Remote Play on the Sony PS4 – it’s a game-changer

The console wars will wage for years, and the battle between Xbox and Playstation will rage.  That’s not a bad thing.  What makes life difficult is recommending one or another.  For each there are reasons to buy so the difficulty is finding that point of difference that leads you toward one or the other.  In my view, Remote Play on the PS4 could be the one that swings your vote.

Holden vs Ford, iOS vs Android, Xbox vs Playstation – these great battles will be part of life for ages ahead, so finding a reason to switch from one to the other, or perhaps challenge an ingrained loyalty might be difficult.

In testing the PS4, like many others I was super impressed by the leap forward Sony has made with the interface and the specifications and performance of the machine as a gaming console.  However, the one thing that I continue to reflect on being a real game-changer was the Remote Play feature.

If you have a PS4 and also own a PS Vita – Sony’s portable Playstation console – then you are in for a world of joy.

Your PS Vita can be paired with your PS4 and once that’s done the PS Vita can literally act as both a controller and screen for the PS4.  Why?  Well that’s easy – the lounge room is a busy place, and that big screen on the wall is in high demand.

So when dad wants to watch the footy, but little Jackson want’s to play a game – dad’s not keen to move to the smaller TV, and picking up the PS4 and using it on the second TV isn’t desirable either.  Enter the PS Vita.  Jackson grabs the PS Vita, turns on the PS4 and hey presto the “screen” for the PS4 is the PS Vita, the controller too is the PS Vita itself.

And this is no second class experience, the full-blown PS4 experience is available in then PS Vita.  mind-blowing.

Ok, so it’s going to set you back a fair whack to buy a PS Vita also – perhaps $268, and that’s a huge slice of the PS4 purchase price all over again, just to enable a feature.  But for homes who already have a PS Vita it’s just a software upgrade, for those who can get the use and benefit of a PS Vita on holidays or out and about as well as remote play – it’s a winner.

As a feature I reckon it’s electric windows to XBox’s wind ups, however one could argue that the XBox Kinect 2 sensor and capabilities are the reversing camera on a 4WD to the PS4’s standard mirrors.

Regardless, it’s well worth seeing and considering.

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