PS4 and Xbox One Launch Thread

[Owain Taggart]

Good point. Nevertheless, it sucks for those who ended up getting a defective one. Hopefully Sony can quickly address the issue for those that were hit with it.

Absolutely, it would suck to be one of those whose console broke down shortly after buying it. But a certain percentage of hardware failure is inevitable and I understand that, what matters most is that Sony have proper customer care systems in place that get new consoles to those affected quickly. That isn't the case according to some accounts, I've read stories of people being on hold with Sony tech support for four hours and then having the call dropped on them. That sort of thing shouldn't happen, and I'm far more worried about that than I am about a certain number of the consoles failing.

Yep, totally agreed. From what I've read, customers who've tried getting support have been getting the cold shoulder, which does raise concerns overall. This is a new console launch. Why aren't they more actively ready to field calls regarding possible problems for a major milestone product? If I were Sony, I'd be trying my hardest and doing my best to make sure those customers aren't left hanging. $400 isn't pocket change; it's an investment. An investment that people will remember for a long time. At this point, it doesn't matter the percentage of people affected, but rather it that it does matter for those affected to be getting the help they need, as this is the stuff where reputation is either gained or lost from. A little customer care goes a long way to building goodwill. Especially when people can so easily voice their dissatisfaction online.

 

[Aragorn]

Yeah, exactly. I've actually come across people I know on other forums with the problem, including a friend of a former MS fanboy who decided to go with Sony this time around, only to get a defective PS4. Not exactly a great first impression for him, and it's not like anyone would make that up to that extent.

I know someone who went PS4 because he went through like six Xbox 360 RROD. His PS4 is fine, but even if it wasn't, I don't think it would trump the bad taste in his mouth of six RROD.

 

[FPAlpha]

At this point, it doesn't matter the percentage of people affected,

And that's where you're wrong.. it is all about percentages (at least from the business side).

How many percent are affected (.4 percent is the current number, may rise or fall but it's too soon to tell)?

How much does a gigantic customer service cost that will have your complaint processed within a few minutes during launch time vs. a normal customer service that will be overwhelmed initially but once the launch period is over will resume with normal levels of work?

Is the bigger cost of increasing customer service worth it for the .4 percent failure rate and the added negative press?

A company will make these calculations and only if the bottom line is positive will they decide on the best measure and sometimes they will knowingly take some bad press initially because they've calculated that it would be more expensive to go full on in the long run.

Now that sucks for the customer who's unlucky to receive one of those .4 percent consoles but a company is in it for the money and no matter how good they present themselves and hammer home the picture that they care about the gamers they will always care more about the money gamers have.

 

[Owain Taggart]

At this point, it doesn't matter the percentage of people affected,

And that's where you're wrong.. it is all about percentages (at least from the business side).

How many percent are affected (.4 percent is the current number, may rise or fall but it's too soon to tell)?

How much does a gigantic customer service cost that will have your complaint processed within a few minutes during launch time vs. a normal customer service that will be overwhelmed initially but once the launch period is over will resume with normal levels of work?

Is the bigger cost of increasing customer service worth it for the .4 percent failure rate and the added negative press?

A company will make these calculations and only if the bottom line is positive will they decide on the best measure and sometimes they will knowingly take some bad press initially because they've calculated that it would be more expensive to go full on in the long run.

Now that sucks for the customer who's unlucky to receive one of those .4 percent consoles but a company is in it for the money and no matter how good they present themselves and hammer home the picture that they care about the gamers they will always care more about the money gamers have.

You misunderstood what I meant. I meant by saying that, that it doesn't matter if it's a small problem or a big one, just that Sony does need to be attentive to it and fix it for those who are affected instead of giving them the cold shoulder. In the grand scheme of things, it is something that Sony needs to deal with because it is a not a small problem, and neither a big problem, but nevertheless, a problem that needs sorting out. And I'm not just saying it for this problem, but any issues that may arise going forward. They should be more tactful in their support.

 

[AlphaMan]

Wow!! After selling 1 million consoles in a single territory in 24 hours, GameStop reports that they alone have 2.3 million more customers waiting to get PS4s. T

It'll be interesting to see how Xbox One does tonight. It won't be as good as the PS4, but it should do better than the 360 did. IIRC, it tok an entire month for the Wii to sell 600,000 units in 2005. The PS4 nearly doubled that in24 hours. I think we can put the notion that console gaming is dead or dying to rest!!

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...-has-2-3-million-people-waiting-for-ps4-stock

 

[eastman23]

I gotta say, waiting in line is one thing. But doing it here in Canada in November... that takes a certain amount of dedication. It's currently -26 C with the wind chill (that's about -14 F apparently) and I saw 20 or 30 people lined up outside Best Buy with just over an hour or so to go.

Though, they're probably taking shifts in nice warm cars. And there's a Timmy's near by too. Must be getting a lot of business there tonight.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Console gaming was never dead or dying. Niche console gaming, on the other hand, probably is. Niche appeal games will probably all go to handhelds just because the cost of development is so high.

It will be a sad day when Persona 5 is announced as a handheld exclusive.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Nonsense. Look at all the indie games that get on to PSN, XBLA, eShop.

 

[Aragorn]

I got my PS4 from Amazon this week. Booted up just fine.

The only thing bad I have to say is that the delivery service left it on my door where it just sat there out in the open for like six hours. Glad it didn't get stolen.

I've bought every PlayStation and Xbox, but I think I'm done with Xbox.

 

[eastman23]

Apparently the XBone is also having some issues affecting a "small number of consoles":

Some new Xbox One owners are reporting that their launch consoles are faulty, with Blu-ray disc drives that emit grinding, crunching and clicking sounds and — more importantly — won't play disc-based games. In a statement provided to Polygon, Microsoft says it plans to take care of customers affected by hardware launch problems.

 

[Cutter John]

Watching VGA Live's X-Box release show right now, and ouch. The XBones not coming off off well. Unresponsive Kinect and overly long game install times.

 

[Kelthaz]

And now Microsoft joins Sony by selling 1 million units within a single day. Although, it's worth noting that the Xbox One launched in 13 countries while the PS4 only launched in North America (2 countries). Either way, both systems are off to an amazing start. At this rate, both the PS4 and Xbox One could pass the Wii U in total sales by the end of the year if supply can keep up with demand.

 

[TheGodBen]

Watching VGA Live's X-Box release show right now, and ouch. The XBones not coming off off well. Unresponsive Kinect and overly long game install times.

I watched part of the Giant Bomb livestream and I'd estimate that the voice commands worked around 75% of the time, the other 25% of the time it either didn't register a command or it did something completely different. At one point a game randomly paused because they were chatting about something and the Xbox registered it as the command to pause somehow. For the first day a 75% success rate might not bother users, but for everyday use that sort of failure rate would be very frustrating. You need +99% accuracy from an input mechanism to make it viable, and the voice commands just aren't there yet.

That wouldn't be such a big deal had the console's UI not been designed around voice commands. Navigating it doesn't seem to be as intuitive as it is on the 360 with many commonly used features being hidden within menus, and all games and apps are lumped together for some reason in a long list. It seems like a downright clunky experience with the controller, worse than the PS4 which already seems pretty unintuitive.

As for gesture stuff, that looked barely any better than it was on the first Kinect, which was garbage.

And now Microsoft joins Sony by selling 1 million units within a single day. Although, it's worth noting that the Xbox One launched in 13 countries while the PS4 only launched in North America (2 countries). Either way, both systems are off to an amazing start. At this rate, both the PS4 and Xbox One could pass the Wii U in total sales by the end of the year if supply can keep up with demand.

I admit that I'm surprised by the fact that they sold that many, not because I didn't think there was interest in the console, but because of all those rumours about yield issues.

From the anecdotal evidence I've read online, it seems like they sold out in most areas in the US, but there's still stock available in Europe, Australia and New Zeeland. Shouldn't be too much of a shock considering Playstation is more popular outside the US and UK.

 

[FPAlpha]

At this point, it doesn't matter the percentage of people affected,

And that's where you're wrong.. it is all about percentages (at least from the business side).

How many percent are affected (.4 percent is the current number, may rise or fall but it's too soon to tell)?

How much does a gigantic customer service cost that will have your complaint processed within a few minutes during launch time vs. a normal customer service that will be overwhelmed initially but once the launch period is over will resume with normal levels of work?

Is the bigger cost of increasing customer service worth it for the .4 percent failure rate and the added negative press?

A company will make these calculations and only if the bottom line is positive will they decide on the best measure and sometimes they will knowingly take some bad press initially because they've calculated that it would be more expensive to go full on in the long run.

Now that sucks for the customer who's unlucky to receive one of those .4 percent consoles but a company is in it for the money and no matter how good they present themselves and hammer home the picture that they care about the gamers they will always care more about the money gamers have.

You misunderstood what I meant. I meant by saying that, that it doesn't matter if it's a small problem or a big one, just that Sony does need to be attentive to it and fix it for those who are affected instead of giving them the cold shoulder. In the grand scheme of things, it is something that Sony needs to deal with because it is a not a small problem, and neither a big problem, but nevertheless, a problem that needs sorting out. And I'm not just saying it for this problem, but any issues that may arise going forward. They should be more tactful in their support.

I don't think i misunderstood you.. nowehere did i see that Sony is refusing to either fix or replace faulty consoles. At the worst they are required to according to law.

What i was saying is that delays so soon after launch are expected but negative press, delays and thus disgruntled customers are factored in and weighed against the overall impact.

Of course Sony could have increased their customer support to extreme levels by pouring in money endlessly so every customer with a problem would be dealt with immediately but as is said Sony has made the calculations and a cost/benefit analysis and as with every other professional business they went with the best possible option.

Now a small percentage of customers may have a negative experience but it is a small percentage and thus not worthy the expenditure of millions for a bigger customer service just to avoid some bad press.

First half year after launch customer support may be a bit swamped but sooner or later it will level out to a more normal level so Sony is just waiting it out.. sucks for the few affected but every company will do the same.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I see what you mean. I guess I just feel that Sony should have braced for impact knowing something major was on the horizon, and that with a major release such as this that there were bound to be a higher volume of support calls than usual. They could have done better in that regard.

 

[Caretaker]

I got my XBox One from Amazon, and haven't had any issues. It has a few quirks that make not be obvious at first (Smartglass for XBox One has its own app, not the same app as the XBox 360 version; a little slow when first loading some apps and games). I'm surprised at how quiet the system is overall.

My main problem are: 1. the HDMI cables come loose easily and 2. It doesn't play as well with the TiVo HD. I've seen talk online that there don't seem to be any problems with later TiVos (Premieres and Roamios).

 

[Yoda]

I got my PS4 from Amazon this week. Booted up just fine.

The only thing bad I have to say is that the delivery service left it on my door where it just sat there out in the open for like six hours. Glad it didn't get stolen.

I've bought every PlayStation and Xbox, but I think I'm done with Xbox.

Maybe use Amazon Locker next time? Or sign up for UPS My Choice, I'm pretty sure they have an option for letting you pick i up at a UPS Store or something.

FedEx guy is all about getting a signature and leaving a notice if I don't get to the door. UPS will dump just about anything on my doorstep. UPS delivered both a PS4 and Xbox One to me and didn't so much as knock. It's OK though, got a good angle on the street from my home office window... so the truck chasers were out of luck on ganking my consoles!

Anyway.. impressions.. impressions. TV features are useful to me. Changing channels with my voice while my paws are getting greased up by some fast food? Excellent! Voice comands in general... a little janky. On the Call of Duty comparison... the XBO's performance is a joke compared to PS4. Ryse looks glorious though, and on hard difficulty it's not like it's a horrible game. For the shit it takes in reviewville, I don't think it's that bad. I kind of felt the same way about Knack which I never would have touched if I didn't win it from Taco Bell.

Dead Rising 3 is a fucking riot. I loved the first one, didn't get into the second one at all though I keep meaning to... Probably the best launch game for either system for me. Though I do love me some Resogun. Keep in mind I loved the original Dead Rising enough to get 1000G in it. Seems like there are people unlike me out there in the world doing reviews that don't seem to be able to appreciate the greatness of this game.

Forza... well.. the trigger feedback is kind of cool. The graphics are nice but I'm not completely floored. I'm not much of a sim racer kind of guy, but I haven't gotten this type of game since the original Gran Tursimo so... what the heck! In retrospect I probably should have snagged a copy of Need for Speed Rivals.

Let's see... other hardware stuff... Both the controllers I got are a little crusty on the left stick. My Day One Edition is worse than my extra... it's bugging me enough to where I am going to contact support and see about getting it replaced. Controller in general, not bad.. but it's downright baffling that they managed to sink a supposed $100 million into R&D on this thing. It's like the Xbox 360 controller.. with nicer triggers... and... that's about it. D-pad is probably a bit better, but still kind of weird. I'm leaning towards the PS4 controller here... and I thought the first 3 iterations of the DualShock should be considered war crimes. Ok, maybe not the first one, it was an OK design considering they were grafting analog sticks on an existing controller... but DS2 and DS3? Fuck you Sony. But DS4 <3, real nice guys!

Kinect voice commands... inconsistent.. and when I try a command that doesn't exist (or just make one up for comedic value) it often imagines a valid command to take its place. Kind of annoying. Right now it's straddling the border of usefulness. If they can get it to be a little more consistent it will be really cool.

The game cases... are... atrocious. The plastic is too thin. I'm sure it's an eco-conscious kind of deal.. but they took it too far. They also put the disc on the left side for some reason. I really can't figure out why they would bother to do it that way. And to make matters worse, the cases are the kind that put your discs into a deathgrip where you think you're going to snap it any time you are trying to take it out. And since it's on the left side, if you're not careful you can easily damage the front of the case's plastic and/or the insert. PS4 has the same simple release button that PS3 has. Now Xbox 360 cases required a little bit of effort to get your game out.. maybe a little bend in the disc. But nothing like this. I have no idea what the fuck happened here, but whoever signed off on this garbage should go play Russian Roulette with whoever the fuck was designing the DualShock 2 and said "You know what, let's keep the same shitty layout and the improvement that we'll add is pressure sensitive buttons... yeah that should do the trick, good work guys we can all go home early!"

New Xbox is also huge. It's in the same category as the original Xbox, and the early revisions of the PS3. I'm not in love with the "Ode to Rhombus" design of the PS4, makes it a bitch to fiddle with the back panel connections for one, but at least it's modestly sized.

As for user interfaces in general... what can I say... many years ago tech like this would be designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. Now they're designed by MBAs for people who never owned a desktop computer in their life, but like to mash the Facebook app on their smartphone. Microsoft has gone "full retard" in this direction and as such I can't give the Oscar. The Oscar goes to Tom Hanks... err.. uhhh PS4... not retarded.

I can confidently endorse the PS4. If you're into Halo and Gears, sure you're probably going to need an Xbox, if you dig Mario and Zelda you're going to need a Wii U. But if you want just one box and you dig video games in general? Gotta say PS4. Well done Sony, it's a hell of a turnaround from this unsightly monstrosity from 2006, sitting on my desk with a stupid and completely obsolete Spiderman font on top.

It will be interesting to see how they evolve over the years. After all Sony didn't just make up ground in one fell swoop with PS4... they made PS3 a lot less shitty over time. Now they're clearly in the pole position and it's Microsoft's turn to play catch-up.

 

[dragunzng]

Got my PS4 on Thursday and am having an absolute BLAST playing AC4, which surprises me since I really, really disliked 3, and lost interest in the series after AC2. If anyone would like to add me, please just let me know you're a TrekBBSer

PSN Name: Korghano
Location: Manila Philippines

 

[Owain Taggart]

Hey Yoda, just want to say, thanks for giving us a first-hand account on both consoles. It's really neat to hear the comparisons and impressions for each.

 

[TheGodBen]

As for user interfaces in general... what can I say... many years ago tech like this would be designed by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. Now they're designed by MBAs for people who never owned a desktop computer in their life, but like to mash the Facebook app on their smartphone.

I think you've just summed up the entire Metro interface. I can see how having a common interface across all Microsoft platforms would make sense to someone in management that just about understands how to use Outlook, but having a unified design across devices which utilise different types of input leads to a bit of a mess. At least on Windows 8 you can largely ignore Metro and use the old desktop interface, but on Xbox One the only alternative is the voice commands, and they appear to be spotty at best.