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Bizarre, poorly advertised, obsolete, or underutilized console features

Theorymon

Theorymon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,381
So a few weeks ago, my dad finds an ancient compact flash card, and was wondering if I could get photos off it. I had forgotten about it until today, when I was in the mood to play my PS3... and realize there's a god damn compact flash slot on the thing. I put the card in, and lo and behold, there's pictures of my cousin playing football (the american one) from 2008!

I'm sure this was an advertised PS3 feature back in the day, but I had 0 clue that the PS3 could support that. The PS3 in general also had the infamous Other OS, which would allow it to run Linux, but was cut because of... homebrew stuff I think?

So this got me thinking: there's got to be other consoles with weird ass features everyone else forgot about, right? Just some other examples I can think of off the top of my head are:

-The Wii U pad's TV remote feature. Yeah, the entire point of that TV button! I actually still sometimes use that when I lose the tv remote lol, it actually works perfectly fine with modern smart tvs!

-The IR sensor on the Gameboy Color. God, what used that beyond Pokemon Gold and Silver? Speaking of that, theres the IR sensor on the Switch's Joycon too lol...

-The PS4 Touchpad. Ok this one is a lot more in your face than the others, but I cant remember the last time it was used for something besides a giant select button/

-The Xbox One's HDMI In, an artifact of the disasterous TV TV TV marketing of the old! I used this as a shitty way to stream once, which... didn't work great lol.
 
overnightnocturne

overnightnocturne

Member
Jun 10, 2019
449
Remember when the 360, for a brief minute, had the ablity to use Twitter or Facebook on it?

Seems kinda quaint now when you consider the share button on the controllers.
 
Mafro

Mafro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,396
That Wii U TV remote feature that they never bothered to support in Europe.
 
Punished Dan

Punished Dan

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,252
Always wondered why no one put an activity monitor (Wii U and 3DS style) on their current systems.
Always found it interesting to see my play stats.
Switch parental app doesn't count imo.
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
The memory card slot on the 360. I remember demo consoles let you do something with them, but I never saw people use them and never used it when I got my 360. Seems like an odd feature in the age of the HDD.
 
Jegriva

Jegriva

Banned
Sep 23, 2019
5,519
Launch PS3 had 4 different memory stick readers (why not a simple USB port?) and could read SACD.

You know, those DVD with audio data that sold like, 20,000 copies at best?

By the way, the Xbox 360 could play your iPod music while you were playing.

Kthulhu said:
The memory card slot on the 360. I remember demo consoles let you do something with them, but I never saw people use them and never used it when I got my 360. Seems like an odd feature in the age of the HDD.
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There's more: you could buy new memory card with games in it. I remember a bundle with Worms HD on a memory card.

overnightnocturne said:
Remember when the 360, for a brief minute, had the ablity to use Twitter or Facebook on it?

Seems kinda quaint now when you consider the share button on the controllers.
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And they were awful to use. You can still share via Facebook your Achievements to this day.
 
TheYanger

TheYanger

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,190
Theorymon said:
So a few weeks ago, my dad finds an ancient compact flash card, and was wondering if I could get photos off it. I had forgotten about it until today, when I was in the mood to play my PS3... and realize there's a god damn compact flash slot on the thing. I put the card in, and lo and behold, there's pictures of my cousin playing football (the american one) from 2008!

I'm sure this was an advertised PS3 feature back in the day, but I had 0 clue that the PS3 could support that. The PS3 in general also had the infamous Other OS, which would allow it to run Linux, but was cut because of... homebrew stuff I think?

So this got me thinking: there's got to be other consoles with weird ass features everyone else forgot about, right? Just some other examples I can think of off the top of my head are:

-The Wii U pad's TV remote feature. Yeah, the entire point of that TV button! I actually still sometimes use that when I lose the tv remote lol, it actually works perfectly fine with modern smart tvs!

-The IR sensor on the Gameboy Color. God, what used that beyond Pokemon Gold and Silver? Speaking of that, theres the IR sensor on the Switch's Joycon too lol...

-The PS4 Touchpad. Ok this one is a lot more in your face than the others, but I cant remember the last time it was used for something besides a giant select button/

-The Xbox One's HDMI In, an artifact of the disasterous TV TV TV marketing of the old! I used this as a shitty way to stream once, which... didn't work great lol.
Click to expand...
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The IR sensor is just the replacement of the link cable isn't it?
 

Deleted member 5028

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,724
HD Rumble. Nintendo didn't even use it for their BotW flagship release and I've see barely any great implementations.
 
overnightnocturne

overnightnocturne

Member
Jun 10, 2019
449
Jegriva said:
Launch PS3 had 4 different memory stick readers (why not a simple USB port?) and could read SACD.

You know, those DVD with audio data that sold like, 20,000 copies at best?

By the way, the Xbox 360 could play your iPod music while you were playing.


There's more: you could buy new memory card with games in it. I remember a bundle with Worms HD on a memory card.


And they were awful to use. You can still share via Facebook your Achievements to this day.
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When Skyrim came out I shared every achievement that I unlocked using that feature. I think that was the only time I used it
 
neon_dream

neon_dream

Member
Dec 18, 2017
3,644
3DS the thread; where to even start

I will just say I really miss streetpass and wish Switch had it in some fashion, maybe with a small device, like a keychain, you could carry with you.
 
0ptimusPayne

0ptimusPayne

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,786
Installing updates on PS4 while in sleep mode...That shit has NEVER worked for me these last 6 years lol
 

Deleted member 2226

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,846
Kthulhu said:
The memory card slot on the 360. I remember demo consoles let you do something with them, but I never saw people use them and never used it when I got my 360. Seems like an odd feature in the age of the HDD.
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Backtracking from a guaranteed hard drive with the Xbox to shipping the 360 Arcade versions was such a shortsighted move on Microsoft's part, and as you say the memory card slots really didn't come in handy for anything else—delivering games via them was a terrible idea.
 
OP
OP
Theorymon

Theorymon

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,381
TheYanger said:
The IR sensor is just the replacement of the link cable isn't it?
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Click to shrink...

Nope, it was to comunicate with the Pikachu 2 mainly which would get you goodies like Rare Candies, and some other features I forgot, but trading wasn't among those I'm sure.

Jegriva said:
Launch PS3 had 4 different memory stick readers (why not a simple USB port?) and could read SACD.

You know, those DVD with audio data that sold like, 20,000 copies at best?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Hahaha oh man, what is with the PS3 supporting so much obscure stuff?! It's fascinating, no wonder Sony was losing money on this thing. To add to the Compact Flash point I mentioned earlier: When I was looking at the old photos, THE PS3 GAVE ME THE OPTION TO PRINT THEM! Like holy hell, who the fuck used their PS3 to connect to a printer for photos lmao

Speaking of weird Xbox 360 stuff, I totally forgot about the damn faceplates until just now. That, the new 3DS, and the Gameboy Micro are the only consoles I know of that do that stuff.
 
hyouko

hyouko

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,283
Theorymon said:
-The IR sensor on the Gameboy Color. God, what used that beyond Pokemon Gold and Silver? Speaking of that, theres the IR sensor on the Switch's Joycon too lol...
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The Switch IR sensor has at least got some use! It powered a lot of the Labo stuff and is used to estimate heartrate in Ring Fit Adventures.

For under-utilized features, maybe I'd go with Wii Connect 24? It was a cool idea (stuff can happen while your console is off) but I honestly never saw a game use it in an interesting way.

Or we could point to the expansion ports on the SNES and the N64. They both did get used... but only in Japan. There was the Satellaview add-on for the Super Famicom that allowed downloading games and streaming audio broadcasts, and the infamous 64DD for the N64 that allowed the use of magneto-optical discs for a tiny handful of games that wound up supporting it.

The GameCube had an expansion port too, which got used for the Game Boy Player accessory... I feel like that one could at least be considered a little more successful since it launched in regions other than Japan.
 
Jegriva

Jegriva

Banned
Sep 23, 2019
5,519
Antoher odd feature: if you buy a Samsung QLED now in 2020, it still supports natively the Xbox 360 with its own official icon.

You can see I had to edit the default generic icon for the Wii U for example.

EPKIe5HUUAAAyFG
 
DrKelpo

DrKelpo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,868
Germany
The dual shock 4 touchpad is definitely a big one.

Witcher 3: If you press it once, it opens the menu. If you press it for a longer time, it goes straight to the inventory. If you swipe it, it goes straight to the map.
Especially later in the game when your inventory is full and every opening takes a few seconds this is a lifesaver. It makes navigating the menu so much more comfortable.

This basic concept could be adapted to every single open world game with minor adjustments depending on the game itself, but it basically never happens.
 
Plum

Plum

Member
May 31, 2018
17,376
PS4: Has Gyro controls that could vastly improve pretty much any game where you have to aim something

98% of the Gaming Industry:
340

"You mean you have to move your hands? That's like a baby's toy."
 
Trisc

Trisc

Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,496
SlipperyFishes said:
HD Rumble. Nintendo didn't even use it for their BotW flagship release and I've see barely any great implementations.
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It's also completely absent from the Switch Lite. If I had to guess, I'd say HD rumble is going the way of 3D in the 3DS, and Nintendo straight-up won't bother with it in their games down the line.
 

Deleted member 13645

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,052
The Xbox One's snap feature was so cool and had a lot of potential. I get why it was killed, but it still feels like a feature that seems like it'd become a thing in the future. It just seems like something that has a lot of technical challenges since you're taking processing power away from the game to run something else.

Similarly, the whole "start playing now!" thing that the consoles support is actually rarely supported by the games.
 
astro

astro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
57,554
Gyro aiming should be in all console shooters.

The amount of people that don't understand this doesn't mean "full gyro aiming" and actually means "you use it in tandem with stick aiming to increase precision" is annoying, too. Means less people will call for something that will be almost certainly make their game better.
 
Ogodei

Ogodei

One Winged Slayer
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,256
Coruscant
ILikeFeet said:
the switch's touchscreen. criminally underutilized, even by Nintendo
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Nintendo's understandably hesitant to push too much software that forces you to use the Switch a certain way, like there are only so many joycon-only titles too. Fits after that lack of focus was part of what brought the Wii U down.
 
zill pickle

zill pickle

Member
Sep 30, 2018
166
big shoutout to the gyro thing on ps4. made botw infinitely more playable aiming my arrow shots by adjusting the controller; gravity rush also has a version of this

my pick: the psp had this radio feature, but instead of regular fm or dab radio, it was internet radio? and always this anonymous, no host weirdo shit

i'd be tuning in before i knew what podcasts were and it felt like i was a ghost in silent hill or some otherworldly shit
 
Symphony

Symphony

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,361
fuchsdh said:
Backtracking from a guaranteed hard drive with the Xbox to shipping the 360 Arcade versions was such a shortsighted move on Microsoft's part, and as you say the memory card slots really didn't come in handy for anything else—delivering games via them was a terrible idea.
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You have to realise that at the time digital distribution via the 360 was files that maxed out at like 50MB, XBLA wasn't expected to take off and had very strict size limits, the storefront was basically just a long unorganised list, patches were measured in kilobytes - the expectation was that the 20GB hard drive was a premium that people would maybe upgrade to eventually. That Core system was there because, PS3 aside, consoles typically were expected to be under £200, and being able to say "hey you can get a 360 for less than half the cost of the PS3" was a big deal, it was the only reason I got one.

That memory card slot was just that, it was meant to be for saving games and playing like we'd always done. My first 360 was a Core with a memory card, and I had that for maybe... 2 years? I don't think it was short sighted at all at the time to ship a system without a hard drive, I do think that come the 360 S though that the 4GB should not have been a thing, it should have come with 60gb minimum.
 
Pokemaniac

Pokemaniac

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,944
Border

Border

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,859
On the Xbox 360, you could use a Comcast On Demand app to stream movies and video that you would normally be able to watch using your cable box.

At some point, Comcast decided they did not want people watching their OnDemand media on TVs without using a cable box, so the app got yanked of the Xbox app store.

The more bizarre thing is that eventually they became so adamantly opposed to the Comcast Xbox app that Microsoft went in and intentionally, manually deleted it off of users' 360 systems. That's a power I didn't even know they had, let alone one they would utilize over something so trivial (an app whose functionality had likely already been crippled).
 
Roytheone

Roytheone

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,292
The touchpad on the PS4 controller is great when you use it on a PC and make it emulate a mouse. Makes clicking those annoying pop ups before starting a game much easier!
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
The fact the Wii let you navigate the OS with a classic controller and not a GameCube controller still bothers me.

Plum said:
PS4: Has Gyro controls that could vastly improve pretty much any game where you have to aim something

98% of the Gaming Industry:
340

"You mean you have to move your hands? That's like a baby's toy."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I've seen speculation that it's due to a lack of demand for gryo on the PS4 vs the Switch and PC.
 
ILikeFeet

ILikeFeet

DF Deet Master
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
61,987
Ogodei said:
Nintendo's understandably hesitant to push too much software that forces you to use the Switch a certain way, like there are only so many joycon-only titles too. Fits after that lack of focus was part of what brought the Wii U down.
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this is the same company that touts having multiple ways to play. not having their menus be touch compatible at least is stupid, especially given how touch-friendly they from a design a design perspective

pokemon-sword-shield-menu-ui-save.jpg
 
souppboy

souppboy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
399
Digital Foundry just talked about my favorite underutilized feature: 120hz mode in Xbox One X and One S. Decreasing tearing and improving frame pacing in some games. I think devs never utilized it because it's kind of a weird thing to use with not a whole lot of practical application this gen but I'm hoping next gen we find uses for it.
 

Deleted member 1003

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,638
OP can't remember the last time they used the PS4 touchpad because they don't even realize they are pressing it.
 
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