Why tomorrow's PlayStation 4 update is a bigger deal than people assume

Tomorrow's PlayStation 4 update is a big frickin' deal.
This is partly due to the fact that Sony is finally keeping its promise by adding the suspend/resume feature that was promised when the system was announced. Why is this a big deal?

[olLANDSHARKlo]

I don't understand this suspend/resume, I quit my game and save. Why is this getting so much hype?

[One-Shot]

...seems more like you have no idea what the feature actually does.

[SolidStoner]

next step is to do it in online games :D

can you imagine that if someone is going suspend/resume in Battlefield, every player gets message "please wait while one player will have dinner" :D

I kid, I kid... :D but that would be hilarious.. oh wait.. GTA online does that very well, but it dosnt have resume option.. only suspend in longest loading if one player quits :D

[diaz_aa]

That is what he said.

[DragoonsScaleLegends]

Why spend 3 minutes booting your console and then loading your saved game when it can be done in 10 seconds or less?

[pivotplease]

More like a minute and a half but your point still stands

[DragoonsScaleLegends]

@pivotplease

Yeah I might have been exaggerating but man does it feel like hours have gone by when you think about all of the time we will spend during our gaming careers waiting in loading screens lol.

[BC_Master_Haze]

GTA V is 40 seconds, 1:30 is exaggerating, he's 1 second off as Bloodborne starts at 11 seconds

[rainslacker]

I don't ever really notice. My receiver and TV take longer to turn on than my PS4 does from stand by....heck so does my PS3. But it will be nice to bypass those starting logos just to resume a game...and there are times when I don't want to get to a save point(I'm a big JRPG gamer and they can take a while sometimes).

[Moe-Gunz]

@pivot

Been on the beta firmware for awhile now, almost every game loads up in 15 seconds or less. You 1:30 is wayyyyyy off.

[Dee_91]

I mean its a cool feature, but I seriously don't mind waiting.The wait is like an after thought. I don't think I will use it but I have a feeling when I do use it I will feel like I can't live without it haha

[extermin8or]

@bc_master_haze lol that's faster than when it reloads after I die then.... Ive spent way too much time on that loading screen it's kinda useful though let's me contemplate what went wrong leading to last death, but sooner they patch it the better.

[UltraNova]

"No more asking for a few more minutes to get to the next save point, nor will you have to worry if say ... a kid wakes up in the middle of the night and begins to vomit. You can save and pick up your progress again at any point."

Few what a relief...now I dont have to worry about that!

*Facepalm

[morganfell]

@Moe,

He means the saving and turning off/turning on and loading.

[BitbyDeath]

You never been interrupted during a game to go have dinner?

[thekhurg]

When I was a kid, that's what the pause button was for.

[Tempest317]

@thekhurg Yes but when you were a kid, the consoles drew effectively no power and generated no heat, and had no moving parts in comparison to today. Also, to dinner can also imply going out to a restaurant or something along those lines, where leaving a game sitting paused isn't optimal. Not to mention the dozens of other situations that suspend will be useful for (going to bed, going to work, grocery shopping etc).

[Solid_Penguin-64]

Yeah Christmas usually lol

"Dinners ready, c'mon everyone!"
"But I've got to defeat the Black Hand of Sauron and save Middle-Earth from certain doom!"
"...You've got 5 seconds"
"Ughh"

*think I'm fighting the wrong Black Hand

[freshslicepizza]

and you know what the pause button does to some tv's back then? image burn in.

why are people trying to dismiss convenience like it doesn't matter? this might also benefit games with few checkpoints in a game.

[medman]

@bitby
What is this dinner of which you speak?

[BitbyDeath]

@thekhurg,
It all comes full circle when you get a wife and kids.

[amnalehu]

@Phibalnation; Let's say you are in a tight game of MLB but someone wants to watch tv, dinner time, etc. Before you would have to pause the game and leave it on until you came back. Now you just suspend the game, PS4 powers down. When you start it back up you are right where you were before. And for games like Bloodborne that have limited save points this is a life saver. It's been on the Vita for a while and I'm glad to see it coming to the PS4.

[Eidolon]

Yeah knowing the Vita and even the PSP were able to do this, I wondered why a home console couldn't. This is really convenient for those games whose save/checkpoints are far and few between or you're drunk/sleepy, wanna quit, and you're not sure where you're going to start off when you get back in the game from a Continue(after relaunching).

[slappy508]

Wow now that you explained it that this sound very useful indeed. I never paid much attention to it so yeah, bring on that update!

[rainslacker]

It's one of those features you don't realize how good it is until you use it. Was absolutely great on the Vita, and definitely makes sense on a portable, but I think this feature will be greatly appreciated even if one doesn't use it that often. When the time comes to need it, then people won't complain about it being there.

[Rimeskeem]

How long does it take you to resume your game after turning off the console?

[wsoutlaw87]

Not sure if you are asking with the update or are responding to someone above, but 11 seconds according to that one test using bloodborne

[amnalehu]

I just tried it. It took about 8 seconds to resume Rayman. I'm not sure if it varies from game to game.

[porkChop]

Say you need to go have dinner, or just need to step out to the store. Suspend/resume means that when you get back you don't have to spend a few minutes getting back into the game. This feature gets you back into the game in under 15 seconds. It also means that you don't have to wait for the next checkpoint, or for the next available save.

[Bathyj]

Its not just going to have dinner.

You can turn your game off at night, go to work the next day, come home and jump straight back into your game in a few seconds. Its a pretty cool feature, and your game picks up exactly where you were I think, not back at the last checkpoint.

So as others said, since Bloodbourne has few checkpoints and no pause (is that really true) I guess you can shut down, go away and wait til your nerves unfray and then come back and have at it again.

[stuna1]

This will work wonders for those who's hands cramp during long gaming sessions, just suspend gameplay! Problem solved.

[rainslacker]

Picks up at the frame where you suspended the game. It's just like going to the Home Screen and then back into the game(for the PS4, PS3 was just an overlay on the game), except now you can power down the system. Basically saves the game state from memory onto the hard drive...or possibly in low power state RAM if it's only available in stand by(not sure if you can power down completely). it's not unlike your PC going into sleep mode.

[hkgamer]

Its a feature that is quite good for people who keep their system on standby. Its very useful if you like to pick up and play frequently.

You are correct in a sense that you can just restart at checkpoint, but the convenience of leaving right where you left it and it just takes a minute to load is quite interestong.

Basically a feature not for everyone, but can be helpful forbpeople who like quick sessions or needs to interupt gameplay because thwy have somethong else to do.

[Ripsta7th]

You quit then save?!
Tf

[FITgamer]

It's a cool feature, though i probably won't use it much. I'm more looking forward to the button mapping and being able to back up my hard drive to usb.

[UKmilitia]

not sure tbh but has it been announced how much power has been used and obviously people wont be leaving house with it on all day will they?

[Qdog]

I seriously do NOT understand this. I've had the "suspend/resume" feature since launch. I remember using it with second son. I'd press the home button, try to open another app and suspend the game. I had no idea that we weren't supposed to have this feature yet. Why did I? Forgive my ignorance, I just want to understand.

[EstSince88Gamerdude]

Nice article!

I have to say I do love Sony,I always have.

They seem to really listen and give what their customers want and they respect them aswell which was clear from the outset when they revealed the price of the ps4. They provided a powerful console built for devs and didn't take the Mickey with the price for thier loyal and new customers. Yes sometimes it can take long to get these updates out but these guys are running a business..a very big and important business. So I tend to cut them slack. This company has provided the best gaming experiences over the last 20 years without doubt..and long may it continue!

[PaleMoonDeath]

Tomorrow's the UK's BloodBorne launch day, update day, and strangely my mothers birthday.. good day.

[amnalehu]

@Twiggy, Bloodborne might me the best game I've ever played. The simple act of walking into an unknown area is truly terrifying. There are a VERY limited number of save points in Bloodborne so this suspend/resume feature is going to really help you out. Have fun and "beware of woeful things..."

[PaleMoonDeath]

I've heard nothing but good things dude, quite intimidating to tell you the truth, I only ever played Demon Souls and never did manage to get to the end.. here's hoping I've matured a bit since then.

[wsoutlaw87]

What do you mean by save points? All you have to do is hit exit game, then when you continue the game you will be in the exact same spot. There are no save points in bloodborne. I do agree though that this will be much quicker.

[Bathyj]

Your Mother was born on Bloodborne day?

You're the child the prophecy foretold of.
YOU were BLOODBORNE.

[GTgamer]

Is he truly born of blood 0_0

[CaptainObvious878]

umbasa

[affrogamer]

Happy bloody birthday to the milf!

[EstSince88Gamerdude]

Because there will be times for a lot of people who will need to rush away from their game and won't have to time wait for a good time to save the game..and this is perfect for those moments or just because you can!

[GetSomeLoGiK]

I'm not gonna lie, none of this appeals to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad they're adding stuff but I'm not gonna use any of it except maybe the suspend/resume and that would only be if I had to leave for a bit or I wanted to continue right where I left off in a game and that would be only if I wanted to still play the same game when I came back plus who knows, maybe some friends want to play a multiplayer game. I know people are gonna read this as "it's a stupid update" and disagree the crap outta this but in my honest opinion this update is bland to me at least, I'm sure people will love this and again, I don't think its stupid, just that to me I won't utilize any of it.

The only feature that I really want is friend online notification and also folders. I'm tired of scrolling through all my games one by one in what seems endless due to the awesome free ps+ games.

[WeAreLegion]

You're seriously never going to customize your buttons? Even if a game has a bad control scheme?

[subtenko]

Wow I always thought it was a neat feature but it just dawned on me, games that use a stupid control scheme or one that can suit me better!

[GetSomeLoGiK]

Why would I? I'm used to every control scheme out there since I played a wide variety of games. Like Bloodborne, took me 1 minute to get used to it since I played the souls series. Also I played Monster Hunter on the PSP and 3DS and if you could get used to those controls, you can get used to any control scheme. Besides, most games now if not all, have a control scheme that makes sense i.e. X to jump, trigger to shoot, analog to sprint or lock on, etc.

[kstap33]

Isn't that a global change that would affect all games played? Considering I change games frequently, even in the same session, I could see this being problematic. I guess you could screw with your friends if they came over to play Madden :)

[Bobby Kotex]

Its getting way more hype than it deserves.

[Aloy-Boyfriend]

And well deserved Because it has features we like. Pause and Resume is a very coold feature, and so is 60 FPS Shareplay. If none of you find any feature useful, then don't come to the forums, simple. Better have something than anything at all

[sprinterboy]

Although I welcome the feature I do agree somewhat to points above, it wont be a feature I use ofton, if at all, but understand its value to others.
Any update which improves the system of choice is all added bonuses.
Me personally am waiting on playstation now for Europe, playstation vue and itv iplayer and 4/5od, all bonuses after that are added bonuses.

[rainslacker]

suspend/resume is probably the most prominent feature, and very welcome, because trust me, there are going to be times where you're going to use it for whatever reason, and you'll be thankful for it even though you don't think you will ever use it.

Other than that, I like being able to delete 0% trophies off my list. Obviously backing up to a USB drive is awesome, although I would prefer being able to use one to play games as well. Also the updates to remote/share play are nice, although probably only appeal to those that use such things. And the joining a friends game stuff is a welcome edition, even though I don't care for MP stuff.:)

Most of the other stuff is good if you're into that kind of stuff, and guess it doesn't hurt to have it there.

[_LarZen_]

Parents with young ones will love the suspend/resume feature :)

[Dungus]

That's what I thought, until my infant son pressed the eject disk button, thus destroying my saved point in the middle of a game of Fifa. My very first try of the suspend feature fml :D

[kstap33]

That's part reason why I switched to all digital after my first few disc purchases. My 2 year olds like to pop out the disc and run away giggling with it. Still can't stop them from turning off the system, but at least my offline game is still running where I left off. Can't say the same for the multiplayer matches I'm in the middle of when they do it though 😁

[TWB]

The really good thing (for me) that this "suspend/resume" is going to do is allow me to set the automated standby mode to start automaticly at earlier than currently (3 hours)

I have been in situations where I have had to suddenly go somewhere (like to the store) and on my way back I decide to visit a friend.

During that time the console's sitting there alone consuming power (paused) and set to go to standby mode after around 2 hours.

Then I come back and see that all my progress has been lost after the last save...

Suspend/resume is going to work fantasticly for that type of situations.

[yuukiliu]

60 FPS support on remote play for my vita will be great. Yakuza ishin is the best game I've played on remote play, and 60fps will make it even sweeter. Absolutely addicted to this game right now, only played Bloodborne for a couple hours before I had to return to Kyo and kick ass as Sakamoto Ryouma.

[Duke19]

Suspend/Resume on my Xbox still confuses the hell out of me sometimes. (Hit the power button expecting a 30 second start up but then it instantly jumps into netflix, etc).

Will definitely be a nice addition to the PS4, even for people like me that don't realize they will be using it

[JayFx2]

You still cant use an external hdd to backup the entire ps4, only a usb drive.

[d0r1en0]

My PS4 turns on by itself, wether its off or in standby mode. Don't know if this update will fix that, but I doubt I'll be able to use suspend with that still hapening. I currently have it plugged into a socket that is attatched to a light switch, and power down, and turn the switch off when I'm done playing.

[patsrule316]

The suspend/resume is a cool feature, but even though I would really like to use it, it will be very limited for two reasons:
1) The function won't work for games that use on-line servers. Destiny, The Crew, Helldivers, Bloodborne (if you play on-line at least...not sure about off-line mode), and I think even Dragon Age required EA servers, but I don't remember for sure. Any game that requires server connections just won't work. When you come back, from suspending, you will be back at the sign in page.

2) My son wants to play his games too. If I go into rest mode, and come back the next day, my son will have probably played something in the meantime. That would cancel out my suspended game. Unless I needed a short pause or I was sure no one else wanted to use the system, I would not rely on my game picking up where I left it. Its just a fact of my family life.

Still, I am happy they added it, because there are situations where it will be very useful.

[DayOneRapture]

I have to ask, as an Xbox One, PS4, WiiU and 360 owner..why is this such a big deal? My Xbox One has done this since day one..i have an 18month old daughter and during many games of Halo, Forza and CoD she has pressed the power button..so I just turn it back on with another press of the power button, no harm done, continue like it never happened. Or when I have had a fast game of Madden and had to go to work, I have been able to turn off my machine after pausing the game, only to turn it back on 8hrs later (after my fiancée has watched Netflix) to resume the 3rd quarter with no issues..so forgive me for not sounding to pro-update but if the PS4s main competitor has done it since day one..why is this being hyped so much?!

Much like when they released their last big update..wallpapers. Well, yeah, that's new and fresh but now the green console can take screenshots of any ingame content or image from a USB device and apply it as a background..we still have to pay for PS backgrounds.

Colour me a fanboy but its real hard not to favour one over the other when features are outdated the moment they release - and yes, I realise PS4 had some features before Xbox and vice versa but it feels the Xbox does more with those same features. Meh!

[GoodnessGreatness]

It's a big deal because people were probably waiting for this feature since launch.

[ScaryMonkey]

We get it you like xbone, that's great, there are people who are happy to have this feature on PS4, you're not obligated to be one of them.

[GoodnessGreatness]

This feature would be useful on occasions like lunch or dinner break but not all the time because it will probably increase your electric bills

[yuukiliu]

I'm assuming it uses the same amount of energy as normal rest mode, which isn't all that much. Its not like leaving the game on pause.

[Yetter]

But Polygon hates Playstation, right guys??

[S2Killinit]

they kind of do, but thats neither here nor there.

[Yetter]

I read Polygon all the time. The only bias I see is on this site, towards Polygon, and I've yet to find a good reason for it

[S2Killinit]

Suspend resume is great and all and I applaud them for achieving it, but I don't understand why its so sought after by gamers. I mean I don't dislike seeing my home screen when I turn my system on. Its doesn't really take too long to load up a game anyway.

[ScaryMonkey]

Five seconds or fifteen seconds, its up to you, but hey why not get into your game faster if you can?

[alabtrosMyster]

I think the only reason suspend and resume gets this attention is because it was used as flame bait by the XB1 crowd to claim some sort of superiority... sure it's a nice to have, like fast install times and share-play, I don't any of those features make or break a purchase (I hope not).

[millerj2740]

Suspend/resume is a cool idea. Unfortunately my lovely wife-to-be uses my ps4 for Netflix. While she is perfectly capable of operating the console, I don't trust her to save my progress before exiting a game lol