PS3 Thread

[Shropshire Slasher]

I've read all the PS3 hate on the boards here. Don't know why I feel compelled to post this, but here goes.

 

Back last July, in the midst of an ugly divorce from a cheating wife, I decided to do something for me. Something completely pointless. So, I went to Best Buy and picked up a PS3, controllers, games, remote, etc.

 

Since then, I've gone from liking it to really loving it, and I'll tell you why. But first, some background.

 

When the PS3 came out, I laughed about the price. Sony touted it as the "center" of a home entertainment system. I laughed at that. It looked like fancy graphics with nothing else of value to me.

 

Now that I've had one for 6+ months, here is my assessment. Love the thing. Gaming is fun on it. There are some good titles. My 10 year old son and I are currently running through a Franchise Season with the Colts on Madden '08. I've got NFS Carbon, which EVERYBODY from 8 and up loves to play at get parties. We download free games and demos that have been pretty cool and led to decent game purchases. Even my 4 year old loves this bizarre little rubber duck game where you use the sixaxis controller to guide the duckes around a little pool to a drain.

 

Now, I read that for the hardcore gamers the 360 is the better system. Can't argue for or against this since I've only played the XBox occasionally. But for me, as a casual gamer, the PS3 has been a great gaming console.

 

Now the other features of the PS3 are what has really put it over the top for me. Blue-Ray rules on this. I've got a beautiful Sony XBR4 40" panel, and the BD movies are simply stunning on it. I have 300 and Casino Royal as demo disks, and watching them through the PS3 and XBR is amazing. Even my mom and dad are amazed by the picture quality, and they are not really impressed by such things. Everybody is simply blown away. When I bought the PS3, it was cheaper than a stand alone BD player at the time.

 

I also use the PS3 to play my media library through my home theater. I've got several thousand WMA tracks that I serve through tversity. I've got several devices that can receive them from the media server, but the PS3 performs the best. I REALLY love this feature. All my tracks in one location and when the kids go to their mothers I can crank them.

 

I even download HD movie trailers for stuff I wanna see. Not that this is a critical feature, but fun to play around with.

 

At any rate, if any of you wanna pile on here and tell me I don't know what I'm talking about, feel free... I can take it. But, I wanted to put out there that there is at least ONE satisfied PS3 owner in the world. And, I was very wrong about a device in your hometheater that can do a lot of things. I still think all these consoles are over priced, but this is what they go for I guess.

 

Cheers

SS

[[LaW]Maverick]

glad you're enjoying it!

[Sgt. Slaughterâ„¢-TopBrass]

I'm considering getting one for the Blu-Ray player...and its ability to play games. Since it looks like HD-DVD may be on the way out, might as well kill two birds with one stone.

 

I'm 60-40 Blu-Ray/HD-DVD, so I'm not swayed enough yet to run out and buy one. Maybe in 6 months or so...

 

[dragonfly]

My cousin bought one a year ago and he absolutely loves it too. That makes at least 2 customers! I've never played on one, so I cant comment either way.

Edited January 19, 2008 by DarkArchon

[farmerisme]

I like the ps3, my only kick is that the gh3 controllers on it are garbage.

[Peckles]

I love mine too =D

Play it all the time, ps3, ps2, ps1 games, all of em, and I've backed up all my memory cards, wiped them clean, and gave them to my friends for their ps2/ps1's. The blu-ray is great, got a 42" panasonic, looks awesome! Sadly I don't have a hardcore sound system, but I'm sure I'll get one eventually. I go out and rent games, some have been not so good, but others are so cool, and the graphics just blow me away!

 

Total satisfied customers: 3! (an emphatic 3, not 3 factorial)

[JackieChan]

Even though I don't care for Sony at the moment and anything they've made recently, nice to see you're enjoying your purchase.

[Saris]

Sony's done and said a lot of dumb stuff lately, but the only thing I don't get when people go beyond the PS3 and say they hate Sony. The only thing I didn't like about them is that they headed the DRM front. At least their products work, unlike EA, and at least they aren't scammers like Microsoft (Vista, IE, trusted computing). It's the honest truth when I say that every single person I know personally, that bought an XBox 360, got the red ring of death. At least 4/5 of them could get it replaced, but that's still pretty pathetic.

 

My PS3 has worked flawlessly. The only thing that bugs me is every now and then, the controller loses the connection and refuses to reconnect unless I plug in the USB (its not the battery) or restart the console. It's not that much of a pain, but it sucks if I'm sitting in my recliner, with both dogs on my lap, a coke by my side and covered in a blanket - the way I usually play.

 

Everyone in my family says the wii is better (no one here likes XBox, we've borrowed one from a friend for like 6 months, but we've never bought one or any of their games) but so far, I find it's library of games to be very boring. Mario Kart and Smash Bros. will definitely change that, but FFXIII and MGS4 and DMC4 (Feb. 5th!!!) will also change the PS3.

 

So, for my 2 cents overall, the ps3 was a bumpy start, no different from the 360. A year later, it's just as solid a console as the 360 a year after its release. Only the Wii is stomping on the competition (due to it's undeserved hype). Seriously, replacing those batteries are ridiculously annoying - especially if you're trying to maintain four of them, connecting them is annoying, the sensors are off unless you're right in front of them and more times than not, my friends have screamed OWNED at my face in Mario Party because it didn't do what I told it to.

 

And for those who own Mario Party - I could own you so bad at Shake it Up.

[anonymo]

Now, I read that for the hardcore gamers the 360 is the better system. Can't argue for or against this since I've only played the XBox occasionally. But for me, as a casual gamer, the PS3 has been a great gaming console.

 

Pretty much the basis in terms of gaming for the argument for the 360. That's all there is to it. PS3 is really a casual system at the moment. You can't really go wrong with it unless there are specific games on the 360 side you want to play or online play for the cross platform titles is at the top of your priorities.

 

Why do I hate Sony (ok when I say hate I mean: think is an irresponsible company who makes every attempt to treat their customers like people who couldn't even tie their shoes if they were velcro and is interested in nothing more than their bottom line even at the cost of their entire industry)? Right now it is because they have single handedly ruined the HD home movie industry for the previous two and the next two (at least) years. BluRay discs are NO DIFFERENT than HD DVD discs (ok, BR cost more to manufacture and pollute more due to their incompatibility with existing DVD manufacturing). They started out at 25gb max just like HD DVDs did. The quality is identical. I don't think I need to go on. It is a pointless money grab by Sony from the companies that originally brought us DVDs like Toshiba (side note that DVDs would have been 5gb if it hadn't been for Sony insisting on their data encoding technique be used as a clause in the agreement for them to drop their own proprietary format MMCDs and adopt the superior DVD format).

 

Sony is a bad company. They make some very good products (the PS3 is a well built and very useful console, their TVs are some of the best LCDs money can buy and they used to be a world leader in professional video products, they have since been all but shunned by most professionals after they started selling the same products they always have but with completely different internal components without actually mentioning it to their distributors let alone the end users). All throughout the late 80's and early to mid nineties Sony would manufacture two version of most of their consumer products. One they sold as their own under "Sony" at a premium and the other they resold to companies such as "GoldStar" (among others) who (even though they weren't manufacturing them and were even buying them from their direct competition) would sell them for a distinctive discount compared to what Sony would sell the exact same components for.

 

I want a PS3 myself, how could I not. Especially now that it seems BluRay is actually going to with the format war ( ). But really, it is my opinion that Sony doesn't belong in the video game market and never has...I really wish that Sega hadn't turned them down when they wanted to collaborate on the PS1 (Sega went on the make the Saturn).

 

That's my Sony rant.

[Playaa]

My roommate has a PS3 and I have a 360. They're hooked to the same tv. The 360 gets used alot more often. That said, everything you described using your PS3 for is what we use the 360 for (I have 2 320g portable hard drives full of movies and tv shows that we use the 360 to watch them on tv).

In the long run, I'm gonna say that the PS3 is going to win though simply because of the Blue Ray player (since it looks like Blue Ray is going to win the war)

[Saris]

Why do I hate Sony (ok when I say hate I mean: think is an irresponsible company who makes every attempt to treat their customers like people who couldn't even tie their shoes if they were velcro and is interested in nothing more than their bottom line even at the cost of their entire industry)? Right now it is because they have single handedly ruined the HD home movie industry for the previous two and the next two (at least) years. BluRay discs are NO DIFFERENT than HD DVD discs (ok, BR cost more to manufacture and pollute more due to their incompatibility with existing DVD manufacturing). They started out at 25gb max just like HD DVDs did. The quality is identical. I don't think I need to go on. It is a pointless money grab by Sony from the companies that originally brought us DVDs like Toshiba (side note that DVDs would have been 5gb if it hadn't been for Sony insisting on their data encoding technique be used as a clause in the agreement for them to drop their own proprietary format MMCDs and adopt the superior DVD format).

 

Sony is a bad company. They make some very good products (the PS3 is a well built and very useful console, their TVs are some of the best LCDs money can buy and they used to be a world leader in professional video products, they have since been all but shunned by most professionals after they started selling the same products they always have but with completely different internal components without actually mentioning it to their distributors let alone the end users). All throughout the late 80's and early to mid nineties Sony would manufacture two version of most of their consumer products. One they sold as their own under "Sony" at a premium and the other they resold to companies such as "GoldStar" (among others) who (even though they weren't manufacturing them and were even buying them from their direct competition) would sell them for a distinctive discount compared to what Sony would sell the exact same components for.

That last bit is one thing I dislike, but that's true for everything. Why pay .50c extra for Heinz ketchup when you get President's Choice? I'm a firm believer that every company knows how high they can jack their prices that people are willing to pay for, and every company will. It's the whole point.

 

As for everything else, Microsoft does the same thing, though in my opinion, I feel it's worse. Microsoft does have good customer support, which is good since a lot of their products require some kind of technician to operate them. I've taken on partition damaging viruses, registry errors and to some extent, three programming languages yet it took me almost two hours just to set up my brother's wireless mouse and keyboard made by MS for MS Windows.

 

I knew when both formats came out that they were the same, so the ONLY reason I cared about BR winning was because I already had my ps3. Though when the XBox was first launched, it was the first console I thought "Why is this even here? It's just another Playstation?" I felt the PS1 was alot different from Nintendo, and anything before that, I was too young to even care about anything outside of Nintendo consoles. We always bought Nintendo cause it was our 'party/group' console, and playstation was our single player console. When Xbox1 came out, no one in my family even paid attention to it: We had what we needed already. Again, it's just typical consumerism.

 

So, in the end, those are just points. This whole post basically asks: "Isn't that what every company does/tries to do?"

[boiler]

I personally have nothing against the PS3, although I haven't played one beyond a few minutes here and there at my local Best Buy. I actually owned a PS2 before my Xbox 360, and I LOVED it. I loved it even after I had two die on me.

 

In my opinion though, the 360 has a LOT more games for it that I like than the PS3 does, and that's the deciding factor for me at this point. I'm not really a casual gamer, and I'm not a hardcore gamer either. Visually, both consoles perform pretty much the same with games, and anyone that tries to tell you differently is either lying or maybe has 100x better vision than I do (20/20 here).

 

Everything you mentioned about using it as a "media center" can also be said about the 360. I use it to play playlists of songs from my laptop over my wireless network at parties all the time. Same thing with the few videos I have on it as well. From what I've seen at this point, Xbox Live is still superior to Sony's online solution (and it had better be at this point since I'm PAYING for it ) but they also had a couple year head start.

 

The Blu-Ray thing isn't as important to me at this point - MS has already said if Blu-Ray wins the format war then they would make a 360 peripheral for it to replace the current HD-DVD peripheral. Both formats are too expensive at this point (media AND hardware). If I KNEW BR would win out in 6 months or so and the prices of players and such don't change much, then I would definitely go buy a PS3 and start a BR library (and pick up MGS4 and GT5 for myself as well). The PS3 has a lot going for it in the hardware and usability department (come on MS, how much could it possibly cost to include internal wireless???). I won't go into Sony as a company, as I know Anonymo and others may more professional experience with them than I do, but from my experience I will echo the sentiment that they do a lot of things wrong, but some things oh-so-right (LOVE my 50" SXRD).

 

If money were no object, I would buy a PS3 and sit it right next to my 360. Unfortunately money IS an object right now, and I think there's no question that the 360 has a superior software library in terms of quantity AND quality. (side note: Mass Effect is almost worth buying a 360 for by itself - throw in Gears of War and it's a no-brainer in my opinion) Sony has time to catch up though and they're not going anywhere. I'm glad you guys like your systems, I love mine too. The "fanboys" need to grow the heck up and enjoy what they have instead of bashing what they don't. I know I've "bashed" the PS3 in these forums, but it was mostly harmless jabs at their lack of great software titles for my preferences.

 

I'm a fan of gaming first and foremost, and all I've ever cared about is being able to play stuff that I enjoy. That sleek black PS3 WOULD look awfully sharp next to my gorgeous TV though IF anyone is looking to give their PS3 away, I'd gladly trade you a gently-used copy of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and a $50 gift certificate to Applebee's for it Gather around the flavors that bring people together!

[NOFX]

I've owned both systems and here is my take.

 

-The PS3 is a more powerful machine - I can notice in Cod4 and Assassins creed, I get less slow downs when the machine has to suddenly draw a lot of information

- It also has built in wifi.

- Comes with a blu-ray player

- Controllers are rechargable out of the box

- To play on the internet is free

- Install linux and have a PC in your living room.

- Sony's OS has a ton more features including web browser out of the box and streaming music/video from your PC(XP or linux will work, Microsoft media edition not required)

 

Microsoft is just out to get your money. To buy everything that comes with 40 gig PS3, you would need to spend 100 on a wireless adapter, 200 on an HD-DVD player, 20 bucks for each recharge pack for controller and 7 dollars a month to play online. Your looking at giving Microsoft $700 for all the features that come with the PS3.

 

My concern is also the ongoing cost. You do realize your paying per month to play on NON-DEDICATED servers. If they were dedicated, it wouldn't be so bad, but its basically Microsoft's way of charging you twice to use the internet. I really can't understand why every gamestop employee tells me Im crazy for choosing my PS3 over a 360.

 

Oh BTW, Microsoft does have the one up on controllers, I believe they are just a little more comfortable than Sony's.

 

EDIT* I would also like to add that this is coming from a person who considers himself a casual gamer. There is no way I'm going to be buying ton's of games for either console, to me this is just a waste of money. We pick a great game and stick with it. You know, like CS.

The only game I own for my PS3 is Call of Duty and its the only game I need. I owned 7 or so games for the 360 and the only one I played was Call of Duty.

Edited January 21, 2008 by NOFX

[[LaW]Maverick]

Well...I wasn't going to say anything...but now I just can't resist it....

 

If anyone's out to get your money it's Sony. Why? Well, they refused to allow 95% of 3rd party developers to manufacture anything BluRay. What's that mean for you and me? They have the market essentially cornered. for a few years (until HD download really takes off), and EVERY single company that want to even make a movie on a BluRay disc has to pay Sony a crap-load which means that the cost of buying movies in HD will continue to remain high.

 

Sony charges you $2,000 extra for a Sony LCD that has the same performance specs as the same size Samsung or Sharp, and while it DOES do STANDARD definition TV better, it does HD just as well as any other high-end set on the market for $2,000 MORE. That's ridiculous.

 

The PS2 was one of the crappiest systems ever built in terms of hardware--they STILL have chronic laser problems and while they have a failure rate that is more than likely higher than the 360's everyone complains about, they never extended their warranty OR fixed the problem. Microsoft not only extended the warranty, but corrected the problem with a hardware revision. You'll never see Sony do that.

 

I agree that Sony makes a few great products, but they no longer dominate the home audio department like they used to. I'd take my Yamaha receiver over a comparable Sony any day, for instance, because it has more feature for less cash and sounds incredible.

 

THEY ACTUALLY DEVELOPED THE ROOTKIT VIRUS. Well, they won't call it a virus, but it essentially is. Don't know what it is? Look it up.

 

A lot of people say MS is out to get your money and nothing else. I don't understand this as MS's gaming division just started breaking even. Previously they lost hundreds of dollars on each XBOX sold, and when they asked our nerdy super-rich CEO why he would do such a thing, he said something to the effect of him just wanting to sell a game system that worked well and was a good time. Also, he gives ridiculous amounts of money to charities every year, and does all sorts of other things. Do I think Vista is overpriced? Hell yes I do, but their gaming division has never been about the money. IF you don't believe me, just look up the cold hard numbers for yourself.

 

Also, someone please tell me if I'm misinformed, but didn't Sony remove the reverse compatibility from their PS3's with their latest hardware revision? I was also told there was a firmware update to get rid of the capability on the PS3's already sold. I never bothered to varify that, but someone in here should be able to. If they did, that's pretty crappy of them.....

 

For more interesting Sony bashing, see this link!

 

For the record, I love my Wii, and Mass Effect is more than worth owning a 360 for. You throw in the up and coming Lost Odyssey, Gears of War, and Halo, and you're one happy gamer.

[akaM2]

Sony charges you $2,000 extra for a Sony LCD that has the same performance specs as the same size Samsung or Sharp, and while it DOES do STANDARD definition TV better, it does HD just as well as any other high-end set on the market for $2,000 MORE. That's ridiculous.

 

 

I think someone is exaggerating a little

[[LaW]Maverick]

Sony charges you $2,000 extra for a Sony LCD that has the same performance specs as the same size Samsung or Sharp, and while it DOES do STANDARD definition TV better, it does HD just as well as any other high-end set on the market for $2,000 MORE. That's ridiculous.

 

 

I think someone is exaggerating a little

 

Sharp

Sony

 

$1,000 more, my apologies....but still, $1,000 more? Seriously...

Edited January 21, 2008 by [LaW]Maverick

[Windex]

Sony Makes all the technologies and then sells them to sharp and samsung. Sony does use better image processors so they will always have an edge.. is it worth the extra money? probably not.. but sony can definitely produce the best contrast ratio's this world has ever seen and they WONT let anyone catch up so if u want the BEST right THEN sony will always take the lead..

 

As far as the gaming division I LOVED my PS2.. i still play it alot (bought it used and have NEVER had a problem with it), i love my 360 i play it tons and have never had a problem with it either.. too be honest i've never played a PS3.. i'm more of a social gamer (neither casual or hardcore) i get on to interact with friends and have a good time, any system that allows me to do that will make me happy.. so far XBOX has produced the best multi-player games and has made it easy to play with friends if it wasn't for that i'd probably be split down the middle.

 

And yes they aren't dedicated but they do track all of your stats, achievments, store your controller settings and a whole lot more. it's worth the money i think, they just need to manage their servers better!

 

nothing sucks more than when you go to recover your gamertag and the servers are having probs..

[shaftiel]

Sony Makes all the technologies and then sells them to sharp and samsung.

 

 

Samsung has its own extensive R/D division and produces nearly all of its own parts and technologies. It does not rely on Sony for technology.

 

 

How dare you even make such a claim. I will now shun you. You are now being shunned...

 

 

 

 

 

Shaftiel

[Allanon]

I will not attempt to read all the information presented here and instead will present you with a few words by Allanon...

 

The PS3 is the third Playstation system...

 

Also... I like cake... even if it can be a lie sometimes

 

 

That is all

[Windex]

Do your homework Shaftiel.. they do buy information and technology from Sony!

 

I just had a few dinners with Samsung's previous VP of the Semi-Conductor Division, I know dirty secrets!

 

*That's not to say Samsung doesn't still produce it!

It's kind of like Audi going to VW like we have this awesome engine.. it's a 5 speed blah blah blah.. Audi of course has the same engine but it's a 6 speed and alot smoother.

Point? Audi is nicer than VW (sister companies) and while this may not be an actual scenario.. yes both cars work, will the audi perform better? yes.. thats what Sony does to Samsung and Sharp. If it wasn't for this internal sharing Sony would be the powerhouse with no competition. In todays economy that's not allowed so they sell what they need to to provide for a competitive market.

Edited January 21, 2008 by Windex

[shaftiel]

Do your homework Shaftiel.. they do buy information and technology from Sony!

 

I just had a few dinners with Samsung's previous VP of the Semi-Conductor Division, I know dirty secrets!

 

*That's not to say Samsung doesn't still produce it!

It's kind of like Audi going to VW like we have this awesome engine.. it's a 5 speed blah blah blah.. Audi of course has the same engine but it's a 6 speed and alot smoother.

Point? Audi is nicer than VW (sister companies) and while this may not be an actual scenario.. yes both cars work, will the audi perform better? yes.. thats what Sony does to Samsung and Sharp. If it wasn't for this internal sharing Sony would be the powerhouse with no competition. In todays economy that's not allowed so they sell what they need to to provide for a competitive market.

 

 

 

Sry... shunning in progress.

 

 

 

 

Shaftiel

[LoveForPriscillaChan]

Off wiki...

 

Audi AG is a German automobile manufacturer with headquarters in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, and has been an almost wholly owned (99.7%) subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group since 1964.

 

So they are not sister companies, but rather VW owns Audi

 

 

 

 

#1 PChan Fan

Edited January 22, 2008 by Undies

[Fatty]

It's kind of like Audi going to VW like we have this awesome engine.. it's a 5 speed blah blah blah.. Audi of course has the same engine but it's a 6 speed and alot smoother.

Point? Audi is nicer than VW (sister companies) and while this may not be an actual scenario.. yes both cars work, will the audi perform better?

 

Careful, or else you'll have Clueless in here posting in a second...and everyone will suffer....

[stutters]

i just got back from having a few shifters with the svp's of consumer electronics at sony. they don't even have samsung's phone number, much less sell them secrets! m2 was there, he can validate my story.

[Saris]

Arrrrrggghhhh, close this thread before Clueless finds it! (I actually didn't know he was still alive)

 

I never encountered that PS2 failure rate. We bought a new one after it stopped reading discs after five years. My dad's lasted about the same, but his died cause his house is filthy. The thing had layers of caked on dust that wouldn't come off.

 

And the rootkit for DRM was pretty bad, but I argue once again that it wasn't the first and most definitely not the last to try and invade your privacy in order to protect their own pockets. But you still have a good point there - Anyone who's tried it once should burn.

 

And yes, they've removed backwards compatibility from the 40gig model, but it should continue to be produced in the 80gig model. I think it sucks. I like BC. I've played more Ps2 games on my Ps3 than Ps3 games.

 

As for the price of the 360 add-ons, I laughed at those when they first came out. I couldn't help but think "look at Microsoft trying to play catch-up now that's it paying the price for being a year early" (if you can all remember, it's why xbox1 fans originally laughed at ps2 owners). Not that it really matters now, but if I'd bought a launch console, I'd be pretty upset about 360 elite and the HD add-on and what not. Of course, with Ps3 now half the price of it's launch price already, I feel pretty cheated, considering all I've played so far is Genji (which sucked) and MotorStorm (which was okay). But all I could think off when stuff like GameFaqs surveys said the main reason people didn't have PS3 was because of the price, I thought 360 + Hd-DVD add-on = Ps3 price.

 

In the end, with DMC4 out on Feb. 5th, it's time to sell all our Wiis and get 360s and PS3s.