PlayStation 3 Review

Back in May of this year, Kaz Hirai, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America announced at E3—the Entertainment Electronic Expo - the video game industry's annual confab of geeks and gamers--the third coming of millions of much-anticipated, multi-hyphenated Sony Playstation 3’s and that the new system would serve as a game console, internet hub, instant messenger and hi-def system for the modern American living room. Now, the gaming community is waiting not-so-patiently to get their hand on one. The arrival of the new Playstation 3’s have been challenging especially after Sony had to announce that it would have to scale back its holiday season launch due to hardware shortages. And, the Sony PS3's truncated release seems to be air drying the response from the video game community. "I really question the build of the first generation PS3s", posted JC on joystiq.com, "I have worked in manufacturing plants and know all well how the first items off the line are always the worst build... especially when wanted parts are replaced with available parts during shortages." This product shortage is spiraling the Sony Playstation 3 into other negative areas of concern. For Sony it is beginning to look like they may place a permanent negative mark in video game history as the most troubled launch in the history of gaming consoles. There have been a lot of scattered (but unverified) reports about the Playstation 3 causing heating problems but I have yet to see a confirmed statement and I have not witnessed this on my own. Nonetheless it adds to the negative press that the PS3 release has been receiving. However, the PS3 is still the only game system that will play hi-def games--that's 1080p resolution or better--and it is the king of all game consoles with 87 million Playstation 2 units out there according to Forbes magazine. And Playstation loyalists like Rasheim Freeman aren’t ready to jump ship just yet, “Are you kidding, I love Playstation, yeah I’m bummed out that I can’t get one yet but the PS3 isn’t just a gaming system”.

Make room for the living room?

The Playstation 3 isn’t just about games, it’s about digital media and becoming your entertainment hub in your living room or home theatre. And don’t underestimate the technology of this system. It is a major move on Sony’s part to include the Blu-ray technology in this console which allows it to offer PS3 viewers a real graphic-intensive experience. Blu-ray is the format that was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs. A typical Blu-ray disc player on its own costs about $750 so the $599 for the PS3 which plays Blu-ray movies and is a gaming console starts to look like a deal. The pricing does seem to be a bit of stretch when compared to other gaming consoles but as Peter Dille, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Sony Computer Entertainment of America states “you're also getting a console that's future-proofed for the next 10 years. We're not going to suddenly come out in a few years and ask you to buy an adapter or ditch your Playstation 3 and move onto something else.” This is great news, if this is the case, then you can realistically look at justifying your purchase as a sound long-term investment. As mentioned before the technical genius in the Playstation 3 goes well beyond just playing games.

Beauty and the Beast

The PS3 does look sleek, stealthy and powerful, but does its game play match it’s sophisticated and attractive looks? Freeman answers, “bottom line it’s a beast” he blurts out while playing the PS3 at a local Maryland Best Buy store. The PS3 does look attractive for any living room and it can stand vertically or lie horizontally. However, it does have a curvy top that doesn’t make it easy to sit other devices on top of it. It’s also not that light weighing in at about 11 pounds. Also the system doesn’t come with any games which won’t bother die-hard gamers but newbies to gaming will see this as a drawback to spend an additional $50 just to start using it for gaming. The graphics on the PS3 games look magnificent, the characters, their shadows, even beads of sweat show off the technical prowess of this machine. One other unique playing element is the controller. The PS3 controller has what is called Six-Axis motion sensing. In other words you can move the wireless controller up, down, left, right, backward and forward. This motion feature is pretty impressive and feels cool when I tried it out on a demo jet fighter game at the Los Angeles E3 video game convention. It responded very well to my physical adjustments, I admit it took a minute to get used to, but hey it was a new way of gaming after a few minutes you get used to the new capability.

Playstation 3 Bottom Line:

Pros

True HD gaming

Built-in WiFi

Online play is Free

HDMI output with 1080p support

Plays Blu-Ray movies and standard DVD’s

Out-the-box compatibility and no add ons for Hi-Definition

Wireless controller that tries to steal Wii's thunder

Cons

The first round of games aren’t receiving the greatest reviews

Truncated launch- short supply and way off projections has buyers questioning quality issues? Controller is not as intuitive as the Wii

Wireless controller runs off battery (batteries aren’t replaceable), you can recharge the controller by plugging it in but when the controller battery life dies you have to replace the whole controller est. $50

No rumble (force feedback) vibration in controller

Costly HDMI cable not included

Pricey - most expensive video game system (compared to the Xbox, Wii)

Mario Armstrong is a technology talk show host, writer, consultant and public speaker that explores how technology impacts the way we work, live and play. He is heard on NPR and XM radio and seen on WMAR-ABC2 TV.