Best PS4 Features That Would Leave Me Speechless as a Kid

The PlayStation 4 is fast approaching its fourth anniversary, and in that time, Sony’s flagship hardware has come on in leaps and bounds, refining its user interface with some long-requested features (see: party chat) and even launched a technologically superior system in the form of the PS4 Pro.

It’s been a whirlwind initiation for Sony, then, and even today the company continues to iterate on the PS4’s core capabilities and introduce novel features, such as the newly-unveiled 5.0 update. Beginning today, console owners will be able to take full advantage of parental controls, while those on PS4 Pro can finally stream content at 1080p/60fps via Twitch. Pretty nifty, eh? Now imagine if PlayStation Blog‘s latest status report was presented to a ten-year-old in the year 2002.

Remaining with that train of thought for the time being, for the purpose of this rather nostalgic piece, I’ve compiled a list of the best PS4 features. It’s an eight-parter, as the title suggests, and though they may not be the most ground-breaking of the console’s bells and whistles, I’ll be damned if they would’ve have left my ten-year-old self speechless.

Bells and Whistles

Because let’s face it, we tend to take things for granted when it comes to gaming hardware and its many functionalities. In only 15 years, we’ve gone from a console with rudimentary network capabilities and no online store to one that’s tailor-made for a digital future. Now imagine what the next 15 will herald.

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, a trip back in time is on the cards. It’s 2002. The European union has expanded its borders to include Czech Republic, Estonia, and Hungary. Meanwhile the United States is busy ordering its troops to Afghanistan post-9/11. For the gaming industry, 2002 will be remembered as the year of Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, and the Game Boy Advance, while GTA: Vice City ruled over sales charts at the time. Back when the mere thought of cloud storage was but a distant dream and your 8MB memory card was your most prized possession. Shall we?

And that’s merely scratching the surface. Even for all of those lingering niggles — namely Sony’s unwillingness to compromise on cross-platform play and those sluggish download times on PlayStation Store — the PlayStation 4 (Pro included!) is a remarkable piece of hardware that would have truly left my ten-year-old self speechless.

But is there one feature in particular that I overlooked? Or are you more of the mindset that the PS4 still has a ways to go when it comes to improving the overall gaming experience? I’ll see you in the comments.

Essential Reading:

8 Best PS4 Features list

8 of the PS4's Finest Bells and Whistles

Let's gaze upon some of the PS4's bells and whistles as though it were 2002.
Hooking Up Your Headphones to the DualShock 4

The DualShock 4 is arguably one of the best controllers ever built. Sturdy, robust, and comfortable even after long play sessions. But perhaps one of the pad's unsung assets is the 3.5mm jack tucked away between both analogue sticks.

And if you happen to be playing late into the night, or you simply want to immerse yourself into a gaming world, that 3.5mm jack will quickly become your go-to option for sound. No more tripping over prolonged wiring to change discs or blow the dust out of a memory card.
Photo Mode

While not exclusive to the PlayStation 4, the idea of being able to pause a game at a moment's notice, edit the shot, and share it online would have been the stuff of science fiction back in 2002.

The only thing that forced a game to pause was a scratched disc or malfunctioning hardware; nowadays, it gives players pause, and enough time to capture a pretty photo Aloy roaming the wild lands.
Remote Play

As we alluded to before, portable gaming in 2002 was ruled by Nintendo, and that fabled promise of "console gaming on the go" was merely a distant dream. But assuming your online connection is up to snuff, Remote Play bypasses all that by offering, you know, console gaming on the go. Gone are the days when you have to spend an entire weekend housed up at a friend's or family member's country home longing for your PlayStation. Simply take the damn thing with you through the power of ~~black magic~~ the Internet.
The PS4 App

Okay, so the smartphone wasn't exactly publicly available in 2002, and those hefty fossils that were came in the form of giant enterprise models like the BlackBerry 5810. But the actual PS4 App, in all of its pernickety glory, is a godsend when it comes to messaging friends and keeping a close eye on that Trophy level on the go.
Party Chat & Online Play

When I look back on the PS2 era, one memory that I always hold near and dear is when a friend and I hooked up our two systems via LAN to butt heads at Age of Empires II. And before that, local multiplayer sessions built around the Command & Conquer series.

They were wonderfully entertaining, but a pain in the ass to set up. That all changed with PS3 and the advent of PlayStation Network (along with the PlayStation Store), while Party Chat is a feature that suddenly breaks down all barriers and allows you to stay in touch with your friends regardless of what you're playing. Forget the sky-high phone bills, this shit is the future.
Stream At a Moment’s Notice

The fact the PS4 automatically captures the last 15 minutes of gameplay is a miracle in and of itself. You mean to tell me that I don't have to painstakingly describe my in-game achievement so that my friends actually believe my digital heroics? Score.
SharePlay

So you're trying to tell me that a friend can hop in and control my game during my time of need? Get out of town! Where was this feature when I was wasting hours upon hours sneaking around the snowy perimeter of Shadow Moses? Or busting my balls trying to overcome that super slight margin for error on Rayman?
Flicking Between Applications On a Whim

You don't have to cast your mind back too far to identify those nights spent watching the PS3 struggle through a download while your console was essentially locked. Certain games allowed you to perform a background download, of course, but during the days of PS1 and PS2, when jumping between games/applications didn't exist, the gaming experience was more concentrated. Much more solitary.

Now, you have ten notifications pulling you in every other direction, and perhaps the best feeling is hopping out of a game to message friends without interrupting your session. Now that's a nifty feature that would've blown the mind of a ten-year-old weaned on a diet of PS1 and PS2.