Thus far, the PlayStation 4 has been a relatively solid machine. Sony will only confirm issues with a “very small number” of systems and despite a few “blue line of death” reports, the console has proven mostly reliable.
One significant issue is gaining traction, though.
It’s a problem involving the console’s Blu-Ray drive. GamingBolt assembled several Twitter complaints (and indeed, Twitter has blown up with more than a few), which indicate a defective Blu-Ray player in the PS4. One annoyed gamer asked if we’d soon see a patch that addresses this issue:
@yosp will the Bluray player in PS4 get a patch soon? I’m having terrible playback on certain titles. The same discs play perfectly in PS3
— Eric Povish (@EricPovish) December 30, 2013
Other users are saying specific movies won’t play, such as “Despicable Me.” A few have complained about crashing, or seeing nothing but a black screen when trying to play a Blu-Ray film. As many have obviously tested these same discs on the PS3, it’s clear that the PS4’s Blu-Ray drive is the culprit. The bottom line is that when you shell out for a shiny new game system, you don’t want to end up writing this:
Managed to get a ps4 that initially had blu ray movie problems and a defective system. #ps4 #greatnessawaits#ornot
— Devonte Davis (@Devo717) January 4, 2014
Launch systems are always iffy
Historically, launch systems have their fair share of problems. Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re doomed; for example, the PS2 launched with a serious problem, and some of you will remember when you placed the system vertical (which Sony said you could do), it scratched the hell out of the disc. This problem was widespread, but it was fixed relatively quickly, and the PS2 went on to become the most popular game console in the industry’s history.
It just takes some time to work out all the kinks. Same goes for almost all new electronic gadgets, wouldn’t you say?
Published: Jan 5, 2014 05:28 pm