I recently got my long awaited PS3 console, and after two weeks of vigorous playing I thought I would write a post detailing my initial impressions, and whether the PS3 has lived up to the hype that surrounded the its launch, and whether I thought the Xbox 360 would have been a better choice in hindsight.
I am somewhat in an ideal position to write such a review as up until the arrival of my PS3 console I had regular access to its main competitor, the Xbox360. Due to this every opinion has been based upon a comparison of the two next generation games consoles.
To start with I will confess that I have always sided with Sony over Microsoft’s offering, and the Playstaion console has been my preference over the years and as such I have both the PS1 and PS2 consoles that are older brothers of the PS3. Because of this I have always found that I have had a physiological barrier that has prevented me from completely accepting the Xbox consoles, and as such I have never fully embraced them as any gamer probability should have.
That said once I gave the Xbox 360 a chance I was seriously impressed. Playing Fifa 2008 (as a popular game across both consoles that I was already familiar with), I was surprised with how similar the joy pad controls were on each of the two consoles. Looking somewhat foreign initially, the joy pad of the Xbox was both easy to adapt to and prevented the frustrating initiation period often common with other consoles.
In terms of game play too the Xbox was superb, and rigged up on a HD TV the graphics truly did look next generation. What amazed me was the difference in response to the joy pad controls, making the game so much more responsive than similar titles on the PS2 and the older Xbox.
The big disappointment for me was the online gaming facility of the Xbox3 360, a major reason I wanted to get a next generation console in the first place. Although great when in play, the Xbox delivers online playing capability through its Xbox live service which requires a fee of £5 a month or £40 a year. A sneaky hidden cost I thought and one which left a sour taste.
The Playstaion’s online gaming facility on the other hand is a free offering, providing game and system updates, downloads and internet access much the same as the Xbox 360 but without any additional fee.
The other drawback was that the Xbox 360 was also in need of a HD DVD player plug in costing £100 in order to play next generation movies, whilst the PS3 comes with a built in Blu-ray player, which more importantly is updatable. The built in next generation DVD player is a must for me, as realistically games consoles are treated increasingly like a hub for home entertainment systems, and any next generation console should be equipped for that.
Having purchased the 40GB version in order to stretch the games budget further I did however find myself without the backwards compatibility of the 60GB PS3 model. This at first disappointed me, but after a fortnight of gaming I realised how often you actually play older games on new generation consoles. The answer was almost never. In fact after buying the PS2 in never played a PS1 games on it, so if Sony needs to take this technology out to bring the retail price of the 40GB console down then that is a sacrifice I am willing to make. I still have the PS2 so can always open that back up if I get the any sudden nostalgic cravings in the future.
With everything taken into account the PS3 was impressive, and I think surpasses the Xbox 360 with the provision of free online gaming and built in Blu-ray player. A very good console and will be a market leader for several years at least.
PS3 9/10
Xbox 360 7/10
February 8th, 2008 at 2:06 am
One factor that makes people think twice when buying a playstation 3 or an xbox 360 console will be the games that they will be playing. I think right now, the Xbox360 games are more appealing to most of the gamers, like Halo3 and Gears of War. And moreover, Microsoft does have a 1 yr headstart getting most of the developers on board.
For me ? Well, I’m a Wii owner heh