Reviews & Previews
Sony PlayStation 4 Review
Sony’s PlayStation 4: what most in the business call the actual coming of the next generation of gaming – somewhat not including the Wii U in there for some reason – is finally upon us. We now know everything that, up until this point, could have been argued to the nth degree as speculation. Some of us now have it in our hands and some of us are still waiting; some of us will be waiting for a while, some of us are already having technical issues with the systems we have. The flame wars have already started, some people already picking sides before Microsoft’s system has dropped to the public, so I’ve come not to throw statistics at you or berate you with reasons why one console is better than the other: rather, I’m going to give you a taste of my experience.
The Opening
As you can tell from my awkward little video on YouTube, the opening of the package was something akin to bliss. I’d fallen for a system in such a fashion only once, before; I’d fallen for the Super Nintendo the same way. Even then, it felt like just enough was off to make it feel like it was more consumer-friendly. The PlayStation 4 feels like it was tailored exactly to my needs: the controller felt a little bit heavier, a little bit bigger; the system has plenty of flat surfaces, no curves, one LED line, not an overabundance of ports; the set up was extremely simple and quick for someone like myself, that knew exactly what they were doing; this system, right from the moment I opened the box to the moment I powered it on – entirely by mistake, I might add, the first time – I felt like this system was built with me, specifically, in mind. This was exactly how I felt when I first tried on my PlayStation Vita and I find it awesome that the two are so inextricably linked.
What you get when you open the system is pretty simple – you get the console, a single controller, a micro USB cord used for charging the controller, a single HDMI cable, a AC cord, a single-side earbud with build in mic for plugging into your controller; along with the usual manuals you get a voucher for a 30-day trial of PlayStation Plus, Music Unlimited, and 10$ towards anything in the PlayStation Store. I’d say that was a nice incentive towards purchasing the system considering that, in order to draw a direct parallel between both the PS4 and the XB1, you still have to spend the same amount of money, which brings me to my first and only gripe about the system’s pack-ins, or lack thereof: in order to make the playing field level, you need to spend almost the exact same amount of money one would spend on the XB1 in order to get a similar experience. Of course, that’s exactly what I did and I feel that all that sarcastic marketing Sony did to push their lower-price agenda really fell on deaf ears when I wanted to pick up that PlayStation Eye. It was really smart, on their part, but all it did was add fuel to the flame war.
The Setup
Setting up the system was incredibly easy, as it should be expected, by now – thanks to their constant tooling with the PlayStation 3, Sony decided to leave most of the footwork to the system itself in automatically detecting most of the necessary settings, asking that you only connect the controller, the camera if you have it, and set up your WiFi. When I was setting everything up for the PlayStation 3 when I picked up my second-generation version of the console, it took me a good long while to set it up. I don’t remember exactly why but I do recall there being some issues with the WiFi setup. If you watched that video I linked in the last section, you’ll see that with all the relevant information and only the system unboxed, I was able to open everything, hook everything up, set up the user interface, and get ready to play within fifteen minutes. I don’t know about you but that’s certainly an excellent sign of things to come. It reminds me of using an Android phone – once you’ve used one before and set up your Google account, each phone you set up afterwards becomes easier.
Getting Started
This is where things started to get kind of rocky. I could have jumped right into the game I purchased with the system – Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, in case any of you are wondering – and I would have been able to take in all the glory that is the PlayStation 4 – though it would have been only on a graphical basis because I already played the game for the PS3 – but that simply wouldn’t do. I had vouchers to redeem, I had a new account to set up, I had to check out all the features possible and explore the entire UI. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one because when I tried to do so, the PlayStation Network groaned for a long time and threw back error after error. Of course, I kind of saw this coming and had to do a majority of the redeeming and setting up of my accounts on my laptop so between that and updating my system I wasn’t without gameplay for a while. PSN still is having some issues but I’ve found ways around it, most of the times, though it will hiccup its way into complete inoperability at times.
I was able to get almost everything I wanted done within the first hour or so, short of a few things that really irked me: I was unable to download two games from PlayStation Store – Contrast and Warframe, specifically – without constantly running into connection errors and having to restart – it did let you pick up from where you left off but sometimes it would just start from the beginning, inexplicably – the download; I was unable to redeem only the voucher for Ubisoft’s UPlay passport, which made booting up the game – while it’s already a test of patience to watch boot up – a pain in the ass; and the constant inability to use most of the Sony-specific apps and services altogether. They all eventually worked themselves out with little trouble but it took time and lots of frustration to get there.
I understand the nature of the problem and this is exactly what World of Warcraft fans go through every time an expansion is released but it’s frustrating; I either feel that I shouldn’t have it at all or that I should have full service. That’s just my emotional response, though; I know that’s not actually going to happen for a while.
The User Interface
Once everything was – mostly – out of the way, I was ready to start digging around and seeing what the PS4 is capable of. There was a packed in tech demo to show off the PlayStation Camera a little, titled Playroom. If you’re wondering what you can do with it, check out this Jimmy Fallon clip and you’ll know exactly what to expect. That aside, the thing is very similar in form to the XMB that everyone grew familiar with by playing with it on the PSP and PS3 but takes a lot of the things that made it – in my opinion, anyway – inherently ugly and too plain and makes them a little more deep and complex without making things seem too cluttered. A lot of the context menus look like they do on the Vita, which is to be expected.
I think the only thing I would change is to have some customization options open. I was wondering if they would make the customization deeper, not remove it altogether! I don’t mind the UI as it is now but I get bored easily with the way things look, not to mention that the background music – and don’t you tell me I can turn it off because I do know that – gets annoying after a while. Maybe even let me change the background picture and the music – it’s not the best set of customization options but at least it wouldn’t get boring after a while.
The Gaming
Once you get past all the fuzz you still have to realize that this is a gaming system and Sony has made it very clear that they’re going to market this machine as a gaming console and not make the mistake of muddling it down by saying “It Does Everything”, even though it has the same basic feature set as the PlayStation 3 and then some. While I don’t have every game in the launch library available at this time, I do have a good share – Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Resogun, Contrast, and Warframe. As far as I can tell, I`m seeing something very similar to the games on the PlayStation Vita happening, here: the games look great, they play great, but don’t really show anything off. No, they’re way more subtle than that. I like this, if you ask me.
Take Assassin’s Creed IV, for example: it doesn’t tell you, straight away, but it does have PS4-specific features and controls and they are not, in any way, intrusive. Much like Uncharted for the PlayStation Vita, you could get by just fine without using the Vita-specific controls and still experience a perfectly fine portable game. Likewise with ACIV: you have the option to indulge in every possible nuance Ubisoft throws at you to enjoy this specific version of the game entirely but it doesn’t keep you from enjoying the game to its fullest without it. I’m not going to review any games specifically, here, but I will tell you this: PlayStation 4 and, by proxy, the PlayStation Vita, does gaming right, by keeping the games at the forefront without drowning them out. What the game manufacturers do with these tools is entirely up to them and not indicative of what Sony’s trying to do, but the system plays and feels very good. I find it hard to put the controller down and look away because everything looks and feels so damn good.
The Final Verdict
What do I think of the PlayStation 4 at the end of the day? I would say that this is going to be a game-changer, right here. Microsoft, ever since they’ve started formally announcing stuff for the next-generation consoles, has always been second-at-bat, and we shall see how they do when they release their console on North America’s shores, on the 22nd of November. This generation, though, will change how we view gaming forever – integration with mobile devices, microtransactions, console and mobile gaming soon becoming the same; the entire atmosphere and arena for gaming will change with this generation, just as Nintendo had when they released the Gameboy and the Super Nintendo.
Is this to say that Microsoft will fail? Hard to say. They’ve been missing cues for the better part of this launch but they’ve stood, stoically, by their product since day one and that’s admirable. This is actually the first gaming offering from Microsoft that I’ve actually been interested in without actually seeing anything from them and that’s saying a lot. Microsoft might hit this one out of the park – it has always seemed like they’ve had an ace up their sleeve. However, if their track record has anything to say about their launch, they just might be the ones that are one step behind this time around. Nintendo’s Wii U has already splashed around in the water for a bit but it’s still way too early to be able to tell whether or not they’ll be able to tread water in this market – it won’t kill them – almost nothing will – but it doesn’t look as though they’ll be as successful as they were with the Wii.
This might be Sony’s time to shine. Let’s just hope that the competition stays fresh.
The Problems
No console release – or any popular release at all, these days – is without a little drama from the fanbase and the flame war has most certainly started early. Seeing as the console relies heavily on an Internet connection, you have almost every person who bought a system on opening day trying to access accounts, download items, and move around all at once; not to mention the normal daily traffic that comes through the PlayStation Network on a given day. This will cause problems, as any World of Warcraft fanboy will tell you. People have been throwing out complaints by the masses at Sony and other outlets, blaming Sony for the fact that it appeared they simply weren’t prepared to handle the load from all the users being online and making all kinds of requests at once; let me assure you, as Microsoft’s launch will likely prove, this is not something so easily prepared for. Sony could have thrown a little more money at the problem before it came around but how much is too much? There’s no way of knowing until you get an idea of the customer base you’re going to be dealing with and I think that’s exactly what Sony was doing there. Not exactly the most customer-friendly business practice but there you have it. The problem is almost totally resolved, now, as far as I can tell, so that was, relatively, a flash in the pan.
There are also a group of people that I’ve spoken with regarding “bricked” consoles but all of them, to my knowledge, seem to root from faulty HDMI ports – judging from the sounds of things, just really cheaply made, you shouldn’t be jamming and wiggling HDMI cords in there, anyway – and overheating. Overheating is something that can be simply fixed and remedied, if taken care of at the time of the warning, shown by a red status light on the system; you’re literally supposed to let it cool off, find a better place for it to sit, clean it out if you have to – though, if your house is as such that in three days your system’s gathered that much dust, perhaps you need to reconsider your priorities – and then try it again. There are just some people who don’t grasp that concept and their systems end up with heat damage, something Sony is in their full right to not cover.
For more on how to fix PlayStation 4 problems, check out our articles here.
Others are claiming they were simply not able to power the unit on – that sounds like a true manufacturer defect but it’s hard to say, at this point, without anything concrete. Like always, though, buyer beware – some are saying there’s a %0.5 failure rate or something, which isn’t too bad, but… then again, that’s too much risk for some people.
In the rapidly expanding realm of Valorant eSports, statistical analysis plays a pivotal role in understanding player performance, team dynamics, and the strategic nuances that define success in competitive play. This article delves into the significance of Valorant eSports stats, their impact on the competitive landscape, and how they empower players, teams, and fans alike.
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Valorant eSports stats encompass a wide array of metrics that provide insights into player proficiency and team strategies. These include individual performance indicators such as kill-death ratios (K/D), average damage per round (ADR), headshot percentages, and assist counts. Team statistics such as round win percentages, first blood percentages, and economy management efficiency further illuminate strategic strengths and areas for improvement.
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Beyond individual matches, Valorant eSports stats track broader tournament trends and meta-game evolution. Historical data on agent pick rates, map preferences, and round outcomes reveal emerging strategies and meta-shifts over time. This analytical depth allows teams and analysts to anticipate trends, innovate strategies, and stay ahead of competitors in high-stakes tournaments and league play.
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Valorant eSports stats enrich the spectator experience during live broadcasts and tournament coverage. Fans can follow real-time updates on player performances, compare stats across matches, and engage in discussions about standout plays and strategic decisions. Interactive platforms and statistical dashboards enhance viewer engagement, fostering a deeper connection with the competitive narratives unfolding in Valorant eSports.
Impact on eSports Betting and Fantasy Leagues
Valorant eSports stats play a crucial role in eSports betting markets and fantasy leagues, where informed decision-making hinges on statistical insights. Bettors and fantasy league participants leverage player and team stats to assess form, predict match outcomes, and manage their investments strategically. Real-time updates and comprehensive data analysis enhance the strategic depth and excitement of eSports engagement for fans worldwide.
Technological Advancements and Data Visualization
Advancements in technology have revolutionized how Valorant eSports stats are accessed and analyzed. Streaming platforms and eSports websites offer sophisticated data visualization tools, interactive heatmaps, and player performance overlays that enhance the depth and accessibility of statistical analysis. These technological innovations provide analysts, commentators, and fans with enhanced insights into gameplay dynamics and strategic decision-making.
Future Innovations in Statistic Analysis
As Valorant continues to evolve as an eSports powerhouse, the future of statistical analysis promises further innovations. AI-driven predictive analytics, enhanced machine learning algorithms, and real-time performance tracking technologies are poised to revolutionize how eSports stats are processed and utilized. These advancements will elevate the precision, depth, and predictive capabilities of statistical analysis in Valorant eSports, shaping the future of competitive gaming.
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Software and applications designed for children’s learning capitalize on the allure of multimedia to capture young minds. Effective education solutions provide children with stimulating challenges that are age-appropriate and aligned with developmental targets.
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Overall, caregivers and educators can provide comprehensive support for children’s developmental journeys by integrating pediatric therapy services, optimized play spaces, and interactive learning tools. These resources nurture their physical, emotional, and cognitive growth and cultivate a lifelong love for learning and exploration.
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Tim
November 19, 2013 at 5:24 pm
I’m tired of reading these terrible articles. I don’t usually post, but it’s now raging me.
Consoles are expected to brick? Overheating is the norm, just put it somewhere cooler? Services don’t work? REaaaaallllyyy? Then bashing XB1 before it’s even released! How people put up with these compromises is beyond me.
$400 for a piece of tech that doesn’t work as advertised.
I’m sure the ipad managed just fine. Xbox 360 was 8 years ago. Lots of laptops and consoles survive just fine without overheating.
Oh, and the UI looks terrible IMO.
The Laymen's Gamer
November 19, 2013 at 8:07 pm
Where did I bash XB1? Dude, I think you need to cool off… I don’t know where you’re getting that I’m justifying all this stuff but what I’m saying is that it is what it is and raging about it solves nothing. Keeping a cool head and being aware of possible solutions does.
You’re right about cold boots, though. However, they can potentially be damaging to anything that stores memory so that warning has been there and it’s also been on other devices that would rather not be jolted like that so, yet again, I don’t know where your rage is coming from.
Troll, maybe?
Tim
November 20, 2013 at 5:47 am
Not trolling at all. Your article just got the brunt of my anger as I’ve read so many similar sounding ones recently.
On one hand you say:
“PlayStation Network groaned for a long time and threw back error after error”
“though it will hiccup its way into complete inoperability at times”
“without constantly running into connection errors and having to restart
I either feel that I shouldn’t have it at all or that I should have full service.”
“I don’t mind the UI as it is now but I get bored easily with the way things look”
“judging from the sounds of things, just really cheaply made”
Add to that the bricking, HDMI problems, overheating, lights of death, errors popping up all over the place, PSN network issues, and it’s not a pretty picture you are painting.
Then on the other hand you are saying:
“I would say that this is going to be a game-changer, right here.” – How exactly? What’s the biggest game changing elements you see? Bit beefier processor and some improved graphics? Fine if that’s all it’s touting to be about, but hardly revolutionary.
“This might be Sony’s time to shine.” – Other than the amount of preorders they managed to sell, can you really suggest that PS4 launch has been a success?
I guess what reading these articles triggered off is that you point out all the problems and issues and the frustrations, but then say it’s a “game changer” and “Let’s just hope that the competition stays fresh.”. Seems like you are ruling with your heart somewhat based on your love affair with the PS4 before it was even opened.
Tim
November 20, 2013 at 6:02 am
PS4 is also unashamedly pushing that this is a games console only.. From what I’ve seen the only real game getting any really decent reviews is Resogun which is a free indy game – essentially a beefed up version of Defender. Fair play to the game, but doesn’t really say much about Sony exclusives or showing off what the console is capable of?
The heating issues you mentioned irked me too. It almost sounded like you are blaming the user for the overheating? I’m sure most have it sat under their TV with a lot of other tech (DVD player / set top boxes etc) that don’t have to worry about similar problems.
From what I’ve seen the design of the aircooling in the PS4 is very poor and tries to channel heat down the sides and back, probably a compromise just for the overall look. To suggest that there’s a red light signal so people know when to let the unit ‘cool off’ is (excuse the pun) not cool. Maybe Sony should have thought about that when they decided to keep the power-block inside the unit. This is the sort of thing that’s going to cause various issues over the lifespan, I’m sure.
Tim
November 20, 2013 at 6:15 am
Lastly about bashing the XB1. I guess it was either in the tone of some comments, or perhaps just the pro nature of the PS4. I’m just being honest, that’s how it read. Some of the comments on XB and MS past were perhaps correct, but to suggest the XB1 is already playing catchup or is bound to have plenty of launch issues before it’s even released is maybe a bit harsh.
XB1 has some really good USPs and if the product delivers what it’s been promoting, then it’s got the chance to at least change the way we view gaming / media hub / social networking (with the Kinect at the heart of it). Sony tried a last minute effort to copy (although poorly) with the ‘PS Camera’ but can’t imagine developers are going to have much take up with it (just like the previous iterations) largely because they can’t be sure how much of the user base actually own one.
All that said, I’m not here promoting XB either. It will have it’s launch on Friday and should be judged after that.
The Laymen's Gamer
November 22, 2013 at 9:56 am
I’m pretty sure a console’s launch success is rated by its sales. Of course, put up against other launches, in terms of consoles sold, would make it seem like a success; that’s just in North America, too. We can’t speak for the console sales that will happen in Europe and Japan. I’ll admit that its launch lineup isn’t exactly great; most of its great games can be found on other platforms and what exclusives it got coming right out of the gate weren’t all games to write home about. I’ll give it that much.
As per the problems with the unit, physically, well, this is a double-edged blade topic, here, so I’ll try to be as neutral as possible: from my days working with branches of companies that deal with liabilities, insurance claims, returns, and the like… I can assure you that any problems a product has is normally a whole made up of two parts: design flaws and customer ignorance. Bottom line is that, yes, Sony opted to make a few poor decisions – the biggest, IMHO, being the power cell inside the unit itself – to favor the look of the unit and ease of use but that’s stuff Sony’s been doing for longer than they’ve made gaming systems and it’s worked out pretty well for them. A lot of times, especially in end-user products like gaming systems, computers, laptops, cell phones, overheating comes from a combination of overuse, improper use, and heat insulation: I’ve fielded a lot of claims and in some cases it’s just plain old ignorance that suffered the customer the worst and some general usage knowledge would have saved the day. Sony can’t have a counter for every stupid thing someone might do with their product, it would take twice the time to develop and market demand just won’t have that.
If you ask me, I’ve never built Sony up as innovators – Apple wasn’t, either, but look at how people tout them as leaders in innovation – but rather as the guys who took present ideas and made them BETTER. This is what I mean; the Super Nintendo didn’t change the actual landscape of how games were played but rather provided a platform playground for some of the best gaming that anyone has ever had to offer. That’s why everyone looks back on the SNES and the Genesis so fondly – the competition, the playing field, the GAMES; everything caught fire then and Sony drew their line in the sand… that line’s a pretty bold statement and that’s what I mean by Sony changing the game. Perhaps that line will be crossed and washed out by Microsoft but that kind of competition is exactly what I want to see because that means the games and the exclusives are going to be AWESOME.
I seriously can’t wait for this generation to start blossoming.
Tim
November 19, 2013 at 5:29 pm
Oh and who came up with 0.4% – Sony? That’s convenient, I’m sure it’s much wider spread. Even reviewers had problems. Surely any self-respecting manufacturer would ensure they test themselves any units being sent away for review?
Also irks me that PS4 says it needs to be ‘shut down properly’ else there could be corruption etc. Why?! ps3, xbox 360, laptops even manage to survive quite well with cold turn offs.
game
November 19, 2019 at 11:26 am
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no hu club
November 19, 2019 at 11:30 am
PS4 Upgrade and better than old version, you can play with any sofeware game, i like this, i’m still looking for new game disk, do you any recommend for new game? thank