Sony Playstation 3 (40 GB) Black Console

I never considered myself a gamer, yet somehow I ended up trying all three of the current generation consoles. I absolutely hated the Wii, loved the 360, and now still experimenting with the PS3. I sold the Wii pretty much a week after I got it - thankfully it was a hot commodity so I actually made some money off of it. The 360 I really enjoyed and had a hard time parting with, but because I truly am not a hard core gamer, only played one game on it regularly - Top Spin 2 tennis, I couldn't possibly justify the cost of two consoles.

Since the HD war is finally over, and I am not convinced that HD downloads are anywhere near close to mass market, I couldn't wait any longer to have a Blu Ray player. So I ended up selling the 360 to a friend and getting a PS3.

I am feeling a little blue for losing my Top Spin 2 - not available on PS3, but the 3 will be available soon - but I have to say I really think that the PS3 is an incredible piece of equipment with a lot of potential.

Though the box comes with fewer accessories than the 360 - no headset nor HD cable, at the end I think it's a wash, because the PS3 is simply designed better as a hardware. All the connections are right on the body, where as the 360 requires the use of the supplied cable even for digital audio. The Wi-Fi is built in, and HDMI is available on every model.

Set up took a long time, because of the needed software update. On my connection it took about 45 min to download, and then another 10 to install. There are a lot of settings to play with, but none of them are required to jump right in. The HDMI was automatically detected and prompted me to select auto or manual resolution. I chose auto which selected 1080i although my projector is 720p. I switched it manually later, but contrary to my common sense it did actually look better on the 1080i setting, so I reverted back to it.

I am really bummed that I missed on the 5 free Blu Ray movie offer, and didn't even get a free remote, but I simply couldn't wait any longer. The remote is probably the worst part about the PS3. I can't imagine it would've cost them more than a dollar to add an IR port for universal remote control. I intended to eventually get a Nyko or something remote, though I will dread having a USB dongle sticking out of the PS3.

Besides the Blu Ray playback, the free online play was the other big feature which made me go with the PS3 over the 360. I know XBL is worth it and all, but not to me. I also like that in the PS store things cost in actual currency rather than Microsoft's ridiculous points, it always took me a long time to figure out how much something costs so I can decide if it's worth it. On XBL movies ended up costing something like $4-6, which is way more than the $15 a month I pay blockbuster for disc rentals. This, and the long wait for downloads is why I don't think that HD downloads are right around the corner.

I haven't played online with PS3 yet, because the only game I ever played online was Top Spin. I really hope that there will be enough people on the network to play against. That's one thing that worries me, I know that XBL has a lot more subscribers, and even there sometimes I had to wait a long time for any one to play with. Tennis doesn't seem to be a very popular sport :-(

As far as movie playback, at didn't see that much of a difference with Blu Ray over DVD at first. Actually I still don't, but while subtle, the differences are big enough on a big screen that after a while DVDs start to look a bit dull and hard on the eyes. Unfortunately I don't have a receiver that can handle the new HD audio formats so I haven't experienced those yet.

The PS3 has been almost completely silent so far, unlike the 360, which used to drown my A/C with its own noise levels. On the down side, I have to control movie playback with the game pad, which is really easy to accidentally hit and mess up.

Speaking of the game controller - I am not crazy about it, but I hope I'll get used to it. To me the biggest problem is the position of the left stick for movement control, it just seems to fir more naturally on the 360 controller. The motion sensing so far has been more annoying than fun (just like the Wii), but I've only played 2 games that used it, so maybe in the future some games will make better use of it, either way, unlike the Wii most games don't require it at all, even if it is optional. I can't wait for the rumble controller to come too.

So let's summarize the my favorite things about the PS3 so far:

1. Blu Ray playback. To me this a good enough reason to buy it. The latest update enabled BD Live, though I could care less about it.

2. Free online play. I just hope there are people actually online.

3. Hardware quality - from design to performance, it is just much better thought out. If it weren't for the controller and Bluetooth remote, I wouldn't have any complaints about it.

4. Development - the thing I like a lot is that Sony does put a lot of effort into this machine and is constantly making it better and more useful.

5. Web browser - right now it has very little purpose to it, but the thing I, and I am sure many others, are hoping for is that at some point Sony will make it powerful enough to use for internet TV from services like HULU. Right now this is the #1 thing on my wish list for the PS3.

6. Finally, something that was like a thorn in my *** - the power brick of the 360 really bothered me, purely for aesthetics reasons. Thank God it's gone with the PS3.


Now there's plenty to wish for in the Playstation, but luckily most things seem to be software related and it should be possible to be fixed with future firmware updates. I have plenty of issues with both the PS3 and Xbox 360, but I felt like the 360 would be impossible to be fixed with updates - you can't magically add a digital audio output, or make it quiet, or enable Blu Ray playback from its DVD drive, or make it Wi-Fi capable without adding hardware. The only similar thing lacking in the PS3 is an IR port.

Now here's what I don't like:

1. I am not happy with the media file support - true with Orb or Tversity I can view the same files as with the 360, but those programs are kind of heavy and I don't like running them on my laptop. I was able to stream more file types with the 360 and WMP11. Sony has already shown, however, that they are able to expend on the supported file formats, so I really have high hopes that this will not be a problem for long.

2. Background downloads. It was easy on XBL, turn off your console and the system keeps downloading until it's done, shutting off completely after words. The PS3 has to be on, and is very limited in what it will do in the meantime, most basic activities, like playing a movie or a game will suspend the download. Again, not something impossible to fix with a firmware.

3. Interface. Perhaps I got used to the 360 Dashboard, but I find the PS3 XMB boring and dull, I enjoyed the colorful blades more. I doubt that's something Sony will change, but it's not something that bothers me all that much either.

4. High gloss cabinet. I not it's the latest thing, and I've been complaining about all the silver electronics for the past decade or so, but they really should stick to matte finishes, this is simply a dust and fingerprint magnet.

5. Already talked about controller and remote, not going into it again.

6. Charging of the controller. It's great that it could be done from any USB device, but why in the world could it not be done with the console turned off?

There are a few things others a complaining about - backwards compatibility (not an issue for me I don't have any PS2 games), lack of achievements (they're probably coming), lack of games - ditto, etc. Different people simply have different needs. I would personally love to have the PS3 with an Xbox 360 software and network loaded on it.

As it is, I think that the PS3 is best suited for my needs, I just can't wait for the Top Spin 3 to come out, so I'll have something to play.