Last month, Sony took the surprisingly unpopular decision to strip a lot of the media server functionality from the PS4 that made the PS3 such a useful box. Well, the backlash made an impression, with Sony now discussing “how and when we can put these features on PS4”.
In an interview with Giant Bomb (spotted by Polygon), PlayStation Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida says “the biggest surprise for us all internally at Sony” was just how upset people got that the PS4 wouldn’t be able to stream their own personal movies and music the way a PS3 can.
“It’s not like we actively decided ‘Let’s not do this feature so that people will subscribe to Music Unlimited,’” Yoshida said. “Like we have been saying, the focus has been always on the game features. And some of the features we wanted but we couldn’t get in on day one we are very disappointed and worried about not having on day one, and that have been the higher priorities.”
“We didn’t really think about MP3 or DLNA,” he adds. “We always thought we’re going to do that eventually. We’ve been doing it with all the products. So it caught us off guard.”
“As we speak … the teams in Japan and U.S., the system guys are discussing how and when we can put these features on PS4”.
A Chat With Shuhei Yoshida [Giant Bomb, via Polygon]
Comments
35 responses to “The PS4 Might Be A Decent Media Server After All”
It’d be nice to get a DLNA-compliant video player on the Vita as well, I’d get more use out of streaming video to it than I would a PS4.
Fo Sho. I was just thinking that the other day, I would totally use it to listen to music if it would jive.
what?
nahh I like my Note 3 for that better.
tell me about it, nothing beats porn on the go lol
Microsoft focuses too much on media and catches a backlash for not focusing on games.
Sony focuses too much on games and catches a backlash for not focusing on media.
Anyone else find that funny?
There’s nothing funny about video games.
This is serious.
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/538/731/0fc.gif
*Kotaku starts celebrating in the town square*
then we would be eaten alive for sitting on the fence -_-
This!
FTFY. It appears they didn’t have some angry joe say “Hey, ain’t there a fucking switch back there that enables all this DLNA and MP3 features? You’re killing media!”
I think its a matter of balance. In my opinion, MS was totally focused on media features I thought were a given. Consequently I wasn’t impressed. Then a few months later I find out that Sony was implementing those features I thought were a given. This time I was disappointed.
“We didn’t really think about MP3 or DLNA,”
They’re either lying, or they’re incredibly stupid. That’s a rather glaring thing to forget about.
You forgot the other part of the statement
“We always thought we’re going to do that eventually. We’ve been doing it with all the products. So it caught us off guard.”
That’s exactly what I mean. They said “the biggest surprise for us all internally at Sony”. Like I said, they’re either lying or they’re just completely out of touch with what people want. How can they claim to be surprised that it’s a feature that people were enthusiastic about? I’m don’t even work for a console manufacturer and I could have told them that.
Like I said, lying or dumb. Or perhaps a better word than lying is ‘spinning’
Comments like that make them seem really amateur
I disagree i put music on my ps3 but when all the games except Mk2011 prevent you from listening to it in the background, i didn’t really see the point. For me it is easier to use my ipod especially in games like GTA V when the in game radio sucks. Movies aren’t an issue since almost all TV’s have USB ports to watch it. Just wish AUS would get Hulu.
MKV’s this time Sony!
oh god, yes please!
but then, my lg smart tv already does mkv streaming from my comp, well, the more the merrier!
How awesome is that.
And flac
Sony did a backflip on something unpopular! Quickly, everybody boycott!
Don’t forget to say ‘more like PS180, amiright?!‘.
At least they didn’t say “if you want to listen to music, go buy a walkman” in comparison to microsoft saying “don’t have internet? buy an xbox 360”.
Actually, I consider this a mask to hide what people really want: a return of Linux. The prospect of people loading Android [or Ubuntu] and going straight to a dedicated media player caused them to rip the feature out of the PS3. Local media playback helped placate those who lost a development system.
This time, no development at all – and features hardware CAN support will only be dribbled out when Sony feel like it.
Can those teams also think about how to enable me to change my PSN ID?
plex – that is all
Plex needs dlna, the ps4 browser has serious issues loading the web app for people with even the smallest libraries.
This article gives me a little smile because you know they have working hard on the PS4 to add as many features as possible but by not including the media stuff is inconvenient and it does give the machine a full multipurpose use, plus now that they have responded in a logical manner people don’t have to be all up in arms about where it’s gone.
If enough people complain that PS4/X1 doesn’t support the ability to cook toast…will there be a toast patch available soon?
Its good that they’re listening. I use my PS3 as a media server every single day to stream TV shows from my laptop. I was so bummed when I heard PS4 wasnt gonna have that but hopefully they will fix that within the next few months.
This is seriously all I use my PS3 for. PlayTV, Bluray, DLNA, Netflix and Hulu. I know a few others that do the same, Xbox for games, PS3 for media. Especially given the fact they gave so many PS3’s away with Bravia’s, are they really all that surprised that there are a shitload of people out there very attached to the media features of their PS3 who probably use it as a gaming machine second, if at all?
If only there was a device that would do everything.
Like a PC maybe.
I know I’m being pedantic, but the ability to play back videos doesn’t make it a server, it makes it a client. being able to stream a blu-ray in the drive to other devices (like a vita) would be server type functionality.
Yup. 95% of time i used PS3 for media off a HDD. I received a survey from the sony.au store earlier in the week asking if i was buying a PS4 at launch or ever. I was glad to have an opportunity to tell someone that i wouldnt buy one at all without strong media features. It is a dealbreaker for me, especially with no games at release that get my attention.
Sony have been a “lets see what the other guys do” or “how does the public react when our competitor does this” company for a while now. It doesn’t surprise me when they make statements like this
TBH I never really used the PS3 for anything other than Blu Rays and the odd CD. I’m not going to miss this functionality – I have a house full of gadgets that do all these things already. It’s really the games that matter to me.
The funniest thing about this is DLNA is a trade set up originally by Sony. MS have it at launch, Sony dont.
ironic