The UnionVGF PS4 general impressions thread! Got a PS4? Share your impressions.
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I have a feeling it's going to be a while.. it's only going to be more and more people as the day/weekend wears on.
Hopefully PSN is hosted somewhere that can scale up their resources, but I have my doubts.
App switching:
It's not bad, but it's definitely not as streamlined as X1. Going from a game to Netflix, for example, requires you to back out to the XMB, then navigate to Netflix, select it, then confirm you want to "suspend" the game, and then it launches the app. If the app had already been launched previous, then it does put the user back where they were quickly... but compared to X1's app switching, this is definitely much slower and more cumbersome (though it's obviously a marked improvement from last gen for them).
It's not bad, but it's definitely not as streamlined as X1. Going from a game to Netflix, for example, requires you to back out to the XMB, then navigate to Netflix, select it, then confirm you want to "suspend" the game, and then it launches the app. If the app had already been launched previous, then it does put the user back where they were quickly... but compared to X1's app switching, this is definitely much slower and more cumbersome (though it's obviously a marked improvement from last gen for them).
General stability and accessibility of PSN:
Very, very, very poor. Constant problems. I'm sure it'll die down after a few days when it has far less concurrent users, but in a connected generation like this, where services and connections are so vital, I'd be concerned. This is why it takes the investment Microsoft has made to do services right, and this is why Sony just isn't caught up there yet... and frankly, even with enough time, I'm not sure they'll have the financial resources to make to truly competitive... we'll see, though... it's really frustrating as a user. There are so many things which are just failing, or not functioning as a user would expect.
Very, very, very poor. Constant problems. I'm sure it'll die down after a few days when it has far less concurrent users, but in a connected generation like this, where services and connections are so vital, I'd be concerned. This is why it takes the investment Microsoft has made to do services right, and this is why Sony just isn't caught up there yet... and frankly, even with enough time, I'm not sure they'll have the financial resources to make to truly competitive... we'll see, though... it's really frustrating as a user. There are so many things which are just failing, or not functioning as a user would expect.
I'm still waiting for UPS to come with my PS4. I didn't buy any physical copies of games. If I'm reading this right if I can't connect to PSN tonight to dl a game like Resogun then basically there is nothing to do with the console gaming wise? Bummer.
I'm about 30 mins into Killzone now, here's some general impressions:
-Installation was almost instant
-The LED was annoying me on my plasma, so I taped cardboard over it..no biggie
-graphics look great, it's definitely next gen
-controls feel very very nice for a FPS and the sticks feel a lot better than the DS3
-So far Killzone is decent, it's a little slow to start though, so I'll see how it picks up.
-Still not signed into PSN...grrr
Contrary to Flynn, I think I actually like a speaker on the controller when it is used for things like Audio Logs (a la Killzone). Too many times in video games, I feel the sounds of audio logs get drowned out by gunplay or other noises or vice versa. The speaker allows you to hear both clearly.
-Installation was almost instant
-The LED was annoying me on my plasma, so I taped cardboard over it..no biggie
-graphics look great, it's definitely next gen
-controls feel very very nice for a FPS and the sticks feel a lot better than the DS3
-So far Killzone is decent, it's a little slow to start though, so I'll see how it picks up.
-Still not signed into PSN...grrr
Contrary to Flynn, I think I actually like a speaker on the controller when it is used for things like Audio Logs (a la Killzone). Too many times in video games, I feel the sounds of audio logs get drowned out by gunplay or other noises or vice versa. The speaker allows you to hear both clearly.
Coincidental that it has worked for people so they are reporting it like it's a solution. That's all that is.. there isn't some separate screen for that particular option.. all online features redirect to the same login screen.
PSN is overloaded.. and it will only get worse as the day wears on.
Guess us DD guys might as well wait a few days or something.
Haven't read through the thread yet but I've had mine for a couple of hours now. Installed the firmware upgrade via USB stick and was on my way. Logging into the PSN wasn't a problem for me but it did take a little longer than usual. Installed Killzone but haven't touched it yet (bundled with my PS4 purchase). Downloading the digital version of Battlefield 4 (9.99 upgrade from PS3) and was able to play through the first SP mission after about 6-7 gigs was complete. It looks and feels so much better of course compared to last generation console version but what really feels nice is that 60 fps.
Why is PSN overloaded? It's not like there should be that many 'new' users. Just a bunch of old PS3 gamers now signing in via a PS4 instead of a PS3. Yeah, some new XBox gamers crossing over (myself included) and I'm sure tonight is busier on PSN than other regular nights...but still, surely they could have anticipated this knowing how many consoles they were shipping today and that nearly everyone would be trying to sign in. Shouldn't be taking anyone in PSN server land by surprise.
XMB Bug:
I just hit an issue with the UI. Looks like I got into some state where the UI isn't responding as it should. When you highlight a recent title in your back list, you should be able to navigate "down" to highlight "Overview, Recent Activities, or Related Items". It's not working to press down. I had done some very quick navigating through different areas of the UI, and I think I broke it. Oops. Might need to reset.
NOTE: Also, I just found out the Xbox 360 version of Netflix is now exactly like the PS4 one, which is kind of a bummer. It's more cluttered, yet with LESS visible content on screen at once... boo.
I just hit an issue with the UI. Looks like I got into some state where the UI isn't responding as it should. When you highlight a recent title in your back list, you should be able to navigate "down" to highlight "Overview, Recent Activities, or Related Items". It's not working to press down. I had done some very quick navigating through different areas of the UI, and I think I broke it. Oops. Might need to reset.
NOTE: Also, I just found out the Xbox 360 version of Netflix is now exactly like the PS4 one, which is kind of a bummer. It's more cluttered, yet with LESS visible content on screen at once... boo.
You're right, for sure, but testing scale isn't terribly easy. Generally, you have to build automation which simulates users... but there's a lot to take into account. For example, you may not predict how many requests per second users might actually send when they're just using the system naturally... so if your automation doesn't take that into account, you could easily predict super high concurrency numbers which are way off - exponentially so. For example, in the real world, users might average 4 requests per second per user to the service, and that might only scale up to 500k concurrent users given the framework, bottlenecks, and server setup... but maybe they're running automation which simulates 2 calls per second per user, so they expect loads of up to 1 million CCU's to work... just one coarse example, but you get the point.
It takes a great deal of smaller-scale testing and analyzing of where the bottlenecks are [CPU, Memory, File I.O, etc.] - and I don't mean this as a dig to Sony - but the truth is very few companies in the world are good at it. Heck, even Microsoft has been playing catch up to Google and Amazon on the services front... but I think we're much better now, so we can actually not only compete, but beat out those guys in many ways... and frankly, I'm just not sure Sony has the experience, or the resources it takes to do services at massive scale properly.
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Some quick impressions from me. I like that the system downloads while in standby mode, very cool.
Trophy pop up is nice and quick, pops up on the left side of the screen.
Voice chat on the packed in mic is decent. Had some weird echo going on, it became less obvious after a while but it's still there.
The U.I is very quick, which is a world of difference compared to the PS3's U.I.
Games install very quickly, less than 2 minutes I would say for all the games I tried.
Trophy pop up is nice and quick, pops up on the left side of the screen.
Voice chat on the packed in mic is decent. Had some weird echo going on, it became less obvious after a while but it's still there.
The U.I is very quick, which is a world of difference compared to the PS3's U.I.
Games install very quickly, less than 2 minutes I would say for all the games I tried.
I picked up my console first thing this morning as I knew the servers would be getting hammered and I wanted to make sure I got all my system and game updates.
Sure is. When you're used to the PSN Store on the PS3 taking absolutely forever to access and the UI sputtering at every turn the store on the PS4 is like a hot knife through butter. Of course this is assuming you can log on to PSN.
I can't even sign into PSN, he won't be fine. *
* I'm kidding.. but it's not an across the board thing.. probably regional.
I'm glad it works for some people.. but I'm s*** out of luck myself.
Sorry to hear that. My digital download of BF4 was cruising along up to 70% or so but has slowed down significantly at the moment. I've got 30Mbps down and I'm sure I was maxed out when the download originally started.
played killzone, very pretty. overwhelmed with the amount of buttons and how easy it is to get lost.
fan turns on with disc in but you cant hear it unless you mute the game.
fan turns on with disc in but you cant hear it unless you mute the game.
So is everyone liking the PS4 so far? Sucks that some of you can't sign into PSN. What's up with not being able to see your PS3 friends on your friends list on PS4 or whatever? That's like a key feature for me. Everything should be connected, it's 2013.
Not for awhile. I'm still getting money together for the Xbox One and it's coming out next week lol. It's probably going to be at least a year before i get a PS4.
F*ckin' UPS. Still waiting...what a waste of a day, lol