awe at times, especially when walking around the early levels. A Massive step up in graphics and given that this is only a launch game, what we have to come over the next 10 years is an exciting prospect. I would like to point out that I have 2 TV's in my house the main one in the living room where the playstation now lives is a full HD 1080P TV and so on this the playstation looks phenomenal. However my other TV is only a HD ready TV therefore it only runs at 720P and I would say that the playstation does not look as good. In this regard I would imagine that if anyone is looking at the new playstation through one of the these TV's will probably think that the graphics aren't that much to write home about. So to anyone reading this please bare that in mind when looking to get any of the next gen consoles.Remote play: ever since the playstation 4 was announced this is the feature that I have been most excited about, being a married means that I do not get as much time to play games as I used to when I was still living with my parents, which for an avid gamer is one of my biggest frustrations. I have had this discussion with many of my friends and work colleagues ever since I moved in with my partner. She doesn't seem to mind what I am doing as long as I am in the room where as if I was to say I am going upstairs to play on the computer, if my wife has nothing to or nothing specific to watch always seemed to get met with the same sentence "AGAIN, you spend more time with that thing than me" leaving me with only three options.1. have the argument where in the end my gaming experience is left spoiled as I spend the whole time feeling guilty so I don't enjoy playing and end up only turning the computer off after 30 minutes and going back downstairs feeling annoyed.2. Only play on the computer when my Mrs has gone out to either go shopping or go see her friends which is few and far between.3 wait until she has gone to sleep to try and get a couple hours game time in. (I must say this never happens as by the time she has eventually fallen asleep, I am too tired myself to bother going back downstairs and put the computer on.I would imagine that someone at Sony must suffer with this same problem because remote play seems to have been designed just for this. People will probably say that it has been done to try and boost sales of the VITA well let me tell you if you have a family and cant to play on your playstation 4 as much as you would like and you don't have a VITA, don't think about it just buy one. This has been one of the main reasons why I have been able to truly enjoy my playstation 4 since receiving it. If my wife has ever had anything to say about me playing on it, I have just let her have control of the TV, sat back and carried on playing my game and I have to say I have loved it. As for how remote play works, the graphics are not going to look exactly like your PS4 does on your HD TV, it is scalled down from 60 frames per second to 30, which sounds like a lot but seen as how you are playing the game on a much smaller screen it still looks amazing and far better than any VITA game you can play that is made specifically for the console. I have to say I do not have the fastest internet. I have sky broadband in which I only get about 7.5 MBPS therefore if I am sat in the same room as my playstation I have no problems what so ever it runs great and there is no lag or cut off. However I have noticed that when I am upstairs there are at times, which are very few and far between, where I have experienced some lag or pixilation and had to pause the game for a few seconds but it will very quickly sort itself out and I can carry on gaming. Apart from this small issue remote play is everything I hoped it would be and more and a massive reason to invest in the playstation 4.All in all I can honestly say, I love the Playstation 4, it is truly the best console I have ever had. It probably sounds like I am a playstation fan boy. But believe me when I say I am not, I have owned pretty much very console going since the NES days and I have owned both previous xbox's but I have to say that the playstation this is my favourite. I have not been as excited by a games machine since got my NES back when I was 6. At times it feels like they have made it just for me as it meets all of my needs and wants. I will probably end up investing in an xbox one further down the line, I say probably because at the moment I can't imagine ever wanting to put my playstation down.When they are available again to buy, don't think about just buy one you won't regret it.Here are my comments with regards to my order arriving late which are mainly aimed at amazon but as I am writing this I might as well get down on paper what we had to go through to get this amazing machine.My wife ordered my PS4 as a Christmas present back in June of this year so that it would arrive for launch. Needless to say my excitement on the 29th November was beyond measure has I had managed to persuade her to let me have the system early. Throughout the 28th November, we monitored Amazon closely awaiting eagerly notification that our order had been dispatched. By 23:00 on the 28th the order remained at dispatching now status. I tried to put my concerns out of my mind and go to sleep. We awoke the next morning to the sight of an email advising that our order had been dispatched with DPD and would arrive on the 30th November 2013. My annoyance to this was beyond words that I can use on this website given that my wife had arranged for the order to go to her work which is not open on a Saturday. Once the item was dispatched there was no way we could change the delivery address. Therefore we had to arrange for another business that was open on the Saturday to take possession of the package and then leave our details so that we could come and pick it up on Saturday. I put my annoyance to one side confident that my ps4 would arrive the next day.Saturday came and went with no sign of my playstation, We had been given a tracking number which showed on the DPD website as still at the depot. I tried to ring DPD to find out what was going on but they could not locate the tracking number through the automated system. By Sunday my worries started to grow as it was not like i would be able to go to a shop and purchase a replacement and request a refund and you cannot find a PS4 anywhere for love or money.Monday arrived and by this point I was beside myself with worry as I called DPD again and managed to actually speak to someone this time who advised me that they had received notification of the package but not had it passed to them from Amazon. My wife called Amazon who advised her that they were not able to track the order as they had passed it to a courier other than DPD and did not keep a record of who they had given it to, they advised that they would look into this and call us back.Whilst waiting for a call back the long awaited packaged arrived via city link so obviously all was now well. We received a call back from Amazon after receiving the playstation advising that they were terribly sorry but they could not track the package and it should have arrived by now therefore would we like a refund. Being honest people we kindly advised that the order arrived to the relief of the customers services advisor who actually said " I'm so glad it arrived, we had no clue what we were going to do or tell you" Basically a more dishonest person could probably be sat here now with a free playstation 4. Some people might be thinking why have a written all this, well basically this part of my review is aimed at amazon themselves who I think need to take more care when dealing with people's orders especially when they are such a high value. I am sure that I am not the only person who has had issues with the delivery of their playstation and given the stress and worry I went through over the weekend I would not recommend that any pre orders a console for launch from Amazon. It is much safe to just pre order from a shop and go and pick it up yourself, you will have more control over what is happening.In summaryPlaystation 4 = qualityOrdering from amazon, left alot to be desired.

18.1.2014

I managed, against the odds, to pick up a PS4 from Argos just before Christmas after a very generous stranger offered me their reservation code. Having had a decent amount of time to familiarise myself with the console, I thought I would post my thoughts as a lengthy review on Amazon.Upon unboxing, the main thing you will realise is how much smaller the PS4 is than the original PS3. I had a phat PS3 that died a month or so before the PS4 was released and the differences in the console sizes is massive. The PS4 has a sleek look and deisgn and fits in nicely with the other hardware I currently have connected to my TV. It is easy to set up, requiring only a power cable (which has no power supply unit attached - that is built into the console itself)and a HDMI cable to be connected to the machine. Upon firing your console up you will find it to run very quietly indeed.The new user interface is clinically designed and easy to use. Along the top of the screen are a list of icons that can be used to access friend lists, collected trophies, messages and notifications from friends, settings and the PSN store. It took me a few tries to get used to the changes that had been implemented from the PS3 interface, but now I'm flipping through the menus as if by second nature. Below these icons are more prominent image links that take us to our game library, internet browser and a what's new page that keeps you up to date with all of your friends actions, accomplishments and achievements.The game pad which has (unfairly, in my opinion) come in for some criticism, has underwent a redesign. The handles of the pad on either side have been extended to offer a better and more comfortable grip, the start and select buttons have been replaced by options and share, there is a speaker that allows sound to emanate from the pad (like the Wiimote did originally) and there is now a touch sensitive area that allows us to interact with the console by swiping our fingers across it to access different options and menus in game. At the top of the pad is a bright light which changes colour and allows us to easily identify which pad is meant to be used by each player when playing with friends. We also have a headphone jack which allows us to plug a headset into the pad and interact with our friends and in-game via the party option. You can also navigate your PS4 with voice commands if you have the headset connected, much like Kinect allows Xbox users to interact with their consoles. The share button is a new implementation, allowing us to share live video clips with other users via the Twitch service at the touch of a button. Use of the PS button allows us to seamlessly drop in and out of games with little effort.One other feature that Sony have been really pushing is remote play. Using your PS Vita, you can link to your PS4 and play games on the Vita's impressive OLED screen. This is great for when you share the TV with others - basically you can run your PS4 in the background and play your next gen games on your handheld as your room-mates or family watch whatever they please on the TV. For the most part this works really well, although you do see a mild degradation in the graphics and the occasional laggy moment (I'm not sure if this has anything to do with my wireless connection, however, so other people may not experience this). Despite the few problems I have encountered I still believe this to be a fantastic addition to the console, allowing you to take your PS4 games on the go with you and avoid fights about hogging the TV screen!The PS4 has proved to be very impressive visually. Some of the set pieces and environments in Killzone are beautiful and a real step forward from last gen offerings. When you see some of the cityscapes in Killzone, you will have your breath taken away, they really are that impressive. When you think that these effort are from a launch title it sets the mouthwatering when you consider what is to come in the coming months and years. With anticipated releases like Order 1886 and WatchDogs it really is an exciting time for fans of video game eye candy.The one major problem with the PS4 to date is the lack of physical releases for it. I have played through Killzone and enjoyed it, but find that there is little else to tickle my fancy currently, other than Knack. I have even found myself venturing into online gaming with Killzone, something I very rarely do, in order to make use of my console.Online play now requires a paid PS+ account, much like the Xbox 360 and XboxOne require a Live profile. Of the Killzone matches I participated in online (I also played a little of Resogun), I encountered very little lag so it seems that Sony have put people's membership monies to good use by beefing up their servers and ensuring online gaming runs smoothly and effectively - something they were oft criticised for last gen. One additional bonus of having a PS+ account is the IGC (Instant Game Collection) which offers you a number of free games every month - it is especially worthwhile if you own a PS3 and Vita as you receive free games for those consoles as well. You can also bag 10% discounts on many downloadable PSN titles, too.So far we have received Resogun, Contrast and Don't Starve as free games. Resogun is a visually impressive shmup in the vein of R-Type, Contrast is a 3D platformer that utilises light and shadow as platforms and Don't Starve is a punishing survival game that can be likened to a more difficult version of Minecraft. Resogun takes advantage of the PS4's powerful hardware and offers an addictive, lag-free visual treat as enemy ships explode into hundreds of falling blocks, explosions fill the screen and floods of enemies hunt you down. Don't Starve is an indie title that, whilst taking some getting used to (there are no tutorials and few helpful hints), is worth persevering with. After initially dismissing the game, I went back for one final go and have since poured many hours into the game in order to survive for as long as possible. Contrast, for me, was very disappointing. Technically the game is lacking and the mechanics left a lot to be desired. If certain shadow puzzles are not placed perfectly you will find yourself traversing back and forth across the level many times in order to make minute adjustments and this can quickly become tiring and irritating. Next week we are promised Outlast, another indie title that promises to frighten the player half to death.Within the next year we will hopefully have access to Playstation Now, which will allow people with suitable internet connections to stream older Playstation titles online via Sony's Gaikai service. This will allow gaming newcomers and converted Xbox fans the chance to play many of the impressive titles in Sony's back catalogue. Sony have said this service will require an additional subscription fee, which is not ideal, but they have yet to confirm or deny whether the service will allow players to play games they already own for free. Fingers crossed it does, as I have a few titles left unfinished after the death of my PS3, which will otherwise be left unplayed unless I splash out on a replacement PS3.Overall I have been very impressed with my PS4 and when further new titles arrive my enjoyment of the console will only increase. If you are a fan of sport titles and first-person shooters there should be enough to keep you busy at the moment, if not there should be something from the indie marketplace available to tide you over till the releases you are waiting for arrive. There have been improvements to the online side of Sony's console that should please those who like multi-player games and there have been changes made to party mode that allow for easier and more seamless interaction amongst friends. People considering the jump from Xbox who were put off by previous PS joypads will be happy to hear that the new gamepad design is much more comfortable and fits better in the hand.If you require a new machine and can afford the outlay on a PS4 then I think you will find a lot to enjoy with Sony's new console. Definitely worth checking out.

24.9.2014

First off, let me state that this review is an entirely impartial attempt at helping those buyers who have yet to make up their minds about which of these two leading consoles to purchase. (I am neither a Microsoft nor a Sony “loyalist”, so bias will certainly not feature in this review).In previous years I had opted for Playstations, owning the #1 and #2 consoles before switching to an Xbox 360 when the Playstation #3 seemed so uninspiring that it drove me towards a change. So this time around I was open-minded, and wanted to fulfil some criteria with my new piece of kit:1. Reliability2. Innovation3. Focus on console gaming4. No social or multi-player bias; I am a solo-gamer5.Best current and future titlesAesthetics:I ordered both consoles almost concurrently, and the first to arrive was the Xbox One. Straight out of the box, it came well packaged and with HDMI and the usual Xbox mains converter-adapter. I do not think the same as some other reviewers have commented and think the style and design of the unit itself is solid-looking. The outer casing is two-tone black and with numerous vent slats to aid hard drive cooling. When in operation, the fan is relatively noiseless and the Xbox logo lights up in white on the front panel. It looks good on the shelf, in a TV cabinet and can be accommodated in such a place due to the fan cooling system.The PS4 meanwhile has a strange angled concept in a very small and sleek unit, again two-tone black, and I have to say this is the poorer of the two designs. The angled wedge shape makes placement on some shelves awkward, and it is not advisable to store the console in a confined space anyway. Sony state that in the accompanying manual, and I first placed my PS4 inside my TV unit, feeling intense heat radiating out of the back some 30 mins later. Having now moved the console onto the floor and invested in a fan-cooling stand (for £12), this problem has been overcome. It also comes with an HDMI cable but a normal mains plug rather than with an adapter.In conclusion the Xbox One wins out on aesthetics and on plug-in sockets and connectivity (but this is entirely personal preference).Interface:Once the Xbox is switched on you will need to install lengthy patches and updates, so expect an hour or so to get going with these downloads and accessing your existing Xbox account if you already have one. If you are used to a Xbox Windows-style menu, that is exactly what you get on-screen. It can be colour-customised and is displayed out in familiar Xbox style. However, this does not represent a leap-forward in terms of style so I was largely disappointed.What you do get with the Xbox is the ability to stream a cable/freeview box directly into the console using an HDMI-in. This means you can concurrently play a game and watch TV and navigate the menu whilst still in-game. However, I am not sure this is a practical feature and is frankly gimmicky, subtracting from the gameplay-focused console features I wanted. There are a whole host of apps for TV and video playback, plus MP3 file playback is supported. (By the way, you only get voice control if you also invest in the Kinect too, approx. £60-£80 more).The PS4 interface layout is instead a linear left-right bar on a blue screen (non-customisable) with ambient music playing in the background (this can be muted). Drop down from any main icon on the bar and sub-menus open up to show further details about the game, app or feature. You’ll get apps such as Netflix and BBC iPlayer off the bat; more can be added later. There are a few rather pointless inclusions however; the Playroom seemingly one of these. The included browser also has some playback limitations, but then again we have our phones and tablets for internet browsing and shopping these days, don’t we?Of the two I like the PS4 menu and interface better, and the PS Trophies and Xbox Achievements features are now so similar that there is little to tell them apart.Gameplay:I know that I am not the first to say that I did not experience a “wow” factor with either console when in-game. I certainly did not experience a giant leap forward in terms of graphics quality between my Xbox 360 and these consoles. Both arrived with Destiny as the packaged game, and there were little differences between the two versions on-screen, save that the PS4 version appeared a little darker and moodier.As the action sequences hotted up in Destiny, yes I could see (and hear) some fantastic effects on both consoles but nothing, so far, that has absolutely blown me away.However – is it a known fact that the PS4 has a faster DDR component and thus should deliver a far stronger gaming experience. Where the Xbox makes a sacrifice is that it caters for the all-round console user as a media centre, thus including media features which the PS4 does not.Transitioning between the game and the console interface menus in both cases was smooth and slick with little to tell them apart.In conclusion, the PS4 wins out as a gaming console, not because there were discernable gameplay differences, but because the console’s processing specifications are superior and should be reflected in the release of future titles, and that was the main purpose for my new investment. Another round of Halo games on the Xbox is simply not enough to sustain my interest, plus some of the PS4 exclusive titles (such as the re-mastered “The Last of Us”) have swung my vote.Accessories:Controller design is a point of continuous debate and comes down to personal choice, I think. Some folks have reported they don’t like the “clickiness” of the Xbox R1 and R2 shoulder buttons; for me this was not a problem. It is chunkier, has the usual offset stick buttons, and the half-headset with stick microphone and plug-in socket are excellent, compared to the wimpy mono in-ear piece you receive with the PS4. It also uses regular or rechargeable batteries which you can replace as you need.Sony have meanwhile included a light bar, a touchpad, better shoulder triggers (than the PS3 version) and a mono speaker on their PS4 controller. These are all innovative features and hopefully development houses will maximise these features in upcoming releases. However, why Sony opted to locate the “Options” button in an awkward position and include a “Share” button in sacrifice for something more useful, I do not know. The latter is a useless feature, as I can’t think of anyone that will want to know about what you’ve done in your gameplay regularly enough to dedicate a button for this. This controller is hard-sealed, so must be re-charged using the USB socket at the front of the PS4 console or from the mains using a tiny USB cable. You’ll get 8-10 hours solid gameplay between re-charges.If you consider the Blu-Ray player an “accessory” to both consoles (which I do, as I already have a good Samsung player) then there really is little to tell them apart. Playback of my Blu-Ray discs in both cases was smooth and effortless with excellent picture quality, sound and in-view controls.Conclusion:This review becomes really simple at this stage, and nobody else’s reviews that I have read appear to describe the two consoles in this way:- The Xbox is a better MEDIA CENTRE- The PS4 is a better GAMES CONSOLEFor the former, you can buy an officially licensed remote control that makes using the Blu-Ray player, for example, really easy, and you can therefore leave your Xbox controller switched off. The application-switching features may appeal to you if you like to use your console as a multi-media centre, stream video, play music, etc. For this, the Xbox One excels.For the latter PS4, when you switch the console on, you feel like you are being drawn into the gaming features more quickly, and that is precisely echoed by the launch strap-line Sony used, “This is for the gamers”. It has less distractions, and so for equivalent money to the Xbox One, it feels more game-orientated.Therefore, overall I hope this review helps you make up your mind or at least contributes to your thinking before you invest in your next console!

18.4.2014

Right, having had this for close to a month now I think I've had it long enough to pass judgement and write a balanced review so here goes.....Let's start off with the fact that at present I'm having to spend a lot of time in Austria due to family commitments so the great value and efficient shipping Amazon provide to the other side of Europe is second to none. Whilst those in the UK who pre-ordered this bundle will have received it on Friday the 21st of March I had to wait a wee bit longer. But hey when you're marooned in the far east of rural Austria, only 4 days later at 10am on Tuesday the 25th for only a fiver extra is mustard in my humble opinion!So on to the product itself: Like many I sat back patiently around launch time,buying my time on when exactly to join what was then the next generation but what now is clearly the current generation of consoles. After Don Mattrick ran his mouth off at E3 last summer I knew straight away I would not be buying an Xbox One, it was always only ever going to be a PS4 after that and Infamous was the game to convince me this was the time to jump on board!As soon as I'd finished scribbling my autograph and printing my name on the Austrian Postie's PDF gadget I rushed my new toy indoors and started unpacking it straight away. Everything was prepared for it's arrival including an extra plug converter and my spare QED HDMI lead so I hooked it all up, booted it up in an instant and held my breath fearful of the 'blue light of death' but I need not have worried as all was fine. The set up was straight forward and the required update didn't take nearly as long as I had anticipated. I have the router by the telly because having the snail slow broadband we do in this neck of the woods I insist on having a wired internet connection on my consoles as it does help a wee bit with the online gaming aspect.The user interface is very different on the PS4 to that of the PS3, it seemed rather plain and boring in comparison. Then again it's still a new system so there will be lots of updates and DLC to come which will enable you to customise it a whole lot more to suit your own individual tastes. I was immediately struck by how quickly and smoothly everything within the menu moves and just generally fiddled about with it for a while, sending out a few messages to pals on my PSN friends list and setting up my Astro Mixamp which was a doddle.Now on to the Dualshock 4 controller hmmmmmm along with the current shortage of generation exclusive titles it's the reason I'm giving the system 4 stars rather than 5 for the time being. I go along with it sitting nicely in your hands but I did instantly think it felt a bit light and cheap, not as well made as the DS3 that is for sure. I have long been a fan of Kontrol Freeks thus had pre-ordered the 'Perfect Arsenal Phantom' bundle direct from the States 6 months ago knowing full well I'd be getting a PS4 in time. So inadvertently I had the cracking rubber on the analog sticks problem covered before it had even arisen as such, alas I encountered a different issue. After a couple of hours gaming my DS4 forms some sort of white sticky oily residue, especially around the x,o,square,triangle buttons, I don't even touch my console controllers unless I have spotless hands so this really ain't on it has to be said. Anyway I got in touch with Amazon customer services about it and they were spot on as ever, they credited me 48 quid to buy a new DS4 individually and don't even want the moody one back which is brilliant. It will ship in an order I got going out to me hopefully later on today so let's hope the replacement will be better. The bottom line is Sony clearly have had major manufacturing/quality issues with the DS4 in the early period of the PS4's life cycle, they really are very well documented all over the internet. So let's hope Sony have already addressed them and that the DS4's in production now are being made with better materials because at 50 quid a throw we got a right to expect it!On to Second Son we go, what to say apart from graphics wise I was blown away.....WOW when you see what the system can do at such an early stage in it's lifespan imagine what someone like Rockstar will do when it's time for GTA6, the mind boggles! Gameplay wise it's ok, I've seen a few people moaning the combat is a bit repetitive and quite a lot of people slagging the main character Delsin Rowe? But hey using the same combat year in year out ain't harmed the sales of Assassin's Creed has it and I personally kind of liked Delsin's irritating arrogance so both are fine by me.And finally as I touched on earlier about only giving it 4 stars, there really is a shortage of top notch games for it at present but I also concede that is to be expected when the system is still so new. A lot of people are getting very excited about Watch Dogs which comes out in a few weeks time and I myself did have the DedSec Edition pre-ordered until a few days ago but I changed my mind and here's why: I didn't buy a current generation console at the premium of current generation prices to play games on it that are also available on last generation consoles, no way! There is going to be a fairly long wait till The Order 1886, Batman Arkham Knight and Assassin's Creed Unity come out so I've decided to put that 90 quid I was going to spend on Watch Dogs toward the purchase of a Wii U. It will tide me over till Autumn/Winter time because Mario Kart 8 will be out in just over a month and Lego City Undercover which comes in the bundle I've ordered off here is another exclusive Nintendo title I've admired with jealous eyes for over a year now. I know buying yet another console so soon after getting the PS4 may seem excessive to some but when Amazon CS were so good as to give me a new DS4 for free I thought that's a bullseye sort of saved in the future, then I cancelled the Watch Dogs DedSec which was another 90 quid saved makes £140, add another one'r equals £240, the price of a Wii U premium bundled with Lego City and Rayman!Let me sum up with that yes the PS4 really will be the must have console of this generation, of that there is no doubt and the teething problems like the DS4 issues will be sorted out soon enough. Not for a minute do I regret buying this wonderful bit of kit but I bought it because I was bored with my PS3 and Xbox 360, rather than for the reason that I should have bought it for which is the games. Those amazing games of course are coming, we all know that, but they not quite here yet so my advice is wait till they are unless you really do want one right now.

5.12.2013

To start, my PlayStation 4 experience has been anything but smooth so far. I unfortunately had a defective unit which wasn't DOA but died a few hours later. Not the greatest start, but I'll admit Sony's support was pretty impressive, after running through the issue they arranged a swap delivery at my office, where they take the product away and give you a new one straight away.I did have to wait a 3 days for this due to the demand, but if you compare this to Microsoft horror stories of 28 day returns and the fact that they didn't keep stock aside like Sony did for defects, I'm pretty happy.I think the above is very important right now for potential buyers, if you do have issues the number you need to call is 0844 736 0595.The staff are really helpful and even called me back to apologise again once it was sorted.So moving on to the console!I think it's fair to say Xbox360 gave the PS3 a good run for it's money in the early days, great games like Halo, Fable, Gears of War made this generation of consoles massively competitive. I personally stuck with Sony. But it did feel like they had slipped behind at first.However towards the end Sony got better and better, with great games and the PS4 announcements just hit the right mark. No DRM style approaches, games focus etc. It seems they had finally learned from their mistakes.----------------------------FIRST IMPRESSIONS - Console----------------------------Size - The console is pretty small, compared to my launch PS3 it's half the size.Design - I personally think it looks awesome, the front of it is stylish, and you have a blue light strip which turns on with the console. The games discs slide very easily into the front of the console and you can't even really see this as it's all blended in.Noise - Being honest, it's definitely noisier than my PS3. However it's normally only noisy for the first few minutes of installing and then it's finished. By noisy, I mean you can hear the fans slightly. We're not talking a large amount but it's worth noting.----------------------------FIRST IMPRESSIONS - Controller----------------------------The controller is so much better than the Dualshock 3 I had to put it's own section on it. A lot of my friends swapped to Xbox due to the controller and love of Halo. After they've played with the Dualshock 4 they loved it, so any Xbox fans reading this, the controller will now be your best friend again.The controller is a little bigger and heavier which makes it a lot more more comfortable to hold. You have a touch pad on the front now which does not seem gimmicky on the games I've played. You can use it in Killzone to use your drone to make decisions, but I think time will tell on whether it will be as useful in all games.There is a share button now which means if you've just done something awesome you can immediately hit share and it will upload to your profile so you can share with your mates. No more saving a replay on fifa of that last minute goal against your mate!The R2 and L2 buttons are also now triggers meaning FPS games are a lot more natural to play, but personally after playing Assassins creed and other games it helps on all games.------------------------PS4 System UI------------------------- Once it's loaded up this is where I feel you see the difference on what Sony have been focusing on. The system just seems slick. Load up a game and it takes about 30 second to install before you can play. Compare that to the 8 MINUTES! for Xbox One and you can see who's been focusing.This is not to beat up on Microsoft as I've played the XB1 and found it pretty cool, it just seems a bit rough around the edges.- The PS store is more visual than before and quicker to use, there are some negatives such as it is a bit slow at times, and exiting means smashing O through multiple screens. But it is a lot more user friendly.- Apps - This was my favourite part of the console, the apps are so much easier to install/find. It's now on the main page and once installed appears easily in one area. You also have new apps such as the IGN app. IGN for people unaware is a big entertainment site. So I can load the app, read reviews on games, movies, TV and watch trailers! I personally found this one of my favourite things.The apps are still clunky, but I think will improve over time.- Friends list and Facebook-ish page - with your friends list you can now see a feed of what they've been doing, their shared videos, trophies and more. I was unsure on this at first but after being nosy and looking at my friends profiles. It actually is quite interesting. I could see some trophies, how they achieved them. And of course easily see Fifa goals!-------------------------PS Plus-------------------------Some people will not understand that on PS4 you now need to have PSplus if you want to play games online. This is £40 per year.However the difference between this and Xbox Live is the free games you get and discounts. XBox gold does offer some free games, but they're normally from 1986.The PS Plus games are fantastic, I have personally only been subscribing for 6 months, but have got around 20 free PS3 games 5 free PS Vita games and I've already got 2 free PS4 games.So if you're worried about the £40, I would just say don't be. I think it's possibly the greatest purchase I've ever done!-------------------------NEGATIVE POINTS-------------------------So why the 4 stars?- no PS3 backward compatibility - This isn't too much of an issue for me as I have my PS3 next to the PS4 in all it's glory, but it's always a shame when this isn't offered.- Delicate - I'm already on my second console, and I can't help think the system is slightly delicate, my HDMI wouldn't read the console at first until I jiggled it about. It just gave me the impression that I may need a new one in 2 years which I didn't have with my PS3. This is the main reason for the dropped star.-------------------CONCLUSION-------------------It's simply a great console, unfortunately I do worry about the life span of my console, but from my experience so far from Sony's customer service, they really want to get this right.Looking at 2013 games for PS3 I think we can safely see that 2014 is going to be good for the PS4. For £349.00 it's pretty cheap also.I'm definitely happy to say that this is a return to form for Sony and a return of the king of consoles!4/5

1.10.2016

I love the PS3. There, I've said it. It was very hard for me to get used to the idea of replacing it. Which is why although it offers improvements in several key areas I don't think the PS4 is quite as good as the PS3. In many ways the two systems are nearly identical. Controls, Settings, the PSN are all still here in only slightly different forms. The interface has been changed from a row of different options to two rows with one controlling settings/extra features and the other containing the games and apps. Instead of only displaying the game in the slot you now install everything like an app, which can make it confusing when you're not sure what disc is in the machine.This system makes it easier to find the most recently played game but gives fewer options for organization. I preferred the old system with its neat rows but this one is perfectly functional.On a technical level the PS4 is a marked improvement over the PS3. Games run much smoother and don't suffer from long loading times. The games that have come out so far seem to make good use of the system's capabilities and larger save files by, for example, keeping track of your character interactions and making the NPCs carry a grudge. It's an interesting and engrossing idea that really helps with immersion. A nice feature is that now the system can multitask. While playing your game you can pause it and go out to the main menu to check on downloads or settings and then go back to your game without losing your place. One downside to all this is that the game files now take up an enormous amount of space. Games can take up over 40 GB of storage room, and that burns up a 500 GB hard drive fast. After installing ten games I was out of room. This is true even if you use physical copies of the game. Upgrading to a 1 or 2 TB hard drive might be advisable.Some of the other changes are less interesting. The social gaming idea is something that Sony has worked very hard to incorporate into the basic design of the PS4 but apart from game reviewers I'm not sure how much use people will make of the ability to record gameplay. I've taken a few screencaps just for fun, but it's not a feature I'm likely to use very often.One change that is a step back is that they have limited video/audio file functionality. Unlike the PS3, which tried to be a media centre as well as a gaming platform, the PS4 intends to encourage the use of DVDs or paid streaming services, and has therefore made it more difficult to use digital copies of files. Since DVDs can be clumsy to carry around and streaming sites depend on reliable internet connections this simply isn't a reliable option for some people. This goes for MP3s as well, so no playing songs through your TV or listening to your own music through Snake's iPod. A recent update has given the PS4 the ability to download an app that reads video files (including for the first time MKVs), which helps, but the PS3 system was better set up for it. Better keep that old PS3 around if you intend to use it this way.I was more than a little skeptical about the new controller. Playstation has kept their controller design basically the same since the original in 1995, with the only major change being the dual analog sticks a couple years later and then a wireless version being used for the PS3. There's a reason for this, and it's not complacency. The design is quite simply the best yet offered for a video game system, and all of its competitors have imitated it to one degree or another at some point.Which is why I was more than a little surprised to discover that the new controller is an improvement. Not much of one mind you, but enough to make the change worthwhile. First off they've added a touchpad to the area between the screens.which allows slightly more choices to be made with maps and the like and also makes entering text easier. It's easier to hit accurately than the select button so this is a big improvement for games that rely on that. Another addition is a motion sensor. I doubt that it's as sensitive as the Wii, but the new feature allows it to select areas on the screen simply by pointing the controller at them. Which is cool. A speaker and microphone jack have been added which allows for some cool in-game effects.The rest of the buttons remain essentially the same (why improve on perfection?) except that start and select have now been replaced with share and options. I'm not that fussed about sharing gameplay footage but the select button does basically the same things as the start button so I'm not sure why they bothered to change the name. I'm less impressed with the new shape. It's been altered slightly so that the smaller handles now sit in your hand smoother but the steeper angle for the L and R buttons means you really need to hold the controller in a loose low-down grip to access both at once. They also have a glowing light on the back now which doesn't seem to do much except waste the battery.In short, the new system is better than the PS3 in some areas, about the same in others, and actually worse in a few places. I'd still recommend getting it if there are any games you're interested in, but keep the old system around since they complement each other well. Honestly, there's no point in buying a new console until a must-buy next gen game comes out anyway and that didn't happen until relatively recently for me. Most of the best PS4 games are also available for the PS3. Alien: Isolation, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Metal Gear Solid V, Persona 5, Destiny, Final Fantasy XIV... all available on last gen systems. So why upgrade? But now they are finally coming out with next gen exclusives. Assassin's Creed: Unity was the first good one (glitches aside) and in the next year we get Final Fantasy Type-0, Star Wars: Battlefront, Kingdom Hearts III, and Final Fantasy XV. These are all available for the XBOX One of course, and there really isn't that much reason to prefer one next gen system over the other. Titanfall aside Microsoft doesn't have that many great exclusives either. However, later this year we get Bloodborne and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, both exclusively for the PS4, and inFAMOUS: Second Son has already been released. Now there's finally a reason to buy a next gen system beyond the desire to simply have the latest platform.

24.4.2016

I love the PS3. There, I've said it. It was very hard for me to get used to the idea of replacing it. Which is why although it offers improvements in several key areas I don't think the PS4 is quite as good as the PS3. In many ways the two systems are nearly identical. Controls, Settings, the PSN are all still here in only slightly different forms. The interface has been changed from a row of different options to two rows with one controlling settings/extra features and the other containing the games and apps. Instead of only displaying the game in the slot you now install everything like an app, which can make it confusing when you're not sure what disc is in the machine.This system makes it easier to find the most recently played game but gives fewer options for organization. I preferred the old system with its neat rows but this one is perfectly functional.On a technical level the PS4 is a marked improvement over the PS3. Games run much smoother and don't suffer from long loading times. The games that have come out so far seem to make good use of the system's capabilities and larger save files by, for example, keeping track of your character interactions and making the NPCs carry a grudge. It's an interesting and engrossing idea that really helps with immersion. A nice feature is that now the system can multitask. While playing your game you can pause it and go out to the main menu to check on downloads or settings and then go back to your game without losing your place. One downside to all this is that the game files now take up an enormous amount of space. Games can take up over 40 GB of storage room, and that burns up a 500 GB hard drive fast. After installing ten games I was out of room. This is true even if you use physical copies of the game. Upgrading to a 1 or 2 TB hard drive might be advisable.Some of the other changes are less interesting. The social gaming idea is something that Sony has worked very hard to incorporate into the basic design of the PS4 but apart from game reviewers I'm not sure how much use people will make of the ability to record gameplay. I've taken a few screencaps just for fun, but it's not a feature I'm likely to use very often.One change that is a step back is that they have limited video/audio file functionality. Unlike the PS3, which tried to be a media centre as well as a gaming platform, the PS4 intends to encourage the use of DVDs or paid streaming services, and has therefore made it more difficult to use digital copies of files. Since DVDs can be clumsy to carry around and streaming sites depend on reliable internet connections this simply isn't a reliable option for some people. This goes for MP3s as well, so no playing songs through your TV or listening to your own music through Snake's iPod. A recent update has given the PS4 the ability to download an app that reads video files (including for the first time MKVs), which helps, but the PS3 system was better set up for it. Better keep that old PS3 around if you intend to use it this way.I was more than a little skeptical about the new controller. Playstation has kept their controller design basically the same since the original in 1995, with the only major change being the dual analog sticks a couple years later and then a wireless version being used for the PS3. There's a reason for this, and it's not complacency. The design is quite simply the best yet offered for a video game system, and all of its competitors have imitated it to one degree or another at some point.Which is why I was more than a little surprised to discover that the new controller is an improvement. Not much of one mind you, but enough to make the change worthwhile. First off they've added a touchpad to the area between the screens.which allows slightly more choices to be made with maps and the like and also makes entering text easier. It's easier to hit accurately than the select button so this is a big improvement for games that rely on that. Another addition is a motion sensor. I doubt that it's as sensitive as the Wii, but the new feature allows it to select areas on the screen simply by pointing the controller at them. Which is cool. A speaker and microphone jack have been added which allows for some cool in-game effects.The rest of the buttons remain essentially the same (why improve on perfection?) except that start and select have now been replaced with share and options. I'm not that fussed about sharing gameplay footage but the select button does basically the same things as the start button so I'm not sure why they bothered to change the name. I'm less impressed with the new shape. It's been altered slightly so that the smaller handles now sit in your hand smoother but the steeper angle for the L and R buttons means you really need to hold the controller in a loose low-down grip to access both at once. They also have a glowing light on the back now which doesn't seem to do much except waste the battery.In short, the new system is better than the PS3 in some areas, about the same in others, and actually worse in a few places. I'd still recommend getting it if there are any games you're interested in, but keep the old system around since they complement each other well. Honestly, there's no point in buying a new console until a must-buy next gen game comes out anyway and that didn't happen until relatively recently for me. Most of the best PS4 games are also available for the PS3. Alien: Isolation, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Metal Gear Solid V, Persona 5, Destiny, Final Fantasy XIV... all available on last gen systems. So why upgrade? But now they are finally coming out with next gen exclusives. Assassin's Creed: Unity was the first good one (glitches aside) and in the next year we get Final Fantasy Type-0, Star Wars: Battlefront, Kingdom Hearts III, and Final Fantasy XV. These are all available for the XBOX One of course, and there really isn't that much reason to prefer one next gen system over the other. Titanfall aside Microsoft doesn't have that many great exclusives either. However, later this year we get Bloodborne and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, both exclusively for the PS4, and inFAMOUS: Second Son has already been released. Now there's finally a reason to buy a next gen system beyond the desire to simply have the latest platform.

17.12.2013

First I just want to say that I am not a biased fan boy in fact it is the complete opposite. I own launch editions for both the PS4 and Xbox One which I pre ordered in July. I hold no allegiance, enjoy both systems and remain completely neutral. It is true, not everybody posts a review on the day they purchase something. In my case I have just been too busy playing and enjoying it to write a review. However I now have enough first-hand experience to write a completely legitimate accurate review.Amazon successfully delivered it to me on the day of release and I was lucky enough to get a perfectly working console.HardwareMy first impression when unboxing the PS4 was "Wow". It truly is an amazing piece of hardware,pictures do not give it justice. It is fairly small and lightweight and has a very premium design and feel to it. I also like the fact that it is very quiet when running. The power supply is built in so you don't have to worry about a power brick taking up unnecessary space. The hard drive is user removable so you can easily upgrade it if you need more space.As of right now the PS4 does not support external storage although it might in the future you never know. Anyway for now we have to make do with internal hard drives. The only other issue I have is the fact that the PS4 does not support wireless 802.11ac 5G Wi-Fi and it's not dual band. What this means is that it won't support ridiculously fast wireless connections, better range, improved reliability, and improved power consumption. Although it does support 802.11n which is still very fast but not as future proofed. This is strange considering the Xbox One has 802.11ac 5G Wi-Fi built in. Nonetheless it is definitely not a deal breaker.SoftwareBefore you can do anything you are prompted to download a necessary update which makes the PS4 completely functional by enabling all of its features. It is a fairly straightforward process and does not take too long. Sony have been telling everyone that the PS4 is #4theplayers and primarily a games console. You can tell just by looking at the interface that it was created with that mind-set. My first impression was that it looked a little bit too bare bones compared to the Xbox One interface which I had been using for a week prior as it launched first here in the UK. However now I have got used to it and I find it really intuitive and appealing. My opinion is they are both different but they both work well for what they were intended to do.Game installations are required for every game. The installations are very quick when compared to that of the Xbox One which is surprising. Sony have created a PlayStation App which works with the PS4. It can be used as a remote for the console and it allows you to use almost all of its features too! I think one of the most useful features is being able to use your phones touchpad keyboard instead of a controller. It is considerably faster!There are also quite a few apps available like Netflix, BBC Sport and IGN which gives the PS4 more media playing capability in addition to the Sony features available which is great.ControllerThe new DualShock 4 controller is leaps and bounds better than the old DualShock 3 controller. They are worlds apart. It just feels so much better in your hand now and the thumb sticks have been redesigned. They are now more or less concave, with a recessed centre giving them better grip and a more natural feel. The controller feels like it is designed more for first person shooters now with L2 and R2 triggers at the back. I have come from using an Xbox 360 controller so it just feels natural to me. The touchpad is a new addition which works as advertised and has the potential to be great if utilized right. The other significant change is the share button. It works exactly as you would expect it to. Streaming video to Twitch or Ustream is so simple. I like how easy everything integrates with each other.Sony have also integrated a light bar at the back which is similar to the one on a Move Controller. Some people have complained that it can be a distraction and causes reflection in the dark. I have not experienced this issue at all. The other issue is that it might drain the battery in the controller faster. Well in my experience the battery life seems to be ok at best. It lasts for about half a day before it needs a recharge. It isn't really a major issue for me because charging it via the cable is simple although I have had the battery die on me during gameplay though that was because I decided to put off plugging in the cable.I have spent hours playing with both the DualShock 4 and Xbox One Controller which I think gives me the experience to make a fair comparison. Here are my thoughts. I can't pick a winner in my opinion they are both equal. The Xbox 360 controller used to be the best and these two both surpass it in my opinion. I think the Xbox One controller has slightly better build quality than the DualShock 4 because my controller seems to have a L1 button that sticks a little when pressed and the R2 trigger feels looser than the L2 trigger although that could just be in my case. Either way I would rate them both on par with each other.GamesWe all know the launch line-up was underwhelming which is to be expected because the best games always come later down the line. I bought Battlefield 4 and Assassins Creed 4. The graphics look absolutely stunning! I also downloaded Resogun, DC Universe and Warframe which were all free. It is still very early days we can expect things to greatly improve once everyone has got used to the hardware and more games come out.ConclusionIf you are a gamer then the PS4 is a must buy! I have decided to make it my main console in my bedroom. This is an evolving machine which is only going to get better as new games come out and the software is refined and updated. As of now Sony are working on updates for MP3 playback and other features. Streaming games via PS Vita and the PlayStation Camera are also very cool features which I am yet to test because I don't own them right now. This console has so much future potential that it would be hard for me to not justify recommending it!

29.1.2014

This review is for the Gamer Pack but i decided to post it here as well, as most probably there won’t be any more such bundles available.Starting with the bad news, I had to delay this review as the first unit that I received died (constantly crashing and occasional BSODs) after I first resumed from Sleep Mode, this being a known/common issue. However Sony was quick on the matter and replaced it with a new one the following day; I won’t detail the replacement process too much as I’m sure many have already read about it.Back to the console, I’ve tested it for over a month now and I can say this one’s totally fine. Sleep Mode finally works as it’s intended to,and you can see Sony really designed the console around the always-on feature. I can’t really see a proper reason to turn it off completely unless I know I’m away for a couple of days.The console itself looks great and attracts all the dust in the room. Most probably fingerprints as well on the glossy side, but I wasn’t curious to find out. The cooling system does his job and the unit does not overheat, at least not over an expected rate considering the size factor. The fan does not seem to be so loud, but then again I’m playing with my headset for around 80% of the time so not a thing to bother about. The disc drive is however quite noisy, I’m not sure I have in mind something that could sound as loud as it when it spins a disc; however I have to agree it’s due to reading speed and an overall ok “issue” if we consider the benefits.I was astonished to run an Internet Test and see that the download speeds sit around 25MBps, while on my laptop I barely reach 3-5MBps. It is indeed fast and downloads games and updates way faster than my PS3 or PSV do, both over the same wi-fi connection. That said, it’s really nice to download games from your PC while you’re at work and find them waiting for you when you’re back home.I haven’t tested the camera a lot, to be honest I stayed away from the Camera Login option as light is sometimes an issue in my room and I usually play at night with dimmed lights – at least during winter. However, it performs quite well in The Playroom and has a very nice 3d head/face recording system. The only let-down is that friends complained not hearing me properly when I was chatting with them over the camera’s microphone. Just to make clear, I use a F.R.E.Q. 7 connected to the DS4 for sound and prefer the camera for microphone but I’m thinking to try the FREQ’s microphone as soon as I get a new working one.The controller itself fits way better in my hands, and the underside offers a nice rubbery feeling. Not helping with sweaty hands, but that’s my problem. The sticks are very sensitive and the dead zone is nearly inexistent, the first time I turned it on I was moving the sticks as with the PS3 and I noticed I was usually skipping every other option in the menus. Takes a while to get comfortable with it, but huge issues when you’re moving back to a PS3 game, I had to move up the sensitivity with around 20%.The curved triggers finally feel as a real trigger should, and the slight curve that might not seem enough is actually perfect. It’s nice to see we can finally get a shooter where we won’t use the shoulder buttons. Speaking of, these seem to have less space around them compared to DS3’s shoulder buttons, so not wobbly this time. The touchpad is also nice, I expected to have some issues with it considering my hands but seems fingers always slide perfectly on it. The Dpad however has a cheap feeling, it’s not rough as the DS3 but not glossy as PSVita either, it’s somewhere in between but gives me a strange feeling; could be only me, of course.To my surprise, the integrated speaker works wonders, sound is crisp and can be quite loud based on the settings you use.The light bar is also a nice addition and if you use to keep the controller close to your knees the light will spread nice enough to offer some feedback based on the game. It can be visible indeed on the TV while the screen is black, but once a game starts it’s so vague that it will get lost among other colours , so really no need to worry about.Streaming and screenshots, a very nice addition to this generation and a selling-point for both PS4 and XB1. The screenshots look perfect in high resolution as long as you set it to the right size, and the Twitch streaming works quite good – not great if HD on my connection, but then again not a PS4 fault Virgin Media’s intenets… On the other side we have streaming to PS Vita, and I’m happy to say this works great on local connection. I’ve been able to play Resogun and Killzone on my Vita while in the living room, considering the PS4 is upstairs. I haven’t had the chance to test the connection over internet, but I assume the one I have at home is not powerful enough to face it anyway. For those wondering, the triggers are “emulated” by the top left and ride areas of the rear touchpad on Vita. Overall works good, Killzone was looking very crisp, same could be said for Contrast – however Resogun was looking a bit … blocky so to say. It might have been just a temporary issue as I was a bit far away.As an overall, it’s a very fast, great console. Lacks a bit games at the moment but there’s a nice line-up coming, there’s some good PS+ free games, and starting with Tomb Raider Definitive Edition, I feel there’s going to be a long line of UHD remakes perfect for those who either just joined the console side or haven’t played it on the old-generation. I’d say it’s a must-buy for early adopters, and now that 2 firmware updates are out already I’d say it’s way safer than on release date to get one and be sure it’s not going to BSOD on you.

26.11.2014

Ive owned my PS4 since Xmas 2013 and it has seen its fair share of game time. Although it was purchased from GAME at launch in secret by my wife, purely for the suprise factor as we both use Amazon and are very aware of each others purchases. Im not here to convince you to buy the PS4 over the Xbox One, thats for you alone to decide. Nor can I review an Xbox One as I have never owned or played one. Both are incredible consoles , both have their perks and both also have their flaws.So on with the review. The PS4 is a very compact but equally stylish console. Despite its petite size (unlike its last generation predecessor, the launch "Fat" PS3. Who could forget that monstrosity in a hurry!),it packs a punch. Rivalling most top end PCs it has some serious hardware under the hood! But dont worry about heat buildup as Sony designed this console to be compact but cool as ice (not literally!). Just use your common sense and like any console/pc dont keep it running in a confined space such as in a closed TV unit. Give it some breathing space, you will appreciate it in the long run. In the rarest event of the console overheating (im talking to those of you who game marathon for 12+ hrs straight) it is programmed to shut down before any damage may occur. You will see the light bar ontop of the console change from White to Red and it will shut down and can not be turned on until the console cools off. Though for the vast majority of users this will never happen.The console comes equipped with a standard 500gb Hard Drive. This can be totally upgraded if desired with Sony fully supporting this. I plan to upgrade mine to 2000gb in the new year. 500gb may seem massive but its not. If you are subscribed to Playstation Plus you have the option to download 2 free games per month from PS Store. These alone are 500mb to 2gb each. So over time this eats up more storage. Most PS4 games are 30-40gb to install. Some such as GTA V are 50gb before patches and DLC. To give you an idea I got BF4 with my console which took up 38gb to install. After installing along came a 1.2gb update. Now nearly a year later and all 5 DLCs plus numerous patches later my total file size for BF4 is a whopping 68gb. But at least you have the option of upgrading if necessary which is a plus.Talking of installs. Every retail. game will automatically install itself upon imserting the disc for the first time. Unlike the last gens this is mandatory for the PS4. But dont worry, the PS4 is designed to install part of the game, and you can play away while it installs the remaing parts. Meaning no more huge wait times to play your newly purchased PS4 game. Happy days!Moving on to the controller. A huge improvement over the previous Dual Shock 3. Whilst still maintaining a familiar feel to the Dual Shock 3 its lighter. The L2 and R2 triggers are designed not to let your "trigger fingers" slip during gameplay. Bonus. At launch the battery life was poor (3-4hrs for me), later patches have allowed the user to change the brightness of the Dual Shock 4's fancy coloured LED. As I personally have no use for the LED (PS Camera uses it I believe which I dont own.) ive changed my LED brightness setting to "Dim" and even now 11 months later and countless recharges via USB im getting approx 6hrs game time before my PS4 alerts me my controller battery has depleted to 1 bar battery (approx 30mins more gameplay left in it. Not bad for hundreds of hours useage so far. The only dowside is the rechargeable battery pack is non-replaceable which means when the battery finally gives up, you will need to purchase a brand new Dual Shock 4. But im experiencing 6-7hrs of game time per charge even 11 months later so you certainly get your moneys worth.At launch games were very limited but 2014 has seen loads of releases and many more planned for 2015.Now for a few disgruntled flaws. And yes its only fair they are mentioned so anyone reading this review can make a balanced educted decision as to whether to buy a PS4 or not.Online gaming requires PS+ Membership which needs to be purchased. Monthly, 3 Monthly, 6 Monthly or Yearly depending on your preference. To experienced Playstation owners. this is no big deal. But to new potential buyers this can seem a bit of a put off. But in all fairness its a similar price to Microsofts subscription costs to play online using their services. Also you are awarded 2 games free to download per month. Non PS+ members can be expected to pay around £5 to £12 for these titles. Plus your save data is automatically uploaded to your personal cloud service daily. Perfect for backup incase you lose your data. And also perfect to download your data for that optional Hard Drive upgrade mentioned at the beginning of this review.Also lastly Playstation Network (PSN) has had stability issues over the past few months. For now its stable but it seems to be a reoccurring random issue. Unless you are connected to Facebook or Twitter you are unaware the service is unavailable until you try to play online or access PS Store. Obviously this can have a negative impact on services such as online gaming, streaming rented content from PS Store such as TV Shows and Movies and streaming live gaming broadcasts via Twitch. Although any console would potentially have this issue and its not a PS4 exclusive that online services can fail but for me this is a reoccurring issue that although brief (a few hours for me at most) it has had an impact on my game time.For me the PS4 has been well worth the purchase. But for you... Now its time for YOU to decide.

Sony PlayStation 4 (PS4) - Reviews

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