Collecting Dust - Until Now

Sony's Playstation moniker in the console gaming circle is legendary, almost quickly taking the fame away from Nintendo. Ask any kid today, and most likely they started out with one of Sony's previous Playstation generations. Not to play on words, but they ARE the Playstation Generation. So it was a surprise to most that the brand new Sony Playstation 3 had a rocky start. Sony made bold moves - it included a Blu-Ray disc drive, a hard drive that was user-upgradeable, and made Linux available for it.
However, there are a few things that prevented it from being a strong contender. For one, the price tag that is higher than any previous console that came before it - including Microsoft's XBOX 360. And there aren't any recognizable titles available for it that isn't already published for more popular platforms (PC and XBOX 360).

Our Purchase
My brother was the one who pulled the trigger on the purchase of a PS3. He was not one to wait in line on lauch day, but weeks later, he heard that a Best Buy store had them in stock, and on a whim, went and bought it.

To this day, I wondered why, but glad he did. Sure the price of the PS3 went down since he got it, but the lowered price tag also came with a few corners cut. A smaller hard drive, less USB ports, and the ability to play PS2 games are now gone from the original PS3. However, they look essentially the same. These are the reasons why I was glad he pulled the trigger on it so early.

We bought MotorStorm as our first game as well as a 2nd controller. We also bought our first Blu-Ray movie (Casino Royale) just to test it out. He also bought a 3-feet long HDMI cable for it which cost him $50. Yes, I did let him have it, but he justified it buy the "I want it NOW" chant. For you guys out there, check out www.bluejeanscable.com and www.monoprice.com and never let them rip you off when it comes down to PC and TV/Audio cables!

Setting it Up
While the size of the PS3 is a little bigger than the original PS2, the weight of the new PS3 is surprisingly much heavier! It's almost as if there were rocks in it! I hope it is a sign of quality build and workmanship.

For such an expensive console that touts high definition gaming and movies, you would think it comes with cables that would show it off right out of the box! Instead, the PS3 only came with the same composite cable (Yellow, Red, and White) that came with the original Playstation and Playstation 2. While it's nice that it is compatible with the same cable, it only carries an standard definition signal, and it's not the best way to do it either (S-Video and component is significantly better than composite for analog signals). You would need to purchase your own HDMI cable if you want to game or watch movies at 720p or 1080i/p.

Once hooked up and powered up, you need to answer the questions it poses to you. It's not much different than any new current gaming console. PS2 did it, and so did both of the Microsoft XBOXes. Stuff like your username, time, date, network settings, etc.

Collecting Dust Until Now
We played a bit of MotorStorm, but wasn't too impressed. The graphics look pretty good, but we were already playing in high def on the XBOX 360. There wasn't any compelling games for it. Although Guitar Heros II and Rock Band are both available on the PS3, we decided it's best played on the XBOX 360 due to the fact that it was more popular. Sony needs some compelling exclusive games otherwise, if push comes to shove, most gamers would purchase the XBOX 360 version due to the popularity of the system and XBOX Live.

We still have just that one game. We did, however, purchased and downloaded Mortal Kombat II as well as the Gran Turismo HD game. While Gran Turismo HD isn't a full game, it was nice to be able to play any kind of Gran Turismo game in high def. Even then, it was only entertaining for a couple of weeks.

Currently, the only reason why we broke out the PS3 is due to the fact that HD DVD is now dead, and Blu-Ray is announced as the HD media of choice. Now that the war is over, my brother and I happily started our Blu-Ray movie collection. We bought several movies on sale at Best Buy as well as the LG Blu-Ray/HD-DVD combo drive and PowerDVD Ultra software for my Vista-based Media Center. Lastly, my brother bought the Sony PS3 remote to use the PS3 as a proper Blu-Ray player. Looking back at it all, we spent way too much!

Blu-Ray Playback
So long story short, we're not using the Playstation 3 as a game machine. Nope! We are using it as a Blu-Ray player! And why not? Sony is doing a great job of updating the firmware, which makes this the ultimate Blu-Ray player as it is able to support the newest Blu-Ray profile. While currently we are at version 1.1, version 2.0 is coming out soon! The differences is that the storage capacity allowed is larger (1 GB vs 256 MB) compared to profile 1.1. Version 1.1 already includes the ability to have pop-up picture-in-picture commentaries, while version 1.0 was the basic profile that only allowed for basic playback and the Java-based pop-up menu.

The PS3 does a great job of playing back all Blu-Ray movies we threw at it! All but one movie played smoothly and with a crisp picture. So which one is the dead-beat movie? Well, it turns out that T2: Judgment Day was probably made on a Friday. The transfer was very poor, and you can see artifacts and blurry textures. It was worse than a unconverted DVD.

Speaking of which, the PS3 did a great job of upconverting DVDs! It did a better job than my Media Center PC! While the video is not as clear and defined as Blu-Ray movies, it's quite an improvement! In fact, if you aren't ready to commit to Blu-Ray just yet, the PS3 will make your DVDs look good enough to satisfy you until you are ready.

The Games
There still aren't a lot of games that my brother and I are compelled to get. Games that are not exclusive to the PS3 were given a pass since we'd buy the XBOX 360 version. It's not that there are anything wrong with the games or the graphics. It's just that we already have a huge library of XBOX 360 games, it feels natural to continue to buy games for the same platform.

There are a few games that would make us play on the PS3, however. My greatest vice is the Gran Turismo series. While the online download of Gran Turismo HD is nice, it only consist of one track. It feels and look more like a HD version of GT4 (which I hear is technically what it is). So while I wait for Gran Turismo 5, I guess I'll watch some movies.

We accidentally bought and downloaded Mortal Kombat II, and while it's a fun game back in the day, it's not all that fun now. Playing online was fun though, and reminds us of the days we went to the arcades. However, it doesn't feel right since we don't get to see or talk to our opponents. Lag on MKII, however, was horrible if you play when there is high internet congestion.

My brother is waiting for Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. He's been a fan of that franchise since the first game, but I haven't really paid attention to it. Tekken 6 is also high on his list.

And that's pretty much it. I know there are plenty of other exclusive titles, but none we are interested in. I'm sure there are plenty of Devil May Cry fans, and they will rejoice when Devil May Cry 4 comes out (though it may not be an exclusive title). Same goes for Final Fantasy and Ratchet and Clank fans. There are also new IPs (new franchises) that are available such as Kill Zone, Assassins Creed, and MotorStorm.

Of course, if you are still content with your PS2 games, this early edition of the PS3 console is able to play them as well. We were able to play the Gran Turismo series just fine. The new 40 GB version does not play PS2 games at all, while the newer 80 GB version plays PS2 games via software emulation. The older 20 GB and 60 GB version have the actual Emotion Engine CPU used in the PS2 so playing these games are done in hardware. Not sure if it makes a difference, but it sure does give me a warm fuzzy feeling that the PS3 just swallowed a PS2 and not just pretending to be a PS2 via software.

Conclusion
This is the first time that PS3's hardware specs are technically better than their competition. However, its the games that make or break the console. However, the one thing that keeps Sony's beloved PS3 afloat is the fact that it costs as much as a standalone Blu-Ray player, and it is considered the best Blu-Ray player currently. Buying the PS3 is like buying a Blu-Ray player that just so happens to also play PS3 games.