Electronic Letdown

This is a picture of what Nickleback sounds like.
And it's what the PS4 turned out to be.

Ever waited for something, full of anticipation only to be severely let down when you got that something?  That's what my yesterday was like after picking up a PS4.

None of the happy feelings I had when I picked up my PS3 many years ago were present yesterday.

Here's the story: A friend of mine tells me that Best Buy has a bunch of PlayStation 4s. So after finishing up at my day job, I went down to pick one up (I called first, just to make sure). Sure enough, there were a bunch. I picked one up and Call of Duty since there is still nothing to pick from game-wise. I knew that going in and that's why I waited instead of rushing out and buying it last year. And I knew it wasn't going to be backward compatible with PS3 games (that should have been the first red flag).

I got home and hooked it up. After that I thought, "I could go for a nap. How about I put a CD in the new PS4 and take a nap on the couch?" I put a CD in and I got a Unsupported Disc error. Odd. It's a new CD. I put another CD in and guess what? Same error. Instead of taking a nap, I went to the PlayStation support site to see what's going on.

After doing a quick chat with some support guy, I find out that the PS4 doesn't play CDs or can't even read a data CD. What fucking idiot at Sony decided, with their flagship product, to not put in a disc drive that will read a CD? That was rhetorical. Then I thought, because I use my PS3 to play music, why not try and load some mp3s on the PS4? Guess what the PS4 doesn't support? Any kind of music files. Oh, but you can subscribe to more-or-less a streaming radio station for a cost and your data-usage. That's a great idea if you're a complete moron.

The PS4 makes an iPad seem useful.

Granted, COD looked great, excellent actually, and the controller is comfy but for $399? Even more disappointing, I downloaded Zen Pinball. Zen Pinball isn't disappointing, just the lack of 3D. The PS3 Zen Pinball is in 3D. The PS4 is not.

Also, the menu layout is what I'd call "non-sensical" but so are a few other things: not watch a 3D movie, can't hook up an external drive to it, can't change the theme or wallpaper, it can record up to 15 minutes of your game play for you to share with your friends - which we be great when Dragon Age finally comes out and all my friends can see me go through my inventory and equip my character.

Speaking of Friends, there's an option to show Friends of Friends what I'm playing or trying to watch. In short, who cares? People shouldn't be that bored that they have to take an interest in what I'm doing with my leisure time. Just like posting my game footage or a screenshot to Facebook. Facebook. Another who cares and I think I'm seeing a trend.

All this focus on sharing with friends makes me wonder what direction Sony is moving in. Sharing photos and videos is for kids; there's even a Share button on the controller. It won't let me share my anger though. I have to Blog to do that. People that are into sharing photos don't usually have $399 to drop on an updated Atari. I'm not 13 and my parents didn't buy me one, so who exactly is Sony trying to appeal to?

The PS4 is a colossal disappointment just for its lack of basic features. How Sony could be proud of this I'll never know. You think after almost 10 years after the PS4 there would be almost 10 years of improvements but it devolved to the point of being almost useless. It reminds me of the current Ontario Liberal party or the current Federal Conservatives - useless and unlikable.

The PoS4 (Piece of Shit 4) with all of its lack of features should have been priced at $199 tops because it seems to me that the PoS4 is a "companion" to the PS3 because it sure isn't anywhere close to being a PS3 replacement. I used to have this scenario in my head when I first heard about the PS4 and how the PS4 would have all of the things brought back that were stripped out of the second batch of PS3s. Oh, to dream. Instead they rushed a sub-par product that me and everyone else got taken for a ride on.

Had I known about all the pros-and-cons, I wouldn't have bought it.

Thanks, Sony. I can't wait until you rape me again when I go to buy a second controller.