Both the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 saw unprecedented critical and consumer success. Given the early success of the Wii, the growing popularity of the Xbox 360 and the constant scrutinising of Sony and the way that they’re going about their business, the PlayStation 3 is already up against the wall, even before it was released. It may be the last console to full infiltrate the market and by far the most expensive, but it comes on the back of one the most successful consumer brands that is currently available. We’ve had our PS3’s for a little while now, so it’s our pleasure to bring you our full Hardware Review.
The Beast is here.
The PlayStation 3 arrived on our doorsteps in a eight kilo box, jammed full of contents. The contents that you will receive on March 23rd are as follows:
- PlayStation 3 console 60GB model
- Series of documents, including instructions
- Sixaxis Controller
- USB Cable (“A” to “mini-B”)
- Ethernet Cable
- Composite Cable
- Power Cable
The box and general contents
Once unpacked, the machine follows its predecessor with the capability of being stood on its side, as well as being sat horizontally. Some critics of the machine have called it big and ugly, while those with a sense of humour have likened it to a George Foreman grill. Upon taking it out of the box, it may be very heavy but it’s actually quite stylish, sleek and above all, shiny! At the front of the system, you have four USB ports on the bottom left. Move up, and there is a flap that opens up and reveals numerous ports for a variety of memory cards/sticks. To the right of that you have the disc drive and on/off switch. The drive, is self-loading with no tray, much like the Wii. At the back of the system, you have a switch as you did on the PS2, the plug for the power cable as well as the HDMI plug, A/V out and Optical out. Interestingly, the PS3 comes with an in-built power converter, so you are able to use a PS3 from any region in your home, without the need for an expensive transformer.
We had the foresight to get component cables before the PS3 arrived, so we hastily tossed the composite cables aside and looked for some HD goodness. Upon switching on the machine, we had to go through the prerequisite menus to fill in the time, date etc. but the process was much more familiar then before. Why? Because it happened to be virtually identical to the setup of the PSP. In fact, the PS3 could almost be considered a massive, extremely powered-up PSP, if you just take it from the menu interface.
Brothers in Arms, the next-gen is at hand.
The PS3 uses a virtually identical Cross Media Bar (XMB) to the PSP. That is, you can press the d-pad left or right and browse through the following menus (left to right): Users, Settings, Images, Music, Video, Game and Browser. The PS3 allows you to setup up numerous users on the one system, each with their own specifications and settings. Under settings, you can change the settings for most of the crucial functions of the system, from audio to visual to keyboard support to network settings. It may feel a little light-on sometimes but it actually is very simple to change settings. Images, music and videos can be sorted into different folders and the images, in particular, have a unique slideshow presentation that has the photos or images falling onto a white background.
The XMB is one of the big features that Sony is keen to push. It’s actually quite true, that it’s a very simple and easy way of navigating the menus and the PS3 has added simplicity to make most of the tasks a breeze. The PS3 default visual output was 480i and within a few clicks, we were able to juice up our output to 1080i through a few simple menu manoeuvres. Furthermore, setting up our wireless connection was a piece of cake, with a simple automation process being there for those who aren’t so technically inclined. However, once people start loading masses of audio and/or video files, scrolling through hundreds of files is going to be cumbersome. Sony will probably have to add some better way of navigating through mass files through future updates.
The background changes with the time of day or current game.
The PS3 can connect to the Internet out of the box. Once you have your network settings calibrated, it’s simply a matter of logging on and going to any site you want (Youtube anyone?). Two of the PS3 features in terms of web browsing is the ability to easily flip through multiple browsers at once and that you can plug and play virtually any USB keyboard and mouse. In the future, Sony are looking to push a lot of user-created contented, such as those found on Youtube or Myspace with announcements such as Playstation Home, through future system updates. For the time being, they’d be best off be concentrating on solidifying the firmware, as network integrity is not as well handled by a machine of the PS3’s capabilities. However, given the simplicity of everything PS3 so far, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this being utilised to its fullest once the newer features are released.
The PlayStation Store in Australia has just been opened, as well as the PS Stores for across Europe. We have signed up and it is just as easy to navigate at the XMB but looks like it may become convoluted once the content starts to overflow. For a full list of the contents, check out our news article. For the time being, the four PS Store games seem to have been priced at an "Introductory Offer" price, lasting until 23rd May. Afterwards we're expecting to see such a pricing structure - $10/$15/$20, in Australia at least. If you're unsure whether you want to play Lemmings in HD, here is a demo for download, as well as one for Blast Factor. Unfortunately, there were no PS1-PSP games available for download. Despite this, we decided to fill out hard drives with some with some demos and trailers, especially while the speeds were nice and quick (probably dude to the fact that hardly anyone was one). Oh, and we'll see how long it takes for our Casino Royale Blu-ray movie to arrive.
Complete with OLFC labels.
It became apparent that the PS3 was in need of a download manager. Thankfully, the upcoming 1.6 update is just around the corner, and it apparently includes a download manager. For the record, we did take Gran Turismo HD Concept for a spin. While it was rather pretty, the gameplay was rather subdued and not particularly exciting. Believe it or not, you do have the option for signing up to a foreign network. In our case, we decided to check out the Hong Kong PS Store, primarily because it had Japanese content but English menus. The menus are clean and easy to navigate but we had a bit of trouble finding some of the content, particularly games to be emulated on the PSP. The demo for Mina no Golf 5 was released recently and we hit some incredible wireless download speeds – roughly 250 megs in under 15 minutes. The game itself is quite fun as well.
While it has been well documented that the experiment between GC-GBA connectivity was an utter failure, that hasn’t stopped the Wii-DS or the PS3-PSP possibilities. The PS3-PSP is actually much more sophisticated than previous connectivity attempts and while it may come off as gimmicky, it actually has future potential. You can use the PSP to remotely view the contents of the PS3 menu. That is, you can watch movies and listen to music on the PSP, even though these files are stored on the PS3. Future applications may include being able to use the PSP as the game’s controller, though hopefully it won’t stoop to such levels as requiring both the PSP and PS3 version of a game to unlock arbitrary content.
3 systems, 2 traditional pads, 1 remote
A lot of noise has been made about the Sixaxis controller for the PS3, particularly with regards to the lack of rumble. While the legal conundrum with Sony and Immersion has been settled but for the time being, players are left with the new tilt features. Unfortunately, none of the launch titles utilise this feature in any substantial way but at the same time, most games don’t really miss the rumble (apart from perhaps MotorStorm). Still, the lack of rumble has actually made for a much lighter controller. The other main difference from the previous controller includes the change of the R1 and R2 buttons into trigger. They probably could’ve done with slightly straighter shape, as there is a slight propensity for your fingers to slip underneath, though the triggers will be likely to help with racing games and shooters.
Being wireless, the controller needs somewhere to get its power from. Included with the PS3 is a USB cable that can be used to do just this. The charge takes a couple of hours but it can be well worth it when it comes to saving on the cost of batteries. Furthermore, there are light indicators on the back of the controller to show which port it is occupying and there has been the addition of the PS button. It works pretty much the same as it does on the Xbox 360 or Wii, as it opens up a menu to get in and out of games, as well as turning the console on or off . Overall, even with the possibility of rumble returning, the controller is actually quite light and comfortable, more so, than its predecessor.
The Six-axis is lighter and a a bit different
The last aspect we’ll talk about is the actual output. That is, the image that you’ll be seeing coming out of your TV/Monitors. Basically, if you’re intending to hook your PS3 up using those lovingly included composite cable, you’re wasting your time and money. Both games and movies looks rather dull, with blurry writing, blur around the edges of in-game details and poor frame rates. As many have probably learned from the Xbox 360 (myself included) that if you’re going to adopt, you need the equipment to do so. It really is, component cables at 480p minimum, or it is likely that you’ll be regretting such an expensive purchase. Obviously, PS3 makes for a comparatively cheaper option for those want a Blu-ray player. In terms of Blu-ray playback, the PS3 will get your job done well but you’ll need to purchase a remote separately and if your TV only displays a maximum of 720p, than you’re in for a disappointment. That is because the PS3 will only display in 1080i/p, though we’re led to believe that an update is on the way.
Out of the box and into the power point, the PS3 is actually are very sophisticated and impressive machine. Despite its size, it’s actually quite stylish and is much quieter than the Xbox 360. For something that is meant to be a sophisticated machine, it is very easy to use and simple to set-up. However, at launch, it will very quickly seem that the options are a tad bare. This is where the potential of the machine comes into play. It really does ooze potential for future applications and core expansion, though some may argue that some of the potential feature ought to have come out of the box. Still, that’s what the system updates are for, right? With all the new announcements and thoughts still to come, the power of the PS3 lies in its potential. Whether it will succeed or not will depend on how well it can achieve this potential.
A meagre next-gen setup, but it looks mighty fine.
Sony has often been given the bad wrap on the launch of their consoles. It seems that this time at least, they’ve got one of the better consoles on their hands. The true challenge now is to secure the variety of games that they managed in past generations (seeing as they’ve already lost a fair few exclusives) and whether or not these games can reach the loft expectations that came attached the High Definition era. Given that the console is heavily reliant on its potential, it isn't surprising that a lot of people are sitting on the fence or dismissing the console altogether. Even though they’re up against it, don’t discount Sony from this generation, it has only just began and with the PlayStation 3 and residual Sony support, they just could do pretty well for them selves.
And it isn't that good, and so I'll see if it has improved as you guys have said. It's the sticks that are the main problem. Microsoft has fixed it's controller why can't Sony?
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