So as usual, the UPS guy doesn't hit my house until about 6:30 last night (note to self: no Christmas bonus for the UPS guy.) My shiney new PS4 arrived and it's a real thing of beauty. Real easy to hook up, has a very (make that VERY) small footprint, near as I can tell it runs very cool AND quiet, and amazingly doesn't have a power brick to power it! Not sure what kind of Voodoo Sony used to pull all that off, but it works.

Not surprisingly there were some minor hiccups trying to log in to PSN (with a million new PS4 owners hammering their login servers.) Otherwise, it was a pretty smooth process. The interface is very clean and pleasing, although I'm hoping we have some more options to customize the look a bit in the future. At the very least, replace that omnipresent pale blue background for something else.

There were some free goodies waiting for folks once you got in. A handful of games were free to download and play right away. Of course, there's Warframe. Never played this on the PC, but watched it being played a bit on Twitch. This is a pretty full-bodied version of the game near as I can tell, so it should be interesting to see how it works out. Blacklight Retribution is another free-to-play FPS, but I could never get into the game (the servers were either down or highly lagged.) Contrast is a puzzle platformer where you can shift between a physical and shadow form to navigate the game world. Resogun is sort of a bullet-hell successor to the old arcade hit Defender (and boy am I dating myself with that reference.)

One thing that jumps up and gives you wet kitty kisses on the face is the rock-solid framerate. The games are all buttery smooth, I didn't notice any significant frame hits, and it's all at wonderful, glorious 1080p yumminess. Even on games like Warframe which can be awash in action at times, I didn't experience any noticeable case of the "jankies" while playing, even with a PUG group of 3 other guys running with me.

Another pleasant surprise was the streaming integration. Twitch streams coming from the PS4 are smooth, clear and fairly hitch-free for the most part. They did put in channel chat, but trying to carry on a serious conversation with the PS4 controller isn't recommended. I imagine a Bluetooth keyboard may be on Santa's list this year, not to mention a Playstation Camera (the new moniker for the device formerly known as the Playstation Eye. Yeah, not sure what branding genius thought THAT was an improvement) and a more durable headset/mic.

Not surprisingly, apps for Netflix, Amazon Video, Hulu and many of the other guys were already there ready for installation. I must say the new Netflix interface is pretty smexy...the preview picture now inhabits the whole top of the screen instead of a tiny parcelled-off frame.

I'm going to reserve comment on features not there at launch but slated to be available Soon™ (like streaming your own MP3 collection instead of paying Sony yet more money for a Music Unlimited subscription.) There were some reports of a few isolated cases of units with dodgy HDMI ports and/or HDD's, but these appear to be pretty rare on the whole, and it looks like Sony is trying to get ahead of them as quickly as possible. Certainly nothing like the overheating or RROD's fiasco of the previous generation, not by a longshot.

Overall, this was about as smooth a rollout for a new piece of hardware as you could want. We'll see how Microsoft steps up to the plate next Friday with their XBox One. Of course, my UPS guy will bring that late in the day as well. Stupid UPS guy.