Since games are a little thin on the ground at the moment, I thought it might be fun to take some time and discuss ‘current gen’ or ‘next gen’ consoles. Whatever we’re calling them these days. The Xbox One has been out for over a year, as has the PlayStation 4. The Wii U has been on shelves for two years now. How are you finding your consoles so far?
I’m going to go through them one by one in no particular order.
Wii U
Pros: Best line-up of exclusives. Mario Kart 8. The Wii U GamePad: I was cynical at first but it genuinely has come in handy. When everyone is watching some terrible movie on my TV, I still get to play whatever I want.
Cons: Third party support, obviously! Nintendo is still behind the times when it comes to online gaming. Needs a steadier supply of games.
Overall: The Wii U is being ignored and that’s a shame. In terms of exclusives it’s easily the best of the three.
Xbox One
Pros: It’s really starting to prove itself as a useful media centre. Skype with Kinect is great. Halo 5 Beta! Great third party support. Still love that controller.
Cons: User interface is a bit of a mess. Third party games run slightly better on the competition. Kinect as a whole still isn’t accurate enough.
Overall: I’ve had a lot of problems with the Xbox One, but Microsoft is really committed to this box. Each update brings something useful to the table. I like it more and more each day.
PlayStation 4
Pros: Console of choice for third-party titles. I find the UI quick, accessible and smooth. Share button works brilliantly. Twitch integration is almost flawless. Headphone jack in the controller: amazing. Controller as a whole: massive improvement. Looks great. Updates are quick fast and well integrated. PlayStation + games are always unreal.
Cons: Noisy. PSN is down all the time! Still no way to stream mkvs?
Overall: I love the PlayStation 4. Which was such a surprise to me, because I didn’t like the PlayStation 3 at all. A lot of things to work on, but the console does so much right.
Okay that’s my quick report card: let’s hear/read yours!
Comments
121 responses to “Community Review: Console Report Card”
Remote Play on PS4 if you own a Vita, very handy.
Or any Sony Xperia Phone & Tablet. Works like a charm on my Z2.
works on any android phone if you just download the apk, albeit without controller support
Tried playing Destiny on the phone without the controller. Never again 😛
You really need to have a solid, strong connection for your PS4 & Phone to make use of it. Otherwise your phone may timeout frequently.
mine seems to be fairly smooth on the wifi, however i tried on my 4g (semi-benfit to the cracked version) and a friends wifi and it worked briefly but would always drop after a minute or so.
Aw man…..don’t say that. I’ll have to ditch the iphone.
Who am I kidding, I want to ditch this piece of crap anyway.
I only have the PS4 so far and am enjoying it. Still waiting for some killer exclusives though. Looking forward to Uncharted 4 and No Mans Sky!
I always get defensive when I hear the line “Wii U has the best exclusives.” More so because the titles it offers are yes, Exclusives, But same old IP’s and Gameplay usually. But If I sit here and try to think of Ps4 and Xbone Exclusives, Well yeah you don’t really have all that much of a list.
And that, my dear’s, is why Pc.
Sorry for the downvote, but this is a thread about consoles. We dont need the PC-megarace (or whatever they are called) coming into here and saying stuff like this
That’s why a bulk of my text was about Consoles.
Don’t try and censor me for just mentioning the Pc. I didn’t go all elitist on you. I genuinely enjoy the Pc platform, there’s no need to dress it up as something bigger than it is. If you don’t like my opinion, or the way I share it, that’s your choice. But choosing to downvote because other Pc Pricks have made you butthurt in the past with their trolling ain’t my issue dude.
Sorry for the down vote but this is an open forum & that wasn’t a horrible PC master race comment & merely someone voicing their opinion.
Besides, your both wrong, handhelds are best.
Oh man, Nothing beats being outside, on a beautiful day, and Looking down on your Psp Smashing Combo’s on tekken, or just wallowing in the fun combat Of Kingdom hearts: Birth by sleep.
Wii U
Pros: Definitely the gamepad, it brings a lot of functionality to games
Cons: Gamepad battery life, mines pretty much always plugged into charge now, as the Wii U has a standby mode the gamepad constantly uses a bit of power and can be flat by the time I get back to playing it.
Overall: It’s collecting dust, nothing is interesting me on it currently.
PlayStation 4
Pros: graphics, things look real nice.
Cons: controller battery life, I don’t know what they did to it, but it goes flat very quickly, where as the Wii U pro controller seems to never go flat.
Dickheads targeting the PSN for DDoS.
Overall: It’s my current gaming machine, it has what I want to play and it performs well.
Summary: Batteries suck?
yes
I don’t get this either, as DS3 went forever on a charge. It can’t all be that stupid LED thing right?
Yeah, it is, chews down 1-2hr+ with the LED’s enabled. Someone opened it up and disconnected them and saw how much is required to run em, it’s a lot. 🙁
yeah and then running a headset off them for voice chat.
I haven’t had a problem. I went 5 hours without needing a charge yesterday, although I do not know what is the norm.
5 hours is pathetic, my Xbox One controller goes for 35 hours on AA’s. My PS4 controller needs to be re-charged atleast every other day if not every day. It’s annoying is what it is..
I agree about the Dual Shock 4. My sixaxis lasted forever (no vibration) so it’s annoying to go from that infinite battery life to a matter of hours.
I had an issue with the Dualshock 3 batteries never holding a charge on my PS3. I basically had to leave it plugged in all the time when in use which was especially annoying because slightly jostling the power cord could cause the controller to disconnect temporarily and have to resync. Caused a lot of hairpulling moments during critical QTEs back when I was playing Heavy Rain.
Yeah I could see how the “X to Jason” and then run out of batteries could be frustrating.
PS3 controllers are cheap from pawn shops (even Eb has somewhat cheap preowned) I think I had about 8 all up from several consoles over the years too
– but in any case they have always had the best and most reliable battery life of all the wireless controllers ive owned – if theres something wrong with yours it means its just too old and there’s an issue with the internal battery and its time to replace it.
My 360 battery is similar. Worked for years & refuses to hold charge now.
Works fine plugged in :-/
Re-chargeable batteries wear down over time. When a re-chargeable battery stops holding charge, you have to buy a new one. It’s just how it is – for any device.
Sure, wears down over time. Not just quits completely one day.
I own a kajillion battery run devices. This by far has been ‘the wurst
Your talking years here – you need a new battery. Also, you should never leave the charge cable always connected, and never use the charge cable without a battery inserted in the xbox360 controller. Both can cause damage to the battery and the controller.
Also, if you don’t use your controller for weeks at a time, the battery will lose charge that way as well, and need to be re-charged when you start using it again.
Rule of thumb, for any device, if you are not using it for long periods of time – remove the battery until you are using it again. Especially good thing to remember for your cars battery too!
No, I’m not. Maybe one year.
I bought my 360 after Resident Evil 5 came out then the battery pack years later.
It went from lasting me a week or two(depending on use) to not working at all.
I got a dud.
Should of got a refund… still need to buy a new battery though :/
Strange, mine last for yonks, even if I hadn’t used them for ages.
I found my ps3 controllers to hold charge for ages.
WiiU – Excellent system, I am currently finishing off Captain Toad (that stupid endless mummy maze level). Whenever there is a Nintendo title released, my WiiU will be on the go every evening. The Gamepad screen is also very handy, meaning I can quietly play my game on the couch while the TV is being used.
Xbone – Probably my most used controller, even though I don’t own the console! Being primarily a PC gamer there is usually an Xbone controller in my hand when gaming. It is very comfy and the dpad is a massive improvement over the 360 controller.
PS4 – Seriously have barely touched it since finishing inFamous, it is now mostly used as a blu ray player. Bloodborne is out this year so it will see some action then, and I know it has promise for the future – I’m just not seeing it yet.
I find the PS4 bluray playing capabilities to be quite poor. Not as easy to use as the PS3 and the lack of multimedia remote makes it frustrating
Yeah, what the hell is the deal with that? They even have a perfectly compatible bluetooth adapter for the harmony remote (which I own and use with the PS3) but they don’t support it. The only way to control it with a remote is apparently via HDMI from the TV. It doesn’t work with my 5 year old LG TV, and I get the impression it only works well with a recent Sony TV. So maybe it’s all part of their grand plan to get you to buy a Sony TV to control your PS4?
In short, grrr!
Yeah I just make do with the PS4 controller.
I have a PS3 and blu ray remote but that’s hooked up to a different TV
I only have a Wii U so a short report card from me:
Pros:
VC has a tonne of games that I enjoy and want to play, especially the first two Breath of Fire games and a bunch of GBA games. The ability to just wander around with the tablet/pad and play/manage things is fantastic since I don’t want to always be fooling around with TV input select and stuff.
Cons:
Outside of the VC, the game selection is poor, though I play my PS3 more often anyway so the small games library isn’t a problem. The tablet is a woefully underused part of the system, both in terms of game support and general app potential. Using the tablet controller is terrible for anything involving the shoulder buttons (for me).
Overall:
I’m happy with the WiiU. I bought it mainly for the VC library and I love the concept of walk-away gaming and hope that it becomes the next step in gaming.
Wii U – The best next-gen system out at the moment. I think I’ve said it before here but in terms of price-to-fun ratio its the best of the lot. So many great games from a wide variety of genres. Plus no obnoxious 3GB downloads every second day for patches.
PS4 – Seems like a great system but whenever I turn it on I look around for a game to play then turn it off. Definitely no exclusives that have caught my eye. Not sure what you mean about noisy @serrels, it’s never audible for me. Might be worth getting checked out.
Xbox One – Has a couple of great exclusives such as Forza Horizon 2 and Sunset Overdrive. Plus Kinect is great for Skype. I think I prefer the Xbox One controller, but really both are much better than either of the controllers from the previous generation.
Well I can only do the Xbone because I don’t own the others (yet).
Pros:
I think it’s got better exclusives than the PS4 at this point.
Xbox Live is great, the ability to easily access the US store (while slightly sneaky) is wonderful.
I’ve been playing it lots and its fun.
Cons:
3rd party titles generally run better on the PS4.
The 360 controller had less features but felt a lot sturdier than the Xbone’s.
Kinect is a solution to a problem nobody had and itself actually causes problems. Controller drop outs, multiplayer controller switching, useless functionality, CPU hogging. It’s pretty shit really.
Tons of media options but still can’t play a custom soundtrack in game for some f*cking reason.
Overall:
It’s not perfect, but I’m having a lot of fun with it and that’s all that matters. I prefer it over the PS4 right at this moment because I’d rather have a few better exclusives than a slight bump in the graphic quality of the shared titles.
For me xbone – I havent picked up a retail game since launch. Yikes. Sunset overdrive and Halo collection will be picked up at some point but at this stage my xbone has been used exclusively to play the incredible D4. Other than that it gets turned on for firmware beta testing from time to time.
PS4 – I’ve picked up two retail games after launch (one of which I haven’t played) but there is some stuff in my future Toukiden Kiwami, The Order, FFType-0, Bloodborne all around March. Roll on March I guess. My PS4 is my Destiny machine these days. It’s relieving to shoot things while watching Netflix 😉
Wii U – Surprisingly the best of the consoles for me this past year. Mario World 3D, Mario Kart 8, Smash & Captain Toad all got big play in my house and have been multiplayer favouries. Bayonetta 2 was fantastic as was being able to replay through the original as a bonus. Counting the days until I can have Xenoblade on Wii U. So much hype.
PC – Well this is where all my multiplats live. Loving Dragon Age. Loving picking up new titles for sub $50 or for dollars if I can wait a couple months. Sure that $500 I spent on a 970 stings but look at the shiny!!! Looking forward to Life is Strange in the immediate future.
3DS – Got some play in the past year. Sunk some quality time into SMT, Persona Q, Theatrhythm.
Vita – Love this system. Continues to deliver my kind of quality titles on a consistant basis. Currently going through Senran Kagure Bon Appetite but looking forward to some more RPG stuff in the future. I’ll probably pick up Toukiden Kiwami for the cross save functionality as well.
My PS4 isn’t noisy…
What noise are you hearing, or is it that it’s louder than the Xbone?
I was wondering what that was about…I’ve never noticed it being noisy and I hear like a bat.
It’s substantially louder and hotter than my Xbox One. I notice it.
Yes! The PS4 is so noisy! I couldn’t believe how much it would roar when I was playing certain parts of Dragon Age: Inquisition. I googled it, because I thought mine was broken, but it’s actually very common.
Yep I didn’t think it was a huge issue until Aussie summer rolled around. Things fires up to max fan within minutes in this current heat.
I’m in Melbourne and we haven’t hardly even had summer heat yet and it still gets noisy! I’ll probably swap back to playing things on my PS3 in the heat, because I’ve never had issues with it.
Really? I had this trouble with my old fat PS3. It drove me crazy when it kicked into hairdryer mode. Had to turn the volume up or subtitles on.
No joke this actually make me unlikely to get a PS4 now 🙁
Do you mean the George Foreman Grill PS3s? That’s the one I’ve got and it’s been a gem. I don’t ever recall it labouring the way my PS4 does. That being said, my PS4 doesn’t do it constantly, but DA:I is the only major AAA title I’ve played on it, so I don’t know what it would be like with other non indie titles.
Still running my original PS3 but I get the noise piece with it – seriously sounds like the fan throttles something shocking when we’re using PlayTV (pretty much all we use it for now). I always panic and check whether the vents are dusted up again, clean it out, then sit back and hear it crank again. @mrbs – definitely think it’s an environmental heat issue…
dat Bloodborne tho.
I have a Wii U and a PS4 and agree with basically your entire assessment.
Teachers pet!
I haven’t played either Wii U or XboxOne, so I can’t really comment.
But I do love my PS4!! Haven’t noticed any noise though. Maybe because I use a headset. Meh.
Looking forward to this year’s line up of games!!
PS4:
Game library is slowly building up. Destiny, GTA V, The Last Of Us, inFamous, Wolfenstein, Dragon Age. All play great.
Some work needs doing. The PS Store doesn’t work after you’ve loaded up a game and is still hideously overpriced considering I can go to the shops for an hour or two, get a physical copy and it costing less including travel and then have it install quicker including the time it takes to buy a game than downloading from the PS Store.
Wii U:
Pros: Good exclusives? Yes, the first party titles are great. Gamepad is nifty.
Cons: Not enough games. When actually looking at the library of available games, the only ones that I have any interest in playing are the 4 or so I already own. 4 games. That’s not a lot. And oh my word the operating system. Vastly improved since launch but still slow as a wet week.
Xbone:
Pros: Love it. Love the exclusives, Wii U be damned. Controller is fantastic, as is media support. Kinect is a very handy addition.
Cons: Slightly bugged operating system, not super intuitive without kinect.
PS4:
Pros: Great lineup of games, both exclusives and third party. Controller is so much improved (I hated DS3 with a passion), OS is slick and generally runs really well, though not without issues.
Cons: Frequent PSN downtime, whether Sony’s fault or no. Sub-par multimedia support, sometimes overcomplicated menu hierarchy, and general instability (I fairly regularly have games crash to the home screen)
My thoughts:
All systems are unique, and offer something different to their competitors. It is worth owning all three systems, but if that is out of your means, any of the three is a solid choice.
I can’t comment on the PS4 or wii U. I have no intention of ever picking up a Wii U and outside of briefly fiddling with a PS4 controller right near launch (and being pleasantly surprised with how it felt after the flimsy/awkward feeling Sixaxis/Dualshock 3) I haven’t used a PS4.
I still prefer the asyemmetrical thumbstick layout of the Xbox controller and while a year ago the Xbone controller felt very cheap and flimsy compared to the helft of the 360 controllers, I’ve gotten used to them and appreciate the fact that the underside of the controller is no longer cluttered by the battery pack.
The Windows 8/Metro dashboard still feels a bit cluttery and random but I’ve started making use of pin function to quickly access my digital content. Again, uit’s something I’ve adjusted to so while it’s not as intuitive as the 360 used to be, it at least makes sense.
The game experience varies from game to game. The game I’ve spent the most time with was Destiny and in spite of mixed feelings about it I enjoy it. It’s a shame we’re still waiting on the time-locked PS4-exclusive content but oh well. Have experimented with the “free” games with gold offerings and found equal amount of gold and crap under those murky waters. Still, averaging the cost of the gold subscription across the year vs. the value of the games I actually enjoy playing that I don’t have to pay for seperately and I’m coming out ahead.
Media features are excellent, and I’m actually finding it worthwhile buying digital titles via Xbox Video – we purchased and streamed Dallas Buyer’s Club in HD with no buffering, which was a huge issue when we last experimented with streaming movies on the 360 a few years ago and turned me off the service entirely for quite some time.
I love the cloud syncing for profiles/savegames especially since we have multiple Xbox One units now. I can seamlessly continue a game where I left off on either console, even though I primarily play on the secondary unit (which lives near our computer desk) I can pick up and move to the main TV if my wife wants to use the PC for awhile. It also enables my friends to do the same while visiting my place, especially useful for multiplayer games where they might want to use their own characters/profiles/unlocked content instead of needing to start over.
I guess that’s pretty much it. It took awhile for me to get in the new-gen groove but I think I’m pretty close to being unable to go back so I plan to spend this year really smashing my pile of shame because I doubt the 360 is going to endure into 2016.
Oh, I read some other posts and saw mention of media remotes – we picked one up for the Xbone and it’s brilliant. One of the major uses we have for the Xbox One is viewing youtube content and most videos are longer than the controller inactivity timeout so we had issues where the next video on the channel or suggestion queue would autoplay before we’d get the controller powered back on or think to shout “Xbox go back” at the kinect. Media remote solved that issue. It’s a cool little device that has LED backlights under the buttons that only light up when it’s being held, I assume to conserve battery life. I haven’t bothered to investigate this, but assume it has an accelerometer to detect when being picked up so it can light up to be used (great when you’re watching stuff with the lights off etc.) but doesn’t sit there glowing obnoxiously draining the batteries when you don’t need it. A lot of thought went into that device and it’s perfect.
Only have the Wii U, and only had it since Friday.
My only gripe so far is the gamepad could be a bit more ergonomic. The buttons directly underneath the right analogue stick are awkward for me. So are using the triggers. I’m sure I’ll get used to it though.
WiiU – cant really comment as we sold ours after 2 months. Hated the os and gamepad and the games are obviously not made for me anymore.
Ps4 – haven’t switched it on since TLOU remastered. It’s ok, I’m just glad it’s my exclusives box this gen, with psn being as bad as it was last gen.
X1 – I use this console most as 95% of my gamer friends play together on xbl, I wsh they had dropped the kinect before launch and spent the extra $100 of ms buying power on a better gpu/cpu. The os and snap features are far too slow and need to be fixed. Seriously, they could have just brought the 360 os up and let that go, I still prefer it.
All that aside, my bias still lands with ms and x1. Probably just from the positive co-op and mulitplayer experiences I’ve had with my mates, rather than objective reasoning.
I have them all. WII – U hands down has been played the most.. Wer’e talking games here not media stuff that i can simply use my laptop for.
RE the media stuff.
Serious question, are you saying that you would rather watch TV shows or movies on a laptop than on your TV?
I read this as having the laptop hooked up to the telly. I use my laptop for media this way rather than my PS4.
Ahh ok. I guess that makes more sense, heh :p
I’m sorry but the ps4 does not have good third party games yet. The best one they have is a remake of the last of us. It very may have the best coming but it doesn’t have them yet
It has massive potential but is yet to shine. It’s first year titles were pretty bland….
Err third party would imply it’s not a Sony exclusive, and Naughty Dog is owned by Sony Computer Entertainment :/
Of the 3rd party games I own; there’s GTA V, Tomb Raider, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Trials Fusion which I think are quite good and have sunk countless hours into all of them..
I’m not a huge gamer, I stick to a select range of games, but seems a bit naive to say there’s no good third party games, and the exclusives I have aren’t bad either… Infamous Second Son was quite an enjoyable game, a game I feel is worth replaying and getting 100% on.
That’s a first party game.
Third party games are not funded by the console makers, they’re made by independent publishers like EA, Activision, and Ubisoft.
Think Destiny, CoD, Assassins Creed, Far Cry, Battlefield, The Witcher, Dying Light, Sleeping Dogs, Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto, et all…
As opposed to games like
Uncharted, Drive Club, Forza, Halo, Killzone, The Order, Gears of War,
Oh yeah sorry!! Lots of third party, not many exclusives. I stand by what I said though. Really poor exclusives with the potential of many good ones to come.
So my rating is a poor first year on the game front
PS4 is so noisy! Even playing any game for less than 5 minuets I hear the fans kick in. Getting sick of having the PSN always going down. Also wish you could swap out the DS4 batteries for newly charged ones. Apart from those things I am very happy with the PS4.
Bought a Wii U on Friday and I’m loving it! Love the gamepad. Wish the battery would last longer ,the gamepad screen was a full HD screen and it had a removable battery with a standalone charger. I have no issue with long seasons of gaming with the gamepad. I find it really comfy.
I have a smart TV that can handle media files, so I don’t really care all that much about media streaming on the PS4.
I’ve both the xbox and ps4 but I just find myself using the bone more… like, a lot more.
I prefer the UI on xbox, and I prefer the controller (the ds4 just feels too light and flimsy for me).
I find I prefer the exclusives on xbox (there haven’t been that many on PS yet, though I’ll undoubtedly buy Uncharted when that comes out).
MS have been faster and better about the updates to system software.
Both consoles have had broken games, and need to do something about their certifying procedures.
Games do generally look better on PS4, but I guess I’m just not as concerned by the prettyness of the graphics as I thought I would be when I bought my PS4.
In terms of the media playing stuff, Play-To on xbox is great… and their media player can handle a bunch more formats than the PS4.
I wish xbox would sort out playing music in the background though… they’ve really got to get on that.
“I wish xbox would sort out playing music in the background though… they’ve really got to get on that.”
Keep on fighting the good fight! I hate that this feature is missing!
I’ve heard (though I don’t have a source) that background music is coming in the next few months
Oh yeah!! I have complained to Microsoft directly so many times about this!!! It’s just totally unbelieveable that I must snap their crappy music app (which gimps my game screen) amd pay for a whole new subscription (for music I haven’t already purchased and own) in order to listen to music and play a game.
WHAT ARE THEY THINKING
Regarding the Wii U –
Third Party Support – what does this give it? For the early months (years?) of the console’s life cycle, the main criticism was lack of games. But what games there were, were above par. This mentality that ‘launch games are always bad’ is a fallacy, but you’d believe it if you only thought there were two consoles out. Throw in backward compatibility, the virtual console, and the eshop. I want the third parties to remember how to make working titles once again, then they bring their games to a Nintendo console.
Online – again, this is invalid. Any games you can play online, you can play for free and if there was an option for voice chat during matches where the majority of folk are all speaking different languages (ie Smash Bros), you’d turn it off. When someone who spends time around games sites is still asking about friend codes on Wii U they are either ignorant or under-served by the games site they are on. It’s that simple.
Steady supply – see above, but even this is a sliding scale nowadays. Steam/iOS have disrupted release schedules. Do we want new games weekly on this thing? You get stuff like Meme Run.
What you think you want, you really don’t.
I am playing games from launch, still. That’s my personal habit (and all of this has been my opinion!) on show but last week we didn’t expect last-generation Wii titles to be part of the Wii U’s virtual console library. Now they are. Not only that, my save games on Mario Galaxy 2 were carried over as well.
Love my Wii U.
PS4: greatly improved controller and much quicker to install games. The lay out of the PS4 and its store annoys me and I don’t know why. Also outside of Infamous, can’t think of another good exclusive. But that should change this year.
Xbox One: controller still good and better exclusives. Takes too long to install games though.
Wii U: Don’t own one and don’t plan to.
As for the graphics argument that games look better on the PS4 than the Xbox, couldn’t care less. I can honestly not tell the difference between a game on the PS4 and Xbox One.
Nope, still no reason to enter this gen.
I didn’t realise anyone felt that way!
Is this true? I am seriously considering picking up a PS4 but this would but me right off.
This noisy thing was news to me. Either I play games obscenely loudly or mine’s not that loud. It’s all of a metre away from me too and this kind of thing ususally annoys me. The cooling pad fan thingo I got for my laptop is freaking loud and that drives me insane…
It’s louder than my 360 which I used to think was loud. Mine seems to be loudest when idle though and quietens when I’m playing. At first I thought mine was over heating but it’s not really hot to the touch.
OMG seriously? I had a 360 elite and it was so loud that I ended up getting a PS3. I researched before my purchase and deterimined that the 2nd version of the PS3 was the quietest and picked that one.
Seriously, if the PS4 is louder than a 360 I’ll never buy it (mine sounded like it was trying to take off!), or hope I can hold out for a new model where they address that issue.
I have one of the black elites and have been playing it over summer (don bradmans cricket is only on last gen so far boo!) and it’s been quieter than the PS4. Again though my ps4 hasn’t really been noticeable in game and seems to come and go for when the fans will go hectic. Doesn’t seem to be during intensive sections specifically either and it’s not the disc drive as someone else here has mentioned as it does it in digital games without a disc inserted. I wouldn’t let noise stop you buying it though if it has games you want
Urgh so maybe my 360 was faulty all along!
I didn’t say my 360 was quiet though, I used that as a comparison because the 360 was known to have some noise issues. I’m saying my ps4 has gotten louder at times than my 360 ever did or does.
Never had an issue. I have both XBone and PS4 and never noticed it at all on either.
Wii U
Pros: Fantastic games out already and it’s looking like another strong year in 2015. Definitely the best for couch multiplayer and the gamepad is super useful when the tv is busy.
Cons: My ex girlfriend stole my Wii U. We are sharing my cat (who mainly stays with me but she wanted her over the holiday season) and she came around to my place to pick her up while I was out (I was fine with this). She then messages me “I took the Wii U. Just noticed you finally picked up Bayonetta, pity you can’t play it!”. She told me she’d return it when she returned the cat but I wanted to play it cool so I just told her “I don’t care either way”.
Overall: Was a great system while it lasted!
So you’ve still got her cat, and she has your Wii U? 😛
Nah she’s still got the cat AND the Wii U. –_–
That sucks man, here’s hoping your cat and Wii U are rightfully returned to you!
We use the wii u every single damn day. Mariokart and smash bros. Perfection.
I mostly game on PC now, so am in that frame where third party games are generally not selling points. I’d much prefer to just get them on PC, as it runs them better.
WiiU gets used most days at my place, by me or my son. It has by far the best exclusives, in my opinion.
No reason to get a PS4 yet, though I might have taken the plunge recently if there was native media server support (incidentally, Plex would work for those mkv files I think). Uncharted 4 may change my mind. Recently purchased a second PS3 as a media/bluray player though.
Not interested in any of the Xbone’s exclusives, so wouldn’t go near it anyway.
My launch PS3 died late last year after a LOT of use.
I’ve spent quite a bit of time with various repair attempts, none of which have worked, so I’ve accepted that it’s time has come.
I was always going to get a PS4, but wanted to wait until the time was right, and most importantly make sure it could fill the role my PS3 served.
Looking at prices, I couldn’t justify purchasing a new PS3, when I will be getting a PS4 come July anyway [Uncharted 4], so I bit the bullet and purchased a PS4 this weekend.
I’ve only had it for a weekend, but first impressions are that the interface is really slick and fast, a great improvement over the PS3 [I love the XMB design, but the UI in general is super slow on the PS3], which owes mostly to the greatly increased memory available [PS3 only has 256MB ffs!].
I’m not really into twitch at all, but I gave the share button a whirl and was super impressed with how smoothly that whole integration works!
Game wise I’ve only played GTA5 [which I completed on PS3 previously], so I can’t yet comment on gameplay. I will say however that looking in the PSN store, the lineup is rather unimpressive. The best games I can see are ones I’ve already played on PS3 [LToU and GTAV].
Mostly I’m still dissapointed that they have yet to implement DLNA support. As I’ve said on this site many times before, my PS3 sits with our TV in the main living/entertainment area, and as such got more use as a media centre, and it was awesome at it.
I know it will get better. But in it’s current state, I have a system with the same [or fewer] games as my PS3, with less media capability. I’m confident it will get better with system updates, but at the moment it is disapointing.
**Also, the requirement for PS+ for multiplayer gaming is absolute BS! I was critical of MS for doing so with the XB and 360, and it was one of the big benefits of the PS3 for me, so I’m going to be critical of Sony for bringing it in for the PS4, and hiding it behind a dangled carrot of ‘free’ games.
As a PS4 user can you comment on the noise issue the article author raised?
I have not experienced any excessive noise at all from the console. I hadn’t even noticed the fans at all.
To be honest, I always take people’s opinions on systems being ‘noisy’ with a grain of salt, as in my experiences I see consoles treated like VCR’s/DVD players, and jammed into entertainment unit nooks. I keep my PS4 out on an open surface, with no objects around it to allow for good airflow. I did the same with my PS3 and only ever heard the fans ramp up on super hot days.
I also made another comment here asking if it was the fan which was noisy, or if it was the bluray drive, as my PS3’s drive was noisy with certain disks. At certain RPM’s the disc [especially DVDs] would resonate and make a loud noise.
That said, I’ve only spent a couple of days with the system over the weekend, in relatively cool weather. Maybe it is noisy for some people, but I’m confident enough in my purchase that it isn’t going to be at a level which would make me not enjoy my gaming experiences on it.
PS4:
For – better quality third party performance, LOU remastered, good controller, multiplayer, decent January Sales, no batteries, promise of truly kickarse first party exclusives, the general interface and cool flashy lights.
Against – PSN outages, stupid disc eject screw I need to tighten every three months, not ENOUGH exclusives, can get a bit noisy and seems to glitch out a bit when it’s really hot.
XB One
For – Halo MCC (Halo 2 is glorious), Quamtum Break, Halo 5, good controller, BLU ray player, YouTube app.
Against – Fucking BATTERIES, interface, sub par third party performance and pretty much everything else.
PS4 is my primary gaming machine. Nuff said. Will probably get into XB One more when there is more than one exclusive I feel compelled to buy.
Have to say, though, I don’t regret buying either of them 🙂
Batteries?
What’s your issue with the Xbone controller batteries?
I get plenty of hours out of my play and charge kit battery, I couldn’t imagine playing so much that it’s ever an actual inconvenience even if I have to stop playing while it charges.
I mean if I regularly played for 15 hours straight, couldn’t charge it while I was playing, couldn’t afford a second battery and couldn’t deal with having an hour or two off or a nap then it might be a problem…. but I can’t see that happening.
I have to use rechargeable batteries with the XB One. I use a charging cable with the PS4. Given I rarely play a game for more then 4 hours at a time, it’s not a question of longevity… Just that one uses batteries, the other doesn’t. They are an external variable for XB only, and I therefore marked it as “against”. Simple.
Ahhhhh, fair enough then.
I’d forgotten that the PS4 controller came with an internal battery.
Do you know if you can replace them when the controller gets old? I know that my 360 batteries (like all batteries) eventually depleted in the amount that they could store and I needed to replace them. It would be sh*t to have to replace the whole controller!
I just bought a play and charge kit for my Xbone at launch for $29. Then I was at Harvey Norman one day and they had them on sale for $9 with battery and cable! It was so ridiculous that I bought 3 extra kits even though I’ve only got two controllers. I figure it’ll save money one day when I need new ones.
Actually, I have never owned a PS long enough to have one die, TBH. PS3 for one year, and this for 6 months. Time will tell!
I never had a huge issue with rechargable batteries, actually. In fact the two pairs in my XB controller are the same ones I bought for my 360 close to 5 years ago… Yet they still hold like 10 hours of charge.
Then again, I’m a working dad, so I can’t say I play that much any more. Just a couple of hours a day.
I’m the opposite of you it seems, I hate having to plug in my ps4 controller to charge it whereas for my xbox I used regular rechargeable that give me around 10-15 hours and when they die I just swap in another set and put the old ones back on charge.
Lol, it’s not even like I get that upset about the batteries! Now I just feel like I was looking for reasons to hate the Xbox.
Not sure where everyone is keeping their PS4’s, but mine is out in the open with ample room around it for air flow and it rarely has the fan spin up because of a heating issue, and my room ain’t exactly cool this time of year..
The main issue I have with the PS4 is the battery life of the controller, the damn thing has an 1000mAh battery, then again it’s an increase over the Dual Shock 3’s 570mAh battery.. Yet it’s battery life is about one half to one third of the PS3’s. I don’t use the speaker I have that turned off, I don’t use the headphone jack, and I have the light bar turned down to the dimmest setting.
My other ‘issue’ is the vertical stand, I bought one on Friday or whatever, attach it and all it does it restrict airflow and make the console overheat, something that doesn’t happen when it’s horizontal.
Another thing I don’t like is when the PS4 is in a vertical stance it faces to the right as opposed to the PS3 which faces to the left, but that’s just a personal preference of wanting the consoles to all face the same way..
My PS4 is in the open, I don’t think the fan speed is heat related though because mine gets loudest on game menu screens while idle then tends to quieten down once I start playing which is weird. Doesn’t get hot to the touch (although the controller sometimes heats up)
Is it definitely the fan which is making the noise?
On my PS3 the bluray drive got SUPER loud when it spooled up. Definitely a lot louder than the fans ever got [and this was on a Fat model]
Pretty sure, I tested playing P.T when I go it without a game in and that got loud on the pause screen too.
Odd. Mine only kicks in, if there’s not enough airflow meaning it’s probably not cooling as efficiently as it should. But that was when it was in a spot where the air vents were semi-blocked. Since it has intakes on both sides and exhaust out the rear..
It’s not an air flow issue. I’ve had it out on the floor without anything around it and it still did it. I looked it up when I got it thinking maybe it had issues but found lots of others with the same thing. It’s not getting hot it’s just noisy.
Eesh, that can’t be a good thing.
Mine is in on a shelf in a nook in my TV unit thingo, but it’s a large nook relative to the size of the PS4. I haven’t noticed it being particularly noisy. I agree about the DS4 battery life.
OMG YES! I’m not alone here! lol.
I just installed my PS4 and stood it up vertically where my PS3 used to be, and was immediately thrown off by it clearly standing on a different side now. I had to move the TV over to the left and put the PS4 on the other side. People looked at me like I was insane, but who wants to look at the ugly bottom of a console?!?!!?!?
I know right? Considering both my Slim PS3, Slim PS2 & Original Silver PS2 all face the same way, why can’t the PS4, dang it Sony.
PS4
Pro: It’ll have Bloodborne
Con: Don’t think I can afford one when Bloodborne comes out
XBone
Con: Have yet to see a game announced that makes me want to get one
Pro: My wallet is thankful
Wii U
Pro: SMASH
Con: No Monster Hunter 4. Laughable media capabilities.
3DS
Pro: I play too much Pokémon
Con: I play too much Pokémon
Well I’ve got all 3 now. My quick reviews would be
Wii U: Great if you like the Nintendo franchises or you already own a gaming pc/xbox/ps4
Xbox One: My console of choice so far, the controller suits me best and it has had my favourite exclusives. I prefer the OS as well. I don’t notice any performance differences between the ps4 and while I know they exist for some games they aren’t as big an issue as people would have you believe. Installs games too slow at times and imagine for people without the NBN it’s even worse.
PS4: Desperately lacking exclusives right now, the console is loud as others have mentioned but usually quitens down once a game is going which is odd. Lacks featues and the UI isn’t as smooth or easy to find things in. The controller is good except for the thumb pads, mine were wearing after a few weeks and they get gummy and sticky quickly. Installs games quicker which is it’s biggest plus.
Basically the ideal set up now imo is either an xbox one/pc and a wii u. The PS4 is set to get good exclusives this year so I’d say wait off on that until mid year/christmas and then re evaluate it. If we count handhelds too the 3ds has been my most used console of this gen so far and gets a big plus from me. The vita should be avoided and was a waste of my money but at least it is used as a ps4 controller in my house now.
This might be off the topic since I’ve not yet waded into this gen, my 360 is still running fine, but I’m a little confused by the whole “games look better on Console X” debate. I can understand if you’re running both, buying the SAME game on both and then ramping up, but at the end it’s a bit of a moot point if you ask me.
It’s like walking into JB and seeing a giant wall of TV’s, each one with subtle differences is picture quality, clarity, brightness, colour depth, look and feel etc. When you’re in the store and they’re all there, it’s definitely a “this one is best” comparison.
But when you buy said TV and take it home, there isn’t a comparison anymore. If it looks great and does what you want it to, does it really matter in the end whether the other one was “just that little bit better” or not?
IMO – when I do eventually jump in to this gen of consoles, whatever I buy, I’m damned sure I’ll be happy with it and enjoy the games I end up getting, because they’ll invariably (mostly anyways) be better than the last generation 🙂
Don’t you go spewing that balanced, sensible, pragmatic approach around here sonny jim!! 😛
lol 🙂
TV comparisons are more noticeable than the quality difference on PS4 and Xbox One imo. It isn’t a case of a game out right chugging on one console and playing smooth on the other. Buy whatever has the exclusives you prefer.
I can agree with the PS4 noise comments. Fired up Far Cry 4 at Christmas and playing late at night with the volume turned down it was really noticeable. I was actually concerned that there was a problem with my console, so it’s relieving to hear others have the same issue.
I only have the Xbone and that decision was made on the basis of exclusives (I really want to play Quantum Break) yes I know WiiU has the best exclusives – but the bulk of games I play now are third party.
At first when I got it I had a few bundled games (Lego Marvel, Forza) I bought Titanfall and Destiny and Watchdogs and Trials but I still foundtself playing the 360 more – then Xmas happened and I got CODAW, them I got BF4 and Tomb Raider and Far Cry 4 and honestly the 360 hasn’t seen much use this summer – I think I’m making the transition.
The UI is great – I don’t know why people are confused by it – it’s pretty simple to me
My wife loves the DLNA streaming, the controllers are great – and holy crap it is so quiet compared to the 360 – it’s difficult to believe it was made by the same company!
The only time my PS4 is noisy is when I’m playing Ground Zeros, no other game makes the fan spin up. @markserrels, PSN is always down? Really? Surprised you’d say that yet not mention the weekend you couldn’t even update your Xbone.
I owned an Xbone for all of a month, bought one for the MCC, found it broken still a month later, sold it all on Gumtree..
Other than then ddos attacks that effected both consoles, my ps4 always connected to psn.
XBone: Great controller with immense battery life. The trigger vibration seems a bit gimmicky and can be annoying on some games but great on others. If I used Xbone more I reckon I’d get so used to it I would miss it but for now it’s just okay. The OS is still frustrating and messy. The DLNA plays some of my media and craps itself with others but that could just be an ‘ID-ten-T’ operator error. Still lost some respect for me with poor decisions pre launch as I was a big 360 man. To not launch with party chat was criminal. Seemed Sony copied all the good stuff from 360 and used it but for some reason XBone regressed. But XBone is slowly getting better and Skype on kinect is good. Console looks like a very early VHS top loader. Forza = awesome.
PS4: My console of choice. Everything is smooth and menu easy to use with everything you need just there. Will be swapping hard drive soon for bigger faster job. 500GB on either console is criminal but straight forward swap on PS4 and keep the warranty. Controller is excellent but thumb grips can be slippy after a pizza and two of my friends have torn rubber from theirs. Again ‘ID-ten-T’? I have to charge after a big all day session but no biggy.
No excuse for the lack of Bluetooth tho. My old chat earpieces don’t work and STILL we have no new ones for chat. Still no DLNA insert frowny face please Siri. However…………
Destiny and GTA V is just heaven with a PS4. When PSN is working.
Overall look of machine is good and the Share function works great for vids and screenshots. Share play no work at my copper wire house.
Don’t know if it means anything but my core circle of console gaming friends (approx 12) all had 360 and five of us had both PS3 and 360. All but three went straight for PS4 alone, three went XBone and two of us got both. Maybe just the bad PR start for XBone but we can’t be alone there.
We need NBN in Australia pre-2053 with the new digital download/upload future of games.
Wii U: Don’t own one and probably never will. Nothing against it personally or people who use it. Good luck to them.
Mac: It’s good. Don’t really use it for gaming apart from the odd Tycoon game.
PC: What is that? Dunno.