PlayStation 4

Got my launch day PS4 after months of waiting (pre-ordered the moment Amazon's pre-order opened up.) The excitement and hype, however, doesn't seem to have subsided as the launch weekend begins. So, I will offer my own two cents before-hand (and by the way, this is my opinion. I can only tell you what I think I know, I'm not an expert, so think for yourself and call Sony Customer support if you think you have a serious issue.) These are my guesses; 1) If you're not seeing anything on your screen when you turn your system on, it's possible that one of the pins inside your PS4's HDMI port may be bent out of place. Get a flashlight and check for yourself. Gaming websites isolated the issue to an HDMI problem early last week when they noticed that their HDMI cable couldn't fit in completely in their PS4. Why it didn't occur to them to look at the PS4 port itself if a total mystery to me. One major gaming web site pled a Mia Culpa on this very obvious oversight. How did pins get bent out of place? Who knows. Maybe some folks use cheap HDMI cables that bend PS4 HDMI port pins or maybe the PS4 left the factory that way. Who knows, who cares. I can only guess. Check for yourself. 2) A red line on your PS4, from what I've read, may mean that your system is overheating. This might mean that there's not enough ventilation around the system or that these system fan is dead (again, just a guess). The first possibility is easy to fix, the second may mean something more. 3) If your system shuts down inexplicably, especially when you're trying to start an online game or look at your PSN profile or even just when you're trying to log in, it could be related to the current PSN service interruption. The easiest way to find out is to disconnect your PS4 from your internet and start the system. If it doesn't crash, I would guess that it's just the PSN issue that is happening this weekend because of all the high traffic. If I start my PS4 without a connection and then connect it after it's up, it crashes. So, the problem I am having is number 3, the best situation out of the three because it should subside when Sony resolves the PSN situation. My system will just shut down when it's online. Sometimes it does it right away, sometimes after a few minutes, but it never happens when the system is unplugged. That said, I did manage to get some time in to play around with the Twitch.tv integration and play some Resogun and I'm completely impressed with the direction of next gen. Streaming a game online from a PS4 is super easy, viewing a player broadcast is seamless, the whole thing is very well thought out. Sony cut to the chase with the PS4 and produced what might have eventually come to be called the PS4 Slim that would have come out in the 5th year of the product cycle. It's just awesome and it will definitely be my go-to system for games - every issue I've had with and a console (especially in relation to PC gaming) has been addressed and then some; 1) appropriate controller for first person shooters - check, 2) an easy to play with and communicate with platform with other players - check 3) appropriate pricing - check 4) the enthusiastic support of the development community - check. When they fix the PSN issue, they will have nailed everything. This is the platform I've been waiting for. If you ordered a launch day system, you're an early adopter, which can be very cool and it feels great when you're one of the first to get something awesome, but it also means that you're the first to see any problems that might arise. Some people are reporting problems - it happens. Most, from what I've seen, are not. There's just a lot of noise right now on web sites because some folks who are enduring the PSN outage may think that they have a serious problem. It's Saturday and I'm going to wait it out until the end of the weekend. I thknk that the hassle will have been worth it when the issues subside. If the Xbox One is at least equal in quality to the PS4, I think Xbox One players are going to love next gen. Some of it is about graphics and sound and control, but Sony and Microsoft may have figured out that it's really about so much more. And I like what I see so far.

PS4 is super fast at all task it does. Remember sinking trophies taking 2mins to look or sink them? 2-3 secs! Going in and out menus, the store, games, everything is practically instant. Loading up a disk game? It can take 12 secs to get to the hit start to play the campaign. Then there is no loading to get to different sections in the levels. This is based off my playing Killzone Shadow fall a game built from the ground up for PS4, that shows what the ps4 can raelly do so far at launch. Granted games will look better over time as devs figure out the system. Ive had no prob with the system. If your worried about a few rumors of faulty systems, there was less than 4% that had issues and Sony was replacing them immediately. It was like 2% when there were only thousands in the wild days to a week before launch day and 4% at launch. Ive had a F2P game free on me mid update after I installed it. It was Warframe. I had to unplug the system and reboot it. Afterwards I tried the game again and it never messed up again. In fact, the dl for the update tripled in speed and then launch like a big boy should! The store only has PS4 games on itso far until gaikai is officially up with the entire library of ps1-3 games. Trophies from ps3 and ps4 are there day 1. Users can now have multiple users logged in at once on a single ps4. EX) I can be logged in and have a friend who owns his own ps4 or only has a ps3 account, sign in on my system, he/she can be assigned to my 2nd controller and we can play a co-op game together and both earn trophies at the same time(In theory). I say in theory cause Im waiting for a local co-op ex we can both play. So far psn rec both of us online at the same time, but we cant both look online to my ps4 to play a online co-op game together. A coming soon type of feature, but the ground work is there. The controller is amazing! If you hated the ps3's DS3 or liked it, DS4 is a drastic improvement. Dpad is perfect for Fighters and never missing an input. If you play games like BB, KOF13, DOA5, Tekken TT2, Persona 4U, then you dont even need to plug in an arcade stick if you had issues with the DS3. Its just preference now and if PS4 rec it. Your DS4 will work on PC and PS3(Partially) if you need to test it, but dont own a ps4. Features like the controllers speaker, touch pad and rumble wont be available when not used with PS4, but you can test inputs. The controller is a bit meatier than DS3 and the weight feels great. There is now a grip texture while holding it, and the sticks have a much smaller dead zone and feels nice and tight. Think 360 controllers, but better! People long complained about the sticks for shooters and now they feel like the best experience for shooters. PC guys are even converting... or using it for their PC games. If you want to upload a screen cap, or video, hit the share button on the controller and its uploaded in secs to facebook or twitter(yr choice) and you can live stream it for billions of people to watch you play via twitch or ustream in 720p and you see the comments live on your screen as you play. Need a camera if you want a pic in pic view of you to show up in stream along with game your playing or just use mic with system to do commentary. Graphics: Shouldnt have to comment on this, but imagine having your PC settings on high for a game, but not on highest best card on the market settings. Thats PS4 in a nutshell. It looks better than its specs should allow on paper. 3rd party games look best so far on this console when not comparing to PC. Note: 3rd party games will NEVER look as great as 1st party games since they arent built from ground up for the console and built to the lowest common denominator because building a 3rd party game from the ground up for each console takes more time and is more expensive to do and some companies might get mad if there version shows how lacking it is to the competition. So if your looking at comparison vids on the net, the PS4 version looks cleaner, but not worlds different for a reason. its rare if a company takes the time to invest in building their game from the ground up for all systems on a multiplatform game. There are things that cant be done on ps3 that ps4 does simply with the power of its gpu. Resogun displays millions of objects at once on screen during gameplay. Check it out! UI: As I mentioned, is fast. Its now cleaner than ever and simpler to use. Only bad part is the browser doesnt have a adobe plug in yet for youtube. No problems with connecting online yet. No complaints so far. Features will slowly start rolling out over time Everyone, I rec this to you! Unless your friends are going over to XB1 or it has the games you want, come to PS4! Right of the back, you get 5 free high quality games just for being a PS+ member and just like on PS3 where you get 2-5 free games each month, discounts on games, etc, its happening on PS4. Why not get a console that gives you games just for choosing it? I know some people are put off by paying for PS+ or online, but as I stated, sorry, weekly, seem to get at least a new game for free, early betas, cloud storage, online, party chat, discount on games you buy off the store and now, $10 off games over $60 in the store? I hear you can even you platinums you earn to buy things in the store for games. Rewards for mastering your games! Ive had PS+ for 6 months and the first day gave me 4-6 games free and over paid for itself! Ive gotten over $200-500 worth of games just being a PS+ member so far off PS3 and now getting more on PS4 as well. Why go to MS when it comes to paid subscriptions is Beyond! me? Not flaming a fake console war, but truly curious. If you choose PS4, you have less than 4% chance to regret it and that regret would be fixed in 2-3 business days.

Another BETA TESTER! When will I learn to stop buying electronics on launch day! (Remember the Xbox ring of death? Yeah, so do I. About 2 of them to be exact!) Nothing but a blue pulsing light on mine too! My choices are : 1. Total return to Amazon. 2. Exchange with Amazon although no know date of replacement since they are out of stock. 3. Over 2 hour call wait time to Sony to have it fixed/replaced/who knows, with no eta. They do estimate that I will receive the return box in about a week or so... 4. Buy an Xbox and see if that works! Guess I will sleep on it! Sony should step up and make this good though to those that hang in there! Edited 7/23/14 I decided to let Sony send me a return box and go through their fix / exchange program. The reason I went this way was because this system was obviously sold out and I wanted one! The only way to guarantee that I would have one was to sent it to Sony. Amazon could not tell when they would be able to replace it and could not guarantee that I would be able to purchase one when they received their next shipment due to not knowing how many units would be shipped to them vs. how many orders they have to fulfill! The return process went smoothly, the only part that sucked was the long hold time to finally talk with a live operator! Sony offered nothing except an apology. No free game, no play station live subscription. Now, I was not expecting any of this, because I did not pay for any of this. I just thought it would be cool for Sony to offer some sort of consolation to their faithful customers who stood in line, waited a very long time, pre paid for their units, just to get a useless box of plastic that they could not enjoy on opening day! (Sony, why do you think your customers pre pay, or wait in miserable long lines, and go through all the B.S. Anyway? I will give you a hint, it's because we love your product, many of us are very faithful customers replacing our playstion 3's with this just so we can play on the day it releases! To get a useless plastic box that does not work, kind of makes your heart sink a little!) Anyway, replacement received within a week, and so far, so good! No problems to report! It is a very good product and I would recommend it to anyone! To answer some of my replies, 1. The percentage of Sony's error rate means nothing when you are the owner of a defective unit! No matter what that unit may be, a playstation, a car, a house... If you are the one in that "small" percentage of defective units, knowing that the manufacturer expected that, and is even ok with that because it is in the "accepted" percentage of defective units does not make your situation any better, actually it kind of pisses you off! I could care less if Sony is happy that their percentage of defective units is within the market norm! All I care about is the fact that I have waited for, and paid for, and was excited to play with my new playstation, until I got it out of the box just to figure out, hey, this thing is broken!!! 2. There was no flashing of metal blocking the HDMI port. The plug fit in perfectly fine. It just did not work! Trust me, I had a bunch of friends over that night to game with me, it just didn't work! We even used the "old" playstation 3's cables. Both power and HDMI. They worked fine with the 3, but did nothing for the 4... 3. Sony was aware of the problem on launch day! The "tech" that helped me even went on to say that his day sucked because of all the customers calling with defective units loosing it when he could not help them fix the problem and was only able to send a replacement unit after Sony received their unit first! 4. I understand that Microsoft's X-Box and the red ring of death was not the same problem as Sony and their blue line of death! It was just used as an example as to what problem can and do happen to the people that stick their neck out and buy on the release day essentially becoming "beta testers" just by making that purchase! (If you read the inter webs the day the Sony playstation 4 was released, a lot of web sites were doing the same thing, comparing two different but similar launches of two separate products by rival companies... To all that read my review, thank you. I was very upset the night the playstation 4 was launched. To those that replied to my review, I also thank you for taking the time to reply! And I hope you understand what I meant when I wrote my review by explaining it here in my follow up! To anyone out there thinking about buying a Sony Playstation 4... Go for it! After a bumpy start, I now have a machine that works , just fine! No hang ups whatsoever. The games are fun, and the controllers much more comfortable! I can not wait to see what the programmers come up with for the playstation 4! There is a cool "second screen" type of app for it on the Android store, and it's free! A lot of very good things are headed this way for owners of the playstation 4! Thank you, Christopher

2/20/14 I'm really pleased with the performance of the PS4 so far. I was really worried about the infamous blue-light of death I've heard many people talk about, but I've used the PS4 multiple times in the few hours I've had it, and it always responds well. I hope it continues to do so. The mechanics are great, but I've yet to experience the gaming greatness. I don't have any games for it so far. The only thing I've done so far is link my Amazon Video to it, but I intend on getting some games soon. My main interests are in Assassin's Creed Four and Battlefield Four. The latter is particularly exciting for me. I'm going to get PS Plus so I can play the multiplayer. The 64-man madness is something I've been anticipating for a while, and it is simply too good an opportunity to pass up. However, I am going to attempt to be patient and wait a little longer to get BF4 since I understand there are a lot of updates needed to make the game a better experience. So, I plan on getting started on Assassin's Creed in the meantime. I understand people are upset with the dearth supply of games, but it's been only three months since the launch. Building a diverse shelf will take some time, but I'm not really worried about it. Some great games are just around the corner. Watch Dogs is a game I anticipate when June arrives. Another game I'm really looking forward to is Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. It does not have a release date yet, so I cannot honestly say this will come out any time soon. However, the AI for the game sounds fantastically challenging. Murdered Soul Suspect, Evolve, and Final Fantasy XV are all games I also really want to try. Another tentative yet awesome announcement is Red Dead Redemption 2 (or RDR three to those who've played Red Dead Revolver). I just recently learned it is being made, but I imagine it won't be released for another year. Anyway, these are just a few of my personal in-the-waiting favorites. I'm sure the PS4 will definitely grow a diverse selection of games. In the end, I am really looking forward to testing the PS4's full power. It's going to be an exciting new chapter for Playstation. I can't help but express my bias by giving this a five-star rating. I really enjoyed the Xbox 360, and I'm sure the Xbox One is also a great product. Yet, I wanted to stick to a platform I'm really familiar with, and the Playstation has been my life-long companion. 2/22/14 I've ordered Assassin's Creed Four and I anticipate it will arrive very soon. I've still only been able to use PS4 for simple things like Amazon Video and Crackle, but it's still handling well. It remains problem free, and I've explored most of the console's features. I like the continued use of the main task bar. I'm used to the theme-oriented backgrounds made available on the PS3, so the lack of customization and personalization is somewhat depressing. However, even if this isn't changed in the future, I'll be fine with it (although I suspect some changes will be made). I should mention to prospective buyers that you cannot add music from an MP3 player or CD to the PS4. I find this to be a significant loss. I had thought this sort of thing would transfer over to PS4 since it would reinforce the versatility of Playstation consoles, but I am hopeful this will change. According to an article on Eurogamer.net, this will likely be modified in the not-so distant future. I imagine other sort of personalizing features and apps will be added to the PS4 over time. If these are things you look for in a gaming console, you may not want to buy it right now. The lack of UI customization is linked to Sony's primary efforts to create a platform oriented primarily for gaming, so we'll see what will become of the UI in the future. This is probably the most notable deficiency I've noticed for the PS4, but I still think the quality of the PS4 UI at this time is really good, even if it isn't entirely optimized. Overall, I am still very pleased with the PS4. I anticipate it will be a permanent item on my TV stand. 3/01/14 I got Assassin's Creed Four a few days ago, and I love it. The look and feel of it on the PS4 is nothing short of fantastic. The processing power of the Playstation Four really pulls out the minute graphic details and creates a smooth image. I really don't have much else to say until I've played it a bit more. I also decided to get BF4 given the price reduction and the player appreciation for the entire month of February. It is also runs well on the PS4 and looks absolutely stunning. Check out my review on it if you wish. The PS4 is still running well and I am extremely pleased with it. This is all really have to say for now.

So far after a week with the PlayStation 4 I'm satisfied. The hardware runs very well; things are much faster than previous generation in terms of game loading and navigating the system. The UI is simple and basic; if you're looking for some crazy gorgeous presentation then you're going to have to wait at least until they start rolling out themes because it's pretty much generic in its looks. If you're upgrading from the PS3 however you'll realize that it's a marked improvement over the XMB as things are a lot easier to find and react much faster. Loving the look of the games and the feel of the controller. The controller is probably the biggest thing to talk about because it's an ENORMOUS improvement over the DualShock 3. Feels good and responds very well. It'll take some time getting used to not having Start and Select but you'll adapt. Didn't get the camera so the light bar as it stands right now is only useful if you have two because instead of a number assignment it changes color to indicate what number player you are. My only gripe would be that the battery seems to not last as long; it still lasts a good while but I feel the DS3 has a bit more life. Another big thing is that the network seems to move a lot faster. PS3 used to basically limit your download speeds but that seems to be gone with the PS4. Online gaming is great and they seem to really be pushing the social aspect really hard which is kind of unusual because again, if you're coming from the PS3, you'll remember that people barely interacting in online gaming. I love the party chat feature and matchmaking seems to be a bit better. The share features are amazing; the Twitch streaming is great and it's cool to see so many people using it. It actually makes for an easy way to check out a game and see if you'd like it or not without doing a lot of searching for gameplay. My negative to this would be that it doesn't seem to queue downloads so even though they're faster if you have several games, demos or updates to download they run concurrently and that in effect will slow down the process. Even with that though it's STILL faster than the PS3 network. So overall I like this system a lot. Would I recommend you jump and get it now? No, but that's because I never suggest that anyone buy a console at launch. We've all seen the problems people have been having (the real ones at least, as sadly people have been making false claims), especially through Amazon. While I do like them a lot i do have to call Amazon out on their packaging. I know a lot of people feel like it's just a made up claim but it's actually true: Amazon did a pretty poor job of packaging the device. Basically what they did was place the PS4 at the BOTTOM of the box, flush against the box's floor, and then dropped some air bags on top of it and sealed it. If you know anything about shipping companies (especially UPS) you'll know that the drivers don't adhere to any warning labels; they will throw your box around without a care, so imagine them tossing your PS4 in the truck and how hard that bottom would hit the ground. While I'm sure it's not the main cause of problems with the PS4 on here it's something that should be taken serious and complained about to Amazon because even with a working PS4 I'm not pleased by that at all. Still overall like I said it's a good console. If you wait you'll most definitely end up with a better experience than us impatient people out of the box because eventually more of the features will be added, fixed, and developed into what they're suppose to be, but as it stands now it's a fun console and definitely worth the upgrade.

AMAZON.COM customer service: I'll start this review off by stating the amazing support of amazon. I bought this console and received it the next day. When I opened the box, I was missing my controller! Big disappointment, but quickly fixed. Amazon.com had me place an order for another controller and select ONE-Day Shipping. The total cost was $75.20. They completely reimbursed the entire price for the new controller!! No other business would have done this. Even Walmart/Best Buy would have had me contact Sony customer service and wait on them to (hopefully) fix this problem. A+++ for this. Thanks Guys. Bought this console along with Call of Duty Ghosts, and Assassins Creed: Black Flag, both great games but as they were originally made for GEN 3 consoles, I don't believe they fully showcase the consoles full abilities. Fun to play though, games are very limited in quantity as of now, but with Infamous just dropping, and watchdogs and DESTINY dropping this year, the console will finally have some games worth raving about. Was torn between Xbox ONE and the PS4, but ultimately purchased the PS4 based on the internal speeds(FASTER than the XBOX ONE). PRICE:: I've seen people call this the poor mans Xbox, etc etc, but ultimately they are very close in price. If you purchase the camera($60) with this(as xbox comes with the Kinect2) you're looking at only a $40 price difference, and then you throw in the fact that xbox comes with Forza(60$), the PS4, with game, is actually even in price. Another thing to think about price wise is batteries for your controller. You'll need a battery pack for your Xbox ONE controller(20-25$), the PS4 controller has this built in $520>$520. Making the PS4 slightly more e So price was not an issue what so ever in my decision. I had both GEN 3 consoles, and barely touched my PS3, Xbox 360 was my main gaming console hands down. So don't let the price make you think you're getting the lesser console, its just that the PS4 allows you to get the console cheaper by not adding in the accessories you do not want, or cant afford at this time. HARD DRIVE: Both consoles come with the same 500GB Hard drive, but the PS4 has the advantage in this. The Xbox one hard drive can be upgraded, but from researching, it is very hard and needs many parts removed, as well as the console disassembled and the warranty will be VOIDED!! Huge problem since Ghosts needed over 40GB install and Black Flag needed 23+GB. With downloadable games being so big now, you're looking at only 10-14 games being playable at any one time. This is not nearly big enough for most gamers. While both consoles offer the same specs on this, the PS4 has a very easily removable hard drive, and does not require opening up the console or voiding the warranty, and is actually encouraged by Sony, simply slide off the shiny cover and install any 2.5" SATA 2 HDD with atleast 5400RPM speed. (faster will speed up load time, but Sony is currently not sure how they will run since there is little support for them ATM. I had a 2TB HDD from a laptop that I swapped in, and now have a massive storage spot, able to hold 50+ games at ease. More than enough for even the most avid gamer. This was another huge deal maker for me. Sure, eventually both consoles will be released with larger HDD's, but all of us who already have the consoles, will not wish to buy a new console. Upgrade yours now!!! SALES: Main reason for buying the 360 was that most of my friends played it, and im an avid online gamer. Xbox 360 sold the most consoles, so had more competitive gaming, IMO. Now this year, the PS4 has vastly outsold the Xbox ONE in both the U.K. and the U.S., selling double the amount that the Xbox ONE has, as of February 2014!! Sony looks to finally be taking its throne back from the money hungry guys over at Microsoft Controller: The share button on the DS4 and the touch pad are cool, but haven't really used either, and don't anticipate ever using the share button. haven't used the xbox one controller yet so cant make many comparisons other than the fact that the xbox still requires batteries?!?!? the DS4 ensures youll never need to do this.. Simply plug in and charge! Can even use it while charging! All in all, both consoles are great, and will buy both once the price drops on the Xbox, but currently the PS4 is the better value and the better device! Still occasionally play my Xbox 360

Unfortunately I can't review the product too much yet since, out of the box, it fails to work. One star is the lowest a review is allowed to go, but my particular unit, while physically existing in my hands, does not work. I will certainly update my rating to reflect my experience with the system once I am actually able to. The system turns on, but does not output a video signal or boot up. The bar of light on top of the system continues to flash blue, but never turns white as it is apparently supposed to once it has started up. Attempts to boot it into "safe mode" to potentially diagnose or fix problems (such as reinstalling the firmware available on Sony's website) do not work as the system immediately turns off after the second beep instead of entering safe mode. That's about it. It beeps, flashes blue, and sits there until you shut it off. I spent two and a half hours on the phone (over two of those hours on hold) attempting to see if they could diagnose or fix the issue, but they concluded the same, that the console was DOA and needed to be "repaired". The relatively untrained customer service representative also made mention of the many calls he had fielded today (no doubt many of them being quite irate) and that almost every customer he had spoken with had experienced a very similar result to my own, and needed their consoles to be "repaired" as well. I was told by the representative that I should expect to receive a box to send my console to Sony "within 7 to 10 business days". I do not know yet how accurate that is, especially since others have been told that the total turnaround to Sony and back should be within that same time frame, but that is what I was told to expect. After the apparently untrained customer service representative made another mention along the lines of "Yeah, I don't think we really checked these before sending these out" (a statement he was obviously not qualified or authorized to make), I was then pitched an extended warranty for my dead console, just in case there are any accidents with it (an offer I of course declined in its current state). I was extremely polite and cordial during the entire conversation, but at no point was even an apology made for my time and inconvenience or any hint of compassion or sympathy from their customer service representative. Several hours later, after I had still yet to receive the confirmation email regarding my "service request", I made another attempt to contact Sony's PlayStation Support. With others online still reporting multi-hour waits on the phone, I decided to try their live chat option (since they apparently do not have an email address or form for their support sections). All subsequent attempts to contact Sony through their "Live Assistance" chat were also very unsuccessful, as every time I was lucky enough to enter the queue, I was eventually dropped out with a "Status: Canceled There are no agents available to chat with you right now. Please try again later." message. I get it. Products fail. Devices don't operate as expected. With a mass market electronic item such as this, there will always be a certain percentage of systems that do not work as intended. However, early indications are that this is certainly higher than normal (even impacting promotional and press systems), and they do not appear to have handled the damage control well within this crucial time period. At this point, I'm currently weighing sending the unit back to Sony versus arranging for it to be returned to Amazon. I do not doubt that this product is well worth the money when it is operating in full capacity, but my console is among many others that simply failed to work right out of the box. Until I am able to adequately review this console in a fully-functional state, there is no way for me to give this product anything more than a single star as a rating. As a fan of games and who hold no allegiance to any particular company or brand, I do find it quite unfortunate that the situation for many, in addition to Sony's handling of the matter thus far, have erased just about all of the consumer goodwill they earned during E3. I currently have, on my coffee table in front of me as I type this, a dead console with a stack of half a dozen launch games, a PlayStation Plus subscription card, a PS4 camera, and two Dualshock 4's. Without any substantive response from Sony through the launch weekend, I feel that I will have no other choice than to return all of them, and maybe pick up the console again in a year or two once these issues have been resolved. For the sake of both Sony and their customers, let's hope that's something that will come sooner rather than later.

This is the must-have consumer product of the holiday season. If you don't have it, you gotta get it. Another fantastic console from Sony. Here we are, the 4th generation of the glorious Playstation. And it is better than ever. Playstation Now, Sony's cloud-based gaming service is currently on BETA, but so far, it looks good to me. Games run fine as long as your internet connection is fast enough. In most case, your typical broadband would be sufficient. I have not experienced any issues, and I live in a small town where internet service is lagging behind in terms of speed. The console runs much cooler than the PS3. Its smaller size also mean that you have more options of where to put it. However, I would still make sure that it gets sufficient ventilation and air circulation. There is really not much more to say about the console. Yes, it is powerful. Yes, the graphics are terrific. Yes, the Playstation desktop, dashboard, or main menu, whatever you choose to call it, is intuitive. Certainly much preferred to the competition. The controller charges fast and holds its charge fairly well. Ergonomics are fine, but in a way, I prefer the previous generation controller. You should absolutely subscribe to Playstation Plus. Definitely worth it as there are freebies included. By the way, I am also a subscriber on XBox Gold. PS4 or XBox One? Choose based on exclusives. If you do not have any attachments to the exclusives, pick the PS4. The Playstation Now service is looking better and better every week. My only complaint is that we do not yet have access to the awesome library of PS One and PS2 games. Now, this is not something that would be difficult for Sony to do. They have some of the best engineering minds and the most experienced developers on the planet. If they want to make it happen, it will happen. The indisputable advantage that the Playstation has over its competition is that it has the biggest library of legacy games, going back four generations. I do not want to get into a long discussion of the importance of backwards compatibility. Been there, done that with the PS3. However, the ability to be able to continue to play those older PS1 and PS2 games add value to the console. It also means that any game made for any Playstation system will never be obsolete. That adds value to a customer's game library. I would feel better when I have to pay full-price for games if I knew that I will always be able to play them even when the PS10 comes along!!! Compatibility via the Cloud is probably how this will be handled. It will eventually happen, I am just hoping that it will happen sooner, rather than later. I have discussed this topic with other gamers and the reason may be is that Sony has not yet decided on the pricing for those legacy games. Playstation NOW is still on BETA, but it actually runs just fine as it is. I suspect it may be the pricing scheme that has not been decided yet. Just last night I played "Iron from Ice", an episodic adventure game based on George Martin's "A Game of Thrones". The game played flawlessly. There is something for everybody. And there is more to come when Sony finally makes available PS1 and PS2 games on Playstation Now. I checked the list of games last night and they even have "El Shaddai" on there. That game was not a big seller. If they have that available, think of what they will have in the future. Can you imagine being able to replay classics such as "The Legend of Dragoon", "Final Fantasy X", and Xenogears on your PS4! I hope it happens soon. There is a lot of excitement surrounding this console. It does have a headstart in cloud-based gaming with Playstation NOW and we all know that it can only get better. The consoles are selling out very fast. As soon as you have an opportunity to make a purchase, I recommend that you do so. I suspect that supplies are going to be running low as the holiday season progresses.