For Playstation 4 Owners, Bad News On USB, Bluetooth Headsets 292
itwbennett writes "Until now Sony has done a pretty good job of keeping future Playstation 4 owners happy. But last week they finally hit a rock when Game Informer posted an article about headset compatibility. At launch, USB headsets that work with the PS3 won't work with the PS4. Sony says that eventually there will be a system update that addresses the problem but for now, even your Sony-branded USB headset won't work. If you use a Bluetooth headset (as most PS3 owners do) the news is even worse. Bluetooth headsets will not be supported and no update is planned to address this. ITworld's Peter Smith is shedding a tear for his $250 Turtle Beach PX5 headset."
Presumably... (Score:5, Insightful)
No big deal for me. (Score:3, Insightful)
When the update comes out, fine.
There likely won't be much in terms of online or multiplay at launch anyhow.
And bluetooth can still suck it.
All I've ever had was problems with bluetooth, whether it was something not supporting it, or something only partially supported, bluetooth is just terrible.
Also, anyone spending that amount of money for a fucking headset should be shot, period.
I bet he can't even say why he bought it other than things that could easily be disproved through simple tests.
B-B-B-BUT MY BRANDS. Surprised it wasn't Skullcandy too. Terrible.
They better not fudge anything else up for launch.
Or remove features again. (even if it was just the terrible Other OS feature that was slow as high hell for anything useful)
Principle shminciple, it was awful. Even for those bootToBrowser installs.
and the sheep will still buy it (Score:0, Insightful)
and spend hundreds of $$$ to play CoD or Battlefield or whatever
spending all the money pre-ordering a game system where you know next to nothing about a product. funny how these little details only come out so soon before it starts to ship
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
What works? (Score:5, Insightful)
If USB doesn't work and Bluetooth doesn't work then what does?
Never buy consoles at launch. (Score:5, Insightful)
If it's not right, don't ship it. If it's not ready, don't ship it.
A company I used to work for lived by these words, if only the rest of the world did. (and if only they did too, they kinda don't anymore)
Re:Backwards compatibility is not a right (Score:5, Insightful)
"But it won't work with my ten-year-old $thing!" is the reason so many new products get bogged down before launch.
It isn't really Sony's problem to chase down every last bug with every last shit headset on the market; but implementing not-totally-fucked support for the USB Audio Device Class [usb.org] is one of those things that an OS not mired in the stone age is sort of expected to be able to handle.
Similarly, implementing support for Bluetooth 1.0/1.1 headset/handsfree profile and newer Bluetooth A2DP headsets is not exactly rocket surgery by the standards of shipping an operating system.
Again, supporting every last device means running up against some seriously fucked up firmware; but not even supporting your own-branded devices? Pure laziness.
Re:Bluetooth is not about backwards compatibility (Score:4, Insightful)
They're not being lazy, they're being Sony. If you expect anything different you haven't been paying attention.
Re:No big deal for me. (Score:3, Insightful)
There is a reason to buy a set of headphones that costs $250. True 5.1 surround with 4 speakers in each cup. When you have 2 consoles sitting next to each other and are playing first person shooters together, it gets annoying trying to figure out from which TV that grenade tink just came. That and it's REALLY nice to be able to hear that guy climbing the ladder behind you so you can shoot him in the face as he begins to breach the floor. Oh yeah, another thing. Some people live in apartments and can't use a real surround system, not to mention some people like to play late at night and don't want to be dicks and disturb the other people in the house that are sleeping.
Re:Bluetooth woes (Score:1, Insightful)
The First World Problem blues, more like.
There's WOOSH, and then there's you, where you didn't miss the joke so much as you stepped all over it. Meanie.
Re:No big deal for me. (Score:4, Insightful)
too bad I only have two receptors for those 4 sounds.
Re:none of this works, as expected. (Score:5, Insightful)
yawn.
The obvious counter to your sentiment is that any one entity can come along with a product that lasts longer and does not have some phantom "planned future incompatibility" and will generate a ton of sales, disrupting any so-called market stranglehold. Many people buy reliable, long-lasting cars based on exactly this principle - "I want it to last, and I'm willing to pay more for that." Honda did this with their more reliable cars (and cheaper, too, which REALLY upset the market), and while it took 20-30 years for the sea change in the US (bankrupting a few domestic manufacturers in the process), ALL mainstream auto manufacturers now employ similar techniques to ensure longevity of their cars. Because that's what the market wants.
What you claim as a "must" for capitalism is simply a result of making devices cheaper and more accessible to as many people as possible. Here's a hint: companies make what people want. If people want little flimsy connectors in order to make their devices smaller and lighter, manufacturers will make them, and people will buy them. If someone invents a better quality connector that doesn't give up on size or weight, people will demand that better connector - that is, unless there is no competition... but luckily for you, our good ol' consumer capitalistic system allows for a lot of competition. The fact that you believe that cellphone RAM is not expandable is due to planned obsolescence shows you have not thought about the simple relationship between the cost of making removable/upgradable RAM versus the demand for the feature. It would cost more and would make for bigger, heavier phones to allow end users to swap out RAM on their phones, and there's so little demand for that feature, someone made a tactical business decision that it wasn't in the best interest of the company to offer such a device for the mass market. It's not a big conspiracy. Look at MicroSD cards - there is a demand for removable slow storage memory, so most phones do have removable MicroSD cards for storage - again, because the market demands it.
Just because your favorite device isn't available over the counter today with all the things you want for the price you want to pay doesn't mean that capitalism requires planned obsolescence - it simply means that you're unwilling to pay what it takes to get everything you want today. Wait a little while, pay more, or go into business yourself and make it happen the way you want. With "consumer capitalism", it's your choice.
Re: No big deal for me. (Score:2, Insightful)
If a car honks its horn, you can close your eyes and point in the direction it came from.
How accurately can you achieve that sensation with a single driver in each ear? A potion of your hearing is through your skull by the way.
Also, speakers can each have a different range of frequencies if you didn't know already.
Re:$250 for a headset? (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't believe so many people agree with this post. We are talking about game systems that cost around $500 that are probably played on TVs that cost $500-$1000 with perhaps a dozens games costing $60 each. And you are saying that a $250 headset is excessive? I don't find sound quality very important either, but who am I to judge what others find important enough to spend their money on? A $250 expenditure on a hobby is still pretty tame compared to most. I spent close to that on just one of two tickets to the musical Wicked, even though a movie ticket would have been $15.
Spending $250 on a headset instead of perhaps $50-100 is really no different than buying a 55" TV instead of a 40" one.
Re:Bluetooth woes (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Bluetooth woes (Score:4, Insightful)
Really? That's a lot of faith there in an organization that hasn't done very much to merit it.
Let's indulge a little idle speculation on my part. Nothing I say from here down in this post is supported by any objective evidence; the only thing you could say is that the things I speculate on have been done in other contexts.
Yeah. I'm just speculating. But if you draw up a list of the companies in the world that might be inclined to this approach, Sony would absolutely be in the top two.
Re:Bluetooth woes (Score:5, Insightful)