You probably think I am way, way, way too late in the game for this to be of any use to anyone, but I figure if a hardcore gamer like myself waited this long to jump into the PS3/XBox 360 game, then there must be others still sans a high end next-gen console. Up until now my gaming has taken place on my Wii (which still gets tons of use despite people saying it has no games, and I'm in the UK so I don't even have brawl yet!) and a Dell XPS laptop (which runs CoD4 and Gears like a dream, and I couldn't imagine playing them without a mouse).
This saturday just gone (my 21st birthday!) I finally took the plunge and bought myself a PS3.
First I would like to justify my PS3 purchase over a 360. I want to start by saying I do nto hate XBox or Microsoft, I do not think the PS3 is vastly superior nor do I belive that an XBox 360 would fall over as soon as I bought it. I bought the PS3 for the following reasons (some are very trivial, I know, just let me be!)
- I am a huge Metal Gear and FF fan. Seriously huge (that was the main reason).
- The PS3 seams to have a wider variety of genres availible
- I am a long time PSOne/PS2 supporter (I had both on launch day)
- It matches my shiny piano black TV nicely
Now I have that out of the way, I want to give my first impressions. Until I bought one, I had never actually played a PS3 on a big HD TV. I had play a 360, and I was throughly impressed, but that was a while ago. (Just for reference, my telly is a 32" Samsung which does support Full Range RGB). I set up a PSN ID and started downloading demos, namely Devil May Cry 4, Heavenly Sword, Simpsons, Motorstorm, Resistance, Ratchet & Clank, Gran Turismo HD and Super Stardust HD (and Crash Bandicoot 1, but that was just for nostalgia).
The cons. After a long, long download time (I have a crap connection), you have to wait for the demo to be installed, and you can't do anything while it's installing. this was rather annoying, but not devistating. The store doesn't seam very intuitive to me, back and next buttons as forms of navigation started to get a little confused but again, nothing too drastic that I'm condsidering taking it back. No In-Game XMB can be annoying, and I am eagerly awiting this functionality (almost as much as FFXIII).
The pros. Wow. After playing wii games and pc games on a 15" screen, seeing Nariko's face in 32" HD is quite stunning. Devil May Cray is very crisp and rich, I was even impressed by the Simpsons graphics. Simple, but very crisp, clear and smooth. I wasn't overwhelmed by Motorstorm, but it was fun to play. Seeing videos, even 1080p ones can't do GTHD justice, it is simply amazing (I have already put my pre-order in for GT5 Prologue, and I'm not really a racing fan!). The console itself is very quiet (couldn't hear disc or fans when the TV was at a normal volume) and seamed to run cool, I had it going all day yesterday downloading and installing and then playing, and it was only just warm. Super Stardust was quite addictive, and I am going to purchase the full version when I get home.
I watched a DVD on it to see how it handled upscaling, and I have to sya I wasn't as impressed as I was with my standalone upscaler (which is also a Samsung), but it's not an issue for me. I can't wait to try a blu-ray move to see what that looks like, I am tempted to get I Am Legend when I go on my lunch.
Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase and glad I waited. I don't think there was enough around the launch to keep me entertained, but now there are enough games ot make me justify the purchase. I may still get a 360 if I decide I can afford it, but for now I'm happy being a PSWii kinda guy :D
