After Sony launched it's massive FAQ over on the Playstation blog today everyone got excited to get concrete answers on some of their most important questions...what they didn't realize is that the truth sometimes hurts.
It was confirmed today that the PS4 will NOT as far as we can tell play MP3's or use DLNA media services. Now when it comes to the latter (I speak only for myself and those that I personally know) I feel that DLNA services were not used by many and can understand why Sony did not want to go through the headache of trying to get this to work on the PS4 (seriously every time I used it on my PS3 it would drop its internet connection after about 15 minutes for some reason).
Now when it comes to MP3 support, I'm at a total loss here. At first I just shrugged and thought "Meh, who cares?" but the more I get to thinking about it, the more I'm puzzled. I'd wager almost everyone's music library is in MP3 format and can be played on almost any device including PS3 and as far as I know the Vita. Now Sony is blocking the use of MP3 playback (at least for in-game streaming, but I'd imagine entirely as well) and rendering everyone's music library useless on PS4. This is an extremely terrible decision and one that I feel deserves the outcry of concern amongst those purchasing a PS4. Especially now that it seems that music playback while in-game is a standard feature of the system and not just up to the developer to implement (as it was in the PS3).
Now for some good news on all of this. Ever since completely botching the PS3's launch, and the hacking debacle, they have grown to be a much more consumer oriented company and typically have shown that they do listen and respond to customer feedback quickly and honestly. In fact, Shuhei Yoshida, the President of Sony Worldwide Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment, has already responded to tweets about the lack of these features and said that he will "Share this with the Dev team for future consideration". Now obviously these features will more than likely not be available at launch, the fact the President of the company is considering a reversal already is a good sign. Again, it's by far no guarantee, but with the way they've handled the PS4 up to this point I would be shocked if they didn't implement it at some point. Just look how much the PS3's services evolved over time.
All that being said, I feel that everyone has the right to express concern over the lack of these two features. I however don't think the lack of them is a deal breaker for the console itself, as the features can (and so far I think the signs are good) be added with a simple firmware patch and that the PS4 even without these two features is worth it (again completely my opinion).
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Good read, I feel mostly the same way.
That being said its already being looked into claims Shuhei Yoshida
https://twitter.com/yosp/st...
That being said, I still would rather have a gaming system for gaming over a media center with lower quality games.
While I've never used my game system for listening to music, it truly is baffling that they left off mp3.
I use my PS3 as a DLNA player every day and the fact that sony has not included it as a feature has made me seriously reconsider my PS4 pre-order and just stick with my PS3.
And people are reading way too much into that tweet from Shuhei Yoshida. Saying you "will pass comments onto the team for future consideration" is in no way a confirmation that this is a matter being dealt with.
I'm just really disappointed that Sony would remove these features, they should be adding features not stripping away established ones.
I actually use the media center almost every day. If I'm making dinner for the kids, or cleaning up, or just having a "dance party" with my kids and wife, the media center is what I use. There is however an incredibly simple solution to this problem...just keep your PS3 hooked up right next to your PS4. I think maybe we've been spoiled here by the PS4. I can't remember any console having such an unblemished launch (on the flip side I've never seen such a botched upcoming launch like the xbox one which I hope they get figured out) This really is the first "step back" if you will that Sony's had since they reveled the PS4.
"There is however an incredibly simple solution to this problem...just keep your PS3 hooked up right next to your PS4"
That would be too easy for some.
If you don't have room. Move those teapots & glass dolphins lying around. I've seen how some of you live.
Clean your house/
inb4 - "I shouldn't have to clean my house because Sony decided NOT to put mp3 playback in the PS4"