[Opinion] Playstation 4, a success that I do not understand

Dear Sony, the one who writes this is a buyer of your Playstation 4. I bought it, in fact, a week after its launch despite the fact that I had recently gotten hold of Microsoft's Xbox One and was not short of video games to get my hands on. Things about being a true video game freak and a early adopting of any gadget related to this hobby.

Now, if one listened to the background and got carried away by the final stretch of Playstation 3 in the last generation, it was easy to acquire the console thinking that said outlay would be justified in a short time. In addition, being € 100 cheaper than the competition and offering better technical results on the multiplatform were a great sales argument. You can say that, so far, the only one.

And by this I mean that considering the path traveled in these almost twelve months, the only reason why your console is still in my house is to be able to enjoy the titles that come out for both of them at a better resolution (and not in all cases). Recently the news broke that the proportion of Playstation 4 in Spain was 7 to 1 with respect to Microsoft's console. And I wonder why. What have you done to be at the top, and so prominently, of the sales charts?

It has been eleven months in which the few exclusives that you have launched lack any entity and cannot be classified as seller of consoles. In addition, speaking of Knack, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Driveclub and, to a lesser extent, Infamous: Second Son, seem to be cut by the same pattern: they enter through the eyes given their technical section but behind that we find bland playable skeletons in proposal and mechanics. Yes, the Bloodborne of the great From Software is coming down and there is an Uncharted 4 in development but, for the moment and always from my perspective, you go to the queue if we talk about exclusive titles; Wii U has been several steps above this year and Microsoft has managed to offer more resounding titles, with more personality and more varied.

But as in every generation, there are consoles that have a harder time starting (Playstation 3 without going any further or, without going so far back, Wii U) so this point could be exceeded if the rest of the Playstation services and features 4 fulfill what you would expect from a new generation console with a company like yours behind it. And anything farter from the reality.

It was last week when update 2.00 arrived, whose main novelty was announced more than a year and a half ago, in February 2013, and which, as has become customary, was not without faults: in addition to the mandatory maintenance that accompanied it, it could be find different problems such as the failure of microphones, the deletion of updates, etc.

And even with this update we continue with a rickety interface and lacking in options that Ps3 or Xbox 360 already had a whopping 7-8 years ago: We do not know when a friend connects (it is curious that in Ps3 they will be notified until they disconnect), we cannot organize our games in folders and eliminate that cumbersome horizontal view, etc.

And what about Playstation Plus and the Network? The first was a surprise for Playstation 3 users who have increasingly been moving away from what it was at the beginning and the vast majority of titles offered during this year on Playstation 4 they have been second and even third line. But that is not the worst thing (after all, they are games that fall within a quota that is mandatory) but rather that the console's online service is light years away from the competition and that old excuse of free is now over. forgotten.

Why, if I pay my monthly subscription, do I have to suffer maintenance at illogical hours for this purpose? Why is the week in which, for one reason or another, the PSN does not suffer unexpected drops that can take hours?  Why does the audio quality in talks and groups leave so much to be desired? Why, four weeks later, are there still problems on the servers of an exclusive like Driveclub?

And I'm not done: you launched a console whose materials have been shown to be below the quality of the recent Glaciar White version and there have been many cases of consoles with problems on the hard disk and, above all, in the disk reader and his mania for expelling them. Plus? The Dualshock 4 from last year (you promise that the 2014 ones do not have these problems) again lack quality materials, so the rubber of the sticks comes off with use and they end up peeling; This is accompanied by the common failure that ends up spoiling the triggers, especially the R2 (I have suffered both problems). Is there anything left? At this point, there are still really few headphones and headphones compatible with Playstation 4 while the competition, and even Ps3, lets you use a very wide range of them.

And what has the competition done this year? Nintendo has made it clear that Wii U is not the ideal console for those interested in third party but it has launched three authentic essentials such as DKCR: Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8 and Bayonetta 2, which will be joined by Super Smash Bros. Almost any.

Microsoft, for its part, aware of how difficult it was to leave behind that burden that was the presentation and the original approach of the console, and with Phil Spencer at the helm, equated prices with Playstation 4 eliminating Kinect from the pack, has launched titles really varied and powerful like Titanfall, Forza Horizon 2 or Sunset Overdrive and, above all, it updates and adds new features (much more complete in options from the start) to your console monthly.

It is for all this that, always in my humble opinion, Playstation 4 has been relegated to a last place during this 2014. You, from Sony, continue to sell and I imagine that you will be too busy counting the tickets that Playstation 4 generates to pay attention to the hundreds of complaints from the community. Hopefully the time comes when you realize the lousy service you are offering.

When I bought Playstation 4 I knew that I was buying a more powerful (or better used) console and € 100 cheaper than the company. Today, almost a year later, I also know that I bought a poor online infrastructure, an outdated operating system and a list of exclusives without personality. I sincerely hope that Bloodborne that will land on February 6 is the first step of more good news to come. In the meantime I'll keep laughing at # 4thePlayers.