The PlayStation 4 is the most powerful games console on the planet.
With more graphical power than the Xbox One, 32 times more system memory
than the PS3 and a firm focus on pure gaming experiences rather than
media mojo, it has established itself as the next-gen console to beat.
It's
a games console built by gamers for gamers. It won the hearts and minds
of many from the word go, with lots of prospective next-genners left
feeling alienated by some of Microsoft's bizarre policies and choices
for the Xbox One – many of which were reversed as a result of a
backlash.
Coming
in at £350, the PS4 is also £80 cheaper than the Xbox One, making it
appear terrific value. It doesn't come with the PlayStation Camera (the
One does come with Kinect) but this can be bought separately for £45 if
you so wish.
The differences between the PS4 and Xbox One are
actually evident before you even switch them on. Despite the two
consoles both sporting similar half-matte half-gloss finishes and
containing very similar internal components, they really couldn't be
more different.
For a start, the PS4 is small and sleek in
comparison to the enormous VCR-like square cuboid of the Xbox One. And
this means that the PS4's box is half the size and weight of the Xbox
One. The Sony console can be extracted from its packaging and plugged in
and booted up in a couple of minutes.
Xbox
One on the other hand comes in a huge, hulking box. It's fiddly to open
and unpack, and it's full of little compartments, carboard and plastic
to get in the way and make a mess with. The environment was not a
concern for Microsoft when it designed the Xbox packaging, clearly.
This
is the kind of streamlining that typifies the PlayStation experience
with PS4. It's a console designed for gamers to play games and in this
respect it could be described as more of spiritual successor to the
PlayStation 2 – still the best selling games console the universe has
ever known.
Design
One look at the PS4 and you know you're
seeing Sony hardware. It's slim, sleek and jet black, roughly the size
of a second generation PS3
Slim. The full measurements are 275 x 53 x 305 mm. It's a lot more
compact than an Xbox One, which is longer, taller and squarer.
In
a feat of engineering worth tipping your hat to, and in spite of the
PS4's slim stature, Sony has tucked the power supply inside the system,
leaving no external power brick to trip over. The Xbox One on the other
hand retains the power brick of the Xbox 360.
PS4 sports a sloped,
asymmetrical design. That's its largest departure from PlayStations
past. It lies flat on its belly by default, but can go up on its tiptoes
with the help of a plastic stand, sold separately for £16.99.
On
its face is a slit of a mouth, a slot loading Blu-ray disc drive. To its
right are two powered USB 3.0 ports, which can charge your DualShock 4 controllers when the system is turned off, a feature the PS3 sorely lacked.
Along
the top, or the side if you've opted for the stand, is a light, which
glows blue when you boot it up. It breathes some life into the otherwise
cold industrial design of the system. Turn it on and it blinks a
yawning hello.
PS4 specifications
Inside,
the PS4 is all business. It has a custom single-chip processor that
combines an eight core x86-64 AMD "Jaguar" CPU with a 1.84 teraflop GPU
based on AMD's Radeon tech. That's backed by 8GB of GDDR5 RAM, and a
500GB mechanical hard drive.
Sony claims that the PS4's overall
performance is ten times that of the PS3. You can also remove that 500GB
drive and replace it with a larger drive, or an SSD for better
performance. Sony says these do it yourself upgrades will not void the
system's warranty.
Those two USB ports are the PS4's only front
facing connections. In the rear you'll find HDMI, Ethernet, a digital
optical audio out and a proprietary auxiliary connection for the
PlayStation Camera.
For wireless connections, the PS4 uses 802.11 b/g/n for WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 for its wireless DualShock 4 controllers.
Features
The
PlayStation 4 is a living room computer, more so than the PS3 ever was.
Not just because of its specs and AMD-based architecture, but because
of its robust feature set.
It's capable of bringing games and
movies quickly into your home, as well as connecting you to your friends
and other online gamers through the PlayStation Network as well as
Twitter and Facebook to share brag-worthy gaming moments.
What's in the box?
You're
bringing home more than a just a stylish asymmetrical black console. In
addition to the actual system you get a power cord (not a big power
brick), an HDMI cable, an earbud microphone combo, one DualShock 4
controller and its charging cable (we charged our DualShock 4 pad using
the Xbox One and the world did not end).
Extra controllers don't
come with another charging cable, so don't lose that one. Also, note
that we said earbud singular, not earbuds, as in just for one ear. It's
cheap but serviceable, but you can actually plug any old headset or pair
of buds you already own into the controller's headphone jack, so it's
not much of an issue.
Setup
Setting
up the PlayStation 4 is very easy, especially if you have a PS3. You
can actually use the same cables from Sony's last system, making for a
very easy swap.
As mentioned on page 1, the PS4 is super easy to
extract from its box and set up, leaving minimal mess and very little
environment-killing packaging.
Once it's all plugged in and booted
up, your new PS4 will ask to connect to internet. It wants that 300MB
day-one patch, but it doesn't need it for offline play. You are able to
skip WiFi or ethernet altogether and just pop in a game. Unlike the Xbox
One, you can get to the homescreen without initially connecting to the
web and patching.
Once you do connect to the internet, you'll need
to let the PS4 update before you can make purchases from the store or
play online.
PlayStation Store
Sony
won the popularity contest at E3 by promising not to fiddle with used
game trade-ins, but gamers will still have the option to purchase any
and all games on the day of release digitally through the PlayStation
Store.
While opting out of a physical copy means no disc to resell
down the road, a digital copy brings a level of convenience to your
purchase that's reminiscent of Steam. It means no disc to lose, scratch
or even bother inserting when you want to play. You won't have anything
to sell to GameStop though, nor will you be able to lend out the game.
Games
can even be played before a download completes. When purchasing a game
like Killzone: Shadow Fall, you'll be asked which portion of the game
should be prioritized, single player or multiplayer, essentially letting
you choose which part of the game you want to hop into first.
In a
little less than an hour, you'll be able to start playing a title. It
may seem like something only the truly impatient would enjoy, but when
you consider that many releases weigh in excess of 35GB, it's real
luxury feature, and another impressive bit of engineering.
Then
there's the PlayStation app for iOS and Android. With just the stroke
of a touchscreen, you can remotely purchase games, and get the download
going on your PS4 so it's ready and waiting when you get home (the
console will turn on, download and switch off on its own).
Finally,
PlayStation Plus is offering a bit of financial amnesty for customers
who've bought copies of games like Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag or
Call of Duty: Ghosts for PS3, and other titles that are available on
next and current-gen. For a small fee, you can get the next-gen version,
providing you insert your PS3 copy as a sort of proof of purchase.
You'll
have to continue to do so, meaning that every time you want to play the
PS4 Call of Duty you bought through this offer, you'll need to pop in
the PS3 version. That last-gen copy will still work on your PS3 though,
requiring the disc seems like a way to make sure customers can't use
both simultaneously.
PS Vita Remote Play
When Remote Play for the PS Vita
was announced, everyone chirped that the PS4 would be the best thing
ever to happen to Sony's struggling handheld. While it may not sell many
Vitas, considering customers have already spent a lot on a PS4, it'll
certainly get current owners to dust off the system.
Basically, a WiFi connected PS4 can stream gameplay to a Vita, much like a gaming PC streaming Borderlands 2 to an Nvidia Shield, or the proposed Windows to Linux streaming of Valve's Steam Box.
We
used the PS4 and Vita over our home WiFi, provided by a three-year-old
Apple AirPort. The connection to the PS4 was lag free, to the point
where you could actually use the handheld as a controller.
And you
can use it as a control pad, as well as a second screen, Smartglass
style. It's a great way to avoid using the on screen keyboard, if
nothing else.
Outside of the same WiFi network as your PS4, Remote
Play is not an option. At the office we couldn't get it to connect to
our PS4 at home, and it simply isn't an available over a 3G data
connection. In regards to this, Sony's official statement is:
"We
strongly recommend that Remote Play be used within the same WiFi network
where the PS4 system is connected. Remote Play may or may not work over
a wide area network. For Remote Play to function over a wide area
network, a robust and stable WiFi connection and broadband Internet
connection is required, and the local area network where the PS4 system
is connected must be configured to permit the PS Vita system to access
the PS4 system."
Sony's statement holds true, so Vita Remote Play
is really more like a Wii U Gamepad, letting you play in bed or get a
game in while someone else is using the TV. It's not a strong reason to
go out and buy a Vita, but if you already own, it's an impressive
novelty at the very least.
Sharing Gameplay Videos
When
Sony pulled the PS4 out of the shadows and started rattling off
features, it mentioned one truly original and intriguing feature: saving
and sharing gameplay videos with the press of the Share button on the
DualShock 4.
At all times when playing a game, your last fifteen
minutes of action is being recorded. This can be disabled, if you find
it creepy or want to save on hard drive space, but it's switched on by
default. There are also places where recording or screen grabs are
locked out by developers. It's usually during cinematics or in certain
menus.
Right on the console you can manipulate the video to a
limited degree, more like trimming than true editing, and then share it
to Facebook or on the PSN. You can also take a screenshot by holding the
Share button, and then attach it to a PSN message, Facebook or tweet
it.
Sharing videos and screens is limited to social networks and
the PSN. There's no way to get them to YouTube or Flickr, or create a
private link to the video. That's a real disappointment, especially
since the Xbox One offers you a lot more freedom with your clips, like
uploading them YouTube. In a perfect world we'd be able to plug in a
thumb drive and grab the raw video, but that's not allowed.
However,
you can stream live gameplay for others to watch over Twitch and
Ustream, something PC gamers have enjoyed for a while now. It's quite
painless to set up, especially compared to the third-party mechanics
needed to employ this on a last-gen system.
Sony PlayStation 4 is a fantastic
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