Thoughts on the PS3?

[Mael]

I'm kind of curious on your guys' thoughts and opinions about the PS3 (Playstation 3) which comes out tomorrow the 16th of November. I realized that I am not excited that much, if at all, as I was for the Playstation 2's release back in the days.

Anyways, I stopped by Best Buy about an hour ago, bought Dawn of War: The Dark Crusade, and I saw quite a few people lined up for the PS3's release already. I take that back, they weren't "lined" up, they were literally camping. No surprise there for me. Before that however, I was at my local Target found in my local mall, and they had a PS3 that was playable. It was this one dirt bike racing game. Didn't really reach my expectations, since it was basically playing a PS2 game with outstanding graphics. Of course, the graphics were no different than the Xbox 360 graphics, about the same I suppose. I guess it didn't really interest me since the game wasn't motion-sensitive, I felt like a fool trying to turn the controller to turn the bike rider, almost broke the handle thing that was holding the controller .

On the way to the PS3, however, there was also a Nintendo Wii. Now this is what literally caught my eye, since I never imagined that Nintendo could get any smaller than the GameCube, I was, fortunately, wrong. The size of the Wii is no bigger than my stretched out hand, from the thumb to the pinky, imitate the gesture of a phone with your hand, and it's no bigger than that. I'm sure a lot of you already know this, but I just wanted more input on your thoughts on the new generation consoles.

For me, the Nintendo Wii is what I'm more attracted to. We couldn't play it at Target though ;/, kind of an upset there.

[Ghryphen]

I have a 360. I have never been impress with PlayStation, I have no interest in it.

[Mael]

Originally Posted by Gryphon

I have a 360. I have never been impress with PlayStation, I have no interest in it.

*Offtopic*
Got XBL (Xbox Live)? If so, what's your Gamertag and what games do you play online with?

[SilverTalon]

The thing you have to remember about the PS3 is that Sony really wasn't setting out to make a good games console. This is a format war, and Sony is trying to land a big punch before that fight really starts. I know you're too young to have been around (God...so this is what Stoke feels like everyday), but in the 70s-80s there was another format war between Beta-MAX and VHS on what format people would use to watch movies.

VHS, obviously, won that war...and the company who made it (i.e. - not Sony, though I forget who it was now) made tons of money off of it. Tons. Think of all the VHS movies out there and remember that the technology is licensed. Yeah.

Today's war is over HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray. Sony is heavily invested in Blu-ray and their plan is to get a PS3 into everyone's house so that when HDTV becomes more widespread and people start looking for HD movies, hey look! We've already got a Blu-ray player in our house! That's why if you look at their marketing, it's almost like they're trying to say "Hey, we've got everything our competitors have!"...the performance numbers are carefully calculated to top Microsoft's and they went back to fiddle with their controller so that the Wii wouldn't be able to say they had something that the PS3 didn't. That's the main thrust of Sony's campaign...not to make a great games system, but to rely on the consumer good-will brought on by the PS1 and PS2 to get a Blu-ray player out there.

Now, does that make the PS3 a "bad" console out of hand? No, but the technology used in the PS3 is not really all that different. Sony will go on and on about how great their Cell processors are and this and that...but IBM makes the chips in the PS3...and the 360...and the Wii. You also have to remember that the Xbox came out a couple years after the PS2, when technology had greatly improved. The PS3 is only a year later...Moore's Law says 18 months for computer speed to double, so if a product comes out 12 months later, it will be faster, but not massively so. The performance gain in that window is not significant enough from a hardware standpoint to truly matter over the long haul. So the hardware isn't great in comparison like it was with the PS2 vs. Xbox.

Another thing the PS2 had going for it was the controller, which was arguably one of the best designed ever. The original Xbox controller was huge, and that took away from it a bit. The Nintendo controllers were always a bit light and flimsy. Current generation: The 360's controller, especially the wireless one, is very nice, as it's an evolution of the dual shock. The PS3's controller is simply another evolution of that same dual shock so it's hard to say it's any better or worse. The Wii wins here with it's Wii-mote and the fact that it's simply a "fun" thing. Lightsaber battles with a Wii-mote? Throwing the football? Oh yes...Guitar Hero proved that there's still a love amongst the gamers for novelty and interaction, and that's what the Wii really delivers.

So you have a few things going on with the PS3. One, it's primary role from a corporate perspective has nothing to do with gaming. Two, so much of it's features have been designed to simply one-up Microsoft and Nintendo to get Blu-ray out there which is great from a marketing perspective...but did anyone stop and make sure it was fun? Three, they're trying to release the product in an environment very different from the original Xbox release. Their hardware simply isn't that full technology generation later to deliver that "Wow" factor (remember Xbox 360 to Xbox to PS2 comparisons? Any way you went there was a "Wow" factor comparing the graphics). Factor in that shoehorning the Blu-ray player into the machine is what jacked the price up (and Sony is still losing money per PS3) and that you can still afford an Xbox 360 and a Wii for the cost of the PS3...yeah, I think Sony miscalculated on this one.

Time will tell, because there's a lot of Sony loyalty out there, but nothing I've seen thus far has made me want to rush out and buy a PS3.

[Stoke]

Silvers wall of text crits me for 1500...

[SilverTalon]

Stoke casts Power of Old.
Stoke gains 3000 health.
Stoke receives loot: [Walker].

[Stoke]

yep. 'bout right.

Except I picked up this one:

[RagingSamster]

Stokee and his epic walker!

My son is going to wait outside of BestBuy to get one - not for himself but for ebay. He is happy with his 360 but he doubled his money when he sold one last year. He's going to try it again with the PS3

[Ghryphen]

I guess some guy in Vancouver hired 4 people at $100 a piece to wait in line and get him the consoles which he will turn around and sell on eBay.

[Ghryphen]

Originally Posted by Mael

*Offtopic*
Got XBL (Xbox Live)? If so, what's your Gamertag and what games do you play online with?

ATF Forums Leaderboard: http://www.alliedtribalforces.com/content.php?p=134

[Spinning Hat]

I may get a PS3 after the prices come down in a year or two.. We're a pretty balanced gaming family in my house, and we like to have all 3 consoles, if nothing else than for variety. So we already have the 360, and the Wii will be here soon I'm sure, especially since it will play GC games and can use GC controllers... So It'll happen here one day, but not anyth=ime soon. $600 is way toomuch for a console.

[Stoke]

I have a PS2 and I think MAYBE 3 games for it....just never got into it. I have too many things to do and not enough time to do them.... All myy spare time usually invoves WoW or my guitar....

[SilverTalon]

The Wii looks like much more fun anyway:

http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US...wii/mov_01.wmv

I just have problems with buying a console designed to push a technology as opposed to one designed to be entertaining.

[Mael]

Yeah, mostly all the people, who I'm sure purchased a PS3 today just did it to sell it on eBay. That's what my cousin did. He was there x_x.

[Stang]

If I was one that liked to stand in line I'd be standing in one to only sell on Ebay. Never really was impressed with PS the graphics suck and too bad cuz GT was a good game just horrid graphics. I love my xbox 360! Those points on that XBL where made by me but gryphy did help here and there for the escaping the cops on NFSU .

If I was getting one I'd get the Wii as they are selling fun and entertainment with friends to play not to spread their technology. $600 is a bit much.