I bought a Playstation 4 because I felt like updating my video game situation. I was using a playstation 2.
I bought it after having done absolutely no research, because that’s how I roll. :smack: I ordered it online, then while at the store to pick it up, I asked the guy about games for it. How about GTA5, I hear that’s a blast. It’s not out yet.
OK, how about a Nascar game, I love the driving recklessly games… They don’t have one. OK, what do you have? We have Need For Speed Rivals. Done.
That game is quite fun, I have no complaints about the single game I play on my new PS4.
What I will complain about is the audio output for the console. It’s an HDMI cable that handles the audio and video, and the only place I can plug it in is directly to my tv. (I got lucky there, that my tv had the proper connection, or I would be totally screwed! Ha!) My PS2 had RCA audio cables out that I connected to my reciever, and played back very loudly through the surround speakers. This “advancement” in audio crapdom has me a little bummed out.
Are there recievers nowadays that can accept an HDMI cable in, so that I can crank the sound? Is there an alternate method of connections that I could try?
All in all, I like the game, the graphics are great and the game is fun, but the audio can bite my ass.
Yeah, sorry, the answer to this is basically “your receiver is too old”. 
Any receiver you buy now is going to have several HDMI in slots, and then a HDMI out that goes to your TV.
As for the game selection part of your gripe, I’m totally on board there. I picked up a PS4 on release last year, mostly because I had never bought a console on release day before. I still don’t own a disc game for the system, eight or nine or whatever months later. Pretty much anything I’d even have considered, it’s available on PC and I’d rather get it there anyways. I’ve enjoyed a couple of the indie DL games, but that’s mostly it. Meanwhile, I still keep my PS3 hooked up and use it for most media functions due to the remote…
The PS4 sure looks pretty in my entertainment system, though! And it’s not like the XBOX One situation is any better.
HDMI isn’t really all that new. And personally, I like it.
I just use the audio out from my TV to connect other speakers.
ETA: re the games, would you prefer it if those games you want weren’t available on your preferred platform (PC), and you were forced to use one you liked less (PS4)? Maybe you could try looking for lists of the best PS4 games - you might find something fun.
I’ll probably wait until Uncharted to get a PS4. I still like my PS3.
HDMI receivers are great. They reduce clutter by having only one wire from each source to the receiver and then one wire out to the TV or projector. You also get to use all of the new audio specs like Dolby True HD and DTS-HD.
Thanks for the input, no pun intended. Looks like I’m in the market for a new reciever.
No need to purchase a new receiver (unless you really want one). Just get an HDMI switcher with analog audio or digital audio out. Either of these will do the job at a fraction of the price.
You won’t really see a decent amount of good games for the new system until end of 2015. It’s always better to wait for a couple of years after a new console hits.
Thank you for that idea, Hodge!
I used an HDMI switch for a couple of years. It worked fine, but I like being able to use HD audio.
I got a PS4 for christmas and hardly turn the thing on anymore. The only game that really blew me away, Assassins Creed IV, was also available on all the other platforms, though not as pretty as the PS4 version. Played Second Son, Watch Dogs, Call of Duty, Killzone and MLB the Show 14. None of them really blew my mind.
The hardware is great and I know there will be some killer games on here but even after a lifetime (38yrs) of playing video games and jumping in on new systems very early on it’s still aggravating that these companies put out new hardware and wait, pretty much, 2 years before really cranking out games. WTF are we supposed to do with these things for that period of time?
My only real disappointment with the PS4 hardware is the controllers. They feel great and are very responsive but the battery life on them is like 10 steps backwards from last gen. The goddamn light bars on the things are assinine and I can’t believe the didn’t build in a way to turn them completely off and, it appears, they can’t even be 100% turned off via software. The things are there just to drain the battery. It’s awful.
(Excerpted from longer post)
My memory might be nostalgia-distorted, but I don’t recall the drought lasting this long on earlier consoles. I remember loving the hell out of my PS2 (when I finally got one) almost right out of the gate. I remember an early dearth of truly appealing games on the PS3, but it seems like it got better much quicker than this.
I was looking at upcoming PS4 titles the other day and only found a few that I really look forward to, the GTA V upgrade and Dragon Age: Inquisition chief among them, and both of those will be available elsewhere, I’m fairly certain.
It might just be me, though. Games might have outgrown me. I don’t like shooters or shooter-like controls, and that seems to be the norm now. More’s the pity for me, I s’pose.
I think that sounds like rose-colored glasses, orangeapples; My longstanding policy (which dates back to, I believe, the PS1 era) is “For the love of Bob, don’t buy the thing anywhere near launch.” Release lineups are pretty much always ONE or at most TWO in-house titles that are pretty good (though which will generally be considered “okay” or “forgettable” by the time the system retires) and a modest selection of stuff that is basically junk from third party publishers who rushed to make it into the launch window.
Say what you like, but it ALWAYS takes a few years for the really GOOD games to start coming out for a system. No one looks back on the PS1 and says “Damn, I really miss playing Battle Arena Toshinden!” I mean the “best” game in the PS2 launch lineup is probably freakin’ Ridge Racer. z.z
Here. Read 'em and weep.
This generation of consoles actually has MORE games than any previous one. That said, not all of those games “new” anymore either and that’s leaving out things that can be argued to be “not real games”; I mean, Angry Birds: Star Wars for the PS4 and Xbox One? Really?
But no, there’s nothing new about this at all.
Your memory is clearly nostalgia-distorted. The PS2’s first MAJOR release batch was the Grand Theft Auto III/Devil May Cry/Silent Hill 2 trio, which didn’t arrive until a year later. Gran Turismo 3 and Twisted Metal Black were also bright spots and they also came out in the Summer.
Stuff like TimeSplitters, MDK 2, NBA Street, Red Faction, and Dark Cloud had a few fans, but they’re barely remembered today.
the first year of a system is always a bit slow on the game front. Fortunately, I’m easy to please. Madden keeps me occupied for a while. Infamous second son is awesome,t hough. you should definitely check it out. Watch Dogs is a really fun game, too and if you like GTA you’ll probably enjoy it. Just give it time, more games are coming out. Drive Club comes out this fall, Destiny comes out next month and then things will start rolling.
October is the big month this year. I’m willing to bet you can find something you like then. Shadow of Mordor got pushed up to September and DA: Inquisition got pushed back to November. But there’s still Driveclub, Alien: Isolation, Evolve, Lords of the Fallen and The Evil Within.
ETA:Don’t forget about Destiny on September 9.
Then count me in the remembering camp, because TimeSplitters was and still is the most fun FPS I have ever played…yes even beating Goldeneye.
My friend and I would play multiplayer, he and I v. 4 computers, when you get a kill you get +1, and when you die you get -1, up to 100 points.
It was soooo much fun and we would play for hours and hours.
Back on topic: I agree with waiting. I am a firm Playstation guy, and I’m not going to buy a PS4 until the next Mass Effect comes out (maybe…depends on WHEN it comes out), but that’ll still be a good year and a half after they came out.
Don’t get me wrong, I AM getting a PS4, it’s just a matter of when
This isn’t necessary either. If your TV has HDMI inputs, it should have outputs that you can connect to your receiver. It seems backwards, sending the audio to your TV and then to your receiver, but it works. My TV has a connection right under the HDMI input that says “Digital Audio Out” and it uses a fiber-optic digital audio cable.
I remember really liking NBA Street. By the third one they got pretty darn good and were fun without being NBA JAM levels of insane.
In some cases you’ll only get stereo sound if you hook it up this way. I remember DVDs passing Dolby Digital but not Blu-rays.
The only “console” I bought on launch was the Game Boy Advance. With Castlevania: Circle of the Moon and Rayman Advance there right out of the gate, I was pretty happy. Then there was Advance Wars, Bomberman Tournament, Breath of Fire, F-Zero: Maximum Velocity, Golden Sun, Lady Sia, Mario Kart: Super Circuit, and Wario Land 4 all in the first year of release. I was deliriously happy with that system. Then they released the GBA SP and I was over the moon.
I think of the GBA release as the one to aspire to, aside from the whole releasing a better version of the console later (wish they could just start with the better console design). From then on I’ve always ended up waiting for 8 good exclusive games to come out for a system before I’ll consider buying it and by that point the slimmer, faster, better version of a console is just over the horizon. So might as well wait a little bit longer.
I’ll always remember that poor, tired Target employee though. That thin old man with the white hair, looking awfully tired at the line of kids and parents waiting in line to get their GBA and games right when the store opened. He almost got me the wrong game (Earthworm Jim) and looked so confused about it. I felt so bad for him I almost didn’t want to tell him a second time that he’d given me the wrong one.
ETA: My consensus is don’t buy consoles on launch. In fact, don’t buy first run consoles at all. You should’ve bought a cheapo PS3, honestly. Tons more games at a fraction of the price. And you don’t even get backwards compatibility with the PS4.