Features - QOTW: What does the PlayStation 4 need in order to succeed?

simply exist, although it makes me sad :(

If PS4 wants to win, it needs to be the be-all-end-all of the living room. It needs a beefy web browser, web app support, DVR functionality with a tuner, the ability to act as a storage server, the ability to stream media off other devices over the network.

In the game space, it needs to support 2180p, wireless AC (or gigabit ethernet), and it needs to attract new developers with digital downloads, smaller cuts, drastically reduced SDK costs (or even free), and a shift in perspective from being a pain in the ass to develop for to being more easily compatible with a generic engine + openGL codebase. Switching to x86 helps.

It still has a niche - hardware subsidized by game sales to get gaming hardware in the hands of those who don't want to invest in a beefy PC. It just has much stiffer competition in the living room, and needs to prove itself as a worth investment in that space.

A lot of you need to forget the technical stuff that the typical person on the street does not know, 4k display? who has a TV that will do it for example?. The only thing the PS4 needs to be successful is to be cheap, if it costs more than a couple of hundred quid no one will buy it apart from a VERY SMALL minority with a lot of extra disposable income.

Maybe I'm getting old but I'd rather not have highly integrated social media features on my console. I have a phone, PC/tablet for that (I also don't want my FB stream polluted with endless 'nondescript friend A is playing nondescript game B' updates).
Neither am I immensely fussed about netflix, lovefilm, iplayer and so on. There are almost half a dozen different avenues for me to access those in my home already. By all means have those on the console but not as the main attraction.
Anyway as a few wise men have mentioned already - what it needs is games. Ones that push the envelope for the gaming industry to a new level and not another glut of AC sequels or CoD clones. An ecosystem that allows indie devs to flourish would be nice too.

Decent games, and a DECENT web browser at least.

MS is making it easy. Just don't lock out used games and keep the BD drive. Done deal.

To have a better graphical output than my current PC...

As for 4k, I am sure it will support it, just like the PS3 supported 1080p.

I will say I still know many who will buy it just because its a playstation but I know many who have actually tried a 360 now and a few it has become there main gaming console.

There are two absolute must haves that will make me buy one on the spot - pretty much regardless of price:

1) Backwards compatibility with PS3 games. Without this I just won't buy one - there is absolutely no point..this is not like the PS2-3 jump, we're a stage beyond that now I think.
2) No locking of games to a console. I suspect that they will lock games anyway, but it's bad enough when the multiplayer aspect of PS3 games becomes locked (very frustrating!), if it becomes the whole game? That's the death of high street video game shops right there in their hands.

Aside from that, I would really like Sony to sort out their "Media Center" - it's a great device for blu-ray, love film etc..but I still need XBMC for playing things from my NAS (as using the PS3 one I have to transcode virtually everything). Better still, just forget the whole media center thing completely (and remove the useless web brower too - who on earth really needs/wants a web browser on their TV?) and save on the licences. Keep it as a DVD/Blu-ray player and stop trying to be a jack of all trades..a skyHD box and raspberry pi can provide all those other services in a much more refined manner.

The key thing should be (and will be) the gaming experience - I am scared that they will really start pushing digital downloads as the primary distribution method, which I will truly hate. I love buying my games on disc - the storage space on my "PS4" will run out years before the storage space in my house, and of course if they go all digital on us that will definitely mean games are locked to your account and cannot be traded. The only way they could justify it would be if the games were 50% of the price - so £20 as a maximum for a new release. I can't see that ever happening though!

Really really don't want to get to the point we've got to with PC games right now where you can go buy a retail boxed game..open it up and all you find is a steam code :(


Edit: I suppose one more thing would be to forget "move" for now - it's good fun for Tiger Woods and Time Crisis but that's about it..from what we've heard so far it will be built in this time around, but it's not something they need to spend money on. Microsoft appears to have made that mistake with the Xbox next which has kinect built in (and we all know how rubbish kinect really is for any "serious" games) - I guess they kind of have to so they say they can compete with the Wii, but in reality it's not something that people use day-to-day.

Cost of games needs to be modern pricing.
I can buy games on my iOS and Android devices for under £5 (for HD versions), and when i'm feeling very flush i'll spend £10 to £15 on a good PC game in a Steam Sale.
No way on earth i'd ever consider over £30 for a game, never mind the £45 + that is often asked.

It Needs a GTX 690 in it lol

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Originally Posted by ionicle

a deal with apple and certain android vendors to be able to share music, pics videos etc from device to device irrelevent of manufacturer

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surely uPnP sharing can do this for you? (it's not native to android but there are a good selection of apps which have this covered)

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Originally Posted by benegerton1985

A lot of you need to forget the technical stuff that the typical person on the street does not know, 4k display? who has a TV that will do it for example?. The only thing the PS4 needs to be successful is to be cheap, if it costs more than a couple of hundred quid no one will buy it apart from a VERY SMALL minority with a lot of extra disposable income.

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Who had a 1080p screen when the PS3 came out? Granted, more than now have a 4k, but if the tech is there, it'd be daft not to have the capability. Lots of mid-range amps now do 4k passthrough & upscaling so the tech is there.

Backwars compatibility with PS1 , PS2, PS3.
No blocking of used games
Better XROSS Navigation
Better browser , with Flash supported
NTFS support
SSD
More codec support

I think an SSD is almost guaranteed, although it'll probably be about 1.5GB.

- An open and cheap game/app ecosystem.
- An open store system, each publisher and third parties can compete on margins, but Sony gets their cut no matter what. Open SDK, at least PSN open SDK for small Devs. Maybe even port and provide a free engine for use on the PS4.
- True 1080P 60FPS/120FPS performance for the life of the console, not just one or two games.
- PS1/PS2/PSP backwards compatibility via emulation
- PS3 BC via authenticating the PS3 disc and then streaming
- upgradable storage like the PS3
- 4 USBs, two on the front, two on the back.
- PlayTV HD and PlayTV SatHD
- Loose grip approach, every time Sony has bear hugged flexibility out of a system it has faltered. No amount of loosing later will undo that.
- A good Web Browser or at least the ability for third parties to write and publish their own (Mozilla/Google/Opera/Maxthon/Dolphin/etc).

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Originally Posted by Percy1983

To have a better graphical output than my current PC...

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Unless your current PC is complete crap, then a PS4 almost certainly won't compete.

How could it?

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Originally Posted by Percy1983

As for 4k, I am sure it will support it, just like the PS3 supported 1080p.

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A few titles supported it, by dropping frames all over the place. The PS3 didn't support 1080p very well (IMHO).