"Lofty Expectations... Minimal Results"

I feel like I need to put this here [especially since this review has had over 1000 hits], but this review is based off of the time I have spent playing the PS3 with a friend of mine. And all of my other PS3 Game reviews will be based on the time on that PS3 with my friend, unless I get my own.

The PS3 is Sony's third console, and it may be their last if I am right.

Development:

The Sony Playstation 3 was designed to amaze everyone, and to "replace" your computer [I swear to god I know one of the Sony guys said that]. But there was some very annoying hype going on, the Sony people they used for the hype were saying crazy things like "flip over and hit for MASSIVE DAMAGE!!!" and other stuff like that. But still that did not turn off some people, but the price of 599 U.S. dollar did split the support a little bit. Other than that, there were some massive delays because of the Blu-Ray player being hard to manufacture, and the diodes glitching. But after a while we began seeing some great video [albeit some of it being fake] showing just what the PS3 could do.

Sales:

Now onto sales, the PS3 came out on November 17th 2006, and although sales started out well with huge lines, it has slowed down now that the PS3 has only gotten Five or Six Million consoles out, less than half of what the other two have [around Thirteen Million]. Most of the people who bought it in the beginning were going to sell it for inflated prices on Ebay [same thing happened with the 360, and some poor schmuck bought just the BOX for a 360 once], and a few people were shot. But now it is slowing down, PS3's are easy to find and I feel like it isn't going to do very well. But, it may do better if the price keeps going down.

The System: 6

Personally, I don't like how the PS3 looks, it looks overly modern and I don't like the big black curve of this huge system, and it is annoying how the Spiderman 3 font was used for it... kind of minor but it did bother me. But other than that there are some ports on there so you can put things in there, although you need to buy a lot [like Sony loves you to do]. There is also a built in Hard Drive where you can save games and your other stuff onto, currently it is 60 Gigs and 80 Gigs if I remember correctly, it was really expensive at first but luckily the price has gone down by around 100 bucks for each version. But all of that aside, it is shiny so some people will dig that, and even though I hate the design some people must like it.

The Controller: 7

Well we all remember the infamous Boomerang, but that is gone now and we got a revised Dual Shock 2. Personally this one is much better than the last two were, and it is wireless, you can have a lot of them in at one time, and too me the best part is how the new triggers work. But I don't like the lack of Rumble in the Controller, and it feels too light and I think I am going to throw it when I use it, along with the half ***ed tilt sensor. The controller is good, but it feels like they could of done more [by the way, the same complaints I had for the Dual Shock on my PS1 review apply to this one].

Features: 7

The setup for the PS3 has the same kind of design as the PSP menu, so at least there is familiarity in there. There is also Playstation Network, Sony's answer to Xbox-Live, and it is free but it is not as high of quality. The PS3 can also connect to the PSP and use it to watch video, or play PS1 games using the PSP/PS1 Emulator. But the PS3 also has backwards compatibility with the thousands of PS1/PS2 games although some of them don't work very well. You can also watch Blu-Ray movies, DVD's, listen to CD's, and go on the Internet [with a Keyboard]. There are also a hell of a lot of ports on the back of this thing, and you can connect old memory cards from the past Playstations onto the PS3, problem is that you need to buy more stuff to do that. All in all, the PS3 does a lot, but it did not feel as good as Sony hyped it to be.

Graphical Power: 9

The PS3 has some incredible graphics on it; I will say that no matter how much I have bashed the system. Like I said about the 360 there is so much that can be done with the hardware that makes the PS1 from 10 years ago look completely archaic. But even with how gorgeous some of the games are, you need a HD-TV to get everything, and if you don't have one it won't look nowhere near as good as it does. Otherwise, it really won't be worth all that extra money you paid for it. But if you do have a HD-TV, games like Resistance: Fall of Man do look gorgeous, and the PS3 Developers are doing a great job with the hardware, and when they get completely used to how hard it is to code everything, were going to get some good looking games.

Sound Capabilities: 9

I really can't say much else than what I said about the 360 because it is all so similar here. Now that the developers know so much more than they did lifelike sound can be put in these games now, and if you have a great sound system it sounds amazing, but that is the problem. You NEED a good sound system to get the best out of the PS3.

Game Media: 7

I will say what has been said before, Sony has taken a huge risk by using Blu-Ray for their new console when HD-DVD could win and Blu-Ray would be the new Beta-Max tape. But with that aside, there is a lot of room for games [50 ******* Gigs!] so this will be the system for RPG's because of how much room they can take up. But the problem is how much it costs to make the Discs; this could hurt Sony a lot so I am taking a few points off for that.

NOTE: As I am revising this review, HD-DVD is in a stalemate with Blu-Ray, I might of been right here.

The Games: [Current Rating] 5, [Expected rating at end of lifespan] 7

Currently, the game selection on the PS3 is poor at best, it seems like the low sales compared to the 360 and Wii are causing people to switch to them. But I feel like the PS3 will wind up getting a wide variety of games [although it won't be the sheer number of the last two systems], and it could wind up like the N64, a system where the best games come from the people who really care about the System [Remember Perfect Dark... stuff like that].I have no love for Sony, but it seems like there won't be many good games on here, and the choice currently is not worth 500 bucks that could of been spent much more wisely if Sony made some better choices.

Suggested Games: [As of this Review, 9-5-07]

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, F.E.A.R., MotorStorm, Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Resistance: Fall of Man, Ridge Racer 7, Virtua Fighter 5, Warhawk.

Pros:

Great graphics, amazing possibility for game size on the discs, large library of old games to play.

Cons:

Poor games at this time, WAY TOO EXPENSIVE, Blu-Ray may have been a bad choice, need to pay a lot to fully enjoy the system, does not feel as "complete" as I would of liked from what Sony said about it.

Should you get it:

I would not get the PS3 now, but maybe after the Price gets brought down more, some good games come out, and the price for all of the things that you need to enjoy the system to its fullest go down [TV's and Sound Systems are expensive], I might consider getting a PS3

Overall:

The PS3 is having a very poor start, but I currently don't know what the result will be, it could bomb or it could come back up and surprise me by taking down the 360 and the Wii. What I do know is that Sony has lost their market dominance.

[Current rating]
6
[Expected rating by end of lifespan]
7

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/05/07, Updated 05/12/08

Game Release: PlayStation 3 Hardware (US, 11/17/06)