Gaming Sony PlayStation 3

my biggest gripe is the weight of the controller, it feels like a feather in your hands. I orefer a little more weight to my controller, that and the lack of rumble and the gimickiness (sp) of the six axis mothion controll.every time i use it i look like im having spasms.

The lack of dedicated games is a strike aganst, im mean Icon, AC4, CD3, Gta4, SCDA, MGS, they are all multi platform, unlike the ps2 were there were a lot of ps2 only games and that drove sales

between my flatmate's ps3 and my 360, i find us using the 360 a lot more for gaming and iptv, and the ps3 for our paltry BD movie collection.

 

Great review.
I have never really read a proper PS3 review but after reading this I would probably buy one if I had any money at all. I dont have a TV though so it would cost me a bit more than the 400 odd quid for a ps3

 

I got to say I am semi pleased with the ps3 in my living room, the games are quite nice and the console is relatively quiet and fast.
I was hoping to be able to play some High-Def media streams but it would seem that Sony have limited the audio output of 3rd party files to 2.0 audio channels which is rather annoying when you have some 5.1 audio to blast out, and even under Linux the same problem continues.
Graphically I'm sure they will improve over time just as all consoles before it have. so far I have seen nothing that can rival my pc however the graphics card alone in my pc cost the same price as the whole ps3 so I don't consider the ps3 to be bad value when you look at it that way .
Blu-ray looks stunning which is the main reason I bought it, I have had a plasma TV for a while now and wanted to get some proper HD video on it and the blu-ray certainly delivers.
on the whole happy with it, and battery life on the controllers is excellent.
I look forward to further updates for it and more well made and optimized games to come for it.

 

Very well written article

As a very happy PS3 owner (I also own a 360 and a Wii so don't call me a fanboy just yet ) I was very happy to see such an article like this. A lot of people on this website seemed to have a lot of hate for the PS3 and as one of the people who was kinda "eh" after actually buying one I can say that not only does it do well as a games console (which if you own a PS3, get Motorstorm. Seriously, it's soo much fun!) but after getting my new TV my regular DVDs look much better as well (due to upscaling) and blu-ray looks very nice as well.


I hope some of the nay-sayers will read this and give it a try, because if you sit and just continue to think the PS3 sucks then you will be missing out out oa a great piece of gaming and home entertainment hardware

 

I agree with what you've written, but as a former PS3 owner, I just can't justify what I'm getting for the cost of the machine. ESPECIALLY considering the PS3 can only output 480i over anything but HDMI when watching a Blue Ray movie. Without a TV with HDMI, then the fact that it can play Blue Ray disks is a moot point as the resolution you get to see the Blue Ray movies in is the exact same as a regular DVD. I'm with the majority of the people in the fact that I don't have a TV with HDMI, and therefore couldn't take advantage of the 1080p capabilities the PS3 has.

Buying the PS3 solely as a Blue Ray player isn't a bad choice, assuming the TV you will be hooking it up to has an HDMI port on it. I will personally be sticking with my Xbox 360 HD over VGA until I can afford to buy a new TV.

 

Agreed. I actually bought a new TV cause I wanted to use the HDMI output. I used S-Video for the first 2 weeks I owned it and once I got my new TV I got the new cable and everything is fantastic.


But I agree. If not using HDMI then there isn't much of an advantage to having the blu-ray drive. It's basically a fancy DVD player at that point.

 

I myself do not own a PS3, but after experiencing it first-hand at my friend's house over the break, I will admit the controller does feel like a feather in your hand due to the lack of rumble, but I like it in some applications. I hope 3rd party manufacturers start making controllers with rumble as I don't see how they wouldn't. But the Six-Axis was so worth it after playing Motorstorm. It will progressively get better with time I would hope.

Do you know how much development for a game costs nowadays? Close to Hollywood standards for movies. Games are getting more and more advanced and with that comes an increase in cost so, I can see why PS3 and 360 would have a tough time keeping most of their games exclusive, as developers need to maximize their profit due to the huge overhead in cost. I do hope Sony can keep some of their signature games like MGS4 and Final Fantasy exclusive to the PS3, but who knows since Assassin's Creed is now going multi-platform.[/QUOTE]

Ok, having played both the PS3 and the 360, I can safely say the games out right now for both consoles, that I have seen/played (Example: NFS Carbon, COD3 & Oblivion) are about the same graphically. With that said, if 1st-gen games for PS3 look just as good as the 360 today, then the PS3 will surely be competitive in terms of graphical potential in the next few months to a year, so I think your above statement is a little pessimistic.

Then why did Microsoft not include an integrated HD-DVD Drive in their Premium 360's, let alone the Elite? That alone tells you HD-DVD isn't looking too hot right now. Of course, we'll never know who has "won" the actual battle for a few years now, but I would expect Blu-Ray to win in the HD Movie Battle just on the sole fact that Sony has integrated the drive into the PS3 alone. Also, the Blu-Ray isn't just for the movies, it's also for the games (hints the 1080p on the back of some of the games out right now), so it's still filling it's purpose in terms of gaming.

Sadly I can't comment on IPTV too much, but I do think it will fill a hole in the market, but I couldn't say if it will out-do HD-DVD or Blu-Ray due to the sole fact that a BD or HD-DVD movie can get up to 50GB in size. That would take forever to download over any internet connection I would think. If I'm wrong on that please fill me in.

 

I'm surprised no one has yet to mention XMB stands for Cross Media Bar, not Cross Memory Bar

also:

you can simply press "triangle" and select "view all"

 

@devdevil: Gears of War (exclusive title atm), Tom Clancy's Las Vegas and quite a few other games far outplay anything out on the PS3 so far. Of course this will hopefully change soon and as I just found out my spare monitor has HDCP DVI I think I might grab one somewhen, although not with UK prices.

I think Blu-Ray is a better format but am still sitting back waiting to see which one will win. I don't think this time that the PS3 will be the sole reason for it winning the format war though, that's a little short-sighted with the sheer amount of tech we have at the moment.

IPTV is a great idea and I'm waiting for MS to crank it up in the UK. At that point I may get a 120gb drive for my Xbox 360

Let's also take note of what I've been saying for a while to my mates and what others have too - the 360's GPU is a much better chip than the PS3, while the PS3 has a better CPU than the 360. However when you want better graphics in your PC which one do you upgrade first? The GPU of course.

So basically it's a matter of what game devs can eek out of each console, which will be interesting and certainly pretty cool for us

 

Well, I know, but it's kind of hard to compare when Gears of War is exclusive and I've never had a chance to play Las Vegas on the PS3, so I don't know about that, but all I was saying was that those games I metioned looked pretty much the same or better on the PS3, so I feel there is head-room for the PS3.

I disagree. I think integrating Blu-Ray into the PS3 was the catalyst in terms of getting the ball rolling on the format, and with PS3's outselling HD-DVD players, I would expect Blu-Ray to only get a bigger audience through the console in the next few months/year.

I think, since Microsoft is not including HD-DVD in the 360 or the Elite, this gives the public the impression that even they are leary of HD-DVD, and that consumers are taking a risk when purchasing it. On the other hand, Sony has integrated the Blu-Ray drive into the PS3 along with having movies already out in-stores and the net and many more on the way, giving the public trust in the format and the knowledge that a company like Sony is backing it. Considering Sony is THE home entertainment company of the world I feel Blu-Ray has better odds.

I have no clue what IPTV is going to be like. Could you fill me in on what I have been missing. I personally can't wait for it to come out.

I don't know how to compare the consoles in terms of raw power, just because anything on the internet is scewed or biased in some fashion, but I do think the PS3 will be able to match the 360 and even surpass it in the future. To go against your statement kempez, even in PC's you can have the fastest GPU, but with a slower CPU, the GPU will be somewhat crippled. I don't know if that statement is relative to the 360 or even to the PS3, but it is possible. Now I may be wrong in my statements, but you will have to prove me wrong through some form of justification/evidence, not just in terms of GPU architecture but everything else including the CPU, Harddrive, RAM, etc.

Peace.

 

Does anyone know if there ponding imports as the PS3 isn't region locked it doesn't look too bad if you import one from the US i would say its cheaper and you get the hardware PS2 chip as well.

If anyone could shed some light that would be cool


Morgan.

 

Wrong bit in the article......

That isn't correct, quite a few Blu-Ray titles are region locked.
There is a list of the Blu-Ray titles which are region locked.
http://bluray.lindsite.dk/
From the looks of that list the region restrictions are a mess.

 

Let me just say for a start I am not against the PS3, I like it actually just think it's a little on the dear side for me right now. I own a 360 and have done for a while and think it's a good console but then I also own a Wii and at some point will also own a PS3 I'm sure - no fanboy of anything here

But the point I was making is that the 360 games mentioned are a lot better than anything out currently. And also as I said it will change

Yes it is Sony's catalyst for getting Blu-Ray out there. But HD-DVD players are now cheaper and cheaper but Blu-Ray one's look set to be expensive for a while yet due to the diode shortage. Hey if my parents want to get a HD player they won't get a PS3 on the basis it isn't a player, it's a console but if they see a cheapish HD DVD player then they would think about it. Also the "what is it" factor is lower with HD DVD..."HD" has been shoved in people's faces for a while now and everyone is familiar with DVD,

The choice of movies will be a massive factor imo..which is where Blu-Ray being well ahead of HD DVD. Hey if you can't get the latest James Bond on HD DVD then you will have to get Blu-Ray

I know some mates in the states are pretty impressed with it, but I can't wait for it to come out either

I don't have evidence specific to the PS3/Xbox 360 but I play with lots PC components all the time and the single biggest effect on gaming is ALWAYS the GPU. OK so the calculations and physics and stuff is done on the Cell/Power PC core but the 360 CPU is hardly "lacking" in power with 3 cores and 6 threads. All of the graphics workload is done by the GPU's in both machines and whilst the "7800-alike" GPU in the PS3 is hardly rubbish, architecturally it is certainly a way behind the Zenos GPU in the 360 which has a lot of potential.

Having said all that it all depends on what the game devs can do with the hardware, another thing that reputedly Microsoft excel at compared to Sony according to various sources (not that we listen to em, but there seems to be an awful lot of people saying that).

But hey I really hope the PS3 comes good 'cause then I can get one and feel happy about spending my hard-earned

 

Yeah, I'm a Sony fan boy, that's why I gave the PS3 7/10 and no award and the X360 9/10 and a recommended

 

Fair enough, but every single Blu-ray disc that I've tried from multiple regions has worked in my Jap PS3 so far. Obviously that's no guarentee that it will stay that way, but I'm happy to stick with Region A Blu-ray anyway.

 

There seems to be a lot of debate about Blu-ray versus HD DVD and which is better. To be honest the argument is moot, since both formats are just data storage devices and which one is "better" is solely dependant on the quality of the encode.

Early Blu-ray discs were apalling because they were single layer and encoded using MPEG2 - so you had the combination of limited storage and an inefficient aging CODEC. By comparison, early HD DVD discs employed VC1, along with a dual layer format - the result being that they wiped the floor with Blu-ray.

Now however, most Blu-ray discs employ AVCHD and many movies ship on dual layer 50GB discs. Casino Royale for example looks stunning.

That said, even with the improved quality and PS3 in the Blu-ray camp, HD DVD still has price on its side. When I saw Toshiba a few days ago, it announced it would be cutting the price of its entry level HD-E1 HD DVD player by £100, which should mean that you'll be able to pick one up on the street for around £200! Thats a pretty compelling proposition if you fancy starting a high definition movie collection.

It's also worth remembering that all the current Blu-ray players (PS3 aside) don't even have an Ethernet port, which means that all the online features that BDLive will (eventually) offer, won't be accessible. On the other hand, an Ethernet port is mandatory on an HD DVD player, so every player, no matter how old will have access to online content.

Another factor will be which format starts to ship movies with Deep Colour support first. With source devices and screens appearing with HDMI 1.3 now, the final piece of the puzzle will be compatible software.

As for studio support, obviously Sony will try to make sure that the studios it owns don't support HD DVD, but if support for the competing format grows, it's unlikely that Sony Pictures and co. will cut off their nose to spite their face.

It's impossible to say which format will win out right now, and with LG already previewing hybrid hardware, we'll hopfully be able to buy players that can handle both formats sooner rather than later. I imagine that most consumers will hold out and see what happens, whereas early adopters like me will bite the bullet and have both, knowing full well that one may die.

 

I believe that the LG BH100 ("Super Blu") is available in the US now, and should be here by the autumn. However, it suffers from a huge flaw in that it doesn't play HD DVD's properly, and hence isn't certified by the HD DVD forum. The problem it has is that it can't show any of the disc's interactive menus or content, instead relying on the player's own internal menus. That, and the unit's price (around $1000 in the US, probably around £800 when it launches here), mean that it's not the great panacea we all hoped for, nor is it likely to sell in any great numbers.

Whether LG manage to sort the problem out for the next generation (BH101, "Extra Super Blu"?), or whether there's a deeper issue here, remains to be seen. The technology itself, though, is quite amazing: as well as being able to decode all the different formats, it also has to cope with 2 different lasers (red for DVD, blue for HD formats) as well as 2 different focus distances (Blu Ray discs have the read surface at a different depth to HD DVD). I just hope they can sort out the HD DVD problem, and they'll have a surefire hit on their hands.

As for which format will win, I think you're right: at the moment, most people seem to be waiting (stores included) to see which format wins. Hope this war is over quicker than Iraq

 

You're absolutely right - I wasn't suggesting that the LG is the hybrid player that anyone should be buying, just that it is a proof of concept. Hopefully it will mean that players that are fully featured for both formats won't be too far behind.

I imagine that when fully featured hybrid players arrive, they won't come cheap, and by that time you'll probably be able to buy a stand alone HD DVD player at a bargain price! It all adds up to a minefield for consumers and as mentioned before, I think most of them will stick with standard DVD for the time being. That said, another plus point for HD DVD is that those consumers sticking with DVD for now could buy hybrid DVD / HD DVD movies and watch the standard DVD now, but have the HD DVD version for later...

 

I am definately getting a PS3 for the games on it.
An a Blu-ray drive for my computer so I can rip my Blu-ray disks and re-encode them to 700MB AVIs.

 

So you're going to spend HOURS converting 30MB/s 1080p HD-AVHC into 700MB piss quality AVI at less than SD resolution?


Why?