Early Impressions with the PS3
Entry posted by MagitekAngel
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It may not seem like it here on AtariAge, but for the average person, I've got a lot of game consoles. For example, I'm the only person I know in the offline space that still has every Nintendo console currently plugged into the TV, including a Game Boy Player. So when people come to my apartment to visit and they see my entertainment setup, they're either impressed or disturbed.
For the last year and a half I've had an Xbox 360 and I'm happy to report that it hasn't malfunctioned in the least. I've got about ten games for it so far, and I've enjoyed them all. Before we got the Xbox we had the Wii, and we've got about 15 or so solid games for that.
For a good while that was enough. I never really considered getting a PS3. It was just too damn expensive, and I was getting plenty of current-gen gaming through the Xbox.
Then Sony went and dropped the price by a hundred bones. The new PS3 slim was priced the same as an Xbox. At this point, I began to have thoughts.
Thoughts eventually turned to deeds, and a little over half a year later, my girlfriend and I went out and got a 120 GB slim. And I have to say, the thing continues to impress me.
First of all, the noise! Or should I say, the complete lack thereof! Turning on our Xbox 360 is like turning on a gasoline lawnmower - sure it will get the job done, but it feels crude, inefficient; it reeks of wasted energy. I actually find myself wondering at times if I actually turned the PS3 on, because it's so quiet.
Second, the system software. XMB is simple and concise. By contrast, NXE is slow, poorly organized, and frustrating. I actually preferred the old Dashboard to what Microsoft has going now.
Third, getting online. Registering for Xbox live was a nightmare. I actually messed it up the first time and had to create a second account. And let's not forget that I have to pay if I actually want to play with people online. Playstation Network was a breeze - I didn't have to get up and go to my computer, it didn't take me longer than five minutes, and I didn't have to pay a dime (excepting of course my internet bill). I will confess that there's less to do and buy on the Playstation Network than there is on Xbox Live, but I'm not an intensive online community gamer in the first place. I'll probably just buy some PSOne classics and play LittleBigPlanet online.
As for the games themselves, my impressions are going to ride heavily on the exclusives. After I did some looking at our Xbox 360 library, I determined that the only console exclusives we actually owned were Fable II and Knights of the Old Republic II, which isn't even a 360 game. Our other titles (Fallout III, Oblivion, Bioshock, Mirror's Edge, The Orange Box, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection, Kung-Fu Panda, Lego Indiana Jones, Assassin's Creed II, Ghostbusters, and both Rock Band games) can all be had on Sony's machine. Microsoft's exclusives do not appeal as much to me - I'm not a Halo guy, or a Gears guy, Mistwalker's RPGs have been underwhelming, Rare hasn't made a good game since the N64. On the other hand, PS3 opens me up to Metal Gear Solid, Ratchet and Clank, Uncharted, Heavy Rain, LittleBigPlanet (which was the first game we've gotten for it and it's absolutely AMAZING), and the original version of Final Fantasy XIII (which I fully expect to regret purchasing when I do).
One thing I can say though is Microsoft wins as far as downloadable games are concerned. I've bought roughly 15 XBLA games, including exclusives like Castle Crashers, Perfect Dark, Shadow Complex. . . hell, even Doom and Ageis Wing kick ass. Won't be checking out the Game Room, though - way too expensive. As for PSN, a lot of the games that appeal to me can be had on XBLA, or even Wiiware. I'll probably be sticking to the PSOne Classics.
So that is the distillation of my first week with a PS3. I have never been in the position before where I owned every major competitor in the current generation of gaming. As one who has never maintained strong console allegiances in the long term (my favorite consoles of the moment throughout my life have been, in order: Colecovision, NES, SNES, N64, Dreamcast, PS2, DS, NES again), I'm feeling a lot of freedom in what games I can purchase now. It's refreshing.
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