Taking the P(S3)lunge

6/27/08 – The day I finally obtained a Playstation 3.

WARNING: Wall of text to follow. And yes, you’re not seeing things. I’m actually making a post.

The console itself is a lot larger and heavier than I expected it to be. I knew it was like the monolith, but I didn’t expect that much of a similarity. The console seems to be sturdy, though. They have a relatively low failure rate (especially when compared to the Xbox 360).

So far, I only have one of the original SIXAXIS controllers but I plan on getting my hands on a DualShock 3 as soon as possible. The SIXAXIS is extremely light and charges quickly. Other than the gimmicky motion sensing, the controller is a lighter version of the PS1/PS2 controller – a complete lack of evolution. This is one area the 360 is ahead for me, simply because the controllers have at least slightly evolved over time.

Next up is the Xbox Dashboard and XMB (or whatever Sony is calling their interface). While the XMB and PS3 interface allow for a lot of options, I haven’t gotten used to them yet. I find the 360 to be more appealing because of how easy to learn it was and how quickly I can get to what I want with it. I also like being able to send message, look at my friends list, and have private chats during and out of game. With the newest update the PS3 now has in-game XMB which allows for sending and receiving messages, but still no private chats. While I may currently be giving the nod to the 360, I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up preferring the PS3 once I’m used to it.

The online services are both drastically different, too. Xbox Live (XBL) has a fee of around $50 per year, while the Playstation Network (PSN) is free to all PS3 owners. From what I’ve read, there tend to be more problems overall with PSN, but I haven’t had a chance to test any online games. That probably won’t happen until I go back to school unless I buy Soul Calibur 4 for both systems and play against my cousin.

Since I brought up the online service, now would probably be a good time to talk about the online stores. The Xbox Live Marketplace is easy to navigate, and has lots of content, demos, videos, and movies on it. I’m not always a big fan of navigating it, but it never leaves me hoping for more. I can almost always find a good Xbox Live Arcade game. This is one of the major things the Playstation Store is lacking, good games that the user can purchase. Xbox Live has Soul Calibur, Ikaruga, Rez HD, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the 1980’s arcade game), ports of board games, and many more. The Playstation Store has a few of these titles, but not many. The only one that I’ve found to be notable so far is PixelJunk Monsters, which is an extremely fun tower defense game with the option to bring in a second player to help you. While it may be a good game, it isn’t enough to bring the PS3 on par with the 360.

This brings me to games on the PS3. So far, I’m not that blown away, but I only have one game – Metal Gear Solid 4 (MGS4). I was expecting big things from MGS4, but it ended up being Movie Gear Shooter 4. 1 hour of cut scenes, 10 minutes of a third person shooter, rinse, repeat. I’m having fun with it, but I really wanted more. At this point, I’ve only got demos for all of the other games and I’m trying to make sure I play exclusives first since I have most of the multiplatform games that interest me on my 360. I’m not quite sure why I have to download a demo and then install it, my 360 has them ready to go as soon as they’re done downloading. Is there some sort of install process the 360 just isn’t telling me about or is the PS3 just that…different?

While I realize I haven’t had the PS3 long, this is by no means my final opinion. I’m sure I’ll have plenty more PS3 opinions and PS3 versus 360 in the future if I keep posting.

On a side note, I’d like to import a few games. I’m a fan of importing games that are fun and relatively easy to learn without being able to understand them. If anyone has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.