We all our love our consoles. That’s a given.
In celebration of that, we recently covered how to unlock the true potential of your Xbox One and PS4, here and here, but what about those features that we really need?
Take the PS4, for example. Sure, it provides us with countless hours of gaming while still offering a few added features to boot.
And things like YouTube, a competent web browser and DVD playback are all well and good, but what about the simple things in life?
Spotify
Before you jump down my throat and accuse me of not knowing my console, I know the PS4 already has Spotify. That said, it’s useless.
Even if you manage to create an account, logging into the app very often results in errors of some sort.
I love the idea of playing GTA V while listening to my custom playlist via Spotify. Sure I can plug in a USB, but what a stretch.
Launch that app, select the latest Florence and the Machine album, and we’re good to go, don’t you think so?
External HDD
This is one of the worst design choices of the PlayStation 4 so far, and I love my PlayStation 4, but this is really the most ridiculous situation.
Over this weekend in particular, I felt like completing the campaign on Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, but with the latest Dragon Age: Inquisition DLC, Dying Light, Mortal Kombat X, A Realm Reborn: Final Fantasy XIV, Destiny, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Project CARS, do you think I managed to install Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare?
Sure, I could just remove a few games, but what about Dragon Age’s 2.5 GB patch, Dying Light’s 23 GB download, A Realm Reborn’s 8 GB additional download? Removing any of the currently installed games would mean I would have to re-download quite a few GB’s of patches.
If I had an external hard drive that could hold a few games, then that would be a life saver.
Sony should do what the Wii U and Xbox one have done and allowed an external to be plugged in only when you want to play the games installed on that device.This allows for an un-clunky display when you are not in the mood for those games.
Turn off the lights
The DualShock 4 has a terrible battery. That needs to be said. It’s feedback functionality is awesome, but that along with the mandatory light-bar drains that tiny 1000 mAh battery.
I literally play with it plugged in at all times to prevent it switching off during the most intense gaming sessions.
Let us turn off the light, please! We have been pleading for this since day one.
It’s unnecessary; it literally points in the opposite direction and we never even get to see the darn thing. The other day while playing GTA V, I realized that the light-bar flashes red and blue while being chased by police, it only took me 6 months to find this out. Save our batteries Sony; be greener; turn off the light!
Menu Makeover
There is a trend with the latest consoles: the UIs are terrible. The PS4 has this long list of games and apps that you’ve recently launched, and say for example you wanted to play Killzone: Shadow Fall, a game you have not touched since 2013, you will have to go all the way down the list to find it.
If your settings are set to “limited home screen”, then you will have to go into the library and track that game down. There has to be an easier way to find titles that you are looking for. A folder setup, an alphabetical layout, or just give us back the good old XMB we loved on the PS3. Life is short, ain’t nobody got time for that.
DNLA/USB Player
We covered the only alternative media player possibility on the PS4 locally, Plex. As good as it is, the premium service is costly in the long run, and we really should not have to pay to watch our movies in the first place.
The PS4 is in dire need of a dedicated DLNA and USB player app. It’s the perfect dedicated TV gaming system, now it just needs to be become the perfect dedicated entertainment system.
Sadly, we aren’t lucky enough to have Netflix and Hulu, just yet, and we have YouTube, but that just won’t do. We aren’t made of bandwidth.
Sort out your store
The PlayStation Store has the worst layout since Home Affairs. To get to what you want you need, you have to go through lists of games and featured content, when all you want to see is the latest additions.
To find anything specific, you need to search using a thoughtless searching function that takes double the amount of time it would normally take to just type in a name.
I strongly believe that the original PlayStation Store on the PS3 was the best. Remember the blue themed version? It was easy to find the latest content, your download list, and search for games.
Without mentioning that a PC does all of this and it’s better at it too (we know, PC Master Race), what other features do you think the PlayStation 4 needs? Let us know in the comments and forum.
