Technicational

So two weeks ago I was given the chance to take home a Playstation 4 for a review. Smh, and here I thought Christmas was in December. So, this week with a smile from ear to ear I’m proud to bring to you my review of the PS4.

System Design

Let’s admit the Playstation 3 (PS3) first designs wasn’t something we were too pleased with because of it sheer size. It looked too much like a meat grill that I see advertising on cable. Sony wised up this time and made the PS4 sleek and thin with a LED light strip running on the top of the system, and two touch sensitive buttons for eject and power. The design of this system is leagues slimmer and attractive than its predecessor.

 

System Controller

The Sony DualShock 4 is a controller that most gamers would appreciate for it great future proof features. This controller has a light bar at the back, a touch pad in the middle of the controller and an option and share button. Also, the L2 and R2 buttons feel more like triggers unlike the things we are used to on the PS3 controller. There is also a speaker located in the middle of the controller to play back selected in game audio. The feature that amazed me the most was the addition of a headphone port on the controller.  This port can be used with any headphone to route all game audio to it. So now you can step into the game world without disturbing the persons you live with.

System User Interface

The User Interface (UI) for the PS4 is entirely different from what you would see on the PS3. First off, you can’t access numerous parts of the dashboard without a constant internet connection. The worst part is that not even your trophies are accessible while offline… Yes, you heard me right. You can’t see your pass, present, or future trophy without internet. This is a sore point for me… cause I have no internet at home and I am a trophy hunter with a level 20 PSN account!!! Moving on… the system UI is strongly integrated with Facebook and Twitter for posting game updates and achievements. You can also post gameplay videos with commentary directly from the PS4 to Facebook, Twitch, and Ustream with the simple press of the share button on the controller. In addition, the ability to switch between two running application has been added finally and can be accessed by double tapping PS home button. I must say, switching between apps is lightening fast on the PS4.

Final Thoughts

The PlayStation 4 is an awesome piece of hardware. It's quick, delightfully built and it's also simple to grasp form the first time you pick up the controller. The only missing elements are mp3 and video playback without streaming, which is still possible to be added at a later date with a system update. I really enjoyed testing the system. Now I need to get one for myself before Infamous Second Son comes out. Lotto here I come… Weh mi fifty dolla deh??? Oh… Forgot to tell you folks that the PS4 doesn’t play PS3 games, so don’t throw away your PS3’s if you have one. The products mentioned in this article were provided courtesy of Royale Computers and Accessories telephone#: 906-1067, 906-1068, and 754-5048.