Little Machine of Wonders

The predecessor, the playstation 2 has served me well. It has come back from the dead too many times for me to count. Granted, the thing was held together by nothing more than my own sheer will to play with it. Literally, its screws are gone, the covering is suspended in mid-air, and I used to manually have to perform open heart surgery on it just to play it. I loved that gaming console, and considered buying a new one, until I heard that the next step up, the Playstation 3 was coming out. Supposedly, it was going to blow everything else out of the water. I was excited about it, until I learned the price tag. What was it? Something like $599? And thats not even when everyone was going crazy camping outside stores to get them, and then turning around and selling them for a couple thousand. What do they think most gamers are? Respectable cashcows? Nah, not me. I needed to wait this one out. And why not, I've waited a long time anyway. I could still play my zombied ps2. As long as it didn't crap out on me. Which it did. About 2 months ago. At least it held out as long as the price needed to go down though. And so began my wonderful experience with the PS3...

When choosing your new PS3, there are a lot of technical terms being thrown at you. Ports, cell broadband engine, 1080 whathaveyou etc. Whatever, I just want to play some videogames. The easiest of all the mumbo jumbo to understand are the many different versions of the PS3 that you can get like, the 20 gb, 30 gb, all the way up to the 80 gb. The only thing you need to know, is that if you want to play PS1 or PS2 games on your PS3, then do not get the 40 gb version and under. Also, sometimes, you will not have a choice of which to get, simply because some versions are harder to find than others or just are not being offered anywhere anymore. But pretty much, you will more than likely be basing your decision of which one to get solely on the price and if it comes with games or not. I can't really comment on the instore price that I bought my game system for, since I purchased mine from a local seller. But I kind of wish that I had waited for a little cheaper or better deal, like the 40gb version that comes with 5 blu-ray movies for a mere $399. I do not think that the availability of those offers are very good though.

Physical Appearance: The look of the PS3 is pretty badass. It still has the token black color, and has the same standard rectangular shape, only it is slightly curved now, giving it a slight alien look. Its bigger than the PS2 for sure, and has some weight to it.A small setback for me, is that the controller looks almost exactly like the PS2 controller. I saw a promo pic for the PS3 a year ago and the controller looked nothing like this one. It was a boomerang shape and seemed to match the new look of the system really well. I don't know why they didn't make it, but I would have liked that one. The controllers though, are now wireless, using some new-fangled technology that I don't really care for. Actually, its probably not all that complicated and is something really simple, but I usually just gloss right over these things. The PS3 can stand up on its own without a stand, which is cool, but I never liked standing the PS2 up anyway. Overall, its is a much more steady piece of machinery, that was given a good design choice.

Graphics:This is the biggest area of the PS3 where I am completely blown away. I've heard people say that it doesn't look that great, or that the XBOX 360 looks better. This is what I think about that: Are they smoking something? If the graphics that this system produces could get any more real, it wouldn't be graphics anymore, but actual footage like a movie. The amount of detail, and careful attention to the physics of real-life, when you are playing a racing game or a shooting game, is just astounding. The video game world now has the all the same physical laws that we do. Shoot something, watch the smoke billow and curl away, and the object you just shot turn into pieces and settle onto the ground. Rain gathers just like real rain and reflects if the condtions are right. Its crazy. I think I read that this has something to do with the usage of blu-ray technology. I do not know, if there is a step up after this. And frankly, I don't care if there is because these graphics are good enough for me. To top it off, if you are someone with an HDTV, you are going to have an even greater experience with the graphics. I don't have one, so I don't even know what that can do, but an HDTV gets you the full graphic potential, makes it clearer etc. But do not worry if you don't have one, it definitley is not a must. Plus, its complicated to set up and you have to buy some more accessories. How much better can the picture get?

Games: When the PS3 first came out, a lot of people were freaking about about the fact that there seemed to be no games for the system. While, there were not tons of games, there was more than enough to keep everyone occupied until more games came out. For instance, the FPS game Resistance Fall of Man. Trust me, if this was the only game that they put out, I could not fault them because this game is pretty mind-blowing and gives massive amounts of fun. Now, there is starting to come the steady stream of new games, that are all very promising and setting the bar higher. The new game Assassins Creed is just unreal, and worth getting the PS3 alone for. Upcoming familiar franchise releases include, Resident Evil 5, Silent Hill 5 and Metal Gear Solid, as well as lots of new ones I eagerly await. I just am really excited with the endless possibilities of what the PS3 will be able to do with some of my favorite series. Watch out though, because the price of these games will cut into your wallet real good. At the opening price of $60, all it takes is buying 3 games, and you practically just spent the amount of the system again! I think that that is somewhat pushing it, I mean, they already made everyone that bought it go overboard emptying out their life savings just to buy the system. Why not, leave gamers a little money to eat?

Misc Extras: As you probably know, the PS3 can play movies just like the PS2. However, only Blu-Ray movies. They are all about the Blu-Ray huh? Personally I couldn't care less if I watched a "regular" dvd movie or the damn Blu-Ray, but maybe some people are just that picky now. Especially at the peak price of $35. No thanks, I think I'd rather spend that amount on going to see a movie in the theatre. I do not know how they justify that price, and the only way that I will be watching a blu-ray movie is if one is given to me as a gift. Regardless, it is there for you with all its new blu-ray glory if you want it. Another piece of equipment available for you to buy is the PS3 cooling system. I haven't gotten it, and I'm only a little worried about that. Cooling system? Why doesn't that come with it? Kinda has some scary connontations . Maybe the PS3 will get so hot that it will fry itself? They are about $30, so if you think you need it, get it.

You can get lots of accessories for the PS3. The only ones to really care about are the controllers. You can plug as many as seven in at a time! Theres Blue-tooth headsets to get and keyboards even. Theres also something called the Playstation Eye, which sounds like just a webcam. You can still go online with the PS3, and immerse yourself in a large world of shoot-outs, teams, and test your skills on other players. One of the ways you can do this is by using the Wifi capability that all PS3s are capable of. Of course, it wouldn't be such a special feature though, unless it took some more money from you. I've only played that aspect of the game a few times, and while it was pretty cool, its not something I need to do everyday. One game my friend and I were playing, we took online, and there was no one playing!

I would have to say that this system has been designed with both the casual and devoted gamer in mind. If you want, a cheaper version, you can get that. If you want the version with all the bells and whistles, you can certainly purchase that one. I like that it has lots of choices in that respect. There is so much backlash, and smear campaigns going on within the video game world that I can't believe I that I really was a little turned off of the PS3 before I got it. These people can be so convincing in their convictions. "The Wii or Xbox 360 is the be all end all!", legions shouted. I do not see why people constantly try to derail the success of the PS3, because it is astounding technology-wise. Do not listen to what people want you to believe or say, test out the systems at the local Gamestop or whatever you have and you can make that decision yourself. I, myself am more than happy with my choice and just cannot wait to see what series of games will become my new favorites.

Specs (technical mumbo-jumbo)

CPU: Cell Processor

PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
* 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS
GPU: RSX @550MHz

1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance
Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines
Sound: Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-base processing)

Memory:

256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz
256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz
System Bandwidth:

Main RAM: 25.6GB/s
VRAM: 22.4GB/s
RSX: 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
SB: 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)
System Floating Point Performance: 2 TFLOPS

Storage:

HDD
Detachable 2.5” HDD slot x 1
I/O:

USB: Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0)
Memory Stick: standard/Duo, PRO x 1
SD: standard/mini x 1
CompactFlash: (Type I, II) x 1
Communication: Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x3 (input x 1 + output x 2)

Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g

Bluetooth: Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)

Controller:

Bluetooth (up to 7)
USB2.0 (wired)
Wi-Fi (PSP®)
Network (over IP)
AV Output:

Screen size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI: HDMI out x 2
Analog: AV MULTI OUT x 1
Digital audio: DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1
CD Disc media (read only):

PlayStation CD-ROM
PlayStation 2 CD-ROM
CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW
SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD
DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)
DVD Disc media (read only):

PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM
PLAYSTATION 3 DVD-ROM
DVD-Video: DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
Blu-ray Disc media (read only):

PLAYSTATION 3 BD-ROM
BD-Video: BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE