On November 15, 2013, the PS4 launched in the West. Can you believe it’s already five years old? That’s incredible! I still feel like I just bought it and now rumors about the PS5 keep cropping up. I’m not ready yet! That time period was such a whirlwind from the February unveiling to that E3 months later wherein they utterly trounced Microsoft in every way. That price alone, $100 less than the Xbox One, made the crowd go wild like Jesus descended on stage and blessed Sony with his Jesusy goodness. It proved that Sony still had it in them to make a console everyone would both want to develop for and buy. It was an astounding turnaround from their stubbornness surrounding the initial years of the PS3. Now it seems like this generation has reversed itself.
The PS3 started bad, but ended with a bang and the PS4 started good and now they’re getting smug again. It’s not just their attitude with cross play among rival consoles either. Would you like to hear a blurb regarding this fiasco? I’ll condense this Independent article down for you. Essentially Sony’s stance is that no one needs to play on any other platform because the PS4 is “the best place to play.” Come on. It’s quotes like these that make me ashamed to own a PS4. I’ll get more into that later along with twenty-four other major and minor issues I have with the system. It’s a great console, but it could be so much better.
25 Controller Battery Life Is Short
The big reason the light on the PS4 controller is annoying, as I hinted at earlier, is because it drains battery life. Depending on the game I’ve found life will vary, but a good controller will have about eight hours if you turn off sound and dim the light.
It’s better than the Xbox One controller situation at least.
If you use it as intended, well, it’s significantly less than that. I know eight hours is a long time and this is a very minor annoyance, but I still thought it was worth bringing up.
24 The Touchpad’s Useless Gimmick
First of all, I actually like the PS4 controller’s touchpad even if it is kind of useless. It was initially supposed to bridge the gap between motion controls and touch controls. Early games had you use it as a swiping gimmick, but now it’s ultimately just a dedicated map button or menu option. It’s nice to have when surfing online, but as I said earlier, that situation is also problematic. I kind of hope Sony brings it back for the PS5, but just in a more refined capacity.
23 The Power And Eject Buttons Are The Worst
Now here’s something that legitimately drives me up a wall. I don’t know why Sony thought it would be a good idea to have the power and eject buttons vertically side by side. On top of that they’re not even buttons. Their functionality is so touchy. Sometimes I eject when I don’t want to and sometimes I put my console to sleep. The revised models have sort of fixed this problem, but it doesn’t help my white Destiny PS4 now does it?
22 Lack Of Demos
This is another problem that pertains to not just the PS4, but also the entire industry. I thought when we went digital there would be more demos than we could handle. Printing discs was surely more expensive, right?
The golden standard of demos is still Zone of the Enders: The Second Runner.
When they do drop it’s sporadic. Now I understand the fear. If you made a bad game a demo is going to steer potential buyers away. On the other hand, I think NieR: Automata is modern proof that a demo can still sell a game.
21 Lackluster Backwards Compatibility
To say Sony wiped the floor with Microsoft at E3 2013 would be an understatement. Nearly every announcement they made Sony had an answer in a better way. Well, times have changed and they’re starting to look like the villain, or at least Sony is not providing features their competitor is like backward compatibility. The Xbox One can play Xbox and Xbox 360 games from a disc. Not all, but they got quite the library so far. The PS4 can play some PS2 games, but not with a disc and that’s it. Catch up Sony!
20 No More Game Manuals
Remember when video games used to be more than an incredibly cheap plastic case? That is to say, remember game manuals? They hung around throughout the PS2 era but slowly faded away post HD. It’s understandable why. Virtually every game now has in-game tutorials or an option in the menu system that operates like a manual. That’s all well and good, but I rarely used my manual for instructions. They included art, bios, some facts, and tips from time to time. Driving home from the store used to be cool. Sony, be the hipster and bring it back for PS5.
19 Remote Play Requires An Internet Connection
Before the Switch became the indie platform it is now, there was the PS Vita. It was the place to play and discover tons of great smaller titles like Shovel Knight and Axiom Verge. It even did the whole console experience on a portable before the Switch via Remote Play. It works with every game, but there is a catch. You need to be connected to the Internet. That’s not a problem for most, but parts of the U.S. are still in wireless dry zones. There has to be a better way.
18 Where Is Syphon Filter 4?
Admittedly putting a game on here is kind of a cop out, or at least a cheap way to make a list. That’s why I reserved this complaint for just two specific Sony exclusive IPs we haven’t seen in awhile. First, let’s talk about Syphon Filter.
This is a virus that needs curing.
The last game came out in 2007 so it’s been over a decade. Rumors have popped in and out, but there’s no concrete evidence. What’s worse is that Sony is remastering MediEvil before making a new game, or just remastering Syphon Filter. That’s messed up.
17 The Lack Of Space
Remember when Microsoft started off the Xbox One reveal with the knowledge that your games were useless without the Internet? Yeah, that was weird. So much so that Sony made a skit on how to share disc based games. Thankfully that story changed for Microsoft, but there’s still an issue I have with them and Sony. Guys, why are the installs so big? I’m literally downloading the entire game to my hard drive and my disc is just the key. If the systems had better starting storage it’d be one thing, but that’s not the case. And don’t get me started on patches.
16 Get That Light Out Of Here!
This is a minor annoyance, but it adds onto one that I’ll get more into later on. I’m not blinded by the PS4 controller’s light, but it is useless. Yes, you can dim it, but dim is still bright and bright is like the sun. I understand that the PS4 camera uses the lights for tracking in certain games, but there has to be a better way. I hope the light concept gets destroyed in the PS5 update. I do like the touchpad though. You can keep that Sony.
15 No Cross Play With Other Consoles
Prior to this generation, it was always assumed that Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox consoles would never connect. The PC between consoles was a different story.
Play nice and learn to share Sony.
Anyway, this concept first blew up when Rocket League came out for Xbox One. For a brief moment, PS4 players could play with them, which was as easy as flipping a switch apparently, but Sony put the kibosh on that and everything since. They’re acting like that spoiled kid we all knew in grade school with the expensive toys.
14 Can’t Change Your PSN Name
I’m not an engineer or anything, but how hard is it to change a name, Sony? Xbox Live has supported usernames being changed since the Xbox 360 launched in 2005. The first time is free and every time after that is $10. Look, we were all young once and some of you are probably still young now. What’s funny at fourteen may seem embarrassing once you cross the threshold into adulthood. For example, BongMaster69 is great, but that’s a name you don’t want to show your, say future wife, or children.
13 Can’t Store Media Files
Every PlayStation console since the first has been a great secondary device for certain media. The PS1 was also a CD player, the PS2 could play DVDs, and the PS3 could play Blu-rays. The PS3 could also store media files on it like MP4s, which is how I watched a lot of TV in college. While the PS4 does let you play certain files like MP4s and even look at pictures, you can’t store anything on the system. Why did they take that out?
12 PlayStation VR Is Cumbersome And Expensive
When the PlayStation VR was announced I was admittedly skeptical. I remembered “VR” back in the early 90s and it never worked. I didn’t buy one at launch, but I actually caved when I happened upon a good deal.
The future is almost here.
Long story short, I got it for about $80 and was blown away by how immersive it was. That said, I got lucky with the price. $200 for an accessory without any groundbreaking media is a bit much for others. Plus the cords are nauseating to set up. I think it’s cool but cumbersome.
11 Pay To Play Online
While the infrastructure of the PS3’s network was never as stable, or robust as the Xbox 360, Sony did have one advantage. It was free. When they announced PS Plus, online connectivity remained free and this just got you free games monthly. Then with the PS4, they required PS Plus for online play. In the grand scheme of things, it is sucky to those that care about multiplayer, but not PS Plus. While I like getting goodies monthly it has too many problems for my taste, or money.
10 PS Plus Exclusives Are Lacking In Quality
Which brings me to my next point. The PS Plus lineup is very inconsistent. There is always at least one big AAA game for PS4, but the quality varies. The weirdest part is that they continued to release free PS3 games. This would be ideal if you could play them on PS4 like you can with Xbox 360 games on Xbox One, but you can’t. It’s 2018 and they’re just now announcing they’re stopping PS3 and PS Vita drops at the end of the year? I hope that means the PS4 games will get better.
9 The PS Move Controllers Need An Update
Part of the reason why the PS4 controllers still have a light is because the PlayStation camera uses them to track data, as I mentioned earlier. This is a holdover from when the PlayStation Move controllers were invented. They’re not the worst motion controllers on the market, but it’s time for an update.
I’m going to put the PlayStation Moves on you tonight.
I mean come on. They look like toys you’d pull out of your bedroom drawer if you know what I mean. When used with PSVR, I’ve found their tracking to be subpar. Fix them!
8 Surfing Online Should Be Better
One of the last things I want to do on a console is surf the web. I have a desktop, laptop, phone, and other various gadgets for that. However, it would be nice to engage in online activities on my giant TV. Right now, the built-in browser is less than friendly. Even if you hook up a keyboard to your PS4, surfing around is going to be more painful than the first iPhone. If you bought one in 2007 then you know what I mean.
7 PlayStation Now Is Not A Good Deal
What if you didn’t have to buy video games anymore? What if all you had to do was stream a game to your TV, console, or smart device? Wouldn’t that be great to not worry about household clutter or virtual data? That’s the premise behind streaming games. It worked for Netflix, so why shouldn’t it work for games? Well, PlayStation Now is the answer. It’s not a good deal and quality can be problematic depending on your online service. It’s not impossible to play, but compared to the Xbox One Game Pass, ha, it’s a joke.
6 Where Is Mod Support?
There are two reasons why I’ve been contemplating getting a PC. One, the indie scene. Two, mod support. I love playing ROM hacks of classic games like Mario, Zelda, Pokémon and so forth. I’d love to try that with modern games too, but console support, not just the PS4, is dire.
Mod me, baby, one more time.
Fallout 4 is essentially the one big example on PS4 and it’s not even a full feature. This is the biggest thing I’d like to see added to both the next PlayStation and Xbox console.
