PS3

[Teleku]

Hmmm, shit.  I just realized:  The PS3 Slim doesn't come with an HDMI cable, does it?

[Rasix]

 

Hmmm, shit.  I just realized:  The PS3 Slim doesn't come with an HDMI cable, does it?

$10 with shipping from newegg. I think my PS3 only came with a composite cable. 

I happen to use my 360 elite cable for mine.  

[Teleku]

Yeah, its just that it was one more thing to order that I forgot to.

But now I realize its probably a moot point, as my monitor came with an HDMI cable I'm not using.  So hurray! 

Only thing left to worry about when it finally arrives is how to plug it into my computer speakers.

[Trippy]

The Slim only comes with an AV cable with composite and stereo outputs (RCA jacks).

Only thing left to worry about when it finally arrives is how to plug it into my computer speakers.

If your computer speakers accept stereo RCA inputs then you don't need anything extra. You will need to change the Sound Settings so sound is coming out of the AV Multi connector rather than the HDMI port (or you can have sound coming out of both if you want on the Slim).

If your computer speakers only accept an 1/8" stereo mini jack you'll want something like this thingy.

[Trippy]

Fuck you, I liked Lair.

I'd also recommend Heavenly Sword to people, so my taste might be in question.

Your taste is far more in question due to Lair than Heavenly Sword.

Heavenly Sword is worth playing just for the voice-acting of the "bad guys" if nothing else. Also, they did a nice job with her hair (most of the time).

And I would say the voice acting is a very good reason to skip Heavenly Sword. It's well beyond horrifically bad. Also whomever at Sony thought they had to compete against the Wii by putting in the "AfterTouch" controls needs to be drawn and quartered.

[Yegolev]

Not sure about more than three exclusives, but I haven't paid much attention since I decided to buy everything on PS3 from now on.

You know, I'm almost the exact opposite. Especially because when I read review sites that do a head to head I almost always see something like "oddly, the PS3 version had more slowdown/graphical issues/other technical bugs than the 360 version." I just finally decided that for whatever reasons alot of devs have more problems with the PS3. I suspect it's something akin to the issues the Sega Saturn had: the architecture is just hard to program for.

Ah, then I know why we are opposites.  If I want a game and it is available on PS3 and 360, I get it on PS3 because of the 360 console itself being garbagy.  It's like an outboard motor with advertisements that locks up after long periods of not saving, plus it has Miis on it and doesn't like static IP addresses.  Although it hasn't locked up with Last Remnant for some reason, probably because I can save anywhere.  That game has terrible performance anyway, probably for the best that Squeenix couldn't get Unreal Engine to work on PS3.

The PS3 has been out long enough that I'm hoping the learning curve is mostly done.

[Azazel]

I'm at the point where I'm starting to consider where games are superior on the PS3 over the 360. - I've held off buying Arkham Asylum until I get a PS3 because of the big chunks of exclusive DLC.

I perfer the 360 in general, but paying for Live isn't attractive, nor is the limited storage space. Especially with the 120gb HDD limit compared to unlimited for the PS3, and the fact that I have a bunch of music games on 360 that are the things that suck up all the HDD space..

[schild]

Fuck you, I liked Lair.

I'd also recommend Heavenly Sword to people, so my taste might be in question.

Your taste is far more in question due to Lair than Heavenly Sword.

Heavenly Sword is worth playing just for the voice-acting of the "bad guys" if nothing else. Also, they did a nice job with her hair (most of the time).

And I would say the voice acting is a very good reason to skip Heavenly Sword. It's well beyond horrifically bad. Also whomever at Sony thought they had to compete against the Wii by putting in the "AfterTouch" controls needs to be drawn and quartered.

Haha what? This isn't even an opinion thing, just, WHAT?

Also, you can turn off the after touch shit and just control that stuff manually.

[stray]

Maybe the acting is a love or hate thing.  I thought the whole game was pretty good and underrated.. Probably selling at a cheap price these days to boot.

[Azazel]

it's one I plan to pick up on the cheap. Now if only I could find that thread where we discussed the best games to pick up for a PS3, I could plan my software pre-purchases... 

[Velorath]

Maybe the acting is a love or hate thing.  I thought the whole game was pretty good and underrated.. Probably selling at a cheap price these days to boot.

Maybe if you buy it from a 3rd party seller on amazon or something.  Don't think it's even in print anymore but amazon is selling it for about $50 still with 4 left in stock.  EB doesn't have it available online but lists it for $50 as well.

[Trippy]

I bought my copy through Amazon from a 3rd party.

[Velorath]

Given the length of the game, I think it would probably be better to rent rather than purchase.

[Segoris]

it's one I plan to pick up on the cheap. Now if only I could find that thread where we discussed the best games to pick up for a PS3, I could plan my software pre-purchases... 

The two I found helpful when picking up my ps3 were this one and the F13 wiki suggestions. It just seems the suggestions list isn't updated with any 2009 games though.

[Yegolev]

For 2009 so far, there's Arkham Asylum and inFamous.  I'd add Prototype if you liked Crackdown or the good Hulk game, it's good fun.

[Rasix]

UFC 2009 (cross platform) was pretty decent as well. Sunk a lot of hours into that.

[Segoris]

For PSN downloads, Fat Princess. At $15 I don't see how that isn't worth mentioning as a must have.

[Trippy]

If you like console shooters (LOL) there's Killzone 2 as a PS3 exclusive from this year as well. It has very nice visuals but the actual gameplay, while very polished, is nothing special, at least as far as I've played through so far. Haven't tried MP yet (I suck at console shooters).

[Big Gulp]

If you like console shooters (LOL) there's Killzone 2 as a PS3 exclusive from this year as well. It has very nice visuals but the actual gameplay, while very polished, is nothing special, at least as far as I've played through so far. Haven't tried MP yet (I suck at console shooters).

My biggest gripe with Infamous was the lack of aim assist.  There's already too much shooting in that game, and without an aim assist I'm not just not going to be bothered to play it with analog sticks.

[stu]

Two months now and I still can't stop playing as Destructoid on Bomberman Ultra with my roomies. Fun game.

[Ard]

If you like console shooters (LOL) there's Killzone 2 as a PS3 exclusive from this year as well.

There's also Resistance 2, although it was technically from the very end of last year.  I still vastly prefer it's coop mode to anything else I've seen.  Haven't mucked around with it's competitive mode though.  It's weapons are a lot more fun than killzone's.

[Teleku]

The Slim only comes with an AV cable with composite and stereo outputs (RCA jacks).

Only thing left to worry about when it finally arrives is how to plug it into my computer speakers.

If your computer speakers accept stereo RCA inputs then you don't need anything extra. You will need to change the Sound Settings so sound is coming out of the AV Multi connector rather than the HDMI port (or you can have sound coming out of both if you want on the Slim).

If your computer speakers only accept an 1/8" stereo mini jack you'll want something like this thingy.

Awesome!  Thanks for the tips.  I'm actually a complete noob when it comes to sound and video wiring.  Perhaps you (or anybody else) could help me out here.  This is the situation.

Heres my speakers:

Green and Pink cords plug into my PC.  There is one jack on the sub where the cord for the speakers plugs into.  The little circle disk thing is the volume control, and contains the only jacks I can find for plugging anything else into.  These jacks are for the microphone and headphones.


So, what would I need to do?  Would I have to run the converter thing you linked into something like the microphone jack?  Run the PS3 cables through some other weird splitter converter thing so the green/pink cords are shared between both the PC And PS3?  I'm rather lost.

[Phire]

Maybe the acting is a love or hate thing.  I thought the whole game was pretty good and underrated.. Probably selling at a cheap price these days to boot.

I hated the acting and voices in Heavenly Sword. They were so over the top and silly that it would have ruined the game if the rest hadn't been equally as bad...

[Tairnyn]

For PSN downloads, Fat Princess. At $15 I don't see how that isn't worth mentioning as a must have.

I considered grabbing this the other day but I'm still a bit wary. Is this the kind of MP game that can be fun to hop in a server or play for an hour or two or is the fun dependent on being lucky and getting on a good team? (or playing against a terrible one) None of my friends have a PS3 (yet!) so I hesitate to spend money on a game if 9/16ths of the fun is playing with friends.

[Segoris]

I've had fun on crappy teams, but can't deny it's more fun with even teams or just being on the winning side. IMO though, as short as the single player mode is (1.5-2hours or so), I still think that alone was worth the $15 just due to how fun it was.

You can't go wrong when the end credits play Sir Mix A Lot, the main prince is named Prince Albert, and the biggest part of the game is playing capture the flag with a princess whom you have to fatten up so the other team needs more people to carry her. All this while chopping people's heads off 

[Yegolev]

Teleku, I believe the thing we need to find out first is what sort of audio input your PC has.  Could be optical or minijack.  PS3 outputs optical, which I only remember because I use that, otherwise probably RCA plugs.

[ffc]

Is [Fat Princess] the kind of MP game that can be fun to hop in a server or play for an hour or two or is the fun dependent on being lucky and getting on a good team? (or playing against a terrible one)

The fun in multiplayer Fat Princess comes from any form of successful teamwork.  Every team will have at least one non-idiot player.  Pick a complimentary class and stick with the non-idiot(s) and you will have fun.  But you will see the occasional player who decides to help "defend" by repeatedly throwing big bombs around your castle, blowing up your teammates and gates, with no attacker in sight.  

If you don't want multiplayer then instead of Fat Princess with bots I suggest Flower.  I was not sure about zooming flower petals around but its good.  Plus it has more immersive and intuitive motion controls than any non-Wii Sports game.

[Teleku]

Teleku, I believe the thing we need to find out first is what sort of audio input your PC has.  Could be optical or minijack.  PS3 outputs optical, which I only remember because I use that, otherwise probably RCA plugs.

Well, heres the back of my motherboard (an Asus P6T):


I use the onboard sound card, which has the standard 6 audio connectors (what ever type of jack those are).  I just realized looking through the specs, however, that I have 1 S/PDIF Optical jack also.  Which I've never even bothered figuring out WTF it did, but am now reading is for optical sound.  So, yah me?

[Trippy]

Maybe the acting is a love or hate thing.  I thought the whole game was pretty good and underrated.. Probably selling at a cheap price these days to boot.

I hated the acting and voices in Heavenly Sword. They were so over the top and silly that it would have ruined the game if the rest hadn't been equally as bad...

[schild]

Don't let things like "they were supposed to be over-the-top and silly" get in the way of complaining about it.

[Trippy]

If you like console shooters (LOL) there's Killzone 2 as a PS3 exclusive from this year as well. It has very nice visuals but the actual gameplay, while very polished, is nothing special, at least as far as I've played through so far. Haven't tried MP yet (I suck at console shooters).

My biggest gripe with Infamous was the lack of aim assist.  There's already too much shooting in that game, and without an aim assist I'm not just not going to be bothered to play it with analog sticks.

Yes Infamous is a LOL Console Shooter too. However, the design of the world makes it much more forgiving for those of us that suck at thumbstick aiming. The ability to flee onto rooftops from ground troops (though some of the enemies can chase you onto the roofs) and the usually ample cover up there makes it easy to pick off enemies from a safer distance when your aim isn't so good.

The first shooter I tried was Uncharted and I sucked so bad at it I had to melee all the enemies in the very first scene. Tried Killzone 2 and I could barely hit stuff there. Finally switched to Infamous and did fine there once I learned you could escape via the rooftops and your basic attack has pretty decent range for sniping enemies on the roofs. Then when I switched back to Uncharted I found I wasn't so sucky at shooting anymore (it's still painful compared to using a mouse, of course).

If you ever do get a PS3 again and play Infamous I recommend you give the "escape to a rooftop" strategy a try anytime you engage more than 1 or 2 enemies on the ground until you get good enough with thumbstick aiming.

[Trippy]

Teleku, I believe the thing we need to find out first is what sort of audio input your PC has.  Could be optical or minijack.  PS3 outputs optical, which I only remember because I use that, otherwise probably RCA plugs.

Well, heres the back of my motherboard (an Asus P6T):


I use the onboard sound card, which has the standard 6 audio connectors (what ever type of jack those are).  I just realized looking through the specs, however, that I have 1 S/PDIF Optical jack also.  Which I've never even bothered figuring out WTF it did, but am now reading is for optical sound.  So, yah me?

One of those mini jack ports should be a line-in. Get an adapter like I linked above to convert the RCA stereo connectors from the PS3 AV out to a stereo mini jack and then plug that into your line-in port on the PC. Bring up your volume control/mixer and make sure your line-in isn't muted and you should be able to hear the PS3 sounds through your computer speakers. Or get better speakers -- most computer speakers these days come with an "iPod" aux input that you could use in the same way as the line-in on your PC.

[Trippy]

For PSN downloads, Fat Princess. At $15 I don't see how that isn't worth mentioning as a must have.

I considered grabbing this the other day but I'm still a bit wary. Is this the kind of MP game that can be fun to hop in a server or play for an hour or two or is the fun dependent on being lucky and getting on a good team? (or playing against a terrible one) None of my friends have a PS3 (yet!) so I hesitate to spend money on a game if 9/16ths of the fun is playing with friends.

Many games get bogged down in stalemates, where neither side is coordinated enough to rescue the Princess. If you don't care about winning or losing and just like chopping/blowing people to bits you might have fun even in the stalemate situations. If you do care about teamwork and stuff like that you might get frustrated. I tend to quit a lot of games right now cause they get bogged down.

[Ard]

I tend to just search for deathmatch or tower games, to avoid that problem.  Capture the flag in ANY online game tends to breakdown into retardation.

[Azazel]

Welp. Ordered my first PS3 games last night from a super-cheap place in the UK. Should be here next week. I figure I'll get a handful (5-10) of cheap but good games in advance of the console itself, so I don't have a PS3 and like one thing to play on it.

Heavenly Sword and Motorstorm.

I would have gotten Uncharted as well, but they were out of stock. So I'll get it in a few weeks. Maybe Overlord as well, since to buy the PS3 game with DLC included, new from the UK costs about AU$4 more than buying the DLC pack for 360, and doesn't take up HDD space.

When Demons Souls comes out in the US, I'll see if any kind F13er wants to pick it up for me from whoever is selling it cheap, and if not, I'll wait until the play-asia price drops a bit. (No Euro or AU release on the cards, you see).

Don't want to get too much, since I'll no doubt be buying a Christmas bundle that has a few games attached.

Infamous when the price drops a bit, Arkham I'll buy at the same time as the PS3, Prototype when the price drops a bit (on whichever of the 2 platforms). UFC I'll wait until the next one, which will no doubt be much improved. I liked the demo, I can just see that the followup will have a lot of stuff fixed, and it's only about 8-10 months away (with plenty of other stuff to play, see above).

WTF is Fat Princess?

Oh, I know Schild is a SingStar fan - what are those games actually like? As unmanly as it is, my wife and I enjoy playing these games together (GH, Lips, RB, etc). From what I understand, Singstar is like Lips, only vastly superior. What's it like?
(yeah I know, I have read wikipedia - but I want to know what humans think as well).

Resistance and the other one (Killzone??) - both FPS and no 3PS option? For some reason I can handle 3rd person console shooters but not FPS.

Do Warhawk or Valkyria Chronicles have a demo?