Sony’s Massive PS4 FAQ Has Lots of Details

If it won't play mp3s, how will we add custom entrance music to WWE games...

Wait so no custom soundtracks?

I think looking at this link will give lots of perspective.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3_system_software

Look back to what as included with PS3's version 1.5 system software. Then scroll all the way up to version 4.5. They added a a lot of features! I don't think that type of approach will change this generation. Looking forward to seeing what the PS4 will do in 2 years time, in 5 years! Wow, its exciting when you think forward to what could be coming.

Ah, so I guess that explains Brad's earlier tweet.

This one annoyed me:

Is there a way to rename my Online ID on PS4?

No. But PS4 does give you the option of allowing your friends to see your real name in addition to your Online ID. You can also choose to import your Facebook photo to be used as your PSN profile picture if you wish.

I'm still going to be locked to the stupid name I chose almost 10 years ago, it seems. Or I could make a new account, which won't have the cross buy stuff from PS3 and I'd have to find and readd all of my friends. Dumb.

Real glad to hear the hard drive is replaceable.

I hope media streaming works its way back in at some point (maybe by the time I actually take the plunge and get a PS4?), because that's one of the things I use pretty often on my PS3.

no cds is fine, no one uses those anymore anyway, but no media server seems mind blowing.

That's a tiny misstep. It makes me only slightly annoyed.

Is there a way to rename my Online ID on PS4?

No. But PS4 does give you the option of allowing your friends to see your real name in addition to your Online ID. You can also choose to import your Facebook photo to be used as your PSN profile picture if you wish.

@jeff

I ripped quite a few CD's for use as custom soundtracks on my PS3, so I'm kinda disappointed they've taken that feature out,

Ugh. Welp, guess that settles that, then. Time to abandon my really dumb PSN username to make a wholly new PSN account with a slightly less dumb name. I mean, none of this content is going over anyway, so what the hell, right? (Well, Flower and such notwithstanding, but meh.)

Thanks for the suggestion. I was juuuust looking at Newegg for bigger HDD for the PS4. Thinking I should maybe do it now before I fill it up and then realize it's time to upgrade.

Their headsets are not being supported at launch as well. Lame!

Hey, we have a product for people who want to stream DLNA, it's called PS3.

The last time i actually put an audio cd into a console was with my 360 like 4 years ago. I won't miss it much, but the day one patch required for Blu Ray/DVD movies to work is odd.

These new consoles just get less and less appealing everyday, huh

People really will find anything to bitch about won't they?

Who really expected the PS4 to be the console messiah? Both are going to be pretty solid and both are going to have some wonky flaws.

If no MP3 is all I have to worry about, then its a good day in my book.

@markjw: I agree. It's odd watching one side criticize a talking point for one brand while justifying the same thing for the other as if ultimately any of this truly is going to make any meaningful difference. Xbox One appears to have taken the biggest gang-up beating since E3 even though at the end of the day as we get closer to the respective launch dates, the sober consensus is that these two combatants have a lot more in common than they do apart. Just ask Keiji Inafune and Shinji Mikami;)

Anyway, I think the value in news like this patch update and confirmed limitations of the PS4 so close to launch date is that they reveal how bizarre an age we live in where physical objects are all but entirely arbitrary, especially in the entertainment and gaming spectrum. It's less and less about the "thing" itself and more about the manner in which the experience can be delivered after the thing is in your home. Otherwise "the thing" is rendered useless. It's more about the unknown implementations and how that unknown evolves over time within the digital infrastructure that has created a landscape for weird situations like people spending $400 on a plastic box that is essentially useless until you are given some magic water to feed that Gremlin and watch it grow.

This got weird didn't it? In short, none of this is a big deal. Sony fans can calm down and stop getting defensive over the same arguments they made against Microsoft months ago when similar announcements were made on that side and get back to being excited. It's exciting to be excited for something shiny and new, hopefully everyone who is excited will be satisfied when they open those boxes in a couple weeks otherwise I worry that all hope is lost for this beloved industry.

I haven't used a CD since MP3's came out... I haven't bought a CD in years nor will I ever, unless the apocalypse arrives.

Quick, everyone overract or use this a an opportunity to act pretentious and smug!

Gamez "journalism"!

So is there any way to put your own music on the PS4? Or are we doomed to just use dedicated apps?

Is a bummer about the external HD but that was the "cloud" is for...

On my PS3, I ripped 2 CDs when it first came out just to prove that it could do it, and to try out the different formats it ripped to. It was cool, but I really don't care about sticking CDs in there, and that was the last time I ever did.

I did put mp3s on my PS3, but I never used them. I did it because I could.

I do use DLNA from time to time, but the PS3 doesn't handle higher bitrate stuff over the air so well all that often. Sometimes it's smooth sailing, and sometimes it's stop and go. I mostly just use the web browser on the PS3 to download HD bomb videos straight to the hard drive. The browser handles this website pretty well.

Of course, it's always better to keep or add features rather than remove them, but when they're negligible it's something that doesn't bother me as much as removing a core gaming functionality would.

It probably would have been good to mention that if you own 2 PS4s, you only need to buy games once because you can play any game you own on up to 2 PS4s simultaneously. You could do this with the PS3, but it looks like they made it just as easy, if not easier this time.

If it has a web browser built-in you can probably run a local webserver and browse your media collection through some sort of web application. Then you could watch videos using flash or html5.

That fact that there is no media streaming will only be a problem for the first year of the console. People will find some work around for it.

No media streaming and no MP3 support is pretty lame. I use my PS3 for both of those things, a lot.

People need to cool their jets.

Judging from this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3_system_software) it took 6 months for the PS3 to get DLNA support (and another 2 months to get wallpapers for the XMB). They can add features later, and as hot as these things are coming in they've got to triage for the features they feel are more important. Their marketing pitch with the E3 presentation was that they were focused on making a gaming device, so it's hardly a surprise that they haven't worked out their media playback features. It's doubly confusing to see people who already have a PS3 complain about these things...it's not like plugging in a PS4 causes your PS3 to disintegrate (at least that's not in the FAQ anyway). I understand the disappointment to an extent, but let this be a valuable lesson in expectation management.

DLNA is a feature I use at least once a week so that's a bit of a bummer. Of course it could be slightly alleviated if they have better codec support for playing videos back natively.

I play all my games on Cocaine settings.

Why are you keeping a PS3 hooked up when the PS4 should do it, I am not going to hookup a cd player and a mp3 player to my receiver either. I am sold my PS3 because I am not a collector and it supports buying a PS4. Also, there is a list of features not active at launch but in the pipe and DLNA support is NOT on it. They shouldn't have to 'work' on these features very long either because they already exist.

I...didn't really use my PS3 for any of this, so I'm unaffected. Guess it sucks for those that it does, but it does feel kind of like a first world problem.

Not that I would have ever played a CD in that thing, but the omission is kind of odd. If you have a disc reader, why not make it read CD's? Can't all BD players play audio CD's?

Never used my PS3 to play music so that doesn't hit me too hard but no external hard drive support rubs me the wrong way.

I don't really see a problem with no external drives. Never used them on my PS3. I'll just slap a 1TB in there when I get it next year.(or the year after that. 1TB extra per year)

No media servers blows chunks though. That's just dumb.

HOW CAN I PLAY MY KORN CDS NOW, SONY!?

I just read through the whole FAQ.

The big things I noticed were

The day 1 digital one really bothers me, I would be playing Beyond: Two Souls right now but it is not available digitally

I'm thinking the same thing, makes me wonder why I even have it preordered

The things that are bothering me are the lack of upgrading a sub account to a Master Account and not being able to change the name. I still want one, but these things definitely take away from some of my excitement. The mp3/CD compatibility is all stuff I imagine being patched in over time.

While DLNA support (lack thereof) comes as a shocker when first reading that sentence... 10 seconds later the thought of "I use my WDTV" or "I use my Roku" or "I use device X" for that anyways and would likely never use the PS4 for it anymore comes to mind.

This was huge 5-8 years ago... these days though... its much more power efficient and usually less hassle to use a device designed for it (5w on my WDTV versus 220w draw on 360). Better remote (use iPhone app) etc...

so bottom line... no big deal.

Region locking is enough to make me not want to buy a PS4. I thought we were done with that shit.

What comes in the PS4 box at launch?

You’ll get a PS4 system with a 500GB hard drive, a DUALSHOCK 4 wireless controller, a micro-USB cable for charging the DUALSHOCK 4 controller, a Mono-headset for voice chat, a power cable (1.5m), and an HDMI cable (2.0m).

Finally!

@nekroskop: Well I don't really see the point in having usb 3.0 If i can't utilize the speed to install games when your hdd goes full because thats a guarantee now a days

I ripped a lot of CDs to my PS3 so I could pump it out through my nice speakers without having to put the disc in. So this actually does bum me out as well.

It's not region locked?

Do PS4 games have regional locks?

In general, neither digital nor disc-based games will be region locked, but PlayStation recommends that all users purchase games at the region of their residence to guarantee the best overall experience and customer service. In certain instances, a software publisher may choose to region lock a game title for specific reasons, but Sony Computer Entertainment expects these instances to be uncommon.

@quarters: It's a problem if you have a wife/significant other or kids that aren't into games, and the console is hooked up to a common TV. At this point, my Xbox is used more as a Media Center Extender (yup, I'm the one guy who actually uses that stuff) or Plex than for games.

Probably cheaper now that USB 2.0 has been phased out.

Try buying brand new DDR1 RAM now. It's much more expensive than the newest model.

Or it could be that they just dropped support last minute in fear of people finding a way to access the kernel and make a CFW(like they did with the PS3)

Will I be able to watch Blu-ray movies on PS4?

Yes, you will need to download and install PS4’s day-one system software update 1.50, and then activate your Blu-ray Disc video capability with a one-time activation through the internet in order to play Blu-ray Disc films and DVD video content.

This makes a bit more sense now just like the xbox DVD"kit" the licence for dvd play back was in the cost of the kit so M$ could cut the costs on the xbox(1) seems that sony is kinda doing the same thing and will only have to pay the licence fees for dvd and bluray for users that do activate it.

Personally never used my ps3 for dvd or bluray so thats a wasted fee right there

As an added benefit for PlayStation Plus members, PS4 can automatically download game patches when in standby mode as well.

This is still something i have to pay for?!

@dezztroy said:

Well I've got news for you, friend! It ain't.

No visualizer

NO PEACE LET'S RIOT

No CDs!?!?! Better subscribe to Qriocity!

No DLNA is seriously fucked. What the hell.