Do you remember mathematics exams? The questions would almost always include inane scenarios involving marbles and boiled sweets. They were designed to burn your brain as much as possible, and it looks like Sony’s aiming to give you a shot of high school nostalgia with its wireless headset compatibility policies for the PlayStation 4.
Game Informer reports that, as promised, the manufacturer’s own expensive Pulse peripherals will function on the next generation format – eventually. You’ll need to wait for a system software update before it operates properly, and there’s no time frame attached to that. One thing’s for certain, though, is that the classy cans will not work at launch.
The same is true of any headsets that require a USB input for chat. You’ll still be able to use your standard optical audio out to pump sound into your ears, but you’ll need to wait for a further firmware update before you can actually communicate with your peers. Do try to keep up – we’re not going to repeat any of this again.
Perhaps most irritatingly, Bluetooth headsets are off the agenda entirely. Regardless of whether you own an official or unofficial peripheral, it will not work. Fortunately, the console will come with a very basic earpiece, which should get you started if you don’t want to splash out on a new piece of kit. Furthermore, if you’ve got a wired 3.5mm microphone, you’ll be able to plug that into the DualShock 4.
Confused yet? Yeah, so are we. Perhaps the easiest summary is that unless you’re planning to use one of the abovementioned wired headsets, then chances are that your alternative option won’t work out of the box. If it uses USB, then it will get patched after launch. However, if you’re still opting for Bluetooth, then it may be time to toss the old technology out.
[source gameinformer.com, via polygon.com, neogaf.com]
Comments 9
As long as the patch is rolled out before the PS4's 3rd week in the wild, I doubt anyone would be too upset.
If you have the Pulse Elite headset it will work as long as you use the 3.5mm headphone cable that shipped with them.
Plug it into the earpieces and the dualshock4 3.5mm input. You will get game audio as well as chat. In this mode you won't get surround sound though, just stereo.
This workaround will keep me happy until the patch arrives.
@knight_spg Thanks for the tip - I didn't realise that.
@get2sammyb thought the tip would help. I had been reading about this on other sites, but no-one mentioned the 3.5mm connection (it was my first comment on the site, been reading for years).
@knight_spg So the official Vita headset that has the same 3.5mm cable that provides both audio and chat should work too. That's great actually.
No Bluetooth? WHY? I'm sorry, but that makes no freaking sense to me whatsoever.
Well that sucks. I love my Sony bluetooth headset with mic. I was sure I read somewhere a few months ago that sony said all PS3 headsets would work with PS4. Guess not.
lol okay Sony, lemme just dig out my old '70s-looking stand-up plug-in mic that came with Windows 2000... if I can find a male/female-to-35mm adapter.
The lack of bluetooth headsets is pretty lame. The reason I can think of for this is because a lot of people use bargain bin $10 headsets that sound like crap. It's really annoying hearing your team mates and opponents as garbled noise and distorted nonsense.
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