I arrived home from work today and found a welcome package from Amazon waiting for me, as many others did today. A brand spanking new PlayStation 4 awaited. But did greatness come with it?

The Set-up: Stage 1

I'll spare you the drama of an unboxing video or uncomfortably pornographic photographs of hardware. But I will say that, after reading posts online about people receiving consoles with physical cracks in them and just plain-old non-functioning hardware, I gave the system a thorough examination to see if anything of the sort had happened to my console. Fortunately, it was delivered in one piece.

Connecting the console to the TV was fairly easy, despite the comments from Jeff and Brad about the angled back end of the system in the Giant Bomb unboxing video. Though it helps if you have enough slack in the cable to actually plug the HDMI and power into the system before setting the PS4 in its proper resting place. Still, so far, so good.

The Set-up: Stage 2

Next came powering the console on, connecting the DualShock 4 using the USB cable, and going through the basic steps of connecting to a network, setting the language, date time, and all that fun stuff. I was also prompted to connect a PlayStation camera if I had one, which I don't, so I just skipped that part. There was also the requisite Terms of Service agreement and all that.

Once that was done, I had my first taste of the dashboard, or XMB, or...well, whatever Sony is calling the new PS4 UI. At this point, I just had to wait for the 1.50 system update to finish downloading. That was a relatively quick and painless process, though before the update began, I had to agree to the Terms of Service again. After the update finished and I was able to sign in with my PSN ID, I was prompted to agree to the terms of service again. And again. And...Jesus, Sony, I get it. Do I need to agree to them again just to play a game?

Everything Works!

Amazingly enough, I connected to PSN on my first try. No mysterious error messages or requests that I try again later. I got online, used the thirty-day trial code for PlayStation Plus, and then went into the store and downloaded Resogun. I should note at this point that Resogun is my only PS4 game.

Wait, Why Is Resogun Your Only Game?

Because nothing on disc enticed me into a purchase at this point. Duh. Anyway, Resogun is pretty fun. Like Brad noted in his review, it's basically Defender, if Defender were a dual-stick shooter and dressed up with flashy graphics. Not a bad game, though I'm not sure how much play I'll get out of it. Can't really argue with it being a freebie, though.

The DualShock 4

The new controller is comfortable to hold. Not that different from past DualShocks in terms of its general shape and size, though it's kind of funny seeing Sony continue to appropriate elements that other companies pioneered in their own controllers first. Hopefully games make good use of the controller's speaker.

Other Notes

• I'm not really sure what to think of the UI yet. I actually don't mind the XMB and actually prefer it in some ways to whatever this weird thing is.
• The UI is also replete with Sony slickness. It's clean and professional to the point that its personality is...almost a complete lack of personality. It just feels corporate and cold. I much prefer the Wii U's Wara Wara Plaza and the accompanying touch screen UI.
• Seriously, why the heck did I have to agree to the terms of service so many times?
• It'll probably be a while before I'm in danger of filling up my hard drive, but I think that's going to do more with the lack of games than anything else. The prospect of these 50GB installs, streamed or not, is eye-opening, to say the least, and file sizes like that could start making even terabyte drives start looking insufficient.
• ...When does the PS4 version of Final Fantasy XIV come out?

In Summary

Well, it's a new console, all right. Not nearly a religious experience in any sense. And while it's a good piece of hardware, I'm going to need more time (and games) to determine for myself if greatness has arrived or not. As it stands, it's probably going to just be waiting for a long while before I get truly significant use out of its since the games I'd really like to play on it aren't going to be out for a while yet. I'll likely be getting more use out of my PS3 in the meantime.

It felt weird not to get one today, I feel odd pangs of non-buyer's remorse, but the I see impressions like yours and conclude I probably made the right choice for now.

Assassin's Creed 4 doesn't do it for you? I agree the launch lineup looks thoroughly underwhelming right now but AC4 does look pretty fun to me.

I admit I was hoping for a Japanese developed AAA game at launch, very surprised there really isn't any. That's what usually pushes me over the edge to buy one of these.

Glad things went smoothly for you! I've heard a lot of people having issues. It's kind of odd, but eh, it's day one.

I'm looking forward to the Japanese launch next year. I'm guessing there should at least be one or two decent JPRGs released next year for it. That's all I really want. Outside of the 360, I've never bought a modern console until there was at least one JRPG I wanted to play on it. Hopefully devs making games for the PS4 can deliver! And then all us JRPG fans can argue over whether they're amazing or crap. heh. :)

I already own Assassin's Creed IV on the Wii U, so I never planned on the PS4 version. I'm honestly not sure what my first new retail game for the PS4 will be; I know I'll be getting Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III eventually, whenever they come out, but other than that, I'd like to try out the PS4 version of FFXIV, and I'm interested in Infamous: Second Son mostly because I live in Seattle. Otherwise, there's honestly not much I can think of that really excites me in the near or far future. The games I'm most looking forward to are all on the Wii U.

I gotta say I'm really enjoying it righ now. Had an issue with getting the firmware off my thumb drive so I decided to download it. Then had issues with psn but now it seems to be somewhat stable. As far as games go some of these visuals really impressed me. Nba, Killzone, and NFS especially. The interface is slick and once they get past the initial launch hiccups it'll run even better. I think we have a great console generation ahead.

Hearing you explain that, I have to ask, why did you pick it up at launch? Why not just wait until it was closer to actually having some games you wanted? I mean, it's cool if you just wanted it or like launches, but it sounds like there weren't any games at launch or coming really soon that interested you.

I guess I'm just curious. The PS4 looks super snazzy, but if there aren't any games that really caught your eye, why pick it up so soon?

I just felt like getting it at launch, since I knew that I'd be getting one eventually, anyway.

Oh well if you already have it, then that makes perfect sense.. Isn't there a DW8 expansion pack coming in about two weeks though? I know you already have DW8 but I wonder if that will be an upgradeable title.

Yeah not really sure what's coming to PS4 in the next 6 months, there hasn't been a terrific amount of hyped high profile announcements unless I missed them. The wiki does show 144 titles connected to it in some fashion though...and it does list FF XIV as q4 2013, but I don't know how accurate that is.

Deep Down is the one I'm still most excited for, and I have no idea when that will ship.

when FF XV hits I'll definitely have to buy it. Maybe the Metal Gear Fives or the Witness, and Watch Dogs.

That's what I'm looking for as well. Give me the Japanese stuff Xbox never seems to have and they will have me tomorrow. Well if I hadn't already blown entertainment budget, they would.

@hailinel: Cool. I can understand that desire. I hope some cool games you'll like come out for it lickity split! :D

Great post! Has anyone tried the web browser yet; can you get giantbomb videos to work? I really lament having to plug my laptop into the TV to watch subscriber videos!

Only 13 more days till UK release!

The PS4 Dynasty Warriors 8 hasn't had a release date announcement for North America yet. It's coming out in Japan in a couple of weeks, but not out here. I'd definitely get it when it comes, though. MGSV is definitely another game I'm looking forward to, and Deep Down as well, but like everything else I'm interested in, I have no idea what their release dates will actually be.

Very much looking forward to owning a PS4 this spring! Meanwhile, I've been using the Dualshock 4 on my PC and it's quickly become my favorite controller.

From what I saw on the GB Livestream the UI looked like a mess. I was not a fan of the XMB, vastly preferring the oh-so-maligned current 360 dashboard - and everything I've seen of the new XMB seems painful. It's almost like Sony knew exactly what I didn't like in the old UI and went exactly in that direction.

As long as it's easy to just launch a game after booting the system up it shouldn't be a huge issue.

costumization option will come in the futrure

I was being facetious, but it is comical the number of times they ask you to agree to terms of service in the span of about half an hour.

Talking about the Wii U interface made me want one even more now. I need a job.

I got mine a little while ago. Thought I'd share some of my feelings so far.

I'll start by saying that I would have paid more for a console that didn't feel as cheap as the PS4 does. I'm glad it has more powerful hardware for a lower price, but it's easy to see where that money was saved.

- the plastic on the controller and the console feels cheap.

- the rubber on the analogs will peel. It's obvious from the first touch. It's a coating only covers the top parts of the analog.

- the included ear plug is a piece of trash. Sony has a history of making headphones. There is no excuse for what they provided in the box. It's not comfortable and the gauge of wire used is a joke.

- the charging cable doesn't fit securely into the controller. It easily moves left and right and will break with repeated stress. Hopefully the controller itself won't be damaged.

- included hdmi cable is trash.

- the packaging itself is poor.

Now the experience so far.

- updating was easy enough. Despite having an Ethernet cable plugged in and having it detect during initial setup, I had to go into the network settings and manually test the connection before I could download the update.

- download speed wasn't great, but not terrible either.

- as of right now, I still can't get into the PSN store and I can't redeem the codes

I should redeem them on the website? Yeah, that would make too much sense. The codes included in the box can only be redeemed on the console. I thought we were past this kind of stupidity. We've been able to redeem all codes for XBL for years. Why are these codes only meant to work on the console? Didn't even bother to try the $10 code or music unlimited, but the 30 day plus code doesn't work on the website.

The interface

I do not like the 6 or 7 icons that is are displayed as soon as I turn the system on. Why are streaming apps shown next to playroom and music unlimited? I should be able to remove those icons.

Not sure what library is. Every time I try to select it, it tries and fails. Why is library accessing PSN?

I'm really happy that for the most part everything is quick. I like the top bar of icons for settings and other functions. The main set of icons seems to lack any kind of organization. Maybe I'm missing something.

Hopefully PSN will work for me some time tonight so I can start using this thing.

I guess I'm in the minority, but I prefer the PS4 interface over every other console interface out there. It works, it's fairly quick, it's easy to find the stuff I am looking for, there aren't ads crammed in around my stuff in the most confusing manner possible.

I went ahead and downloaded two more games; Contrast (which is free with PlayStation Plus, so I might as well) and Flower, which basically cost nothing since the console came with a $10 PlayStation Store voucher. (No, I hadn't played Flower before.)

I played through the first two fields in Flower and it's relaxing, but man, there's really not much to it. There's a game element, to be sure, but it more or less feels like a tech demo, and they only ported it to PS4 since it's an example of motion controls done right. As for the whole "Is it art?" question, I'm not going to touch that here. Yes.

Contrast, I haven't tried since it was still downloading when I decided to stop. Some friends and I did try it at PAX Prime, and it has a lot that reminds me of Lost in Shadow, but other than that, I'm not sure. I'm not really pulled in by its art style or setting, and my time with the demo at PAX was cut short by a bug that caused me to get stuck. There's also the fact that it became Plan B for Sony after Drive Club was delayed. I'm not really expecting much out of it, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised?

A few hours in and it's grown on me a bit.

- download speeds for me were definitely and improvement. Not quite steam or XBL but faster than the ps3.

- For games that have patches, it downloads 2 files. The game and the patch separately. That is a bit odd. Resogun didn't have a patch so it was ready to play as soon as the download was done. Contrast and a few others needed an install after the files were done. The installs take much longer than they should because they are essentially just patching.

- definitely liking that the UI is quick and downloads are handled in the background. Notifications pop and that's a nice touch. That system seems smooth.

- still not liking how the UI just throws everything in that bar of horizontal icons. I downloaded 4 games and they are just 4 icons sitting in that bar. Followed by everything else that was already there. There is literally no organization. It just puts everything there. Didn't see a way to manage those. Don't like booting the system and then seeing a straight row of icons, half of which I will never use.

- ran into some weird bugs. Had to delete messages multiple times. I would try to delete them, but nothing would happen. After multiple attempts, they would finally disappear.

- when I try to access anything in "library", it goes back to first menu. Not sure why that stuff is network dependent.

The controller is a massive improvement over the DS3 which I've always hated. Noticeably less dead zones in the sticks. They feel much better. Face buttons and d-pad are essentially the same. The triggers definitely don't feel as good as the 360 triggers. They are better than the ds3, but inferior to the 360 controller. L1 and R1 are fine. Maybe they could use a bit more click to their feel, but not bad.

Biggest issue for me personally are the ergonomics. My hands feel better, but the shape still feels inferior. Gripping the two handles still leads to a closer grip than the 360 controller and it doesn't feel as good. I have fairly large hands and I still felt some of that playstation claw fatigue that I get with the DS3.

The controller is a nice improvement but it's not the revelation people made it out to be. I would still take a 360 controller over it. Without question.

The best part so far is the speed of the UI. It's not organized in the best way, but everything is quick. Pressing the. PS button gets you out of a game quickly and it works well.

The worst part is the feeling that this is just a new coat of paint. Yes, I understand that games are what matter most, but the box itself doesn't really do much else that is new and exciting. The streaming features are nice, but I'm underwhelmed with this being a new machine. It feels like Sony has done what they've always done. New more powerful hardware, but no serious push in any other department.

It just feels like a more powerful Playstation. It's fine it's that's all they were going for, but it doesn't have that wow factor for a machine whose predecessor was released 7 years ago.