My personal opinion is "Get a PS3!!"... but I might be a teeny bit biased.
Briefly - gaming. If you're going to play with all your mates, and don't mind putting a grille around your TV, then go get a Wii. If it's shooters you love, then the obvious choice is the 360, seeing as every other game coming out for it seems to be an FPS. If you want more RPGs and platformers, but still with the odd FPS, then get the PS3.
Bit more detail - I'll give you my reasons why I bought a PS3.
Brand
First of all, I have to admit, the fact that it's a Sony console. I've always liked Sony products. My MP3 player is one of the original Sony Walkman NW-HD1s, my new headphones are Sony, my phone is a Sony Ericsson K800i, my DVD player is a Sony, and my three consoles (PS1-3) are Sony's. My TV would be, too, if I'd have been able to afford. Now, this isn't wholly down to the fact that I like a bit of bumming with Sony products, but because they're GOOD. If you buy something made by Sony, you know that you're going to get something that works. They're such a successful brand because their products are beautifully built and rarely break (my MP3 player, for example, is in its third year, and still going strong). On the console front, you'll be hard pressed to find hardware problems. Any problems the console does have are software related, and are getting fixed with the regular firmware updates.
Stylin'
Shallow, yeah, but who cares? The PS3 is sleek. Sure, it's the biggest console in years. Yeah, it weighs a bit because of the
inbuilt powerbrick. But damn, is it a sexy beast. The curves, the shiny finish. My room has been decorated, and populated with gadgets that follow a common theme - they're all black and curvy. And the centre-piece is the
PS3 and the HDTV (Samsung 32"). Every morning I wake up and, directly opposite me, staring me in the face, is the PS3 and HDTV. Whenever I walk into my room, the first thing I see is the PS3 and HDTV. Gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, I must admit. The way the light shines off them.
Games
Of course, one of the main reasons for buying it was the offering of
future games. Every PS3 owner will admit that the current offering isn't exactly the best. Seeing as I dislike all sports games, the three I have are
Resistance: Fall of Man,
Motorstorm, and
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. And let me tell you, they are immense!
I imagine you'll already have played
Oblivion, so you'll know how good that is.
Resistance is a brilliant game. It was developed by Insomniac, and, for a launch title, is incredibly well made - the environments are well made, the textures really give the feeling of dirt, and war, and it's set in merry old England (what more could you ask for?
).
Motorstorm is by far the prettiest game out there at the moment. And it's another launch title. Set in Monument Valley, you race in various types of vehicle, against other types of vehicles on courses that have many different routes. The physics are the great, the vehicles are well designed, the crashes are spectacular, and the whole mud dealy is amazing.
The games to really look forward to, however, are those coming out in the future (quite a number scheduled for release this Autumn). Games like
LAIR,
Uncharted: Drakes Fortune,
Ratchet and Clank Future,
Little Big Planet,
Haze,
FFXIII,
FF vs. XIII,
Metal Gear Solid 4. Those are just the
exclusive games that I'm interested in (the two non-exclusives coming out at about the same time, that I want, are GTA4 and Assassin's Creed), but believe me, there are a lot more - by March next year, there will be a total of 380 games on the PS3 (200 retail, and 150 PSN).
If you want to know more about the games I've listed, PM me, and I'll send you details of them all.
What's in the machine
Something that most people seem to skip over completely, is what you are actually getting for the $599 you pay (think
you've got to pay a lot? I shelled out the equivalent of $830 for the console
alone!).
--- The biggest thing in the PS3, is Blu-ray. Each [single-layer] Blu-ray disc can hold 25gb of data (compared to the 15gb of HD-DVDs and 4.5gb of normal DVDs). Currently, nearly everything Blu-ray is on a single layer disc. But dual-layer discs are starting to hit the market (namely films, but also a certain game -- MGS4 will be on a dual-layer Blu-ray disc). 50gb on a single disc. Dual-layer HD-DVD can hold 30gb of data, whilst dual-layer DVD holds a whopping 9gb!
Even if you've not got a HDTV, the quality of a Blu-ray disc is phenomenal. Not only do the games look good, but the films are breathtaking! I got a free copy of
Casino Royal with my PS3, and it's just so... sharp. The colours are full, the picture is crisp and sharp, overall the quality is amazing. I watched a DVD film later that day, and I have to say, to me it looked blurry and washed out.
Now, think - the PS3 costs $599. A Blu-ray player,
alone, costs the same. And, according to a huge majority of online reviews from journalists and consumers, the PS3 is a better Blu-ray players than the standalones.
Also remember that this player is in-built, and is used for games
and films. Should you want to play Hi-Def films through the 360, you have to buy the HD-DVD add-on, which costs a couple of hundred dollars, and can't be used for games.
Just an interesting aside - recently, Blockbuster announced that, in-store, they would only be selling/renting out Blu-ray films. Not a single HD-DVD in sight. There's also the point the all but three major Hollywood studios exclusively support Blu-ray.
--- Recently, Microsoft released the Xbox 360 Elite, with it's super-duper, uber-wonderful HDMI port! Which the PS3 has had since conception. The PS3 also has in-built Wifi, which the 360 doesn't.
--- Each console comes with a 60gb HDD as standard. And this HDD just so happens to be a bog standard 3.5" 5400rpm SATA HDD, which means that should you want to, you can whip it out, and whack in a 250gb hard drive, just like that. A 250gb HDD costs, what, a couple of hundred dollars at the most? If you want to buy the Xbox360 120gb HDD, it'll set you back something like $180.
--- A bloody big fan. That spins rather slowly, actually. Whilst the side and back of the PS3 may get rather warm, the console doesn't come close to overheating, and is silent. You can stick your TV volume to the lowest it will go, sit at the other side of the room, and you'll still be able to hear it over the PS3.
--- One of my personal favourite features, are the Eject and On/Off buttons - there aren't any! Instead, you've got two touch-sensitive pads. You have to but brush the eject pad with your finger, and the slot-loading Blu-ray drive (yes, slot-loading - no disc tray to break) will eject the disc. At some speed too - the slot-loading mechanism sucks the disc in fast, and spits it out at the same speed. I could sit and watch for hours.
--- As well as Wireless, the console can pick up Bluetooth devices and can connect to seven at a time (including controllers). Brilliant if you have a Bluetooth keyboard and/or mouse, or a bluetooth headset. Even a bluetooth printer (you can print off any photo on your hard disc)! And if you don't, then there are four USb ports that will recognise everything (I've tried it with my mouse, keyboard, USB pens, and PS2 eyetoy, and all worked perfectly).
--- Want to go online? Browse the internet? Who needs a PC! Use the PS3, instead! There's also the nice little fact that the PlayStation Network is completely free (except for buying things from the Store, of course).
--- Linux. I don't know if you'd use it, but there's the option to install a Linux operating system onto the HDD, and boot it up. There are companies out there that are actually using Linux on the PS3 to demonstrate new products, simply because it's a damn sight cheaper than buying a computer with equivalent power.
Look at what you actually get in the sleek little box for $599. If you compare it to the 360 (prices from Amazon.com):
* Console (with 20gb HDD) = $400
* Wireless Adapter = $90
* 120g HDD = $180
* HD-DVD add-on = $200
* XBL Gold Subscription = $50/year
Total = ~$900
--- A new feature, that was added in a recent firmware update, is data streaming. Basically, it allows you to stream data from your PC hard disc, to the PS3, which will then display it/play it (pictures, music, videos). You have to use a DLNA compliant program, though (something like Nero MediaHome, TwonkyMedia, TVersity).
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Don't think I can think of anything else to add.
Of course, though it might not look it, I've briefly explained most of the points. So if you want more information, just ask.
I wonder how many words this is... and how many typos there are...
EDIT: Forgot to say - there's a very good chance that a price drop for the holiday season will be announced at E3. Howard Stringer (head of Sony) has said that he wants to drop the price before Christmas.
What to do...what to do?...
... As well as the occasional friends get-together..
Linear Mode
