PS3 Q&A Thread

[schild]

Don't understand the PS3 love? I don't understand the Wii love. I'm actually picking one up, I just traded in a ton of movies and got 30% more (for action movies that are already out or coming out on Blu-Ray). So I'm basically getting it for shit I paid for a few years ago.

Here's Nintendo's release list through March:
Wii
January 15th - WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Japan will have this one already at the launch of the Wii)
January 15th - Wii Play
March 5th - Mario Party 8 (developed by Hudson Soft)


WTG. Despite buying one on Launch day for well, Zelda and Trauma Center and Elebits (which got delayed til Dec 20th), this is pretty weak. This means Super Mario Galaxy isn't out til god knows when and MP3 Corruption isn't even on the radar.

Just saying, there's more PS3 hate than there is Ninty hate and there's less PS3 love than there is Ninty love around the net right now.

As for console fanboi? What? I've already admitted I'm a gaming fanboi, and if you saw my PC Setup (when it's clean), you'd understand that it doesn't matter what the gaming format is. I owned a Lynx and Jaguar for fucks sake. And I made my mom buy a WAY overpriced 1st gen CDRom so I could play Journeyman Project. If you're gonna bash, at least bash for the right things.

[Strazos]

PS3 has a $600 pricetag, Wii is only $250.

[schild]

So? You really can't compare the two systems.

[Quinton]

PS3 has a $600 pricetag, Wii is only $250.

Which does help make it easier to justify buying the Wii for one or two games.  I picked up a gamecube for Zelda and Pikmin and later grabbed a copy of Ikaruga.  I have a whole pile of games for the PS2.  I fully expect the same situation to exist with the Wii and PS3.

Also, everyone seems to live throwing around the $600 price, but for $500 you lack only 802.11, some extra drive space, and a builtin memory card reader -- none of which I needed.  That's not to say it doesn't cost twice what a Wii does, obviously, but it's not like the xbox360 (where I'm told the Core system without the HDD would be a huge mistake to buy).

I guess I'm just banking on PS3 to have the most titles I'm interested in in this generation, similar to the situation with PS2 in the last generation.  I'll quite likely grab a Wii to see what all the fuss is about and play yet another retelling of the zelda story and am unlikely to buy an xbox.

- Q

[Strazos]

As far as specs go, no, you cannot. The pricetag is still a factor.

[Viin]

If you aren't a Sony fanboi, and don't have a 360, I hear Amazon is going to sell the 360 core unit for $100 in a couple of weeks.

[Quinton]

As far as specs go, no, you cannot. The pricetag is still a factor.

For a lot of people, definitely.  I think Nintendo is going to move an ungodly number of Wiis this holiday season -- cheaper, more available, funky new controller thing, yet another Zelda game.  Backward compatibility with GC is a nice bonus too.  This is a first for Nintendo, no?

- Q

[Quinton]

If you aren't a Sony fanboi, and don't have a 360, I hear Amazon is going to sell the 360 core unit for $100 in a couple of weeks.

That'd be pretty nutty.  Maybe somebody at Microsoft decided that they need to try to lose as much money on 360 as Sony is losing on ps3.  I can't imagine BOM being anywhere near $100 on even the Core xbox360.  Doing another crazy subsidized pricecut when you're already cheaper and more available than the competition would smell an awful lot like fear, I'd think.

EDIT: Or, wait... maybe it's the Wii they're scared of.  But that makes even less sense.  I'd think the likelyhood of somebody who wants a Wii buying an xbox360 instead is about the same as them buying a ps3 instead: almost none.  Sure a $100 xbox360 core would be cheaper than a Wii, but I just can't believe that'd successfully steal any significant part of Nintendo's market.  Just as xbox lacks the kind of ps content I want, it lacks the kind of nintendo content that somebody buying a wii wants...

- Q

[Merusk]

If you aren't a Sony fanboi, and don't have a 360, I hear Amazon is going to sell the 360 core unit for $100 in a couple of weeks.

The pic that was posted by Sky in the other thread also indicated that there would only be 1,000 units available at that price.

As far as specs go, no, you cannot. The pricetag is still a   THE factor.

As far as game systems bought by anyone other than geeks and folks without kids, yep.   I've heard nothing but derision about the PS3 price, but know several families planning on picking-up the Wii because of the managable price and the parent's nostalgia, since they heard they can play the old 16bit games on it.

[Velorath]

If you aren't a Sony fanboi, and don't have a 360, I hear Amazon is going to sell the 360 core unit for $100 in a couple of weeks.

That'd be pretty nutty.  Maybe somebody at Microsoft decided that they need to try to lose as much money on 360 as Sony is losing on ps3.  I can't imagine BOM being anywhere near $100 on even the Core xbox360.  Doing another crazy subsidized pricecut when you're already cheaper and more available than the competition would smell an awful lot like fear, I'd think.

EDIT: Or, wait... maybe it's the Wii they're scared of.  But that makes even less sense.  I'd think the likelyhood of somebody who wants a Wii buying an xbox360 instead is about the same as them buying a ps3 instead: almost none.  Sure a $100 xbox360 core would be cheaper than a Wii, but I just can't believe that'd successfully steal any significant part of Nintendo's market.  Just as xbox lacks the kind of ps content I want, it lacks the kind of nintendo content that somebody buying a wii wants...

It's actually just a Thanksgiving day promotion amazon.com will have going, and they'll only be selling 1000 at that price.

[Yoru]

What I would like is for some one who is not blinded by "ohhh shiney" to give a review on it.

The thing you need to ask yourself is... Why would any of those people have a PS3 right now anyway? Or any of the current generation consoles at launch, for that matter.

[Trippy]

What I would like is for some one who is not blinded by "ohhh shiney" to give a review on it.

The thing you need to ask yourself is... Why would any of those people have a PS3 right now anyway? Or any of the current generation consoles at launch, for that matter.

Maybe they got it as a gift?

[schild]

I will not review the PS3 in "ooooh shiny" mode. In fact, anyone who has met me or watched me play games can attest that OOOH SHINY lasts about 5 hours with me these days and then it wears off.

Seriously. Even when the shiny wears off though, Genji 2 still looks amazing and the PS3 is still a powerhouse.

[Quinton]

Sony now has a form you can use to search for ps1 and ps2 titles to see if they have known issues running on the ps3.  Not quite as useful as just a big 'ol list, but if you want to know if your favorite older games are working or not, perhaps it's handy:

http://www.us.playstation.com/Support/CompatibleStatus

-Q

[Merusk]

Sony now has a form you can use to search for ps1 and ps2 titles to see if they have known issues running on the ps3.  Not quite as useful as just a big 'ol list, but if you want to know if your favorite older games are working or not, perhaps it's handy:

http://www.us.playstation.com/Support/CompatibleStatus

If you only see one or two issues at a time, or keep seeing 'no compatability issues' when you search you start to think 'no big deal.'  If you post a big list it just provides fodder for people to point out and say, "oh good job there."

But then again, if you search "Final Fantasy" you will probably find yourself thinking, "what the fuck?"

Description: Users are unable to play titles that require HDD for PlayStation 2. This condition is planned to be resolved in the future with a system software update for PS3.

Most of the PS1 FF games seem to have graphics issues as well, and Final Fantasy Anthology has a bug that makes it unplayable. 

[Strazos]

Well, it said the First save point...right? What if you skip the first save point?

[Velorath]

Most of the PS1 FF games seem to have graphics issues as well, and Final Fantasy Anthology has a bug that makes it unplayable. 

They had issues on the PS2 as well, although I didn't find any of them unplayable.

[Strazos]

Harr....I knew GS was going to have MadCatz Wii comp. cables, but I didn't know they'd do any price gouging like that. Sorry, that sucks.

[squirrel]

Goddamn. The color depth on blu-ray is just fucking amazing. Also, you don't notice it until there's a blurry object in the foreground and the camera is focused on something further away - but hi-def movies are the fucking future. Given the stable of companies supporting blu-ray, I'm damn near tempted to trade in about 200-300 action dvds. Anyway, more later.

Slight derail - avoiding any bullshit BR vs. HDDVD discussions (I will be getting a PS3 next year for the exclusives and BR) I gotta agree here 100%. I just picked up my HD-DVD 360 add-on yesterday and watched Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick and Serenity and I'm now in the process of planning the replacement of about 120 films on DVD with the equivalent Blu-Ray and HD-DVD equivalents. It's just sooo fucking superior it's amazing. Ya it's shitty there's 2 standards and ya both M$ and $ony are being bitches but you know what - for $800 (HD-DVD addon and PS3) by next year I will never have to watch low-def movies again. Fuck yeah. Double fuck yeah.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and that $800 includes the Sony PS3 gaming shit. It's a good time to be a gamer/media enthusiast. Between my HTPC, 360 and my planned PS3 I need a clone to go to work so I can do all the gaming and movie shit I need done!

[Strazos]

Seriously, do you watch all of your movies enough to warrant replacing them all with a prettier version of the same movie? 120 is like...a lot.

[squirrel]

Honestly? Probably not. But I do watch a lot of them fairly frequently. The big seller for me will be things like Godfather and Scarface.

By the same token - I have a 720p TV that is 3 years old. It's a Samsung 56" DLP. I love this shit. So combine that with a fairly disposable income and yeah, i'll spend the coin. Hell me and the girl are currently considering retiring the Sammy to the loft and putting a 1080p set in the main room. $1500 - $2500 on films isn't much for me, and that's not a conceit, just reality.

[schild]

So, Tower Records was going out of business. Lots of good comics available there (Ex Machina, Fables, etc). Also, each store has a selection of Blu-Ray discs. A single trip to Tower just made my having a PS3 of utmost importance. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang for $16? Yes plz.

[Trippy]

I hear the MPAA is planning on holding a "We Love Squirrel" appreciation day in the near future :-D

[squirrel]

Lol. 120 films is the conservative non-DivX count. I doubt either the MPAA will be honoring me anytime soon :)  The crusade I'm participating in on avsforums and elsewhere is focussed on M$ofts determination to not support non VC1 (WMV9-11) codecs.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang =  I stay at the Phoenician in Scottsdale once in a while, next time I'm down that way you and I are hooking up.

EDIT: I just did a count, I have close to 1,000 (840 some odd) films. Most are on the PC.

[Jeff Kelly]

Only two rule: Don't ask me about 5.1 sound. You've seen the reports - optical does not play nice with HDMI. I'm using HDMI.

This fucking sucks btw. Most of the home theater systems on sale today do not have hdmi switches. Manufacturers like Pioneer, Yamaha or Denon just put those in their high end equipment. So most people looking for 5.1 sound only have optical or coaxial digital input, which will not work on the ps3. Big letdown by sony.

Thank god that my LCD-TV has optical out capability so that I still can use my nice shiny 5.1 system even though the ps3 doesn't allow optical output. But many potential buyers of a ps3 are thoroughly fucked by sony's decision

[Trippy]

Only two rule: Don't ask me about 5.1 sound. You've seen the reports - optical does not play nice with HDMI. I'm using HDMI.

This fucking sucks btw. Most of the home theater systems on sale today do not have hdmi switches. Manufacturers like Pioneer, Yamaha or Denon just put those in their high end equipment. So most people looking for 5.1 sound only have optical or coaxial digital input, which will not work on the ps3. Big letdown by sony.

Thank god that my LCD-TV has optical out capability so that I still can use my nice shiny 5.1 system even though the ps3 doesn't allow optical output. But many potential buyers of a ps3 are thoroughly fucked by sony's decision

I thought virtually all TVs with HDMI input have an optical/digital audio output?

[Quinton]

Only two rule: Don't ask me about 5.1 sound. You've seen the reports - optical does not play nice with HDMI. I'm using HDMI.

This fucking sucks btw. Most of the home theater systems on sale today do not have hdmi switches. Manufacturers like Pioneer, Yamaha or Denon just put those in their high end equipment. So most people looking for 5.1 sound only have optical or coaxial digital input, which will not work on the ps3. Big letdown by sony.

Thank god that my LCD-TV has optical out capability so that I still can use my nice shiny 5.1 system even though the ps3 doesn't allow optical output. But many potential buyers of a ps3 are thoroughly fucked by sony's decision

I've seen (heard?) optical and HDMI coexist on PS3.  On Friday evening, at the office, we hooked one up to a projector via HDMI and a cheap 5.1 stereo via optical and got audio both with bluray movie playback and with games.  The glitch we saw was once after playing a bluray disc and then exiting and starting Resistance there was no audio.  Power cycling the PS3 fixed that.  Obviously something got confused, but overall it was working.  You do need to go into the audio settings menu and change from HDMI to optical output.

- Q

[schild]

Oh it can be done. But the jimmywiggling to get it working also involves me unplugging my 360 which is optical also. I'll be getting an amp in about 2 weeks (this blu-ray purchase tonight stopped me getting a cheap to use for a year or so). I may pick up an all in one kit from Costco though that I can return when better shit comes out.

[HaemishM]

Don't understand the PS3 love? I don't understand the Wii love.

I'll explain it to you real simply. The Wii is not last gen's console with shinier graphics (although it would be without the controller). It's an entirely new way to control and play games. That's it. It's pushing gaming out of the box it's been strapped down in since the PS1. It's the newest thing since the analog stick, and it's better than the analog stick.

Oh and it's not SIX HUNDRED FUCKING DOLLARS.

[schild]

Better than the analog stick? What? No, it's still not as good as the mouse. And it's not really useful for moving around, but rather only looking and uhm, swinging your arm around. I never said it wasn't fun. Trauma Center is just fine. It's a good game. Better with a stylus, imo, but one of the better (best?) third party games for a Ninty console since the SNES. Also, the Wii is last gens console with just a new controller. I'll judge shinier graphics when I get component cables, though I've seen it and nothing looks as good as RE4 did.

Get over the money issue, that's Strazos' angle.

[HaemishM]

No, the money is about 90% of the buying public's issue, and it's my issue as well. Gaming is too fucking expensive when "next-gen" games are $60 a pop, HDTV's are twice the price of normal TV's and all the movies I bought on DVD "have" to be replaced with hi-def versions.

The controller is much much more important than the graphics by a factor of about 10 billion. Mediocre graphics don't mean a mediocre game (KOTOR for example). Mediocre controls means a mediocre fucking game.

And yes, it IS better than the analog stick, and I'd put it on a par with the mouse based on the difference in your viewing device. What does it matter if the Wiimote isn't useful for moving around, neither is a mouse. That's what the chuk/keyboard is for.

[Strazos]

Get over the money issue, that's Strazos' angle.

I wouldn't buy a PS3 right now if there was a glut of them and they were only $200. The pricetag is just the most Obvious issue.

That and the stupid BD that sony is trying to shove down peoples' throats. I seriously hope BD turns out the same way Beta did for Sony.

[schild]

That and the stupid BD that sony is trying to shove down peoples' throats. I seriously hope BD turns out the same way Beta did for Sony.

Won't.

[sigil]

You say that now, but this :is: Sony ;) They'll screw it up somehow.

[bhodi]

hrm, schild needs to be reviewed by 1up.