My Ps3 Review

2scoops · 26-03-2007, 10:58 AM

Purchase

Xbox 360 was a real pain to get hold of on launch, with 5 times as much stock available the PS3 is really easy to get hold of. I see this as a positive from Sony, they have done a good job with the stock levels instead of the usual measly 20,000 - 30,000 consoles they've supplied us with 220,000. The fact that gamers don't have resort to paying £600+ on ebay to get one is a real achievement from Sony. On the negative side £425 is a lot for consumers to pay, but when you look at what your getting for your money the numbers seem to make sense (bigger hard drive, built in wireless, blu-ray drive, free network service etc).

Looks:

On the negative side it's heavier and slightly bigger than the 360. However the PS3 has a built in power pack, the 360 power pack is a real brick and really looked a mess behind my TV. The PS3 looks shiny, black and almost metallic, in comparison I never did like the looks of the 360 with it's white plastic "toyish" look. The PS3 looks like a serious piece of AV kit. The touch sensitive buttons are a really nice feature and slot based disc loader gives a more classier feel than the tray based DVD drive on the 360. It's quiet too I'd say 50% quieter than my 360.

The controller seems light but comfortable, the fact that it's rechargeable out of the box is also a big plus over the 360, which I had to buy an additional rechargeable power pack for to recharge it. No HD cable included in the box is a silly omission though from Sony, still with HDMI cables as cheap as £7 delivered it was hardly a huge expense. The 360 has a HD cable included with it, however it wasn't highest quality component cable I've every seen.

No headset included with the PS3 was also a disappointment again, even though again not a huge purchase, it's little omissions like this that irritate a new user. The 360 included a headset, again wasn't of great quality.

Desktop features

Although I liked the blades of the 360, the PS3's desktop matches up well. The internet browser is a big plus over the 360, my wireless keyboard works with no fuss. With great demand for using the internet at my house, having another internet terminal is a big plus. The playstation store has everything you'd expect, games, demos and trailers. The content currently available is similar to the amount of content available on Xbox live when the 360 launched (but it needs to be continually added to Sony!)

Games

I've played Fight Night 3, Dead Rising, Project Gotham, Fifa and Lost Planet on the 360 and I've played Motorstorm, RFOM, GTHD and Hot Shots golf on the PS3. Overall the PS3 and 360 are similar graphically with the exception of Motorstorm. Motorstorm with it's fast paced action, long draw distances is very impressive for a launch game, a step above anything that I've personally seen on the 360. Sound is similar to the 360, plenty of good DD 5.1 SFX.

Media Capabilities

PS3 scores big with the inclusion of a Blu-Ray player, Casino Royale looks eyeburstingly good on my HDTV set, it was quick to load and easy to control with my Blu-Ray remote. DVD, Audio CD playback is good but currently the DVD cannot upscale, Sony need to sort this fast (rumoured to be coming soon). Where the 360 does do better than the PS3 is in the Media streaming category, with some tinkering I was able to stream movies, music and photo's from my PC to my 360. This was a great feature of the 360 and serious omission from the PS3, fortunately using a program called ORB I was able to stream media to my PS3 via the built in internet browser.

It's obvious that Sony want the PS3 to become your media centre, they want you to copy your movies, music and pictures over to the PS3's 60GB hard drive rather than stream over the network. Both consoles are quite limited with the movie types they can play, luckily Sony included the ability to load Linux onto the PS3 which means that we can play pretty much all movie types.

Conclusion

I don't think we've seen the tip of the ice berg yet for the PS3 yet. There seems to be a lot of negativity flying around at the moment about the PS3. Even my work colleagues have fired awkward questions at me, what about the price? the BC? the lack of games? etc etc. Most of the criticism isn't justified, people just read all the bad press and believe it even though they haven't really researched it for themselves. I think as more people actually experience playing a PS3 and all the hype (good and bad) dies down the PS3 will mature into a really excellent console. Many people forget that there was a fair bit of bad press for the 360 when it came out, no games, the PS3 will be twice as powerful, the overheating issues etc, but that has all been forgotten now that the console has been give chance to perform.

My tip as always is try before you buy and research things for yourself before you make your purchase.

blicky_1 · 26-03-2007, 11:46 AM

Spot on review mate

I could not have written it better myself

**Greg** · 26-03-2007, 12:40 PM

Excellent review.

Good too see a decent balanced review from someone who has experience of both the next gen consoles.

Also I do agree that Sony slipped up by not including a HDMI cable and headset. For the 'premium' version I would have thought that should be included. Can't be more than a couple of quid for each.

syko · 26-03-2007, 1:12 PM

great review.
Am having a great time with my ps3 can't wait to see what it can do in the future.

onkeh · 26-03-2007, 1:20 PM

It's a lovely bit of gear, now who's stoked for MGS4?

runam0k · 26-03-2007, 1:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2scoops

My tip as always is try before you buy and research things for yourself before you make your purchase.

Can't argue with that. Hopefully Sony will supply stores with demo pods one day.

onkeh · 26-03-2007, 2:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by runam0k

Can't argue with that. Hopefully Sony will supply stores with demo pods one day.

They got one in HMV on Coventry Street.

The Fuggler · 26-03-2007, 2:21 PM

John Lewis in Reading has a demo machine. I'd expect that to be the case in most of their branches.

The Gooner · 26-03-2007, 4:46 PM

Good review, some very intersting points.

I have never had a console on release day but am enjoying the experience, it is interesting to hear some of the points coming out about lack of games and resulting in an unfair slagging of the PS3, I can reme,ber going into game a couple of months after the 360 was released and was told that it is a very expensive DVD player, I know it was from unreliable game but there was a shortage of games then for the 360, we seem to be comparing the 2 systems wrongly, instead of comparing the 360 now to the PS3 we should looking back at when the 360 was launched how many games ect.

Personnely I think its exciting times, once the PS3 has more software available and games are being developed for it instead of porting over, I think the battle will be on which will be good for us all 360 and PS3 owners alike.

I think Sony would have realised that with the time of year price ect that sales may not match others on release day but I think the idea of flooding the market will entice people as they see more of it. Come xmas I think we may see shortages, cant see a price drop myself untill well after this.

runam0k · 26-03-2007, 4:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by onkeh

They got one in HMV on Coventry Street.

Thanks for the heads-up! I'll check that out.

Note to self: leave cashcard at home.

markmitt · 26-03-2007, 4:51 PM

IMO, PS3 is the best console I have ever had the pleasure of owning.

Not slating other consoles past or present, but for me PS3 offers so much more than "just" gaming. The build quality as well is leagues beyond other machines.

Top stuff Sony. You may have ballsed up the launch in a lot of peoples eyes, but the console was well worth the wait...

crazzy kopite · 26-03-2007, 5:15 PM

I have a 360 and now a Playstation 3 and I think as a machine the Playstation 3 is better, the build is better, it is quiter and seems more reliable.
I like the fact it is wirless where as the 360 i would have to buy an adapter.

I think the playstation 3 plays smoother on line for some reason but i prefer the online menus on the 360. Gamewise the xbox 360 has the better games although it has been out for around 15 months.

*sparky6899* · 26-03-2007, 6:06 PM

Good review my friend.

What irked me was watching the news items on BBC, ITV and Sky based around the PS3 launch. They got these 'experts' on to talk about it, and every point they made regarding why it was so expensive was basically being shouted down by the presenters with "Yes, but what about the price?" "It's very expensive, what about parents who have kids" etc, etc.

You can talk about Blu-Ray, memory, graphics chips and so forth, but the only thing your average sun-reading Brit can see is a games console that costs £425.

It's like when DVD players first came out. "ooh that's expensive", "nah, that won't catch on" was the general view of the public. Now look, you can get one at tesco for £40

The PS3s sales over the next 2 years should steadily rise and be on a par with the xbox360.

2scoops · 26-03-2007, 7:14 PM

Thanks.

Having a PS3 is a really different experience than owning a 360. The PS3 feels more like a complete home entertainment "hub". You can play some tunes, fire up the browser and post on AVFORUMS or wack in a blu-ray disc and break open a few cans, then fire up F1 and pretend to be Jenson Button for an hour. It really is a great well rounded console.

dBrowne · 26-03-2007, 7:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sparky6899

You can talk about Blu-Ray, memory, graphics chips and so forth, but the only thing your average sun-reading Brit can see is a games console that costs £425.

But aren't your Sun-reading Brits the very people who need to adopt the PS3 as their own for it to be a mass-market success in the UK?

booth1976 · 26-03-2007, 7:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2scoops

Thanks.

Having a PS3 is a really different experience than owning a 360. The PS3 feels more like a complete home entertainment "hub". You can play some tunes, fire up the browser and post on AVFORUMS or wack in a blu-ray disc and break open a few cans, then fire up F1 and pretend to be Jenson Button for an hour. It really is a great well rounded console.

That sums up my feelings about the console perfectly