Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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205 of 221 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The undercurrent truth! What you need to know before you buy!, 27 Nov 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
OK, while i'm not going to tell you to run out and buy a PS3, or advocate burning all Sony merchandise, or give some speech about anti-microsoft, I just want to clear up some misconceptions about this console.
Firstly, as has already been mentioned, the price tag for a PS3, while hefty does not compare directly with that of the 360. The main thing is that a PS3 comes with everything already built in while the Xbox 360 shaves off some price to get you more likely to buy it but to get this cost cut in place they have to leave out some heavy duty technology. You will have to buy wireless network controllers, an external HD DVD drive etc... the PS3 does not have any hidden extras.
Secondly, while the XBox live campaign revolves around existing memberships, this comes a a monthly cost to the subscriber. The PS3 online community is a free subscription. Sure you still need an account created and there is nothing to stop them putting a fee on in the future but for the time being it is a free sign up.
CAUTION!!!! Just as a quick note to anyone considering buying a cheaper version of the PS3 (i.e. the 40Gb version) just be aware that while 20Gb is not the end of the world the big thing to note is the fact that the 40Gb version is not backwards compatible - this means all those loveable PS2 games will not work, so your choice of game is going to be limited to what you can afford to buy brand new for the PS3.
About Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD: This is being compared to the war between VHS and Beta. While at this stage it is impossible to tell what will happen with the new formats as there is already some concern over a new format realtively soon after DVD's were main stream, remember that no matter which format is technically better, the winner (if there is one) will be the one with the best marketing ploy, not necessarily the best technology. Beta was technically better than VHS but went the way of the dinosaur due to bad marketing...but both new formats are nice, hold a lot of data and have vast potential in the gaming market especially due to the extra content this inevitably will brign to the gamer of tomorrow.
In the end it is a personal choice, and neither the 360 or PS3 will dissappoint in graphics. It is still early days in the game market to compare game titles yet but the Wii will be a favourite among younger gamers and familys while the PS3 and 360 will hit it off more for the hard-core gamer. Whichever you choose - enjoy!
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284 of 312 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Patience is a virtue..., 7 Jan 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Get ready, this is gonna be a long one but I'm sure you'll find some good points and useful info here...
After browsing through the various reviews of the PS3 here, it has become apparent that a comparison to marmite would be fair. Love or Hate. But why? Well looking at the haters it seems the the problem is not infact the console, but infact a great deal of impatience and a lack of knowledge. Firstly many have said their PS3 is overheating and freezing, however these people have also mentioned that their consoles are imported...and there you have the answer. In Japan and America the mains voltage is around about a mere 100-127 Volts compared to the 240 volts of the british mains, add to that the the fact the PS3 sucks a massive 380 watts of power (almost twice as much as the 360) then you can see why there are overheating problems. The answer? Simply buy a 500 watt step down converter; I'm guessing the overheating complainers have failed to do this. Also bare in mind that the 360 also had overheating problems in its first few months; thankfully I waited.
Secondly, from a hell of a lot of hindsight, a consoles launch, in terms of games at least, is generally duff. At most a console has one and if your lucky maybe two good sometimes only decent games at launch. Giving up on a console so early on is ridiculous, especially one with so much promise as the PS3; Devil May Cry 4, Heavenly Sword, FFXIII, Killzone, MGS4 (and no it wont be available on 360, not for a good long while after the PS3 at least if ever) these are the types of games that will define the PS3. My point is a console can only really be judged towards the end of it life, not as soon as it hits the shelf; only now can we really pass fair judgement on the passing generation. Again bare in mind the 360 has seen a year on the shelfs and only now is it starting to see some defining titles, namely Gears of War. The Wii, to be fair, has probably had the best launch of the 3, this being down to the fact that Zelda and Wii Sports are TWO fantastically fun games in their own rights. However the Wii cannot be compared any further with the other two as to do so would simply not make sense; it would be like puting a strawberry in an apple variety contest between royal gala and granny smiths - all three are fruits but a strawberry is quite clearly not, in any other sense, comparible to an apple.
One thing that does annoy me to the point of leaving my unbias approach here is the 360's DVD Drive, an act of shortsightedness if ever I saw one. Many people moan that in buying a PS3 they are being forced into a format war they do not want to be a part of, saying that microsofts approach of giving you the choice (and thus cutting the cost) is far better. I do not agree. What people forget is the the Blu-Ray drive is not for movies alone but for games that require the superior space a Blu-Ray offers (25Gb single, 50Gb double). Think about that for a minute. A DVD holds around 9Gb on a dual layer, now think of GTA: San Andreas...now think of the potential of a superior console combined with an extra 41Gb of space and you get the picture; wether it be GTA4 (note: exclusive 360 content likely to be the stuff that wont fit on the disk) or any other game for that matter. Hold it a second you say, the 360 has an HD DVD add-on drive does it not? Correct, however microsoft has stated it is merely for high definition movies; thus either the problem remains of inferior data storage, or, microsoft haven't yet dropped the bomb that in the future you will require the HD DVD drive to play certain games (after watching a conference with Peter Molyneux, producer of Fable, and hearing what he plans to do with Fable 2 (it sounds unbelievable, lets hope he's not lying this time) I reckon we have the first potential HD DVD game for the 360). Anyway apart from that minor annoyance I haven't much to complain of the 360 so far, nor of the Wii and hopefully the same will apply to the PS3 if I manage to get my hands on one in March or at least when I do get my hands on one.
The main niggle I can see with the PS3 is the hefty price tag (of the 60Gb version at least), but what must be taken into cosideration is that a Blu-Ray player alone (movies only obviously) will cost around £1000 already making the PS3 sound like a steal. Furthermore however, when you think that to bring the 360 to similar spec as the PS3 it will cost you around £460 (£280 for the premium pack, £130 for the HD DVD Drive + £50 for the WiFi adapter) compared to the PS3's price of £425 - £480 (and thats with a 60Gb hard drive and a state of the art not yet on the shelves CPU (The Cell) and GPU (nVidia's RSX)) and you can see the PS3 is infact, if anything, quite cheap to be honest (remember sony makes a loss of around £120 on every PS3 sold at the moment, so we should be thankful!).
In my opinion I don't think there'll be any losers in this generation, especially and I mean especially, for us gamers. The Wii will most likely sell best for the next two years due to its low price (and it's genius controls), however after this initial period I'm sure we'll find (especially after a PS3 price cut) everything will more or less level off, which is probably the best result for everyone.
To finish all I will say is that give each console time and patience, try for yourself and look at the bigger picture before you love or hate...
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302 of 343 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
expensive, 29 Nov 2006
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
We got our hands on an XBox 360, a PS3, and a Wii on launch day. Each is good at specific tasks. Here is a fully unbiased review of how the PS3 performs as a next generation console unit.
To start with, the PS3, like the XBox 360, supports full high definition. The Wii only supports a lower resolution. Since the Wii has a much lower price tag, that is a fair trade-off for people with a tighter budget. Gamers for whom a very high level of graphic detail is important will have to pony up for that ability.
Along the same lines, the XBox 360 supports the HD format of high definition DVDs for movies, while the PS3 supports the Blu-ray format. If you haven't been following the whole format war for high definition DVDs, I have several articles on the topic on my gaming site. In short it's like the VHS/Beta wars when the VCR first came out. Is one better than the other? Will one format win out as the sole survivor? There's no way to tell. People will argue vehemently that one is better than the other. From a gaming point of view, the PS3 has the Blu-ray BUILT IN meaning every game can have 50 GIGS worth of game information. Think MASSIVELY huge maps, types of characters, etc. The XBox 360 only uses "regular" DVDs as its base game holder, which is about 7 GIG. That is much smaller. You can buy an add-on HD DVD unit for about $100 but the storage is still smaller than Blu-ray - about 30 gig.
People will argue about graphics until they're blue :) A lot of this comes down to how a specific game company *uses* the ability of the system. Looking at graphics on a tetris-like game will be much different than viewing the graphics of Oblivion or Gears of War. I found 360 graphics amazing on Oblivion. I equally found the PS3 graphics quite impressive on Genji's cut scenes (no enemy crabs in sight). Since both are high definition, I think that both have the same potential in real life terms. Both really shine in terms of fluid motion, precise detail and realism. I've seen it on both systems, on certain games. I've also seen junky graphics on both systems. Both are much better than the Wii.
How about sound? All of these can plug into your stereo system. My boyfriend and I are both musicians. We have decibel meters and other sound-sensing tools. All three systems can create amazingly complex sounds, music, and in general a "gaming environment". Again I think it comes down to specific game makers, how they choose to use or not use that ability. It also comes down to how much you the gamer spent on your stereo system :)
Speaking of sound, I do have to comment that our 360 is quite loud when it runs, despite our many attempts to help it be quieter. The PS3 right out of the box is MUCH quieter. Score 1 point for the PS3.
On the general operating system for the units, all three consoles are going for more of a "general use entertainment system" presentation. The XBox has customizeable tabs that let you download new games, manage your environment and so on. The Wii also has channels that let you organize your gaming world. The PS3 has an interface almost exactly like that of the PSP, complete with cool drifting smoke waves in the background. You choose which area you want to work on - game, music, internet connection etc., and drop down to alter whatever feature you're interested in.
So on to the on-line aspect, which most gamers are now fully interested in. Where the XBox 360 makes you buy an external connector for wireless, the PS3 has that built-in on the 60 gig model. The 20 gig model still requires an external connector (these run about $100). All will let you plug in a cable if you're still running a wired household.
As a side comment on that, the XBox 360 has a 20 gig hard drive. However, they take up about 12 gig of that with their base system. So really you get 8 gig "free" for other things. Now, 8 gig might sound like a lot. But I still remember when the PS2 first came out and everyone was raving about the 8mb memory cards, how you could never possibly fill one of those up. We now have 8 memory cards and all are pretty much full. I have no doubt that 8 gig or even 20 gig is going to fill quickly. With the PS3 you at least do have that option for the 60 gig and it is really worth it. With the 360 your only option is to get an add-on drive to in essence back up the content you're not currently using and free up the main drive.
How does the online world work on the PS3? The XBox definitely has the advantage here. Until this generation, *only* the XBox had a thriving community in their live world. The XBox 360 connected right into that XBox Live world, and they boast a *huge* community of gamers who actively gain points, play online and form virtual worlds. The PS3 and Wii both have to play catch-up at this point. Even if they have better interfaces, it's a matter of converting over all those players who have clans, familiarity and high point collections on the XBox world. Imagine if a new MMORPG came out right now that had fantastic graphics. Sure it might be wonderful - but will you really get all 800 trillion WOW players to drop their world and characters and friends to convert, especially if it costs more? It'll be a hard, slow sell.
My summary? I definitely think all three have great games and that all three are worth owning. Of course I'm in a position that I *can* afford all three, which many people are not in. For example, I *love* the Zelda series, and I *love* the Final Fantasy series. I would be hard put to tell a person "you need to get Zelda instead of Final Fantasy". I would want the person to have both, because both are great for different reasons. If you really truly can only save up for one of the three consoles this holiday season, it isn't going to come down to which console is "best" for all players in some sort of a global way. It is going to come down to which console is best for YOU based on your specific gaming style.
If you're on a really tight budget and just want something better than the previous generation, go for a Wii. It's cheap, the graphics are better, and the remotes are great fun. It has Zelda :) If you have a larger budget and really want the high definition, you're now choosing between the 360 and the PS3. You really do have to look at the specifics of each, and think seriously about your gaming style, to see which matches you best. If I were to make a flip summarization, if you really love online gameplay, I'd go with the XBox 360. Its years of head-start really give it a robust environment here. If you are looking for more of a home-based media center for your MPs3, photos and huge world gameplay, I'd go with the PS3. It definitely has the advantage on large scale games.
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