Back in 2005, Microsoft beat everyone to the punch by releasing their next generation console, Xbox 360. The console was well received by many with a mildly strong launch line up of games like Call of Duty 2 and Condemned: Criminal Origins. For a while, Microsoft ruled the console world. In 2006, Sony finally released their much anticipated next generation console, Playstation 3. Ever since it's release, the PS3 has struggled to find it's place in the console line up. It has sat back at the end of the pack since it's launch. Does that mean that the Playstation 3 is a bad console?
Since this is a console review, things will be a little different in this review so be ready to adjust accordingly.
The Hardware
When talking about the Playstation 3, one cannot go a second without talking about the incredible engine underneith that sleak black shell. The PS3 is packing a powerful Cell Broadband Engine that can deliver some of the best looking graphics and sound that any console has ever seen before. Instead of regular DVD disks like the 360 and Wii use, Sony has created a new type of media called Blu Ray. Not only is Blu Ray more powerful than a standard DVD, but it can hold way more information than a DVD, meaning that there won't be anymore multiple disk game releases.
Blu Ray is Sony's answer to high definition for both games and movies. Games that utilize Blu Ray have a much larger space to store content, which means that games can be much larger than they would be on other consoles. The PS3 versions of multi platform games wouldn't ever need to go to extra disks because the storage space is so much bigger than a DVD. That just makes me wonder how many disks Final Fantasy XIII will be on the 360.
Wow, I really don't want to think about that.
"To enter this store, please insert disk # 12"
Blu Ray isn't just for games either. Blu Ray is also used for high definition movies as well. Blu Ray movies sport some of the best visuals out there. Colors are more vivid, blacks are better and whites seem brighter. You really need a large television to appriciate Blu Ray. Blu Ray also does a better job of separating sound into different channels for better surround sound. Even though you'll have the visuals of Blu Ray, you'll really need a sound system to get the most out of the movie you are watching. After watching Iron Man on Blu Ray, I can safely say that Blu Ray is awesome for movies. After playing Metal Gear Solid 4, I can safely say that Blu Ray is awesome for games as well.
The Playstation 3 was released with a new controller modeled after the Dualshock controllers of the past. Inside the new controller was something called "Sixaxis". The new technology was not put to very good use and quickly became a gimick to gamers who didn't want to thrust their controllers violently to play Lair. Sixaxis was quickly thrown away as the main selling point of the controller when Sony announced the new Dualshock 3 controller, which is now standard for the PS3. The dualshock 3 features rumble and sixaxis control, which is what gamers wanted to begin with.
Both the Console and the Controller are very well made. The console is sleak looking and looks very cool. The controller is almost identical to the Dualshock 2 controller, with the exception of the L2 and R2 buttons. These two buttons didn't push down like they used to on the dualshock 2. It's really difficult to explain how they work. You will have to experience it to understand. Anyways, the Dualshock 3 is very well made and feels very sturdy in your hands.
The Playstation 3 is one of the best looking consoles out there, both physically and graphically. Blu Ray is just so much better than DVD. It really makes the games look
"Say what you will about the PS3, just don't say it doesn't look damn good"
Software
Here is where the PS3 starts to faulter a bit. The Playstation 3 launched with a horrible line up of games with only one of them, Resistance, being any good. Genji: Days of the Blade, Untold Legends and Gundam were some of the worst games to be released in 2006. With the exception of Resistance: Fall of Man, no launch title really took advantage of the PS3's power. Gundam looked like a PS2 game and played like a PSOne game. Genji was slow, clunky and bugged up the ass. Untold Legends should have just been kept untold. Not only was the launch lineup lackluster, but Sony has also been losing many of it's exclusives to multiplatform like Tekken, Final Fantasy and Grand Theft Auto.
That being said, Sony has really struggled with it's software lineup, until now. 2007 and 2008 have been much better to the PS3 with games like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Warhawk and Metal Gear Solid 4. The games have gotten much better and for every exclusive they've lost, they have gained a brand new IP like Infamous, Resistance and Motorstorm. Plus, they've still got plenty of other exclusives like SOCOM (which has fallen on hard times lately), Killzone, God of War, Ratchet and Clank and many more.
I know what you are thinking. The software lineup has been pretty thin when it comes to good games. Good PS3 games don't come very often, unfortunately. It is software that Sony has needed to improve in and that is what they have been doing in 2008. People have been saying that 2008 was the year of the PS3. It's unfortunate that they still have a ways to go in the future. But that's why gamers have the Playstation Network.
"The only people who would ever say that Metal Gear Solid 4 was a bad game are people who have never played it"
Playstation Network
The Playstation Network is Sony's answers to Xbox Live. This FREE service provided by Sony allows players to game with others around the world through many different online enabled games released since launch. Players create an account and their gaming stats are tracked through the PSN feature on the XMB. When I say that the game stats are tracked, I mean Trophies.
Trophies are Sony's answer to Microsoft's Achievements. By completing various tasks in games, players are rewarded with Trophies that mark these tasks for everyone to see. While Achievements have been just for show on the 360, Sony has been hinting at an expanded experience with trophies. Not only will Tropies be manditory in games for the PS3 come 2009, but they may serve more of a purpose like giving players access to exclusive game betas or even extra free content for games. Only the future will be able to tell what is made of Trophies on the PS3.
Another feature of the PSN is the Playstation Store. The Playstation Store gives players the option to purchase exclusive content for games they own. Not only that, but gamers can download exclusive games straight from the service like Pixel Junk Eden, Siren: Blood Curse and Lumines Supernova. Unlike the Xbox Live Marketplace, the Playstation Store uses real money for transactions rather than imaginary points that you can buy to download stuff. I never really liked having to buy points for the Xbox Live Marketplace. I always questioned whether or not the content they were offering was really worth the point amount that was given. If they wanted to use point values, why not just do what the WII has done and made each dollar worth 10 points.
I can't talk about the Playstation Store without mentioning the fact that it is really difficult finding certain content. The store is just badly arranged and Sony really needs to take note on that. There aren't really that many tabs to choose from, but once you get into those tabs, there will be many more tabs to navigate through and so on. Xbox Live Marketplace is so much easier to navigate through that it just blows the playstation store out of the water.
I think the point i'm trying to make is that the Playstation Store has some nice features and some great content. It is just no where near as good as Xbox Live Marketplace. If they make things easier to find, then the store would be so much better than it is now.
"While not as good as Xbox Live, The Playstation Network does an admirable job of providing great online features for gamers to spend hours with. And did I mention, it's free?"
Playstation Home
Something that gamers have been excited for is Playstation Home, a social space where people can chat, play games and socialize with other gamers. Players create an avatar with limited selections of clothing, faces, etc. The avatars are then thrust into the world that is Home and can travel to different locations like The Mall, The Theater and The Bowling Alley.
The Mall is where people can buy various clothing for their avatar and furniture for their personal space. The problem with the buying is that players need to use REAL money to buy the various items. For a program that is completely free to play, the idea that gamers need to use real money to buy things to fully enjoy the program is obsurd to say the least. I absolutely hate the fact that I can't upgrade my personal space or avatar because i'm too cheap to pay for the stuff.
The Theater lets people come together and watch various cinema, whether it be music videos or parts of movies like the first 10 minutes of Resident Evil Degeneration.
The Bowling Alley is where you'll spend most of your time because you can play various arcade games created for Home, bowling and pool. The bowling and pool are both hard to control and lose a lot of their fun because of it. The arcade games are better, but you'll have trouble playing them because the machines are usually occupied by others.
Developers like Naughty Dog and Ubi Soft have created specific game related spaces like Uncharted's Sully's Bar and Far Cry 2's Train Station. These spaces are nice to look at, but there isn't much to do in them.
Overall, I enjoyed Home. I guess I just had fun running around in Home and chatting with people. I can see why people don't like Home. There just isn't much to do. I know that Sony will be working with Home through out the next year so lets hope for some more changes. Maybe if everyone complains, they might make everything free.
"I enjoyed Home, but I can see why people wouldn't like it"
Final Thoughts
Playstaion 3 is an amazing piece of technology. It is easily the most powerful console of any console. For the people who disagree, I can just say "Go fuck yourselves!" I'm trying to be as unbiased as I can be with this review. I do infact own an Xbox 360 and a Wii. After playing all three consoles, I found that the PS3 is in fact the most powerful system out there. That doesn't mean it is the best though. In this generation of consoles, there really isn't a better console because they all do things very differently. It really comes down to which console will be the most popular, like a giant popularity contest. Unfortunately for Sony, it isn't them.
The fact of the matter is that the PS3 is just so damn expensive and with the other consoles being $250 or less, it's tough to make the decision to buy a $400 console. The PS3 has a very thin library of great games. That thin library does happen to be filled with Grade A titles, but it just isn't enough to trump the competition. The price and game library are the biggest draw backs for the PS3. Everything else is great. I have no complaints with my PS3. The HD graphics look breathtaking, the sound of the games is great and the console is filled with enough features to keep me happy for a long time.
Another fact of the matter is that every console has it's drawbacks. Microsoft makes you pay for their online service and the Wii doesn't really have an online service to begin with while the PS3 lets you play online, surf the internet and access a store for free. Honestly, i'm not going to make comparisons like that anymore because that would come down as being biased and I don't think anyone else should either. I think the people who buy a PS3 will be very satisfied with what they get, like the people who bought a Dreamcast, Gamecube or any console...well maybe not those who bought a Jaguar or a Lynx.
In my opinion, the Playstation 3 is a great system and it shouldn't be counted out of the race too quickly. Who knows what Sony is cooking up for the future. Sure, it might not ever make it up to 1st place, but that doesn't mean it won't go down without a fight.
I give the Playstation 3 Nine thumbs up out of Ten, the same score i'd give the 360.
"I love my Playstation 3"
Since this is a console review, things will be a little different in this review so be ready to adjust accordingly.
The Hardware
When talking about the Playstation 3, one cannot go a second without talking about the incredible engine underneith that sleak black shell. The PS3 is packing a powerful Cell Broadband Engine that can deliver some of the best looking graphics and sound that any console has ever seen before. Instead of regular DVD disks like the 360 and Wii use, Sony has created a new type of media called Blu Ray. Not only is Blu Ray more powerful than a standard DVD, but it can hold way more information than a DVD, meaning that there won't be anymore multiple disk game releases.
Blu Ray is Sony's answer to high definition for both games and movies. Games that utilize Blu Ray have a much larger space to store content, which means that games can be much larger than they would be on other consoles. The PS3 versions of multi platform games wouldn't ever need to go to extra disks because the storage space is so much bigger than a DVD. That just makes me wonder how many disks Final Fantasy XIII will be on the 360.
Wow, I really don't want to think about that.
"To enter this store, please insert disk # 12"
Blu Ray isn't just for games either. Blu Ray is also used for high definition movies as well. Blu Ray movies sport some of the best visuals out there. Colors are more vivid, blacks are better and whites seem brighter. You really need a large television to appriciate Blu Ray. Blu Ray also does a better job of separating sound into different channels for better surround sound. Even though you'll have the visuals of Blu Ray, you'll really need a sound system to get the most out of the movie you are watching. After watching Iron Man on Blu Ray, I can safely say that Blu Ray is awesome for movies. After playing Metal Gear Solid 4, I can safely say that Blu Ray is awesome for games as well.
The Playstation 3 was released with a new controller modeled after the Dualshock controllers of the past. Inside the new controller was something called "Sixaxis". The new technology was not put to very good use and quickly became a gimick to gamers who didn't want to thrust their controllers violently to play Lair. Sixaxis was quickly thrown away as the main selling point of the controller when Sony announced the new Dualshock 3 controller, which is now standard for the PS3. The dualshock 3 features rumble and sixaxis control, which is what gamers wanted to begin with.
Both the Console and the Controller are very well made. The console is sleak looking and looks very cool. The controller is almost identical to the Dualshock 2 controller, with the exception of the L2 and R2 buttons. These two buttons didn't push down like they used to on the dualshock 2. It's really difficult to explain how they work. You will have to experience it to understand. Anyways, the Dualshock 3 is very well made and feels very sturdy in your hands.
The Playstation 3 is one of the best looking consoles out there, both physically and graphically. Blu Ray is just so much better than DVD. It really makes the games look
"Say what you will about the PS3, just don't say it doesn't look damn good"
Software
Here is where the PS3 starts to faulter a bit. The Playstation 3 launched with a horrible line up of games with only one of them, Resistance, being any good. Genji: Days of the Blade, Untold Legends and Gundam were some of the worst games to be released in 2006. With the exception of Resistance: Fall of Man, no launch title really took advantage of the PS3's power. Gundam looked like a PS2 game and played like a PSOne game. Genji was slow, clunky and bugged up the ass. Untold Legends should have just been kept untold. Not only was the launch lineup lackluster, but Sony has also been losing many of it's exclusives to multiplatform like Tekken, Final Fantasy and Grand Theft Auto.
That being said, Sony has really struggled with it's software lineup, until now. 2007 and 2008 have been much better to the PS3 with games like Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Warhawk and Metal Gear Solid 4. The games have gotten much better and for every exclusive they've lost, they have gained a brand new IP like Infamous, Resistance and Motorstorm. Plus, they've still got plenty of other exclusives like SOCOM (which has fallen on hard times lately), Killzone, God of War, Ratchet and Clank and many more.
I know what you are thinking. The software lineup has been pretty thin when it comes to good games. Good PS3 games don't come very often, unfortunately. It is software that Sony has needed to improve in and that is what they have been doing in 2008. People have been saying that 2008 was the year of the PS3. It's unfortunate that they still have a ways to go in the future. But that's why gamers have the Playstation Network.
"The only people who would ever say that Metal Gear Solid 4 was a bad game are people who have never played it"
Playstation Network
The Playstation Network is Sony's answers to Xbox Live. This FREE service provided by Sony allows players to game with others around the world through many different online enabled games released since launch. Players create an account and their gaming stats are tracked through the PSN feature on the XMB. When I say that the game stats are tracked, I mean Trophies.
Trophies are Sony's answer to Microsoft's Achievements. By completing various tasks in games, players are rewarded with Trophies that mark these tasks for everyone to see. While Achievements have been just for show on the 360, Sony has been hinting at an expanded experience with trophies. Not only will Tropies be manditory in games for the PS3 come 2009, but they may serve more of a purpose like giving players access to exclusive game betas or even extra free content for games. Only the future will be able to tell what is made of Trophies on the PS3.
Another feature of the PSN is the Playstation Store. The Playstation Store gives players the option to purchase exclusive content for games they own. Not only that, but gamers can download exclusive games straight from the service like Pixel Junk Eden, Siren: Blood Curse and Lumines Supernova. Unlike the Xbox Live Marketplace, the Playstation Store uses real money for transactions rather than imaginary points that you can buy to download stuff. I never really liked having to buy points for the Xbox Live Marketplace. I always questioned whether or not the content they were offering was really worth the point amount that was given. If they wanted to use point values, why not just do what the WII has done and made each dollar worth 10 points.
I can't talk about the Playstation Store without mentioning the fact that it is really difficult finding certain content. The store is just badly arranged and Sony really needs to take note on that. There aren't really that many tabs to choose from, but once you get into those tabs, there will be many more tabs to navigate through and so on. Xbox Live Marketplace is so much easier to navigate through that it just blows the playstation store out of the water.
I think the point i'm trying to make is that the Playstation Store has some nice features and some great content. It is just no where near as good as Xbox Live Marketplace. If they make things easier to find, then the store would be so much better than it is now.
"While not as good as Xbox Live, The Playstation Network does an admirable job of providing great online features for gamers to spend hours with. And did I mention, it's free?"
Playstation Home
Something that gamers have been excited for is Playstation Home, a social space where people can chat, play games and socialize with other gamers. Players create an avatar with limited selections of clothing, faces, etc. The avatars are then thrust into the world that is Home and can travel to different locations like The Mall, The Theater and The Bowling Alley.
The Mall is where people can buy various clothing for their avatar and furniture for their personal space. The problem with the buying is that players need to use REAL money to buy the various items. For a program that is completely free to play, the idea that gamers need to use real money to buy things to fully enjoy the program is obsurd to say the least. I absolutely hate the fact that I can't upgrade my personal space or avatar because i'm too cheap to pay for the stuff.
The Theater lets people come together and watch various cinema, whether it be music videos or parts of movies like the first 10 minutes of Resident Evil Degeneration.
The Bowling Alley is where you'll spend most of your time because you can play various arcade games created for Home, bowling and pool. The bowling and pool are both hard to control and lose a lot of their fun because of it. The arcade games are better, but you'll have trouble playing them because the machines are usually occupied by others.
Developers like Naughty Dog and Ubi Soft have created specific game related spaces like Uncharted's Sully's Bar and Far Cry 2's Train Station. These spaces are nice to look at, but there isn't much to do in them.
Overall, I enjoyed Home. I guess I just had fun running around in Home and chatting with people. I can see why people don't like Home. There just isn't much to do. I know that Sony will be working with Home through out the next year so lets hope for some more changes. Maybe if everyone complains, they might make everything free.
"I enjoyed Home, but I can see why people wouldn't like it"
Final Thoughts
Playstaion 3 is an amazing piece of technology. It is easily the most powerful console of any console. For the people who disagree, I can just say "Go fuck yourselves!" I'm trying to be as unbiased as I can be with this review. I do infact own an Xbox 360 and a Wii. After playing all three consoles, I found that the PS3 is in fact the most powerful system out there. That doesn't mean it is the best though. In this generation of consoles, there really isn't a better console because they all do things very differently. It really comes down to which console will be the most popular, like a giant popularity contest. Unfortunately for Sony, it isn't them.
The fact of the matter is that the PS3 is just so damn expensive and with the other consoles being $250 or less, it's tough to make the decision to buy a $400 console. The PS3 has a very thin library of great games. That thin library does happen to be filled with Grade A titles, but it just isn't enough to trump the competition. The price and game library are the biggest draw backs for the PS3. Everything else is great. I have no complaints with my PS3. The HD graphics look breathtaking, the sound of the games is great and the console is filled with enough features to keep me happy for a long time.
Another fact of the matter is that every console has it's drawbacks. Microsoft makes you pay for their online service and the Wii doesn't really have an online service to begin with while the PS3 lets you play online, surf the internet and access a store for free. Honestly, i'm not going to make comparisons like that anymore because that would come down as being biased and I don't think anyone else should either. I think the people who buy a PS3 will be very satisfied with what they get, like the people who bought a Dreamcast, Gamecube or any console...well maybe not those who bought a Jaguar or a Lynx.
In my opinion, the Playstation 3 is a great system and it shouldn't be counted out of the race too quickly. Who knows what Sony is cooking up for the future. Sure, it might not ever make it up to 1st place, but that doesn't mean it won't go down without a fight.
I give the Playstation 3 Nine thumbs up out of Ten, the same score i'd give the 360.
"I love my Playstation 3"
