Bought the Playstation 4 :)

[Amaury]

I got a Red Screen of Death.

Ouch.

 

[Carlos]

Nah, my PS3 would have been free to fix. Just had to wipe the OS and reinstall it. I got a Red Screen of Death.

So, you got the red blinking light. I got the same.

 

[TPerry]

For those that got the PS/4 from Santa today... good luck on getting online. They are down for "planned maintenance" apparently. Yeah, right - and I got some bridges in Manhattan and San Francisco that I'm needing to sell as long as you agree to re-locate them.

Christmas day and you can't get online to play? What kind of poor planning/configuration is that. You would figure that they would realize that Christmas Day would be their heaviest hit and plan appropriately.

 

[Shelley]

For those that got the PS/4 from Santa today... good luck on getting online. They are down for "planned maintenance" apparently. Yeah, right - and I got some bridges in Manhattan and San Francisco that I'm needing to sell as long as you agree to re-locate them.

Christmas day and you can't get online to play? What kind of poor planning/configuration is that. You would figure that they would realize that Christmas Day would be their heaviest hit and plan appropriately.

That'll be the reason then why i couldn't download and instal the firmware? Tried to download it but it kept freezing on the 60% mark though I had no issues downloading the latest update for the vita and setting that up. No, I never purchased it for myself, Xmas gift for my younger brother.

Sidenote. The Vita is actually quite something. Got a 16 gig card and a free game with the device which I played for a little while "Little big planet" I think it's called. Quite surprised to find that the vita was a touchscreen device too, my brother had to pry it out of my hands.

 

[TPerry]

One thing I'm finding about the PS/4 online game play on BF/4... it's all about MEEEEE! Most of these guys/gals couldn't team play if they were tied to it. xBox live folks seem to work more as a team.

 

[Carlos]

For those that got the PS/4 from Santa today... good luck on getting online. They are down for "planned maintenance" apparently. Yeah, right - and I got some bridges in Manhattan and San Francisco that I'm needing to sell as long as you agree to re-locate them.

They are in San Francisco - their United States HQ is now in San Mateo (with an additional Foster City HQ for the next 3 years).

Christmas day and you can't get online to play? What kind of poor planning/configuration is that. You would figure that they would realize that Christmas Day would be their heaviest hit and plan appropriately.

They have been having a lot of maintences over the last month already, and each time... their servers keep getting hammered. I don't even blame them. I think they just didn't anticipate this much traffic coming to PS4.

The PS3 servers are easy for them because it requires less specs than PS4 servers does now.

 

[TPerry]

They have been having a lot of maintences over the last month already, and each time... their servers keep getting hammered. I don't even blame them. I think they just didn't anticipate this much traffic coming to PS4.
The PS3 servers are easy for them because it requires less specs than PS4 servers does now.

Let's see... they manufacture X amount of PS/4's. They sell Y amount. Of that, anticipate 85% of the users "Z" will be playing online. Ramp it up to allow for an additional 30% and go from there. OVER build it - not under build it... which is what they appeared to do. I understand this is a frequent problem with the online game play. When it was free it was one thing, but now that they are charging for it you have an EXPECTATION that it will be up and them not constantly having to add capacity.

 

[Carlos]

Let's see... they manufacture X amount of PS/4's. They sell Y amount. Of that, anticipate 85% of the users "Z" will be playing online. Ramp it up to allow for an additional 30% and go from there. OVER build it - not under build it... which is what they appeared to do. I understand this is a frequent problem with the online game play. When it was free it was one thing, but now that they are charging for it you have an EXPECTATION that it will be up and them not constantly having to add capacity.

I think you misunderstand what I'm saying. With PS3, the system required less specs from the servers - that's why they (SCEA) can handle at least 40-70 million players on their servers right now. With PS4, the specs are higher. Being able to download xGB per second (because PS4 itself is faster), is a new thing to this server.

So, Sony has to find a good way (ahem, better way) to mitigate this.

Basically, Sony has to find a better way of allowing 5 million download requests without hindering PS4's download/upload speed.

 

[TPerry]

Basically, Sony has to find a better way of allowing 5 million download requests without hindering PS4's download/upload speed.

It's called planning and scaling extra capacity... something they apparently aren't very good with.
Love the console.. the online stuff just sucks REAL bad.

 

[Carlos]

It's called planning and scaling extra capacity... something they apparently aren't very good with.

They can't do that in a private environment, they have to live test it. That 'live test' is right now. Has been since PS4's launch. It's easy to say "oh they have to know how to scale this," but it's not that easy.

Let me put it this way, I anticipated that I would get a traffic spike on Black Ops 2's impending launch, but I didn't expect THAT much traffic spike (950+ views in a single day), and then only to have my server go down the next day. This year, I didn't get that same number, but only by 200.

 

[TPerry]

They can't do that in a private environment, they have to live test it. That 'live test' is right now. Has been since PS4's launch. It's easy to say "oh they have to know how to scale this," but it's not that easy.

I'm sure they been in the computer/console business long enough to figure out how to put a load on it programatically.

Let me put it this way, I anticipated that I would get a traffic spike on Black Ops 2's impending launch, but I didn't expect THAT much traffic spike (950+ views in a single day), and then only to have my server go down the next day. This year, I didn't get that same number, but only by 200.

And that's exactly WHY I run my forum on a dedicated server. It's going to have to be a REALLY big load to bring down a dual L5639 with 36GB RAM.
It's called planning for the future.

 

[Shelley]

One thing I'm finding about the PS/4 online game play on BF/4... it's all about MEEEEE! Most of these guys/gals couldn't team play if they were tied to it. xBox live folks seem to work more as a team.

You get that on every platform and I admit it's one of the things that pisses me off about "gamers". I'm specifically referring to steam and the game l4d2 in this case. You'll always get the glory hunter that wants to run in front and get snagged by a special infected. l4d2 - Upmost and primarily being a co-op teamwork game to get through the sub campaigns good team work always prevails it's why I mainly play with friends since we know the campaigns fluently.

My brother has played some good games (as in teamwork) on the xboxone (xbox live), and some good games on the psn and then some some team work games on live but every so often he'll have terrible games as I do sometimes on steam with l4d2 when some glory hunter wants to stroll out in front and take on the world and get killed (then blame the team) before rage quitting. You'll get that across all platforms. Best gaming experiences are best played with friends and people you know that want to work as a team.

I think you misunderstand what I'm saying. With PS3, the system required less specs from the servers - that's why they (SCEA) can handle at least 40-70 million players on their servers right now. With PS4, the specs are higher. Being able to download xGB per second (because PS4 itself is faster), is a new thing to this server.

So, Sony has to find a good way (ahem, better way) to mitigate this.

Basically, Sony has to find a better way of allowing 5 million download requests without hindering PS4's download/upload speed.

I glanced through your posts Carlos so please excuse me if I missed anything - I'll say there's no excuse by Sony, they should have been more prepared. It's not like they never knew people would not want to log into PSN or that a good wave of people would be hammering the servers on xmas day to register and update their systems. Join the Ranks of Blizzard, EA (Sim City) server screwups. I'll throw in win8 in there too since it just wouldn't feel right leaving that out with famous screw ups by companies that don't prepare.

On a side note - Am I only the person that thinks the ps4 is so ******** ugly? And that it's difficult to locate the usb port on the system? You would think they would find a way to light up buttons and ports on the front so your able to see what your pressing.

 

[Jeremy]

Once you learn where the power & eject button are it is easy. But I agree, it was hard to initially find them, the CD Slot (ok, I knew where it was because my roommate had one) and same for the USB ports.

Other than the obviously flawed UX, I don't think it is that ugly.

 

[Sheldon]

"Obviously flawed"... in your opinion though.

 

[Shelley]

Once you learn where the power & eject button are it is easy. But I agree, it was hard to initially find them, the CD Slot (ok, I knew where it was because my roommate had one) and same for the USB ports.

Other than the obviously flawed UX, I don't think it is that ugly.

It was my initial thoughts and summary of the machine and since it was my first time setting the vita and ps4 up it's an issue I see with the design. What did you do to overcome this in the way of learning? since it's pure darkness and your basically hitting the ps4 to plug in a usb device hopeful you get it in the slot. Did you erect a couple of ww2 search lights pointed at it.

It shouldn't be a matter of learning and guessing you pressed the correct button or slotted the device into the USB slot that is just a bad design, an oversight (I wouldn't expect PS fans to understand that) forget the cheap looking plastic the fact they can add lighting on the controller which would possible induce lighting reflection when it bounces from the TV they couln't possibly add in some led lighting to show the usb slots or add in a led light for the buttons. #letskeepcostsdown

I personally didn't like the shape of the ps4 but that can be forgiven (I was a fan of the ps3 v1 design) I just think this is ugly, and rather cheap looking. Controller is very good build quality but that's as far as I got with that the PSN wouldn't allow me to download the day1 firmware (update) so I left that fror my older brothers to fix and setup.

PS Vita - I updated this without issue, infact as stated I was quite impressed with it and the quality of the game that came with it.

Obviously, if your a playstation fanboy (generally speaking) then the ps4 is perfect in everyway and cannot be improved.

There was another issue about the PS4 but i forgot what that was (couldn't have been that important if i forgot) but my first impressions is that the "Hype" far outweighs what I thought was going to be some kind of super machine. Perhaps I'm being a little harsh on the design but the buttons and usb needs some kind of lighting that is utterly bad oversight.

 

[Jason]

Eh, ugly compared to what? The Xbox One?

One looks like a brick, and as large as a cinder block (okay, perhaps I'm exaggerating), while the other is a bit sleeker and doesn't dominate space within my setup. As for the slot and ports, idk, they stand out to me, but some ambient lighting probably would have been a nice touch for some.

 

[Jeremy]

It was my initial thoughts and summary of the machine and since it was my first time setting the vita and ps4 up it's an issue I see with the design. What did you do to overcome this in the way of learning? since it's pure darkness and your basically hitting the ps4 to plug in a usb device hopeful you get it in the slot. Did you erect a couple of ww2 search lights pointed at it.

It shouldn't be a matter of learning and guessing you pressed the correct button or slotted the device into the USB slot that is just a bad design, an oversight (I wouldn't expect PS fans to understand that) forget the cheap looking plastic the fact they can add lighting on the controller which would possible induce lighting reflection when it bounces from the TV they couln't possibly add in some led lighting to show the usb slots or add in a led light for the buttons. #letskeepcostsdown

I personally didn't like the shape of the ps4 but that can be forgiven (I was a fan of the ps3 v1 design) I just think this is ugly, and rather cheap looking. Controller is very good build quality but that's as far as I got with that the PSN wouldn't allow me to download the day1 firmware (update) so I left that fror my older brothers to fix and setup.

PS Vita - I updated this without issue, infact as stated I was quite impressed with it and the quality of the game that came with it.

Obviously, if your a playstation fanboy (generally speaking) then the ps4 is perfect in everyway and cannot be improved.

There was another issue about the PS4 but i forgot what that was (couldn't have been that important if i forgot) but my first impressions is that the "Hype" far outweighs what I thought was going to be some kind of super machine. Perhaps I'm being a little harsh on the design but the buttons and usb needs some kind of lighting that is utterly bad oversight.

I still poke for the USB. Pretty sure I always will. That was a bad design. Once you learn too power, bottom eject it's easy to hit those buttons. Hitting the CD drive (once you figure out where the hell it is) it's rather easy. I'm not a fanboy and think it can improve a lot, but for me, I don think the design is bad. I think the software & UX design of the hardware needs looked at.

Otherwise, it's a solid machine. I've owned an Xbox for the last few years, and I'm not a huge gamer so I just compare at a cursory glance.

 

[Shelley]

Eh, ugly compared to what? The Xbox One?

One looks like a brick, and as large as a cinder block (okay, perhaps I'm exaggerating), while the other is a bit sleeker and doesn't dominate space within my setup. As for the slot and ports, idk, they stand out to me, but some ambient lighting probably would have been a nice touch for some.

I'm not into the whole xbox vs ps thing. It's an ugly design imo period but since you compared the two, I think the xboxone looks better but design is not a big deal. Once I checkout the xboxone I'll see what flaws this one brings since I have zero interest in any of the consoles but look at things that could be improved. I supose design of the actual machine is preference based.

The other issues I pointed out I think are legitimate issues that need addressing. It just seems silly not to include several 50 cents LED lighting whilst you (they) add a search light on the controller that's only going to distract when it reflects off the TV.

I still poke for the USB. Pretty sure I always will. That was a bad design. Once you learn too power, bottom eject it's easy to hit those buttons. Hitting the CD drive (once you figure out where the hell it is) it's rather easy. I'm not a fanboy and think it can improve a lot, but for me, I don think the design is bad. I think the software & UX design of the hardware needs looked at.

Otherwise, it's a solid machine. I've owned an Xbox for the last few years, and I'm not a huge gamer so I just compare at a cursory glance.

I didn't even get that far unfortunately. I watched a couple of youtube videos and agree that does need addressing.

 

[Jeremy]

It's a shame. The actual software is easier to use than PS3.

 

[Jason]

I'm not into the whole xbox vs ps thing. It's an ugly design imo period but since you compared the two, I think the xboxone looks better but design is not a big deal. Once I checkout the xboxone I'll see what flaws this one brings since I have zero interest in any of the consoles but look at things that could be improved. I supose design of the actual machine is preference based.

The other issues I pointed out I think are legitimate issues that need addressing. It just seems silly not to include several 50 cents LED lighting whilst you (they) add a search light on the controller that's only going to distract when it reflects off the TV.

Design, in general, is mostly a matter of preference.

I only mentioned the Xbox One since I own both (any console would have done, really), as I was interested in what you considered a nicely designed gaming console. So I was trying to draw a comparison; however, I see you expanded on that line of thought more in the reply right before mine.

Neither console is all that visible in my setup, so how each console looks isn't a huge deal to me either. Aesthetically, Xbox One's shiny finish looks nice but is a fingerprint magnet. However, from a purely functional standpoint I prefer the PS4, its smaller design allowed it to fit nicely into my existing setup.

I'm indifferent to the whole CD/USB issue, as I haven't had any problems using or finding either. They were where I'd actually expect them to be. Obviously not everyone had such luck, so perhaps a small LED strip wouldn't hurt. Admittedly, I haven't tried to fumble around with it in the dark either, as my media console is lit when the doors are open.

As for the controller lighting, I actually agree. I don't like it, and for the very reason you mentioned, glare. I tend to game with the room dimly lit and it's just...annoying. I've grown accustomed to it, but I definitely wouldn't be sad to see it go.