New PS4 Smell

There seems to be some distinction between apps that can run simultaneously with games, and apps that require a game to be "suspended". Apps that can run simultaneously can be switched back and forth between it and the running game by double tapping the PS button on the controller. Apps that require the game to be suspended, notify you that the game must be suspended and then launch. I'm not sure exactly what suspending the game entails, but if I launch the game again from the home screen (with the other non-game app still running), I come back to the same point in the game where I left it. Going back to the home screen from the game I can launch the non-game app again and find myself back to were I was within it as well. After a little bit of testing what I can conclude is that 1 game app, 1 non-game app, and 1 "persistent" app can all run at the same time. Only 1 game or non-game app can be active at the same time, the other one is apparently "suspended". Holding down the PS button and going to the "close application" option reveals the game and non-game app running. The 3rd, "persistent" app is not listed but still apparently active in some form.

"Persistent" Apps:
  • PSN Store
  • Web browser (apparently the GUI itself is a webcode).
  • Music Unlimited
  • Video Unlimited
Non-Game Apps:
  • All TV/Video Services
  • Hulu
  • Netflix
  • Crunchyroll
Game Apps:
  • All games
So, to give an example of what I mean, here's an example scenario:
  1. You start Resogun.
  2. Resogun has launched. While playing Resogun you hit the PS button and are taken back to the Home Screen.
  3. You launch the web browser from the home screen and navigate to a page.
  4. While in the web browser you double tap the PS button and are immediately taken back to Resogun.
  5. While in Resogun, you tap the PS button (once). You are taken back the home screen.
  6. On the home screen, you launch Hulu Plus.
  7. You are notified that the following application will have to be suspended: Resogun.
  8. You select "Ok" and Resogun is suspended. The suspension process takes approximately 1 - 2 seconds.
  9. Hulu Plus launches, and you start watching a video.
  10. While watching the video in Hulu Plus you double tap the PS button.
  11. After double tapping the PS button you are taken back to the browser on the last page you were on.
  12. While in the browser you double tap the PS button again and return to the video you were watching in Hulu.
  13. While watching the video you hit the PS button once. You are taken back to the Home Screen.
  14. While on the Home Screen you scroll over to Resogun and hit the "Start" button.
  15. Resogun returns back to the exact point you left it.
  16. While in Resogun you double tap the PS button. You are taken back to the web page you were browsing.
  17. While on the web page you double tap the PS button again and return to Resogun.
  18. While in Resogun you hit the PS button and return to the Home Screen.
  19. While on the Home Screen you go back to the Hulu Plus app and start it.
  20. Hulu launches and you are taken back to the video you were watching

*The above scenario was actually tested with CrunchrRoll, so, I haven't verified Hulu/Netflix operate the same way.
 
Just when I have the time to play with the apps... looks like PSN went down. ^_^

I can sign in, but the apps are inaccessible. What's New is available intermittently. The SP games play fine as expected.

EDIT:
I could still see the screenful of live streams.
 
There seems to be some distinction between apps that can run simultaneously with games, and apps that require a game to be "suspended". Apps that can run simultaneously can be switched back and forth between it and the running game by double tapping the PS button on the controller. Apps that require the game to be suspended, notify you that the game must be suspended and then launch. I'm not sure exactly what suspending the game entails, but if I launch the game again from the home screen (with the other non-game app still running), I come back to the same point in the game where I left it. Going back to the home screen from the game I can launch the non-game app again and find myself back to were I was within it as well. After a little bit of testing what I can conclude is that 1 game app, 1 non-game app, and 1 "persistent" app can all run at the same time. Only 1 game or non-game app can be active at the same time, the other one is apparently "suspended". Holding down the PS button and going to the "close application" option reveals the game and non-game app running. The 3rd, "persistent" app is not listed but still apparently active in some form.

"Persistent" Apps:
  • PSN Store
  • Web browser (apparently the GUI itself is a webcode).
  • Music Unlimited
  • Video Unlimited
Non-Game Apps:
  • All TV/Video Services
  • Hulu
  • Netflix
  • Crunchyroll
Game Apps:
  • All games
So, to give an example of what I mean, here's an example scenario:
  1. You start Resogun.
  2. Resogun has launched. While playing Resogun you hit the PS button and are taken back to the Home Screen.
  3. You launch the web browser from the home screen and navigate to a page.
  4. While in the web browser you double tap the PS button and are immediately taken back to Resogun.
  5. While in Resogun, you tap the PS button (once). You are taken back the home screen.
  6. On the home screen, you launch Hulu Plus.
  7. You are notified that the following application will have to be suspended: Resogun.
  8. You select "Ok" and Resogun is suspended. The suspension process takes approximately 1 - 2 seconds.
  9. Hulu Plus launches, and you start watching a video.
  10. While watching the video in Hulu Plus you double tap the PS button.
  11. After double tapping the PS button you are taken back to the browser on the last page you were on.
  12. While in the browser you double tap the PS button again and return to the video you were watching in Hulu.
  13. While watching the video you hit the PS button once. You are taken back to the Home Screen.
  14. While on the Home Screen you scroll over to Resogun and hit the "Start" button.
  15. Resogun returns back to the exact point you left it.
  16. While in Resogun you double tap the PS button. You are taken back to the web page you were browsing.
  17. While on the web page you double tap the PS button again and return to Resogun.
  18. While in Resogun you hit the PS button and return to the Home Screen.
  19. While on the Home Screen you go back to the Hulu Plus app and start it.
  20. Hulu launches and you are taken back to the video you were watching

*The above scenario was actually tested with CrunchrRoll, so, I haven't verified Hulu/Netflix operate the same way.
Nice one!
 
Well that's a HUGE disappointment (for me). Twitch support is only for Playstation streams and on top of that, has a hugely underwhelming interface. There is no dedicated Twitch app at all!!!

So much for being able to watch Cryaotic or Lirik in the frontroom. . .

On top of that, the stream quality is poor, as in really poor. Not sure yet whether that is due to Ustream and Twitch dialing quality down or what but if that's how it is it I do not expect it to be popular long term (looks more like a VCD than 720p).

You definitely *cannot* play videos off of USB drives. The only thing supported is copying save files to and from them.

The OS is pretty janky. Lots of sudden jumping back to icons and screens popping up from nowhere. The pad is not used at all in the OS which is retarded since "options" is a pain to select on the controller.

I was finding that the pad gets mis-triggered a lot on BF4. Not sure yet if that is my lack of control, a bug in BF4 or something up with my controller. The servers for BF4 are a total mess but the short time I did manage to play for was pretty awesome.

Cheers
 
Well that's a HUGE disappointment (for me). Twitch support is only for Playstation streams and on top of that, has a hugely underwhelming interface. There is no dedicated Twitch app at all!!!

So much for being able to watch Cryaotic or Lirik in the frontroom. . .

It's not a Twitch app ! It's "Live from Playstation"; integrates with Ustream and potentially NicoNico too.

There's little reason for showing non-Playstation streams. In their talks, they mentioned that the users will be able to help in the streams. Without integrating with other platforms, this would be impossible.

On top of that, the stream quality is poor, as in really poor. Not sure yet whether that is due to Ustream and Twitch dialing quality down or what but if that's how it is it I do not expect it to be popular long term (looks more like a VCD than 720p).

Do you need to subscribe to enjoy higher res ?

You definitely *cannot* play videos off of USB drives. The only thing supported is copying save files to and from them.

The OS is pretty janky. Lots of sudden jumping back to icons and screens popping up from nowhere. The pad is not used at all in the OS which is retarded since "options" is a pain to select on the controller.

I was finding that the pad gets mis-triggered a lot on BF4. Not sure yet if that is my lack of control, a bug in BF4 or something up with my controller. The servers for BF4 are a total mess but the short time I did manage to play for was pretty awesome.

Cheers

Do you have specific example of the OS icons and screens popping up from nowhere ? ^_^

I thought they are pretty intuitive and snappy.
 
It seems to pop back to the main screen whenever there is a notification, most noticeable right now because of the PSN issues
 
It seems to pop back to the main screen whenever there is a notification, most noticeable right now because of the PSN issues

Ah I see. No wonder I didn't see them this afternoon.

Good thing I'm not playing this weekend. :runaway:
 
It's not a Twitch app ! It's "Live from Playstation";

Hey Patsu. Before launch, it was pitched that they would have a Twitch app which is one of the major reasons I bought the system now instead of waiting a year (that and BF4).

http://blog.twitch.tv/2013/08/twitch-coming-to-ps4/

For those who prefer to spectate, we’ll also have a viewing app available on the PlayStation 4, creating a complete Twitch experience for PS4 gamers.

What is present is not anywhere near the complete Twitch experience.

Do you need to subscribe to enjoy higher res ?

No.

Do you have specific example of the OS icons and screens popping up from nowhere ?

The row of icons that includes games, the browser, music unlimited, etc. has a couple of frustrating behaviours.

First, it's unstable in the sense that despite being a primary menu to find things like the web browser, icons move around in the list willy nilly. It does not seem to be purely based on access time either, it just seems broken.

What adds to that is that there is some sort of event queue issue that causes focus to jump back to icons that you were on previously. So say you click on the web browser, then back out and scroll over to a game somewhere else in the list, sometimes it will jump back to the previous icon a second or two later on its own.

A similar issue happens sporadically when choosing an application - you will suddenly get dumped back to a previous screen. It's not a crash as the original app is still running, it seems to be a GUI bug causing events to get processed out of order.

Or my controller is totally fubar in a really strange way.

Some other things. . .

The PSN store no longer includes your full download history. I immediately noticed a film I had purchased was no longer listed or downloadable despite Sony's promises about persistence and portability of media purchases last summer.

There is no running app list that I could find. It is pretty easy to get confused about what is actually running since "exiting" no longer means exiting the program.

Sound levels are a lot lower than the PS3 (not necessarily a problem, just an observation).

Resogun is the new Defender II.

The included headset's mic quality seems surprisingly good based on how folks sounded in BF4.

Audio through the controller is lame and distracting IMHO.

The web browser has terrible pseudo tab support. Closing screens is a pain and counter-intuitive. Hopefully it is stalled when it loses focus instead of having a forgotten screen running Javascript in the background. . .

NFS was not actually out yet here (EB said the 17th) so I have only tried BF4, Resogun and 30 seconds of Flower. The wife is playing Contrast at the moment and seems to like it.

Cheers
 
They didn't promise a Twitch TV app:

For those who prefer to spectate, we’ll also have a viewing app available on the PlayStation 4, creating a complete Twitch experience for PS4 gamers.

In fact, it should be more than a viewing app if the user can participate in the game in the future.


I am not a Twitch TV user. So I can't tell what's a complete Twitch experience. There's the player video, the gameplay video and chat.



The row of icons that includes games, the browser, music unlimited, etc. has a couple of frustrating behaviours.

First, it's unstable in the sense that despite being a primary menu to find things like the web browser, icons move around in the list willy nilly. It does not seem to be purely based on access time either, it just seems broken.

What adds to that is that there is some sort of event queue issue that causes focus to jump back to icons that you were on previously. So say you click on the web browser, then back out and scroll over to a game somewhere else in the list, sometimes it will jump back to the previous icon a second or two later on its own.

A similar issue happens sporadically when choosing an application - you will suddenly get dumped back to a previous screen. It's not a crash as the original app is still running, it seems to be a GUI bug causing events to get processed out of order.

Or my controller is totally fubar in a really strange way.

I didn't notice any of those strange behavior though.
As ERP put it, it may be due to some bugs triggered by the PSN downtime.

The only thing I noticed was that the menu is time based (from left to right).

Some other things. . .

The PSN store no longer includes your full download history. I immediately noticed a film I had purchased was no longer listed or downloadable despite Sony's promises about persistence and portability of media purchases last summer.

There is no running app list that I could find. It is pretty easy to get confused about what is actually running since "exiting" no longer means exiting the program.

What do you mean by running app list ? Launched apps are in the horizontal strip. The OS may suspend some apps when you switch away.

Sound levels are a lot lower than the PS3 (not necessarily a problem, just an observation).

Resogun is the new Defender II.

The included headset's mic quality seems surprisingly good based on how folks sounded in BF4.

Audio through the controller is lame and distracting IMHO.

Depends on how the developers use it. I remember reading that they can use that to project bullet sound from your controller to the speakers around the screen.

It's like rumble, which is pretty lame if used in a simplistic manner.

The web browser has terrible pseudo tab support. Closing screens is a pain and counter-intuitive. Hopefully it is stalled when it loses focus instead of having a forgotten screen running Javascript in the background. . .

But of course. In fact, you may lose the page, which requires a refresh when you hop back.
 
What do you mean by running app list ? Launched apps are in the horizontal strip. The OS may suspend some apps when you switch away.

That horizontal strip is an inconsistently ordered list of everything: launched, not launched installing plus extras like "library". It's the equivalent of throwing all your clothes into a pile in middle of the floor and then hiring someone to come in every few minutes to toss them around a bit.

=)

Hopefully we get to mid lifespan XMB quality soon.

Cheers
 
That horizontal strip is an inconsistently ordered list of everything: launched, not launched installing plus extras like "library". It's the equivalent of throwing all your clothes into a pile in middle of the floor and then hiring someone to come in every few minutes to toss them around a bit.

=)

Hopefully we get to mid lifespan XMB quality soon.

Cheers

It's because even after you have launched an app, the OS may still killed it to free up resources for the running game. The horizontal strip is essentially your most recently accessed apps and games segmented by category.

Your game library and AV apps hang off this strip so that you can fish into these bags to launch more new items.

When they introduce local MP3 playback, they may have to add a media library icon to this strip. Or let us access local media via existing apps like MU and VU.
 
It might happen eventually, I'm not sure where the network stack came from, whether it's 3rd party, internal or a stripped down version of the BSD stack. I suspect a combination of the first two.

AFAIK it was never a planned feature for launch, so I would imagine it will NOT be available in the short term (i.e. the next year or so), but I wouldn't rule it out beyond that.

Thanks, shame, hopefully it won't come and bite Sony, things are moving fast in regards to depletion of v4. And the ugly LSN/CGN solution can break stuff badly for gamers.

Ohh well I just got the budget to import 2 pcs of XB1 to test their v6 support :)
 
Mine was loud at first, then it quiet down after some time, and then made more noises intermittently. I need to play it for an hour continuously to get a good feel.
 
It's probably the BluRay disc drive.

Definitely not the BD drive. Been playing Resogun and digital version of Ghosts.

Eurogamer measures it at 51 db close... thats as about as loud as my alienware 14 (Core i7-4700MQ, GTX 765m) running furmark. I don't get how people don't think that's not loud.

Kinda disappointed considering there's so much more space and the cooling system seems more robust. Not a dealbreaker but oh well...:cry:
 
Back
Top