PlayStation 4 Battlefield 4 Launch Day Bundle

Well where do I start? Sony's PlayStation 4 is amazing! This is coming from a PC gamer that switched from the Xbox-360 to PC due to the lack of great visuals on consoles. The funny part is I've always preferred the ease of use of consoles, but the graphics of the PC and I'm here to tell you The graphics in launch games such as Battlefield 4, and 2K14 look absolutely amazing and are on par with my GTX 680. Most games looking like they are running Very High to Ultra and are just stunning to look at. Not only are the visuals outstanding but the depth of the launch games are a great indicator for all games to come. What I mean by depth is the extra "little things" that are found on PS4 games and not their PS3 counterparts. An example of this is NBA 2K14. The players movement is authentic feeling, and the moves they make on the court look so real and fluid compared to the PS3's version. I love the UI! It's a no BS UI that screams Hardcore Gamer, which I believe is what Sony was going for in the first place with the entire architecture of the system. In the "What's New" tab, you can catch up on what your friends have been doing in the gaming world, check out their uploaded in-game vids, or see that they just received a new rare trophy, and even join their game. Whenever you insert a new game for the first time, you can immediately start playing while the game installs to the hard drive, which is awesome. The PS4's sharing feature should be applauded all on its own, with the ability to stream live IN GAME footage while also having the ability to edit and upload continuously the last 15 minutes of gameplay at (what seems to be) 720p to Ustream, Twitch, and PSN, a gamer will never again have to say "Damn I wish there was someone around to have seen that!" I used the feature all weekend and it is astounding how well it works.I own a PSVITA and love the system by itself, but when I heard last year that it would be able to remotely stream PS4 games to it, it was a no-brainer for me to pick one up. I can say for the most part at launch, it works! Unfortunately I am not able to plug my PS4 up to the LAN, and have to make due with Wi-Fi, which is not exactly prime. I am able to go upstairs and keep playing my game on my Vita while I'm in my bed! But there are certain parts of my house where it simply cannot sustain the connection and shuts off. The really surprising thing is that once you set up the ability in the PS4's power options to turn the console on remotely through the Vita, or PS app, the actual REMOTE PLAY WORKS. Granted I am using a full bars LTE hotspot from a Galaxy S4. So I am able to play my PS4 games at my work through my Vita! There are no words that can describe how awesome that felt the first time I tried it. It is a technological feat in my eyes! All OF THIS WORKS NOW AT LAUNCH, and can only get better with updates. My only complaint with remote play is the control scheme for some games, (which cannot be changed that I know of). For instance on 2K14, run, or "turbo" is normally the left trigger, or L2 on the Dual Shock 4, and on the Vita, it has to substitute R2 on Vita's rear touch pad, which isn't all bad, just takes some real getting used to and is kind of clumsy. I wish one was able to reconfigure the control scheme to maybe make the controls for certain games better.The Dual Shock 4 feels like it was made for my hands! You will know exactly what I am talking about once you put your paws on one. I can already tell you from personal experience, it is my new preferred way of playing FPS's. Why I have not had the pleasure of handling an Xbone controller, the Dual Shock 4 will be hard to beat for "best gaming Controller" It just does so much right. The new triggers are excellent and responsive, the sticks are smaller and have more grip and are so much more precise, and the little built in speaker playing in game audio logs on the controller instead of the TV speakers , and the light bar flashing red from green when your health is low is just icing on the cake. With the Dual Shock 4 you have the ability to plug in just about any headphones with mic that one would normally use on a smartphone. I was able to plug in my B&W P5's to my Dual Shock 4 and get both party chat, AND IN GAME AUDIO, once I enabled the setting by holding in on the PS Button! I will say again, once enabled, you can have both chat and in game audio simultaneously going through to the headphones you plug into a Dual Shock 4 instead of the in game audio going through your TV!. That's just awesome, especially for someone who has children and stays up late to game and doesn't want to disturb others.The complaints I have, are very few, but they are present. The first one is a known issue which is I CONSTANTLY get kicked out of Battlefield 4 with the common Blue Screen that everyone else is getting. While I know this is to be expected with a console launch, it should have been fixed by now, it's very intermittent, but when you're on a roll and it happens, it is soul crushing. The second complaint is I recently found that the PS4's wireless card only supports IEEE 802.11b/g/n, and not the newer Wi-Fi standards such as 802.11ac or 5 GHz 802.11n Wi-Fi support, WHICH CANNOT JUST BE PATCHED via update. Lastly, NO YOUTUBE APP OR DLNA! Common Sony, leaving out either one of these just seems silly to me especially since the PS3 already did them, and did them well. Luckily these can and better be patched in an eventual update. I would also like to see more streaming apps like HBO Go and a dedicated Plex App.All in all I give the system and the launch games I've played (BF4, 2K14, AC4BF, Resogun, and KZSF), a 4.5 out of 5. With games like Infamous Second Son, Last of Us 2, and Uncharted 4, the long list of games and the way the graphics look out of the gate with the launch games shows that the PS4 has a very promising future and will be the system to beat.I know there is tons I've left out of my little review, but those are the things that stand out most to me. I REALLY, I mean REALLY feel for the peeps with DOA PS4's. All the anticipation leading up to its release, only to have it not work out of the box, must be crushing. But I felt compelled to write this review and tell it how it is from someone with a (knock on wood) working unit, and loving every second of it!UPDATE 11/19/13Battlefield/ Sony servers fixed! But also wanted to comment on the Remote Play function. It has of right now is NOT WORKING while running off of LTE Hotspot Remotely. I don't know if I have to re add the devices or what. I follow the directions, and my Vita never finds the PS4 over the net which is slightly odd since I was able to do it day one? Will try re adding to hopefully get it working again. I have seen videos on the net of others doing this successfully, so I will update if successful.PS SONY GIVE US OUR DAMN YOUTUBE APP!

I was concerned after reading comments about people getting PS4s that wouldn't display video or just had a blue blinking light, but it turns out that I had no reason to be. My PS4 works perfectly, as it should. PSN has gone down occasionally since it launched on the 15th, but that's to be expected for a new console launch when everyone is trying to play at once. Though it hasn't gone down since the 16th for me, so I don't think it's much of an issue as of this post.Build quality of the PS4 is top notch, it looks solid and there's no loose parts. Even the HDMI port clicks in when you plug it in. It took me a good few minutes to find where the eject button was on the PS4--it's really small and the dark background makes it difficult to see--but I did end up finding it after watching a youtube video showed that it was to the left of the power button (assuming you set your PS4 up vertically, if you have it horizontally, then it's located beneath the power button). I actually had to strain my eyes to see it--it's really small.Coming from an XBOX 360, the Dual Shock 4 controller is very comfortable to use--I actually like it better than the XBOX360 controller, which is larger. I really like the touchpad and how it's used in Killzone: Shadowfall to control the OWL.I'd like to see the touchpad integrated into the OS more. I think it would be quicker to navigate the OS using the trackpad rather than the joystick. The controller has a built-in speaker that games use, which surprised me, since I didn't know or remember until it started working while I was playing Killzone, I thought that the effect was neat. It also has a 3.5mm headphone jack to plug in headphones. Mic support is hit or miss, I tried my iPhone earpods and I have no idea if they worked or not because no one else was talking on BF4.WIFI on the PS4 works fine, but it's not dual band. It only supports the 2.4Ghz spectrum. Still, it has wireless N, so you're unlikely to reach the max download speed of it unless you have a Gigabit fiber connection or a similar connection that allows you to download more than 150Mbit/second. Still, I would have preferred dual-band since the 2.4Ghz spectrum is always congested if you live in a half-way populated area. That being said, I haven't had any issues with the wireless on my PS4. It's been rock solid.The Playstation App is ok. Just ok. It's nice to to check friend invites and such, but it's very limited on iOS. The second screen functionality disconnects if your screen is locked after a certain period of time and you then have to connect again. The keyboard doesn't always work in the OS. It also doesn't work at all inside third-party apps like Netflix and Amazon VOD. This is something that Sony should fix over time.As far as BF4 goes, the game is what you expect from BF4. Big maps, pretty graphics, and the first few days are full of crashes. The bugs will be ironed out as it was in BF3, you just have to put up with it for a week or two. I'm dissapointed that I haven't been able to play any of the conquest maps, since those are the only game types that allow the full 64 players, but that'll be fixed, hopefully, very soon.I didn't have any issues with amazon's packaging--it came with plenty of plastic air-bags to prevent the PS4 box from moving around too much.In short, if you want a PS4 and you like the exclusives, then go ahead and buy one. I enjoy mines and would recommend it to anyone else.