The Playstation 4

Games
4073

So after seeing the PS4 production story, I went to Sony’s page expecting that the PS4 Pro would be what they were pushing but, nope… Even if you go to the PS4 Pro page, when you click the purchase link, you get taken to the OG 2013-performance PS4 for $299.

I’m excited for Brad to explain how this is good for gamers and a better option than the Xbox Series S which at least plays next-gen games. (popcorn emoji)

I have no investment in this… I’ve long left MS behind and I own both a PS5 and a Series X. But I’m pretty incredulous that, if Sony’s going to keep making PS4s, that they’re not at least the Pro model.

4074

I would have been shocked if they had done that. The pro is significantly more expensive to manufacture, and the whole idea is to offer a cheap stopgap that prioritizes price over performance, not something that risks being “good enough” to put off getting a PS5.

That said, I am a bit surprised that they didn’t take the opportunity to drop the price or offer a good bundle or something to make it look more appealing as a competitor to the Series S.

4075

$299 ain’t a cheap stopgap. That’s only $100 less than it cost 9 years ago.

4076

Yep, that’s straight up BS.

4077

I just checed, and where I live, the PS4 is out of stock everywhere. A couple of stores advertise it available within a week but at $200 over MSRP. The XSS is always in stock in tons of places, often below MSRP. So while I have no idea of who the hell would buy a PS4 today when the XSS is cheaper, it seems like it must be a lot of people.

4078

Assumedly, they want to play spider-man.

4079

Sure, but not much reason to drop price if they can’t keep it on the shelf at that price.

4080

I’m seeing an article here and there that Sony didn’t separate out PS4 sales in the latest quarterly report. Which probably signals the end of the PS4 is here.

Personally I hope they keep putting out their exclusives on PS4 for a while. I’m still hoping to skip the PS5 generation. I know God of War Ragnarok is already announced for PS4. We’ll see about next year’s first party PS games. I hope maybe we can get one more year of PS4 first party ports.

4081

My wife is looking for recommendations for a cozy fun PS4 game.

She has greatly enjoyed Journey, Abzu, Overcooked, untitled goose game, and moderately enjoyed The Witness on the PS4. She loved Super Stardust on the PS3.

We don’t have PSN or PS+ and don’t desire them. But anything on the PS store would be fine.

She does not want Stardew Valley or any game where you tend crops or sell things to buy things.

I was maybe thinking FireWatch, but I don’t know how intense that gets, or there’s something new advertised called Season but I haven’t heard anything about its quality.

Hivemind, activate!

4082

A Short Hike, Resogun, Nex Machina.

4083

Tearaway!

Has some light platforming, but nothing too hard IIRC.

Wandering the forest in Firewatch is lovely, but I can’t call it cozy.

If she doesn’t mind experimental stuff Dreams might go over well. There are a lot of fun cozy games in there, but everything is very short. We’re talking minutes, not hours. It’s Sony’s version of… Roblox or Project Spark. Homemade art/game creation engine thingy.

4084

Tearaway and Dreams are good calls. The Official campaigns in Dreams made by Media Molecule are fantastic.

4085

Flower.

4086

The PlayStation store put out an editorial of their recommended cozy games in a few different areas.

I’m not a useful recommender for most things cozy because their game play usually has little appeal. (Poor Chicory, I gave you a try last week, and when it came time to pick up the brush, I wondered, can I not? Doing that three times rolled credits, and I felt like I got what I wanted out of it.) Yep, passing along that link seems like the best I can do.

Edit: I finished scrolling the article. I loved Night in the Woods, and A Short Hike was a perfect, tiny jaunt.

4087

Take a look at Submerged, no combat, just exploration and light puzzling.

4088

So it occurred to me today that all that money I spent on getting multiple years of PS+ Premium, I should use the dang thing.

I tried remote play and couldn’t find my PS4. I know what that means. Update.

I went downstairs with my PS4 controller and tried to switch on the PS4. Nope, dead controller. I tried to switch it on manually. You know the PS4, it’s impossible to tell where the on switch is and the one you think it is actually ejects the disc.

So I pressed where I thought the eject button would be. Got it in one!

But of course I couldn’t do much with a PS4 without a controller. So what to do? I looked at my micro USB cable that came with the PS4, it looked all busted up. It must have been run over with a vacuum cleaner. D’oh.

Hmmm, there had to be another micro USB somewhere, I used to have tons of those.

That charger? Nope, USB C. That one over there? Nope. C.

Oh I know! The old Kid’s Kindle that we retired to the closet! Found it. Hooked it to my PC and started charging the controller.

5 minutes later I took it downstairs and turned it on. Instantly it died. D’oh.

5 minutes later of charging I took it downstairs again and turned it on. On! And dead. Oh maaaaan.

I hate this freaking thing.

Ok, I found a wall charger, plugged that cable next to the TV and charged the PS4 controller while I navigated to the PS4 update.

Then I downloaded Sackboy Adventure and Olli Olli World.

D’oh! I forgot the PS4 doesn’t queue them up, it tries to download both at the same time slowly.

Sigh. Ok, the waiting game begins.

4089

Why not just plug it into the PS4?

4090

It’s under the table in a dark spot, really hard to reach and hook up.

4091

I really wish I could use my PS5 controller that I bought for my PC on the PS4. On Xbox you can do it, your Series controller works on Xbox One. They just have to ignore the extra features. They already do that on PC.

Instead, when I play on PS4, I have to use my PS4 controller with the busted rubber on the sticks, and I don’t have a second controller for same screen multiplayer (although that’s really rare in PS4 games).

4092

I think you can, with a Bluetooth adapter. I seem to recall reading that somewhere when I still had the PS4 around but didn’t keep the PS4 active long enough to consider it further.