back to article Here's what YOU WON'T be able to do with your PlayStation 4

Automotive pioneer Henry Ford famously joked that any customer could order a car painted any color "as long as it is black." The same will be true of Sony's forthcoming PlayStation 4 video game console – "Jet Black" being the only color option at launch – but it seems the new device will come with plenty of other limitations, …

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  1. Chris 171
    Meh

    Storefront Technology

    Remember when as gadgets got better you could plug more things in, connect in different ways, plays all discs etc...

    Devices ability to do things are being devolved to enforce walled gardens and suit advertisers, seems a bit rubbish to me. Plus I'd have to duck tape every camera.

    Has it got a memory card slot still?

    All started by apple I might add...

    ....

    1. Chris 244
      Thumb Down

      Unwarranted Apple dig

      Sony CD rootkit predated the iPhone by a couple of years.

    2. ecofeco Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: Storefront Technology

      I agree Chris 171. (Chris 244, I think he meant the whole walled garden thing)

      Which begs the question: why do people buy this crap?

      Seriously, who in their right mind is going to buy a product that will not work with the gear they already have?

      Sony has truly lost their minds in so many ways. They used to be the standard for all consumer and pro entertainment electronics, now they are just has beens who are coasting on their previous fame and screwing the hell out of their customers.

      1. DiViDeD

        Re: Storefront Technology

        "Seriously, who in their right mind is going to buy a product that will not work with the gear they already have?"

        Umm that would be the folks who bought the iPhone 5 and happily replaced their clock radios, stupid plastic floorstanding speakers and the other stuff they'd only bought because it had an iThing dock.

        I suppose they junked their BMWs at the same time

      2. NB

        Re: Storefront Technology

        > Which begs the question...

        No. To beg the question is to assume it has already been answered. This raises the question. It does not beg it.

        1. Sir Runcible Spoon

          Re: Storefront Technology

          Well M$ fucked me off with their bullshit, and I was on the verge of going back on my 'never buy Sony' vow that I made when the rootkit fiasco kicked off.

          Now I won't be buying PS4 either.

          Time to start building my dream PC again - fully watercooled, whisper quiet, overclocked to buggery (just for fun) - I may even start building my personalised cockpit chair ready for the OR & Starcitizen.

          The Steam effort may save the day for consoles in the end - especially if it drives games developers to code for Linux based systems from the off. That way we can have a streamlined system that isn't bogged down with unnecessary windows stuff. If I want something on my PC - I install it - don't bundle it and run a million services in the background.

          This locked down bullshit will come back to bite them on the arse majorly.

    3. Oh Homer
      FAIL

      Console for Convicts

      What's Sony's target audience? Prisoners?

      Seriously, those are are bloody ridiculous restrictions.

      No thanks.

      1. Cliff

        Re: Console for Convicts

        In other news...

        A bunch of MS execs are punching the sky with a 'fuck yeah', Sony seem to be handing them the market.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Console for Convicts

          Enjoy your 720p 60fps Xbox One games... my ps3 does that resolution already...

          http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-resolutiongate-the-fallout

          The Xbox One dodgy hardware specs can't be changed, dlna abs mp3 can abd will surely be implemented on the ps4.

          The real losers are those that bought a Xbox One which turns out to be a small incremental update if the Xbox 360

          1. h3

            Re: Console for Convicts

            Here is the thing basically nobody can get stuff to scale properly on AMD's architecture. (Even the bulldozer / piledriver one).

            The most important thing is making sure either of them is used properly. (Microsoft will make it easy / Sony won't do anything).

            They are both terrible compared to how good consoles have been in the past though at release.

            (And the dev's will always choose graphics that cannot be handled properly (At 30fps) over it working properly at 60fps).

            A £150 video card is loads better than either of the 2 consoles. (2 of them will guarantee being able to run anything they can run at 30fps at 60 for the whole generation).

            Within a few years the lastest ipad will destroy either of them as well.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Console for Convicts

            Thank you for actually doing some research. So sick of Microsoft raping everyone and getting away with it... Remember people we also had 3 red rings of death that killed 5 of my Xboxs and still you have people backing a shotty machine for what reason Halo????

          3. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Console for Convicts

            God you're an idiot.

            Why do ignorant tards incorporate resolution with graphics? Not to mention, do you even know the difference between native and upscale? Just because the XBox One is at 720 doesn't mean it will be playing at that since it up scales to 1080. Also, the games look better on XB1 because the hardware is rendering and aliasing faster.

            Nevertheless, are you playing on a 50 inch screen? The human eye cannot see the difference between 720 and 1080 unless the screen size is bigger than 42". BUT THAT IS RESOLUTION TO RESOLUTION. The Xbox will still be up scaling to 1080.

            You want a graphical experience? Get a PC. I'm here for the next gen experience. Which is why I'm getting XBox One.

            1. MJI Silver badge

              Re: Console for Convicts

              Upscaling from 720 to 1080

              Does it matter if the TV or the console does it?

              It is still upscaling rather than native resolution.

              Yes the XB1 is running at the same resolution as lots of current generation games.

              Also 720 and 1080 are obviously different on my 46" TV

              XB1 to me is not quite next generation, I am even wondering if it can beat this generation!

              1. Crookid

                Re: Console for Convicts

                It's a shame how ignorant posters as yourself will continue to down vote valid arguments and spew more lackluster information.

                Also, you act as if every game is going to be up scaled on a XB1. It was only the few such as BF4 and COD and there are already reviewer complaints about FPS instability on those games via PS4. DR3 and Forenza whatever (the racing game) are at a native 1080 60 FPS on the XB1.

                Nevertheless, it all comes down to software and what the machines are capably of achieving with a variety of inputs. Such as the Kinect 2.0 which is majorly superior to the PS Eye and what is being achieved from an entertainment standpoint. Incorporating that into playing games or interacting with your TV delivers an immersive experience. Which brings me to my point about PC for graphics and XB1 for the next gen experience.

                Smarten up and read. You'd be surprised at what you can learn by being objective and opening your mind.

            2. Piro Silver badge

              Re: Console for Convicts

              "Also, the games look better on XB1 because the hardware is rendering and aliasing faster."

              What does this even mean? You do realise the architecture of the GPU is literally the same, just the One has less power.

              That's literally the same as saying a Radeon 7750 is clearly the better graphics card over the Radeon 7850.

              You must be trolling.

        2. Oh Homer
          Terminator

          Re: "Sony seem to be handing [MS] the market"

          Hardly. The XBone is nearly as bad, as was originally intended to be even worse, until Vole was forced to do an embarrassing u-turn.

          Both Sony and Microsoft have just "protected" their consoles into oblivion. Good riddance.

          The last vestiges of non-mobile video gaming will be on what little is left of the dying PC market, and Valve's last-ditch effort with its forthcoming Steam Box.

          1. Anonymous Brave Guy

            Re: "Sony seem to be handing [MS] the market"

            The last vestiges of non-mobile video gaming will be on the ever lively PC market, and Valve's last-ditch effort to prop up the console market with its forthcoming Steam Box.

            FTFY.

            1. Oh Homer
              Mushroom

              Re: "Sony seem to be handing [MS] the market"

              @ Anonymous Brave Guy

              "The last vestiges of non-mobile video gaming will be on the ever lively PC market, and Valve's last-ditch effort to prop up the console market with its forthcoming Steam Box."

              Except the "ever lively PC" market is plummeting, and the PC games industry along with it, which now accounts for just 19% of the games market, whereas console games account for nearly half the total market. In fact even handheld games are now outselling PC games, indeed the only segment generating less revenue than PC games is mobile, and that's only due to much lower prices, not fewer units shipped. The fact that, despite this, the mobile market has nearly matched the PC market, is a testament to how dire things really are for PC gaming.

              And the Steam Box is not a "games console", despite the hype, it's a commodity PC running GNU/Linux, Valve's Steam client, and standard PC games. Although this false persona will no doubt encourage sales among those who might otherwise have steered clear of a PC, which is after all the whole point of this "console".

        3. Vociferous

          Re: Console for Convicts

          > Sony seem to be handing them the market

          They're basically playing tennis with the market, fumbling it between them. Microsoft goes Evil Empire at E3 and drives users over to Sony, then Sony remembers that, oh yeah, I'm a litigious passive-aggresive bastard, and drive them back.

          I hope the Steambox turns out to be all it's been cracked up to be, and I hope it utterly destroys PS3 and XBone. Because if it doesn't, we continue the slide into locked userspaces which are not so much a "walled garden" as a prison.

        4. Piro Silver badge

          Re: Console for Convicts

          You're kidding me, right? The PS4 has better hardware by far, and there's no changing that.

          Here I was thinking that consoles were about a simple way to play games. Not media streaming or any of that. I don't have a PS3, I have a 360. But the PS4 is clearly better value, and better hardware.

          The only problem right now is that the 360 has Forza 5 and the PS4 doesn't have anything to compete (to me, this is what matters)...

          1. Crookid

            Re: Console for Convicts

            Where I agree console decision should come down to the games or what you want out of your device, your mother point misses the mark completely.

            The specifications are remarkable similar with the MS decision considered "sub-par" to PS4, although extremely slight, are in-fact not sub par. Such as the DDR3 ram XB uses vs the DDR5 PS4 uses. DDR3 doesn't necessarily mean less capable. In-fact, it is the opposite. Read up on that.

            Nevertheless, it all comes down to software and Somy has never impressed me in that regard. The XB1 is simply more impressive giving the user and developers more freedom. Let alone Sony's attempt at cornering their users into paying more for peripherals and media.

            I'll gladly pay $100 more for better software, Kinect 2.0 and DLNA capability. Hell, I'd do it for DLNA alone since I'll save that streaming media I got for free on my PC.

    4. ThomH

      Re: Storefront Technology

      Blaming Apple for anything here is absurd — video games consoles have been a walled garden since the NES's lockout chip.

      1. DaneB

        Re: Storefront Technology

        True true. It was Nintendo all along. Japanese war-mongerers.

    5. rvt

      Re: Storefront Technology

      I down-voted you post only because you did bring Apple into the mix.

      This trend didn't really start with Apple. I remember a time that i had Cd's i could play anywhere in the world, until Hollywood decided that its a good idea to add regions to dvd. So, a DVD bought in the US couldn't be played in Europe, which is a huge restriction as far as i can see it the start of 'restrictions'.

      Just saying that its not fair to point fingers to apple here.

      Besides that, the game and software industry in general have been doing this already for year, way before Apple came with the iphone. Mac os/x doesn't have any of the restrictions, added so people won't forget.

      1. tom dial Silver badge

        Re: Storefront Technology

        Perhaps companies with management focus on the next quarter and next fiscal year bottom line tend more than they rationally ought to treat the enterprise as "manufacturing" process in which consumers are an input resource. This would lead naturally to vertical integration actions intended to ensure that the resource is is kept available for continued exploitation using such things as manufacturer specific hardware and software standards, and now locked down software stores. This is not materially different from vendor lock in as practiced, for instance, by document management system vendors who store the metadata using proprietary database schemas and thereby raise the cost to purchasers of switching to a competing product. Apple began it in the PC environment, I think, with or shortly after the Apple II, with longer run result of helping IBM, and the clone makers enabled by the open standards, to dominate the desktop market ever after. Based on sales figures, the same may be happening now with Apple/iOS v. Google/Android.

        Sony and Microsoft seem to be trying the same approach. We've seen what happened to the Surface RT; it was not good, and I haven't seen reports of impressive Surface 2 sales. Apple seems still to be enjoying a healthy revenue stream, but from a declining fraction of the cell phone and tablet markets. Treating customers as cattle to be milked may have limitations.

  2. Chris 244
    Trollface

    "Massive" 300MB update?

    Or almost 1/10th the size of the Windows 8.1update package! Anyone know what that is in Reg units?

    1. Jordan Davenport

      Re: "Massive" 300MB update?

      Codec packages for h.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-1 Layer 2, AC3, DTS, PCM, etc. should be rather small, less than 20MB, one would think. The actual player itself shouldn't be much larger than 50MB or so, and I'm being very generous here. For what it is, it is rather curious that the download would be so large.

      1. Chris 244

        Re: "Massive" 300MB update?

        "For what it is, it is rather curious that the download would be so large." Then what do you make of Win 8.1 needing 3.4 GB to add a crippled Start button?

        1. Jordan Davenport

          Re: "Massive" 300MB update?

          Windows 8.1 is more than just an added start button - it's a completely new version of Windows, with a new kernel version (NT 6.3), new driver models, etc. Windows 8.1 is to Windows 8 as Windows 7 is to Windows Vista. They just didn't charge money this time for the workstation version. The download for Windows 8.1 is the entire OS image.

          Could they have supplied it as an update or a service pack? Probably. They didn't, though, possibly so that using the built-in restore-to-default button would restore you to vanilla 8.1, not 8.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: "Massive" 300MB update?

            Completely new? I guess that means something other than completely new, unless you're suggesting that they started with a brand new project and carried no source over.

            FYI new versions mean a developer has incremented a number in source. Wow.

            Perchance you could explain some of the new features instead of putting "etc"?

    2. Vociferous

      Re: "Massive" 300MB update?

      Well, the Zune media player software bundled with my POS Windows Phone is 300 MB, so in the spirit of Zune I'm going to guess that it's a whole giant shedload of DRM with some codecs and software tacked on as an afterthought.

    3. MJI Silver badge

      Re: "Massive" 300MB update?

      Same as the X1 they are still finalising the OS and adding in features as they go, the hardware is ready, the OS was not, to make millions of consoles is not quick, so they make them then day 1 update

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "Massive" 300MB update?

      And smaller than the gigantic day one update the xbone needs

      http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2013/11/08/xbox-one-wont-function-without-day-one-patch-no-uk-tv-guide-until-2014/

  3. Dave Bell

    Patent Medicine

    It looks as if Dr. Richard Gatling's patent toenail clipper has been bought by another customer.

  4. Jamie Jones Silver badge
    FAIL

    500GB

    I bought a cheapo laptop almost a year ago, and that came with a 750GB drive - you couldn't get smaller even if you wanted to

    1. jonathanb Silver badge

      Re: 500GB

      Lots of laptops come with less than 750GB, but it is usually in the form of a solid state disk.

    2. Slap

      Re: 500GB

      You could buy Apple gear which is notoriously stingy on storage, and yes there are currently a couple of models that only offer 500GB of spinning rust.

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  6. zemerick

    300 MB update

    That update isn't just to activate playing DVDs. It's the day 1 update for the entire system.

    I find it really interesting though that you can not disable the recording. 15 mins suggest this has to be going to the hard drive as there isn't much RAM, and a large chunk of that will be used by the games and OS. So, the OS, this recording which needs to erase and write periodically ( it'll surely buffer some amount to RAM before going to HD. ) AND the game itself ( all games must be installed to the drive and played from there. ) are all going to be handled by....a 5,400 RPM HDD.

    If I get one I will definitely be getting at least a 7,200 drive for the poor thing.

    I also wonder how that'll impact the life of the drive. That could be a lot of work to do.

    1. Jordan Davenport

      Re: 300 MB update

      Writing isn't so much of an issue to a hard drive as it is to solid state media. Sure, there's some wear and tear, flipping electron alignment from one state to the other, but it shouldn't affect the lifespan that greatly. The thing that would concern me more is partition fragmentation. Surely the part used for recording would get its own partition to reduce fragmentation, though. I will grant that it's a strange choice.

      1. Jamie Jones Silver badge

        Re: 300 MB update

        " The thing that would concern me more is partition fragmentation. "

        No need to be concerned. Rumours say that the hardware runs on a customised FreeBSD - but even if that's not the case, it. isn't windows.

        Do any other systems use a "Try not to fragment disk " rather than a "Try not fo fragment files" algorithm?

        1. Vociferous

          Re: 300 MB update

          > No need to be concerned.

          Do you believe that Linux filesystems do not get fragmented? Because, you know, they do.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: 300 MB update

            @Vociferous, I've checked my Linux desktop with fsck.ext3 recently after daily use for about 4 years and it reported 0.1% non-contiguous. Are you sure Linux filesystems get fragmented? I run two Windows machines at the side of the Linux box too, one still on XP and one on 7 and they both need regular defragmentation. I could be wrong cos I really don't know much about Linux filesystems but mine at least seems pretty clean.

          2. Jamie Jones Silver badge

            Re: 300 MB update

            " Do you believe that Linux filesystems do not get fragmented? Because, you know, they do."

            I don't know enough about Linux filesystems to comment, but I'd be surprised.

            No proper fileststem suffers from major fragmentation issues if you use less than the recomnended 90% capacity.

            Of course, this dossn't mean that files don't get fragmented - sometimes it's necessary.

            None of the major unix systems I used to run suffered, neither did anyof the opensource offerings - indeed I remember being asked about this very topic, and on checking on a busy server that hadn't had a partition rebuild in 10 years, fragmentation was about 0.1%

            VMS often had issues - mainly because directories had to be contiguous,but I doubt (though don't know) that any Linux partitions suffer the same fate.

            And to be pedantic (before someone else says it) - the main thing that affects fragmentation isn't the filesystem type itself, but the driver that writes to it.

    2. SteveCo

      Re: 300 MB update

      7200rpm = more disk noise and heat = more fan noise.

      Personally I'd go for a 1TB 5400prm SSHD hybrid drive... assuming one can be found in 9.5mm thickness.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    brilliant!

    In fact, I genuinely believe, you'd find instant and financially lucrative employment with a marketing team of the evil MS (at least for a one-off Sony-bashing advert). Yours is much superior in style to their latest shot in the foot anti-apple advert :)

  8. pompurin

    Competition, or the lack of it

    There are only two companies in this market, Sony and Microsoft. They are both well known for this type of behaviour. The Cloud is a major marketing ploy. It's about losing control of your own data and putting it into the hands of major companies and having them charge you for the pleasure. All for convenience.

    I'll stick my hopes on Linux and hope they develop that into a decent gaming and media system at one point in the future. It has the potential to. XBMC is a good example of what can be done when people put their mind to it. The current XBMC is already more compatible than the PS4.

    1. SDoradus

      Re: Competition, or the lack of it

      My version 1 AppleTV runs XBMC. It sees my external 1TB USB hard drive on startup which has rather a lot of recorded TV shows on it - must get around to scrubbing that sometime. I understand later versions of the AppleTV are the size of a hockey puck and STILL run XBMC. That would be my choice for any media centre. Stick to games for the game console.

    2. Dave Stevens

      So much ignorance

      It looks like 90% of the comments are from people who have never owned a console.

      On the bright side, the article didn't try to explain why 720p is better than 1080p.

      No MP3 or DNLA but it's probably coming up later in a patch.

      The PS4 is significantly more powerful than the Xbox One and sells for $100 less, at a loss.

      It does not have a drive capable of reading a CD. (I've use the original Playstation to play music a handful of times in the late 90s... I can't remember why. I've never put a CD in the PS2 or the the PS3. )

      Very few consoles support previous peripherals--that adds to the bill of materials. The PS4 has USB 3.0 ports and a vastly improved controller. Pretty standard fare. The Xbox One uses proprietary connectors and good luck replacing the hard drive.

      1. Ian 55

        Re: So much ignorance

        Not supporting previous USB peripherals is purely about getting the suckers to buy new ones.

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