The PlayStation 4 has a feature I find hard to go without on other consoles. I'm not talking about the controller speaker, although it is cool when someone calls you on your cell in GTA V and the audio gets patched through there. It's a little gimmicky and although available to developers on the Wii for that entire generation, was still rarely well used.
I'm talking about the standard headphone/mic jack on the PlayStation 4 controller. I find myself wishing it was there when I play other consoles.
I'm not made of money, I can't afford to buy a fancy wireless headset that works on one or two consoles that I own. I can barely afford to buy a new pair of earbuds when mine break every year, no matter how careful I am with them. Besides, I'd much rather spend the price of a wireless headset on a new game.
I live in a house with other people and don't want to bother them. Sometimes my son is asleep, I've got neighbors that don't want too much noise, and sometimes I just don't want to hear anything else.
My earbuds are noise canceling, they're always handy for my portable music player, tablet, or laptop, and they sound good enough. Sometimes "good enough" is all you need.
The headphone jack on the PS4 controller is right there, I can just plug them in and be immersed in the game's soundtrack without bothering anyone else. I've played games all my life through the TV speakers and it was fine, I enjoyed myself a lot, but I've noticed a lot of advantages to using my plain old $10 earbuds.
There's a magic that comes through when you don't hear anything else, naught but the game's soundtrack. The quiet moments sound appropriately quiet, you can make out the subtleties such as the rain hitting the pavement, as well as the footsteps of people walking by while they carry on in conversations. You can even make out what they're saying instead of having it drowned out by the air conditioner in your room.
The loud crescendos have much more impact when they overcome these quiet moments, like when you enter a boss's lair in Bloodborne and the orchestra swells as the fierce beast makes its appearance. Positional audio comes through brilliantly even through your average headset, allowing you to track enemies around you or find a secret beacon which transmits intermittent audio blips.
Are there any console or even handheld features that have made a notable impact on your gaming experience? Is there something that changed things enough that you have a hard time living without it? Voice commands? Chatpad? 3D effect? Portable LCD screen? What's your number one surprise feature?
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