Wayback Wednesday: PlayStation 4 Launch, 12 Years On

This is Wayback Wednesday, your midweek blast from the past! From retrospectives of basketball games and their interesting features, to republished articles and looking at NBA history through the lens of the virtual hardwood, Wednesdays at the NLSC are for going back in time. This week, I’m taking a look back at attending a midnight launch for the PlayStation 4 here in Australia, and my first impressions of the console.

My Facebook Memories reminded me that in the early hours of November 29th 2013, I returned from a midnight launch of the PlayStation 4 at a retailer here in Australia. The console had launched in North America a couple of weeks earlier, so I’d already heard others share their initial impressions of NBA Live 14 and NBA 2K14. Needless to say, I had some concerns – especially about the former – but I tried to keep an open mind. After all, I wanted to be excited about the new generation of basketball gaming that I’d be experiencing from Day One; or near enough, anyway.

That first experience with the PlayStation 4 and two new next generation basketball video games – as well as a third title that I picked up – is certainly interesting for me to reflect upon. Suffice it to say, my feelings towards the console and at least one of those releases have changed over the years. I still have some mixed thoughts about the eighth generation, though to date I like it a lot more than the ninth! With PlayStation celebrating its 30th Anniversary, and November 29th marking 12 years since the Australian launch of the PlayStation 4, it’s a good time to look back…way back…

As a creature of habit and someone with a predisposition for retro gaming, I’ll admit that the dawn of a new console generation has always given me a certain amount of anxiety and dread. No doubt that sounds incredibly melodramatic, but it’s a sign that what I like and am still greatly enjoying is about to be superseded. That in turn results in pressure to upgrade. It’s not that I don’t have any interest in or willingness to keep up with the times, but familiar concerns present themselves every generation. Will it actually live up to the hype and be better than what I’m playing now? Can I afford it? How long is it going to be supported? Do I feel as though I’m truly ready to move on?

In short, it’s similar to the New Game Blues that I’ve often felt with NBA Live and NBA 2K, except that it’s a bigger and far more expensive event! It makes it difficult to get as excited as everyone else when we’re all talking about an upcoming console’s specs and features. However, the eighth generation was shaping up to be a milestone for basketball gaming. After the disaster of NBA Elite 11 and failure to launch NBA Live 13, EA Sports were finally returning with NBA Live 14. Meanwhile, 2K had dropped the OMG Trailer for NBA 2K14, which blew us (and NBA Live 14) away. As both a gamer and a content creator, I felt compelled to invest in a new console.

Of course, while becoming an early adopter clashed with my usual trepidation about moving on from something that I was still enjoying, the prospect was nevertheless appealing and exciting. Up until the PlayStation 4, I’d never bought or been gifted a console at or around launch. The closest I’d come was getting a Nintendo 64 for my 13th birthday in October 1997, some seven months after it was launched in Australia. Once again though, I was now a content creator with an interest in covering the latest releases, so I had an incentive to get my hands on them as soon as possible. Even if I didn’t end up enjoying those games, I needed them in order to properly cover them.

And so, in 2013, I had to make a choice between the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. I had (and still have) a PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360, so I didn’t really have any loyalty to Sony or Microsoft. Although I’d pledged allegiance to Nintendo in its battle with Sega in the 90s, I no longer concerned myself with taking sides in any console wars! While Microsoft’s initial stubbornness regarding game ownership and the Xbox One always needing to be online did heavily influence my choice, the deciding factor was that all my friends went with PlayStation 4, and I wanted to be able to play with them. With my decision made, I placed a pre-order at my local electronics retailer of choice.

Back in 2013, I was earning some extra cash and gift cards through online surveys. It allowed me to splash out on DVDs, games, or other treats, without dipping into my savings. With an expensive new console on pre-order, I decided to save up all of my points across the various survey panels until I could exchange them for enough gift cards to cover the cost. It took a while and some patience – particularly since I ended up answering the same surveys multiple times – but I succeeded in earning enough to pay for my PS4. Mind you, this also meant that I became that person who rocks up to the counter and hands the poor cashier hundreds of dollars in gift cards to process!

Though I was sheepishly apologetic for doing that, I was nevertheless satisfied with and proud of my efforts in frugality. Those savings freed up the funds to pick up three launch titles: NBA Live 14, NBA 2K14, and Killzone Shadow Fall. I remember that the cashier was blunt in her confusion that I wanted to get two different basketball games, leading me to explain that it was part of covering them for a website than I run. That drew a weird, almost disdainful look. Granted, being an online content creator was still viewed differently then – and I had just paid with a handful of gift cards – but having worked retail myself, you’re supposed to be friendlier than that!

Anyway, I had my PlayStation 4, so it was time to head home. I debated whether or not to set it up for a quick session right away, or turn in and dive into it with fresh eyes after a night’s sleep. Ultimately, I gave into temptation, deciding to have a quick try of all three of the games. In what was a massive blunder in hindsight, I chose to play NBA Live 14 first. Now, in my defense, I had a long history with the NBA Live series, and I’d spent the previous three years hoping to see it make a successful return. Unfortunately, NBA Live 14 was not a triumphant comeback. Everything that people had said was sadly true, and it made for a dismal introduction to the new generation.

At this point, I moved on to NBA 2K14. Considering how much time I’ve spent with that game, you might think that it was a refreshing change of pace after NBA Live 14. Sadly, it left me cold as well. As I’ve previously discussed, a combination of a poor first impression of the PC version of NBA 2K14, and seeing some of the NBA 2K developers taking gleeful shots at NBA Live 14 on social media, prematurely soured me on the PS4 release. Admittedly they weren’t wrong about NBA Live 14, but their childish unprofessionalism still rubbed me the wrong way. As such, I went into NBA 2K14 PS4 hoping to find fault. Whenever you do that, you’ll usually be successful!

That’s not to say that I thought NBA 2K14 was inferior to NBA Live 14. Even before I warmed up to it, I wouldn’t disagree that it left EA’s game in the dust. Still, I didn’t like the feel of it. While NBA Live 14 is undeniably stiff and clunky, the Eco-Motion engine in NBA 2K14 PS4 does feel twitchier than its prior gen counterpart. I really enjoy the feel of NBA 2K14’s gameplay now, but it wasn’t what I was expecting back in 2013. Throw in the sourness I felt heading into the release, and it didn’t allow me to form a positive first impression of what is in most respects a fantastic game. It goes to show that it’s worth giving games a second look, especially if the first one was tainted.

Ironically, the PlayStation 4 launch title that I enjoyed the most during that first session was Killzone Shadow Fall; the one I’d picked up on a whim, just so that I’d have some variety. I didn’t exactly love it though, so as I finished my session, I was feeling kind of glum about my big new purchase and this new generation of gaming. You never want to feel that way, even if you have saved a few hundred dollars thanks to gift cards! I remember sharing these initial impressions with JaoSming and Arcane. When JaoSming asked me if I’d enjoyed any part of the session, I wryly remarked that ejecting the discs was rather satisfying. In other words, hardly a ringing endorsement!

Fortunately, first impressions don’t always last. I did end up trading Killzone Shadow Fall in for the PS4 version of Injustice: Gods Among Us, as I’d greatly enjoyed it on Xbox 360. That gave me something to play on my new console in between occasional sessions with NBA Live 14 and NBA 2K14. Thankfully, I had more fun with the PS4 after that. I liked NBA Live 15 and NBA 2K15 much better than their predecessors, and by NBA 2K16 and especially NBA 2K17, I’d truly warmed up to the NBA 2K series. NBA 2K18 was a misstep, and the series began to lose its appeal to me around NBA 2K21, but I enthusiastically sank many hours into NBA 2K19 and NBA 2K20.

Furthermore, revisiting both NBA Live and NBA 2K on PlayStation 4 has given me a much better appreciation for them, particularly given my continued disappointment in the PlayStation 5. Indeed, I’ve primarily used my PS5 to play PS4 titles – chiefly NBA 2K14 – though more recently, I have been playing those games on my PlayStation 4 instead. NBA 2K14 is now one of the PS4 releases that I’ve come to enjoy the most, having played into my seventh season in MyCAREER. Considering my poor first impressions of NBA 2K14 and the way that I once mocked that first iteration of a story-driven MyCAREER, it’s amusingly ironic that I’ve come to enjoy it so much!

Likewise, I’ve been able to have more fun with NBA Live on PlayStation 4. Those releases undoubtedly have their issues – it’s why the series’ attempts at a comeback repeatedly came up short – but looking at them with fresh eyes has revealed some of the positives that were overshadowed when the games didn’t meet my expectations. I still can’t deem eighth gen the strongest generation for basketball games. It had some of the all-time best basketball titles, but also saw an extremely one-sided competition – such as it was – between NBA Live and NBA 2K. Not only that, but it heralded an increase in greed, and other design choices that made games far less fair and fun.

Still, my appreciation for the PlayStation 4 and its library of hoops titles – even after that less-than-stellar first impression – is a stark contrast to how I feel about the PS5, five years after its launch. I’ve yet to warm up to it in the same way, and although my disappointment with ninth gen NBA 2K is a major factor, they’re not the only games that have underwhelmed me. It doesn’t bode well that after five years, I still can’t point to a single PlayStation 5 game that I unreservedly love! By this point in the PS4’s life cycle, there were at least a few games that I’d enjoyed enough to feel like it had been money well-spent. As I said, my PS5 has been more useful for revisiting PS4 games.

I do therefore fear that the ninth generation may well remain a bust for me. With that being said however, the fact that the PlayStation 4 did see releases that I either liked at their launch, or have since come to enjoy, suggests that I may finally warm up to the current generation at some point. I am sceptical, though. Gaming has changed, and things that we would’ve once fought against – microtransactions, season passes, and overpriced DLC – are now widely accepted, and even defended. Design philosophies have changed, with NBA 2K now catering more heavily to the competitive online scene, and jumping on trends for mainstream appeal. It’s not a direction that I like.

It dampens my enthusiasm for the inevitable upgrade to the tenth generation consoles, which appear to be looming on the horizon. Unless I want to completely focus on retro gaming, I’ll have to make that move for the sake of content creation. I suppose I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, but in the meantime, it makes me appreciate the PlayStation 4 even more. Despite a rocky start, it produced a few of my all-time favourite basketball games, as well as some other titles that I’m fond of. It may have required a second look in some cases, but the point is that I did come to enjoy those games and spend quality time with them, enhancing my overall opinion of the PS4.

That’s why I don’t regret my choice to upgrade to the PlayStation 4 at launch. As a younger gamer, I often got into consoles in the middle of their life cycles; or indeed, towards the end of them. While I still had a blast and have so many fond memories of gaming as a kid, it was exciting to get in on the ground floor of a new generation and attend a midnight console launch. Sure, I was motivated in part by the need to have access to those games for news coverage and other content creation, but I still relished the opportunity to be on the cutting edge for a change. It was nice to be able to weigh in on the PlayStation 4 and its launch titles while they were still topical talking points.

And of course, in addition to better games coming along throughout the generation, the PlayStation 4 itself also improved after launch. I remember originally having to upload captures to my Facebook account and then download them, losing quality in the process. The ability to copy screenshots and clips directly to a USB drive was a huge post-launch enhancement, though an Elgato is preferable in the case of video capture. Yes, game patches and console firmware updates can be a pain – and thus a source of memes – but the PS4 and its library undoubtedly benefited from that post-release support. It helped first impressions to not always become lasting impressions.

To that end, 12 years later, I have a far more positive opinion of NBA 2K14. I do stand by some of my original criticisms of the game – and the way the developers acted – but it’s now one of my all-time favourite basketball titles. My opinion of NBA Live 14 sadly hasn’t changed all that much, as it was a very rough release! Killzone Shadow Fall…well, it wasn’t for me, but there are other games I’ve enjoyed on top of 2K and Live. Again, it’s proof that first impressions don’t always last, so it’s worth keeping an open mind! Time will tell if the PlayStation 5 can similarly win me over, but as far as the PlayStation 4 is concerned, I’m glad I took a chance on it at launch.

The post Wayback Wednesday: PlayStation 4 Launch, 12 Years On appeared first on NLSC.