The PlayStation 4 has been out for 3 months here in Australia and Sony has achieved nothing but success. So much so that in fact Sony even overshot their own sales predictions, with a massive 6+ million sales as of the start of March. It goes without saying that the PS4 is already a great console in what it has achieved.
Even though Sony has had much deserved success, no console is ever perfect feature-wise right from the start. When you look at how far the PS3 has come since it’s launch, I can guarantee that we’re in for much greater things in the coming months.
The PS4 owners of the team came together to brainstorm some potential features that the PS4 could gain in order to become a better system. We’d expect that most of these are already in the works from Sony.
1. TURNING OFF THE DUALSHOCK 4S LED LIGHT
The most glaring issue that i’ve noticed with the PS4 is the battery length of the Dualshock 4.. Significantly shorter than that of the DS3, what could be chewing the life out of it so quickly? The LED Light. Sure it tells you that you are player one or that your health may be running low in particular games, but it is at the top of the controller, so it can be easily missed. It can even be an eye-sore when it creates an awkward glare off your TV in a dark room. Why not allow the players the ability to maximize their gaming sessions by simply opting to turn the light off directly from the DS4 settings? It’s clear that it was made mandatory due to the fact that the Playstation Camera was obviously going to be included in the box at some stage.
2. CONNECT THE DUALSHOCK 4 TO THE VITA FOR REMOTE PLAY
One of the major selling points for both PS4 and Vita is without doubt, Remote Play. Being able to seamlessly sync up your gaming experience, taking away the necessity for a TV is a perfect feature for when my girlfriend wants to watch The Block. The downfall of this great feature is that the Vita doesn’t contain as many buttons as the DS4, resulting in some terrible touchscreen fumbling to allow for the transfer. Personally, I only use remote play when I am in the comfort of my own home, so why not enable connecting a controller to make even better use of an already good feature? Even more convenience and comfort! There is currently a hack to do this, you’re able to set the second controller to your PS4 and it works incredibly. The only downfall is that it’s extremely cumbersome and the Vita screen dims every 60 seconds when it’s not touched. Apart from that, it feels incredible playing with the Vita’s crisp OLED screen.
3. BEING ABLE TO EASILY PAUSE DOWNLOADS
Now this is almost certainly an oversight from the previous generation, but the basic option to pause downloads is missing on the PS4. Whether it be for the simple purpose of speeding up one particular download in a long list of downloads, or if someone is just trying to get the most of their monthly internet allowance before it resets. It is also currently available via a workaround method, but we’re almost sure that that’ll be included in the next few updates.
4. RELEASE A CONTENT MANAGER FOR PS4 & VITA
The PS Vita has already been described as the perfect companion for the PS4, particularly for the Remote Play feature. As far as connecting and syncing information and data goes, there is no content manager in sight on the PS4. No real solution for managing games and media for people who don’t have access to a PS3 or a PC, so again, hopefully this is just another simple oversight and something that is coming down the pipeline very soon.
5. PROVIDE A QUICKER WAY TO TURN OFF THE DUALSHOCK 4
Currently, to shut down a controller, you need to go through three menus. Firstly, holding down the ‘PS’ button to enter an overview menu, followed by selecting ‘adjust devices’ then proceeding to ‘turn off device’ and selecting what device to turn off. Previously, simply holding the respective ‘PS’ button of the controller you wished to turn followed by making the appropriate selection and confirming sufficed. A simple and quick process. Not to say that the PS4 isn’t simple, but it certainly isn’t as quick or fluent as past PS consoles.
6. MAKE TROPHIES VIEWABLE OFFLINE
At times, people may be forced to game offline, whether it is due to simple internet service issues or the idea of saving those precious megabytes for a different time. Some people may not have access to reliable internet where it simply isn’t good enough for gaming. In any case, I am certain that some of these people are in fact trophy collectors for the games that they play. Currently, there is no offline option for viewing trophies. You have to be online at all times to view what trophies you’ve collected or need to collect. This is an integral part of the Playstation experience for most, so we certainly hope that it’s something Sony will bring back in the near future.
7. MAKE PLAYSTATION BAR MORE CUSTOMISABLE
The XMB was widely loved by almost everybody on the PS3. Sony have slightly changed things up on the PS4 whilst still really keeping things simple. However, it’s possible that they’ve gone too far and made things too uncustomisable. Even a few categorized folders will more than suffice. TV, Games, Action, Adventure, etc. You know, simple stuff for less clutter. In just under three months my PS Bar has become what feels like a queue to a midnight launch event, containing apps, games and other media. It looks unorganised and can really take me a while to find what i’m looking for in some instances. Honestly, I have a scarce collection of games so I can only imagine what a hardcore gamer’s collection would look like.
Like I said earlier, these ideas may be already in the works and some may be downright disregarded as total nonsense, but updates and positive progressions are in store for PS4 gamers soon. There is no doubt that Sony will be looking to keep their momentum going and ensuring that the PS4 stays on top of the back. Until then, what features would you like to see on the PS4? Let us know below!
