PlayStation 4

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.

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.

**UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM** I've waited 4 months before writing my review on the PS4. The reason for this is because I wanted to see how it would improve with updates during the 4 months. I bought a PS3 about a year after they were released and a PS2 about a year after it was released. Since I've loved the playstation since my very first PS1, I decided I had nothing to lose and after a few months of the PS4 being released, I got one. Let me start this by saying I used the crap out of my PS3. I gave up cable because I had a my whole media library streaming to my PS3 along with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. It was one box for anything I wanted to watch or any game I wanted to play and it worked beautifully. An ultimate home theater entertainment solution. I loved it and so did my wife. The PS3 is the best console I own. That being said, so far the truth about the PS4 is it is glorified hardware for nice looking games and has the functionality to be able to download apps such as netflix, hulu, redbox, amazon prime, etc. Unfortunately the functionality ends there. As always on playstations, the web browser is garbage and if you do want to try watching anything from your media library from plex, the browser cuts off parts of the screen when you click on the fullscreen button and it's just a pain in the neck to even get to the plex site and do it this way. I've read several times that Sony "might" put give the PS4 media server functionality with dlna streaming, but after 4 months of owning the PS4, I feel as though I've paid a lot of money to lose functionality in order to gain nothing but glorified hardware that does not even support 3D. So if I were to buy a 3D TV, I would either need to connect both my PS3 and PS4 up to it or buy a 3D blue ray player. Don't get me wrong.The games on this thing look Phenomenal. I've yet to have problems with the grips on the controller. I've read 5 star review after 5 star review of this console to convince me that my purchase of this console is justified. However, I only game at night when my family is in bed so my daughter isn't distracted by the controller, and I don't have to pause every few minutes, so needless to say, unless I want to watch something on Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime, I barely turn the thing on. After giving it some thought, I decided to see if I could get a direct answer from Sony Support. Here's how our chat conversation went: Me: Yes. I purchased a PS4 back in March of this year, discovering that it did not have DLNA capabilities, 3d support, and it was not able to play media from an external storage device. I feel like I've paid for glorified hardware with less features than the PS3 had. Since I can't find a clear answer online just that "updates may change this in the future", I thought I would ask the company that sells the console if any of these things are changing for sure. Sony: I do apologize all inconveniences it may caused you, let me do my best to assist you. Me: not a big deal. I'd just like to know if any of these capabilities will definitely or will definitely not be added in the future. Sony: those options may come in the future, sorry for that. You may keep checking our website or our blog: http://blog.us.playstation.com/ Me: but there's really not a definite yes or no answer right? I just wanted to verify that nothing is set in stone as of right now. Sony: Not right now. Sony: Is there anything else I can assist you with today? Me: that will be all. thank you. So until I have a concrete answer, I'm plugging my PS3 back in and stuffing this thing in the closet until either a game comes out on PS4 that I really want to play that's unavailable on PS3, or an update finally comes out that makes the functionality of the PS4 exceed the functionality of the PS3, or my PS3 finally dies on me. If you used the media server functionality on the PS3, you'll find that this system leaves much to be desired. If you're a hardcore gamer and that's all you want to do on the PS4, then the PS4 is for you. ______________________________________________________________ **UPDATE** The PS4 now has a Plex app. If you don't know what Plex is, and you like to stream movies, music, and pictures from your computer to any phone, computer, tablet, etc anywhere you are, google Plex Media Server and get enlightened. Now that the Plex app is available, I have no reason to whine. I've added the additional 2 stars, and I now think this is the perfect Gaming/media system. the Rubber has worn off the joysticks on my controller, but there are covers and replacements that amazon sells, plus they should be covered under warranty. Not a deal breaker. But now that the Plex app has been added, I use my PS4 for everything.

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

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.

I purchased a launch edition of both the Xbox One and the PS4, and find them both to be great consoles. This review is for those trying to decide between the two. After two weeks with the PS4 and a week with the Xbox, I love them both. There are pros and cons to each console. The positive for the PS4 is that it is the finished product. You can clearly see what Sony wanted to do and they executed on it. If you had a PS3 and enjoyed it then you’ll probably love the PS4. It is a game console first and foremost. They’ve made the interface much more user friendly, they’ve sped it up exponentially, and really made it a joy to use. The controller has been much improved to the point I now prefer the PS controller over the Xbox controller, which wasn’t the case last generation. The console itself is sleek and really can disappear on the entertainment system because it is so small and quiet. Also, as a service, PS+ beats Xbox Live hands down, giving away free games with the system the day of launch with the promise of more to come. All that said, the Xbox One has gotten more use than the PS4 to this point. Microsoft went for the full entertainment experience over trying to box itself into simply being a gaming console. With the HDMI input my cable box is connected to my Xbox and it gets turned on every time I walk into the living room. It is set to turn on my receiver and my television for me when I say “Xbox On”. It is a very forward looking system, but while you can see exactly what Sony envisioned when you get the PS4, Microsoft is more about the potential of what is to come. The ideas are exciting, but the execution isn’t fully realized. The idea of controlling my television experience with the Xbox is great, and at times it works great, but things like stations that sound alike when translated by a computer can hinder the user experience. Also, all the channels on my cable network aren’t currently appearing on the Xbox. For instance I have young children that watch Sprout and currently that doesn’t appear on the Xbox One Guide in my area. Another hindrance is the lack of ability to control what is on the DVR, so you’ll still end up having to use that remote from time to time. Still while saying that to have your 5 year old be able to walk in a room, say “Xbox On”, “Watch TV”, and be able to watch his cartoons without me fearing what will happen if he gets hold of the remote is great. The wife and kids love using it even with its current drawbacks. The snap feature is great, and being able to play a game while having a sporting event snapped over to the side was a great experience I wasn’t expecting to have. Just like the drawbacks I mentioned with the Xbox, the Playstation has a few things you should be aware of… When I got the system, I got download happy, wanting to get all my stuff set up. I had multiple things downloading in the background, I expected the system to be smart enough to properly manage the resources to make things continue to run smooth. Well, that wasn’t the case. Not sure if they’ve patched this at this point because I’ve just avoided doing it since, but while playing games with a bunch of things downloading in the background things got clunky real quick. Now I set up my downloads and let them go over night while the system is in Standby mode rather than downloading things while using the system. It would’ve been nice if the system would pause a download if it interfered with current activities, which even my 360 would give a message that a download has stopped when a game I was playing would access the internet or something, but this is a minor gripe to me that hasn’t drastically impacted my experience. In my opinion the choice comes down to what you want out of a console and what games you like the most. Sony made a great console, but it won’t reinvent your entertainment center it will just add to it, which is perfectly fine. If you don’t like the idea of talking to do things, then the user interface is actually better on the PS4, because it is much easier to navigate with a controller than the Xbox One. If you love role playing games then the future looks to be on PS4 with games like Infamous, Uncharted, and even Last of Us somewhere down the line exclusive on Playstation. If first person shooters are your thing, then Microsoft is the future with Titanfall, Halo, and a new IP that will turn into this generation’s version of Gears of War.

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.

I would like to talk about the system itself to start off. The system does everything I expected and more. I have suffered very few errors using the system so far. The first is when I sent the audio to my headphones and later switched it back to my television. It refused to play through the TV afterwards. Testing to see if it was a problem with my TV I changed channels noting that the volume worked properly, and then changed back to the HDMI and the audio began to work properly again. My second issue that I had with it was a sudden system shut down while I was watching a livestream. I haven't had that occur again. I'll start off with some things I dislike about the system (and accessories). -The controller's usb cable is far too short for my taste. Without having a second one or fully charging it, you'll have to sit relatively close to your television if it suddenly dies on you. I like to sit a good 10 feet away from my television(I have a relatively large television). The USB cable for the controller is about half that length, somewhere around 5 feet. -Start-up Beep. It's pretty much the same as the PS3s start-up beep, but I also dislike that about the PS3. I'm a nocturnal person and I'm always scared I'm going to wake someone when turning on either of these. -The Headset that it comes bundled with is really cheap. I wouldn't mind using it for chatting if not for having only one ear bud, but as it stands with one I can't say that I'm too fond of it. The in-line mic however works great. -Lack of ability to use own media. MP3s are not supported (and I believe other types of media are not as well but do not own such to try.). Sony offers services like Movies Unlimited, Netflix, Hulu, Music Unlimited, etc, but it doesn't shake the fact you aren't allowed to use media you already own. -Lack of interesting launch titles (could be different for you depending on your taste). I've played Resogun and Contrast so far, but fantastic (but in no way perfect) games, which are both great, but do not justify a purchase of the console. If you enjoy the launch up titles and do not own the PS3 versions then I would completely suggest grabbing a PS4, Things I like about the system (and accessories) -The Controller. It's definitely an improvement over the DualShock 3. Holding the controller is much more comfortable than holding a DS3. The grips on the analog sticks make it easy to grip them for prolonged periods of time. It has a built in speaker, a usb mini port, and an audio port for standard headphone jacks. The speaker is a nice addition and it reminds me of an improved Wii-mote speaker. The audio port should work with most headphones, but I can't say the same for headsets. My headset is not supported for use and it kind of disappoints me, but I don't chat much online so it's not that big of an issue. (The battery life is shorter than the DualShock 3's but the controller can be charged during the system's standby mode so you shouldn't ever expect it to die unless you forget to charge it. -The UI. I personally feel this is a step up from the XMB. It's easy to locate everything you need and everything seems to be sleek and well presented. The PlayStation store feels like it's a part of your console while you're navigating in and out of it. Multitasking is as simple as pressing the home button and navigating to something else. You can't have multiple games open at once and some applications conflict with each other, but for the most part you can leave other things open. You can now download more than one application/game at a time now opposed to having to wait for one to finish before another one starts. Games and applications seem to install in no time at all. -UI Voice commands (Kind of a sub point.) The UI can be browsed easily using a compatible headset. The headset provided easily picks up on your voice and the recognition software seems to work really well even with games I had no idea how to pronounce such as Resogun. -The keypad. The keypad felt like it was improved upon from the PS3s. It seems to function smoother and features a better layout. I also like the addition of the ability to use a mouse-like function using the DS4's motion control to navigate the keyboard. I wish you could use this feature to replace the left analog stick as the mouse but no such function seems to be available yet. -The browser. It's certainly a step up from the Playstation 3's browser, but is still lacking in some areas. The most prominent improvement is the ability to have multiple windows running at once. The PS3's browser only seemed to keep one page loaded at a time, and this improvement is quite a nice one. The one thing that Sony's console browsers has always been lacking is flash support. Many pages on the web require flash and it keeps the browser's functionality as a browser down by quite a bit. Some web players, like YouTube, still work, but not much past that. -Livestreaming. Sony has made it easy to not only livestream, but access other people's livestreams. It's as simple as opening an app and finding a game you want to watch. -System is extremely quiet. Not much to say here, it makes bare minimum noise. I'll update this review as more features and games come out.