Monday 26 March 2007

PS3 Episode 1 - Boom or Bust?

Its big, black, very shiny and weighs as much as a sherman tank, but i like the ps3!

Looks super sexy in 1080p, loadsa connection options, 4 usb ports, compact flash, sd card, memory stick etc, bluetooth that supports loads of stuff including wireless keyboards and mice, built in wireless lan (surprised the 'elite' xbox still doesnt have that).. setup was just 2 cables, power and HDMI.. and away we go =)

quick games run through...

resistance- nice fps, not far into it yet, but liking the story line and the graphics are superb, great draw distance, lots of stuff going on.. things blowing around etc.. shows a lot of promise.

virtua tennis 3- looks gorgeous but meh its tennis, plays very well. slightly worringly they look a little 'undead' close up, more a bad palette choice issue than the ps3 i think! ...ok but not sure how much ill play it

virtua fighter 5- in a word... stunning, gameplay is fantastic and looks jaw droppingly beautiful. easily one of the best launch titles.

motorstorm- this is the system seller.. absolutely fantastic, bombing down a valley, screen getting covered in mud, buggies, trucks, rally cars taking side swipes at you, a kings of leon track blasting at you from the tv, really good, tried online last night for the first time, was hilarious, no lag or any other problems even with 12 of us. only downside is fairly long load times.

Bought some titles off the online store, tekken.. still the same game, looks great in 1080p tho, good as always.
Blast Factor, awesome little shoot em up, very similar to geometery wars but uses the sixxaxxis too, a steal at 3 quid.

Pros..

- Lots of ports! showing holiday photos from the compact flash card slot was easy.
- Great selection of games at launch. Cheap too, most titles coming in at 39.99
- Well built machine, weighs a ton, mostly due to it having an internal psu (no huge brick like the xbox, thanks sony!)
- Being a mac head im all about the UI.. i far prefer the 'minimalist' style of the xmb menu to the xbox look.. much cleaner and less tacky & cheap looking than the xbox (no bloody ads everywhere for a start!) altho PShome will probably end this!
- Like the dual shock, nice to be using one again.
- Some nice, real cheap games on the store. Tekken 5 for 6 quid?? can't go wrong.

Cons..

- Price, i can afford it so i dont really care =) can't afford it? get over it. or wait 6 months ;)
- Heat.. it does get pretty warm =) might save on the heating bills this year...
- Even tho i prefer the XMB look, it lacks a few features the ms live stuff offers, no doubt these will come in time
- Expensive Blu Ray movie discs.. online prices are finally nearing dvd prices which is a start
- Whilst nice, the new controller is too light.
- Lack of rumble.. altho i hear this may be returning! (God of War 3 PS3 specs were quoted as having rumble..)

Conclusion.

Sony are taking an awful lot of flak, mostly from people who havent even played a ps3. Its a nice system, certainly not without its flaws.. but so far im very impressed, if they can keep the games coming its going to be a fun ride. Great line up coming for the rest of the year.. ninja gaiden sigma, loco roco, LittleBigPlanet, gta4, final fantasy 13, MGS4, Heavenly Sword and plenty more

I seriously hope sony give microsoft some competition, it will work out much better for us the consumer over having one dominant system.

4 comments:

Ben said...

Great writeup Mal!
I'm almost convinced ;-)
Seriously though, we do need some healthy competition and sounds like Sony may have come up with enough of the goods to at least make M$ break a sweat.
I would like to have a go on one just so I can justify my dislike of the console. Having said that, I don't think I need any justification my opinion of Sony in general. But thats another story!

Mal said...

I just thought of another con actually, no HD connection options in the box, just composite! For £425 i would expect an HDMI cable or component leads. Grrr.

Mal.

Ben said...

You also forgot the crummy excuse for motion control. Is it really as bad as I think it is? Like a ball bearing tilt switch?

Mal said...

Not sure, havent really used it much, works fine on Blast Factor but thats only looking at tilting the controller left or right.

Super rub a dub looks quite cool! That uses it quite extensively to guide rubber ducks!

http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2007/02/22/super-rub-a-dub-screens-and-info-too-cute-to-refuse/

its not out in europe yet though.