Support NeoGAF

[LectureMaster]

Thought it would be a "coming soon" feature when PS5 launched but I guess they have decided to ditch it. Shame.

Please post some of your favorite themes.

 

[gaming_again]

Sad but indicative of everything unique and personal having to be smoothed over and universal.

 

[gaming_again]

Thought it would be a "coming soon" feature when PS5 launched but I guess they have decided to ditch it. Shame.

Please post some of your favorite themes.

This was my PC background for years when I was a teen

 

[kurisu_1974]

Still have this on the PS3 in my home office

 

[Radioskugga]

I miss the themes too. One of my favorites on PS3 was Heavy Rain.

 

[StueyDuck]

I do miss ps4 themes.

The rdr2 one was great

 

[Nankatsu]

Yeah, I miss these.

Menu became pretty boring.

In a sense it's kind of weird they dropped this. It worked extremely well for Digital editions.

Plus, more then one time I paid for a specific theme that I wanted. I'm sure others did too.

Still boot my PS4 from time to time just to hear the FFVII Remake Midgar Custom theme tune. It's so damn beaufitul.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Here's some of my favorites:







Really wish Sony would add themes to the PS5.

 

[Aenima]

Some were cool but i got bored of most of the ones i used. The only one that i kept was the Firewatch theme on my PS4 as it changed the day/night cicle depending of the time of the day.

 

[mdkirby]

Yes, they were. Tho I sometimes wonder if their removal was derived from data. As an unusual human, and a data point of 1, this is entirely anecdotal, but I would often leave the ps4 idle, just sat on the Home Screen for hours sometimes, whilst browsing my phone, happily listening to the curated background music and dynamic theme, kinda like reading a book by the fire. With the ps5, I do that way less, and feel compelled to quickly move into the Netflix app or launch a game etc, rarely leaving it idle for more than 10 mins. It's just not well suited to background idle. Either way that will mean for Sony, "engagement" for me personally will be up as a result of scrapping dynamic themes. Do they have any data to suggest this was a broader experience I wonder? And that helped inform their decision to get rid of them?

 

[Banjo64]

Vita was rubbish due to the bubbles but PS3 themes were the best console implementation ever. I loved how the text and emblems were even bespoke.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

I bet Heimdall_Xtreme favorite PS4 theme was this one with Kat.



Or maybe this one (though it was Japan exclusive )?

 

[Kerotan]

They probably think it slows down the UI slightly

 

[Midn1ght]

Mirror's Edge Catalyst and FF7 Remake were the best.

 

[kiphalfton]

Got a virus on our home PC 15+ years ago when downloading a theme for PSP...

Was a Gears of War one, so should have known better.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Neogaf had a nice theme.

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

This dynamic PS4 theme from 'Indivisible' was also great.

 

[Northeastmonk]

PS3 you could find custom made themes on the web. I miss preordering a game and getting a theme for that game. It made the wait extra special. All you get now is "Purchased" under the thumbnail of the game.

 

[Drew1440]

I always liked the ones that brought custom sounds. The themes with custom icons didn't age well however when Sony updated or added new stuff to the Xmb that the theme didn't have an icon for.

 

[BlueLyria]

Yeah, I miss them too, Mary Skelter 2 and FF Heavensward were the themed I used the most

 

[Kokoloko85]

They should be on PS5

 

[Unknown?]

I remember there was a program where you could add your own icons and background for PSP.

 

[Generic]

Themes, avatars and communities were all great.

This dynamic PS4 theme from 'Indivisible' was also great.

I have this one.

 

[Fake]

PS3 and PS4 ability to use theme are amazing.

Can't believe PS5 was such a downgrade. Is embarrassing.

 

[adamsapple]

This was the last theme I had on my PS4 too, before i sold it.

 

[ReBurn]

There were some really good ones, but I never used them. I liked the simplicity of the basic themes. Hopefully people who use them get what they want.

 

[DonF]

I remember getting one with the symbols and stars, that had music that sounded great on my headphones.

but thats it.

 

[StueyDuck]

Yes, they were. Tho I sometimes wonder if their removal was derived from data. As an unusual human, and a data point of 1, this is entirely anecdotal, but I would often leave the ps4 idle, just sat on the Home Screen for hours sometimes, whilst browsing my phone, happily listening to the curated background music and dynamic theme, kinda like reading a book by the fire. With the ps5, I do that way less, and feel compelled to quickly move into the Netflix app or launch a game etc, rarely leaving it idle for more than 10 mins. It's just not well suited to background idle. Either way that will mean for Sony, "engagement" for me personally will be up as a result of scrapping dynamic themes. Do they have any data to suggest this was a broader experience I wonder? And that helped inform their decision to get rid of them?

I'm sure there's some element of that with data they have.

But I imagine it's mostly because they wanted the UI and OS to be as little bloated as possible.

It could also easily just be badly designed and initially they weren't thinking about themes when creating the OS, then by the time it came around to implement it they realized they had done something that would make adding themes a fecking nightmare.

Games change their backgrounds now when hovered over and some even do it based on how far you are in the title. I wouldn't be surprised If there some logic deep in the OS that allows the dynamic UI that you really can't fuck with because it barely works as is and can break everything when changed

 

[mdkirby]

I'm sure there's some element of that with data they have.

But I imagine it's mostly because they wanted the UI and OS to be as little bloated as possible.

It could also easily just be badly designed and initially they weren't thinking about themes when creating the OS, then by the time it came around to implement it they realized they had done something that would make adding themes a fecking nightmare.

Games change their backgrounds now when hovered over and some even do it based on how far you are in the title. I wouldn't be surprised If there some logic deep in the OS that allows the dynamic UI that you really can't fuck with because it barely works as is and can break everything when changed

Oh for sure, plenty of possible reasons. Just something that occurred to me based on my own behaviour. I'm probably not a good example for the actions of the masses tho, my brain tends to do things a bit weirdly

 

[gaming_again]

Yes, they were. Tho I sometimes wonder if their removal was derived from data. As an unusual human, and a data point of 1, this is entirely anecdotal, but I would often leave the ps4 idle, just sat on the Home Screen for hours sometimes, whilst browsing my phone, happily listening to the curated background music and dynamic theme, kinda like reading a book by the fire. With the ps5, I do that way less, and feel compelled to quickly move into the Netflix app or launch a game etc, rarely leaving it idle for more than 10 mins. It's just not well suited to background idle. Either way that will mean for Sony, "engagement" for me personally will be up as a result of scrapping dynamic themes. Do they have any data to suggest this was a broader experience I wonder? And that helped inform their decision to get rid of them?

I did this too with the PS4 menu music. I'd get home drunk after a work night out and slump at my desk waiting to feel sleepy to that music. Great memories, already nearly a decade old!

The PS5 menu music ain't that bad though. It's just a bit sterile. The PS4 blue is so warm and inviting.

 

[mitch1971]

Nah, waste of time.

 

[drganon]

This one I had was pretty cool.

 

[Radical Dreamer]

They were great and added a lot of personality to the menu.

 

[Nvzman]

PS3 was such a great media center device, having CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, and USB mp4 playback that you could even save to the HDD was so cool and its a shame Sony dropped nearly everything with the PS4 and PS5. The custom themes were cool as hell on PS3 too, PS4's were neat, there is a PS2-themed one thats pretty awesome but otherwise I always preferred the PS3 themes.

 

[Davevil]

I remember there was a program where you could add your own icons and background for PSP.

my psp 17 years ago.
what a time

 

[mdkirby]

I did this too with the PS4 menu music. I'd get home drunk after a work night out and slump at my desk waiting to feel sleepy to that music. Great memories, already nearly a decade old!

The PS5 menu music ain't that bad though. It's just a bit sterile. The PS4 blue is so warm and inviting.

For sure, I hope the audio engineer on those was paid well .

Aside from the menu, I spent SO many hours just idly listening/watching the dynamic themes for:

Journey,
Everybody's Gone to the Rapture,
Firewatch
Last of Us
and a handful of others I can't recall.

 

[Kings Field]

I rocked the Bloodborne theme or Destiny one most of the time.

 

[StereoVsn]

PS3 was such a great media center device, having CD, DVD, Blu-Ray, and USB mp4 playback that you could even save to the HDD was so cool and its a shame Sony dropped nearly everything with the PS4 and PS5. The custom themes were cool as hell on PS3 too, PS4's were neat, there is a PS2-themed one thats pretty awesome but otherwise I always preferred the PS3 themes.

PS3 could also act as media server or use a windows PC media server. It was a great machine from multi media perspective.

And I do miss themes on PS5. Still have my PS3 hooked up but don't have PS4 anymore since there was little reason to keep it and my PS4 Pro sounded like a jet taking off.

 

[Brigandier]

Themes absolutely need a comeback on PS5, Very poor decision to drop them from Sony.

 

[Krieger]

Some of my favorite themes I used with my PS4:

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Found a neat 13 Sentinels concept theme for the PS5. Too bad we'll probably never have themes on this chonky console.

 

[Mossybrew]

I hear you OP. I had several that I rotated through to give different vibes. I think my favorite was the Firewatch one that changed with time of day. Really miss this feature on PS5.

 

[jm89]

Mirror's Edge Catalyst and FF7 Remake were the best.

Amazing theme, my favorite one.

 

[GymWolf]

I didn't even noticed they were gone on ps5 tbh

 

[odhiex]

I like the dark version out of three

 

[Bond007]

They were cool. Would be nice to see em return.
Bet we do towards the end of the console gen lol

 

[tmlDan]

they're alright, never really cared for them cause 99% of them were lazy and ugly

 

[Pelta88]

Has anyone at SIE ever said why themes haven't made a return?

 

[Zathalus]

I miss them as well. I have no idea why PS5 dropped support for them. The PS5 UI is quite visually pleasing and would work well off themes.

 

[Dr. Wilkinson]

I didn't care about themes at all on 3DS, when they were a thing. But I would totally love to do with Switch 2, if they're like $1 and they move instead of being static. Like the Series X themes. Those are cool, I love staring at them.