Looks like the PS3 has gone down in price, and is now much more reasonable (slightly over $200 in stores around me). So I'm a bit tempted, but have a few questions:

- How good is the BD-Rom player? (compared to, say, a dedicated one)
- Are games region-protected?
- What are good games for it? (outside of Fallout 3, GTA IV and Guitar Hero)?
- Does it run PS2 games or not? (interested mostly in the Katamari series)
- Does it run PS1 games?
- Any advice / other interesting stuff about it?




[download a life]

I hear some companies are going to stop making games for it, Activision leading the way with this apparently, as they do not work out to be as profitable as the 360 or the Wii

> Looks like the PS3 has gone down in price, and is now much more reasonable
> (slightly over $200 in stores around me). So I'm a bit tempted, but have a few
> questions:
>
> - How good is the BD-Rom player? (compared to, say, a dedicated one)
> - Are games region-protected?
> - What are good games for it? (outside of Fallout 3, GTA IV and Guitar Hero)?
> - Does it run PS2 games or not? (interested mostly in the Katamari series)
> - Does it run PS1 games?
> - Any advice / other interesting stuff about it?
>
>
>
>
> [download a life]
>

> - How good is the BD-Rom player? (compared to, say, a dedicated one)

Excellent, exceeds the quality of many of the standalone players through HDMI last I'd heard, also one of the only early players that was able to be upgraded to current spec just with system firmware updates

> - Are games region-protected?

PS3 games are not, but backwards compatability-supported games and DVDs still are

> - Does it run PS2 games or not? (interested mostly in the Katamari series)

If you can find an old 60GB (NA/Japan) PS3, then PS2 compatability is nearly perfect. 80GB and Euro models have partial backwards compatability, and the newest models have none

> - Does it run PS1 games?

Yes!

> - Any advice / other interesting stuff about it?

It has a lot of media center functionality, and is nowhere near as locked-down in terms of peripherals and homebrew as e.g. the X360

-nZero

> Looks like the PS3 has gone down in price, and is now much more reasonable
> (slightly over $200 in stores around me). So I'm a bit tempted, but have a few
> questions:
>
> - How good is the BD-Rom player? (compared to, say, a dedicated one)
> - Are games region-protected?
> - What are good games for it? (outside of Fallout 3, GTA IV and Guitar Hero)?
> - Does it run PS2 games or not? (interested mostly in the Katamari series)
> - Does it run PS1 games?
> - Any advice / other interesting stuff about it?
>
Wait what...$200? Black market? They're $400 unless you get a package deal by a retailer, then it comes down to $300 if you want the toss-in stuff.

The movie player is one of the best on the market still, but the most pricey of pricey could out feature it.

NO region lockout at all.

Well as far as games like 3-4 are multi-console, rest are not.
Battlefield Bad Company
Civilization Revolution
MOH Airborne
COD (any of em)
Saints Row 2
LittleBigPlanet
Uncharted(which you already listed as owned.)
Ratchet and Clank titles (another is coming soon.)
Flower(PSN)
Red Baron(PSN)
ZEN Pinball(PSN)
Pixel Junk Monsters(the series really-- PSN only)
Everyday Shooter(PSN)
Super Stardust(PSN)
SOCOM
Gran Tourismo5
Motorstorm
Ninja Gaiden Sigma(1 and 2)

PS2 -- Removed it to save money.

PS1 -- Not the discs themselves, plays a ton of those downloadable games that mostly are $6USD (larger like FF7 are $10.)

I'll leave the advice, etc to others.

> PS1 -- Not the discs themselves, plays a ton of those downloadable games that
> mostly are $6USD (larger like FF7 are $10.)

??

The 60GB I had while living in Japan played PS1 game discs just fine (but only NTSC-J games, just like any unmodded PS1 or PS2). Was that removed?

-nZero

I think everything has been answered already. The version available now lacks the PS2 BC, only has two USB ports, and had the card readers removed. They update it every so often improving video support and adding new features. The media server capabilities is a great feature that i've found useful. Also, the option of swapping the HDD for any other 2.5 inch drive is a plus. Unfortunately, most games require an installation before playing, sometimes up to about 5GB in size.

There are rumors out there that a slim model might be coming in the near future. Nothing's been confirmed, just a photo of a possible box art and a piece of the system. If it's true, they wouldn't confirm it until the system was prepped for release anyway.

> PS1 -- Not the discs themselves, plays a ton of those downloadable games that
> mostly are $6USD (larger like FF7 are $10.)

I'm pretty sure all versions of the PS3 can play PS1 game discs. The PS1 emulation is the same they used on the PS2, barely a footprint in the system, it would be silly for them to take it out. The PS1 discs work perfectly fine on my 60gb model, but I'm 99.44% sure they work on the most recent versions too.

Alyas
"Good... Bad... I'm the guy with the gun."

Made a typo, it's actually around 200 British Pounds...
(so yeah, about U$S 400)





[download a life]

was this a typo too?

"Looks like the PS3 has gone down in price"

Because I don't know if it was more expensive in pounds before, but the PS3 has been 400 bucks or so for year(s)

> Made a typo, it's actually around 200 British Pounds...
> (so yeah, about U$S 400)
>
>
>
>
>
> [download a life]
>

I vaguely remember reading some douche from Activision (I thought it was) going public about not supporting the PS3 unless they drop the price. That's sort of a dick move - who makes that sort of statement public?

...just googled for it and it seems it was a rumor (something about the price dropping U$S 100).

I haven't followed the price for a while; the $600+ initial price point made me forget about it initially.




[download a life]

But I can't help but think the PS3 is just a media center wrapped in a package of garbage that isn't worth the plastic its made with. Final fantasy isn't even exclusive anymore from what I hear... not a big metal gear fan so xbox fills all my needs... fallout... gta... oblivion... millions of racing games. I just don't see a point in getting a PS3 unless its sub 300 bucks.

> ...just googled for it and it seems it was a rumor (something about the price
> dropping U$S 100).
>
> I haven't followed the price for a while; the $600+ initial price point made me
> forget about it initially.
>
>
>
>
> [download a life]
>

The PS3's been at around 300GBP for a while in the UK.

Where did you see it for 200, newsdee?

In Hong Kong...
There's no VAT, so prices are usually around US prices (unless you manage to haggle, but isn't easy in English).



[download a life]

> of garbage that isn't worth the plastic its made with. Final fantasy isn't even
> exclusive anymore from what I hear... not a big metal gear fan so xbox fills all

Yup, ff13 is coming to the 360, same day release as ps3 in north america. The new metal gear game will also be out on both ps3 and 360.

> Yup, ff13 is coming to the 360, same day release as ps3 in north america. The
> new metal gear game will also be out on both ps3 and 360.

However, Final Fantasy 14 is supposed to be a PS3 exclusive.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/06/02/final-fantasy-xiv-online-is-due-out-in-2010/

Alyas
"Good... Bad... I'm the guy with the gun."

> But I can't help but think the PS3 is just a media center wrapped in a package
> of garbage that isn't worth the plastic its made with. Final fantasy isn't even
> exclusive anymore from what I hear... not a big metal gear fan so xbox fills all
> my needs...

Oddly enough, this is exactly how I feel about the 360. There's not a single exclusive game on that system worth playing, while the PS3 has games like Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted, Resistance, inFamous, Metal Gear Solid, LittleBigPlanet, and all running on a system that has better hardware, a better controller, better graphics, and free online play.

Having the Blu-Ray drive doesn't just mean getting to watch BD movies, but it allows for more data to fit on a disc, which means more content and sharper graphics than a system using just a DVD drive. Besides, the 360 was designed to be a media center; in fact, if I'm not mistaken, the 360 OS is just a modified version of Windows Media Center.

Alyas
"Good... Bad... I'm the guy with the gun."

that's personal taste

there's lots of exclusive games I love for the 360, I love the 360 controller, the graphics, come one, they're pretty much equal in that category

as for ff14, the last ff I enjoyed was ff6, and well ff4: the after years

> as for ff14, the last ff I enjoyed was ff6, and well ff4: the after years

I probably won't bother with FF14 myself, it's supposed to be an MMORPGs, and not only did I not like FF11, but I've lost my taste for MMORPGs anyways. Last (offline) Final Fantasy game I played was FF7, actually. I've got all the others, just haven't gotten around to them yet. Was working my way through FF3 for the DS, but then I got stuck at the whole "You need a friend to unlock stuff" part, and I just haven't resumed it since then. I do plan on getting the After Years, since FF4 was my favorite out of the whole series so far, but I'm going to wait until all the chapters are released. Episodic content isn't really my bag of tea.

Alyas
"Good... Bad... I'm the guy with the gun."

> > But I can't help but think the PS3 is just a media center wrapped in a package
> > of garbage that isn't worth the plastic its made with. Final fantasy isn't
> even
> > exclusive anymore from what I hear... not a big metal gear fan so xbox fills
> all
> > my needs...
>
> Oddly enough, this is exactly how I feel about the 360. There's not a single
> exclusive game on that system worth playing, while the PS3 has games like
> Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted, Resistance, inFamous, Metal Gear Solid,
> LittleBigPlanet, and all running on a system that has better hardware, a better
> controller, better graphics, and free online play.

The systems are almost identical in "power" so I don't believe that for a second. If you google around they run fairly identical specs (I use that term loosly but they are very similar).

As for graphics... I don't think you could possibly sound anymore like a fanboy

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6162742/index.html

If you want to get picky then yes there are some texture/gamma differences but nothing so bad to say the ps3 has better graphics.

I personally love the 360 controller (minus the d-pad). The sony controller is awesome because of its familiarity but still very skinny, would probably like it better if it was a smidge bigger.

Ratchet & Clank (Fun but not that interested in it anymore)
Uncharted/Resistance/inFamous (unfamiliar with any of these, so maybe)
Metal Gear Solid (Good game... but getting a little old as well)
LittleBigPlanet (Heard great things about this one)

As for free online play. I don't know much about the PS3 but the xbox has quite a bit of free content for gold members speratically as well as slowly getting deals with companys like last.fm to offer services so its not so bad (I agree the 7.99 does suck... but its almost nothing when you think a coke costs like 1-2 bucks depending on your area.)

And lastly, exclusive games that I enjoy(ed) or have some good following

Gears of War 1/2
Halo 3
Fable II
Crackdown
Left 4 Dead
Mass Effect
Blue Dragon

Its all a big toss up, I don't think one has any HUGE advantage over the other. PS3 blue ray advantage is about to run dry now that you can get a blue ray player for 100-200 bucks and the PS3 still costs 400.

The game disc thing kind of worries me... but the only thing this will maybe turn into, is on larger games you will probably have to load some content to the hard drive or something along those lines or just throw it on 2+ discs


>
> Having the Blu-Ray drive doesn't just mean getting to watch BD movies, but it
> allows for more data to fit on a disc, which means more content and sharper
> graphics than a system using just a DVD drive. Besides, the 360 was designed to
> be a media center; in fact, if I'm not mistaken, the 360 OS is just a modified
> version of Windows Media Center.
>
> Alyas
> "Good... Bad... I'm the guy with the gun."
>

> As for graphics... I don't think you could possibly sound anymore like a fanboy

Not trying to. But just look at Fallout 3, for example. Bethesda even said they developed the game on the PS3 so that it could look as great as possible first, and then reduced the graphics so that the 360 could handle it.

> I personally love the 360 controller (minus the d-pad). The sony controller is
> awesome because of its familiarity but still very skinny, would probably like it
> better if it was a smidge bigger.

For me, a controller's gotta have a great D-Pad, it shouldn't take the backseat to the analog stick (like the God-forsaken Gamecube controller,) it should have a nice layout, and it should fit just right. The 360 controller is way too big in my opinion, the PS3 controller is the perfect size. And my fingers just can't get used to the layout of the XBox controller.

> As for free online play. I don't know much about the PS3 but the xbox has quite
> a bit of free content for gold members speratically as well as slowly getting
> deals with companys like last.fm to offer services so its not so bad (I agree
> the 7.99 does suck... but its almost nothing when you think a coke costs like
> 1-2 bucks depending on your area.)

Well, on the PS3, there's no gold membership or whatnot. Whereas Microsoft likes you charge you the cost of a new game just to play online the game you already bought, you can play all of your games online for free on the PS3. That's a major thing for me because I'm not really an online gamer, I prefer single-player games. But I'll pop online in games like Burnout Paradise once in a blue moon, and I'd rather not pay $60+ for the privilege of doing that.

> And lastly, exclusive games that I enjoy(ed) or have some good following
>
> Gears of War 1/2
> Halo 3
> Fable II
> Crackdown
> Left 4 Dead
> Mass Effect
> Blue Dragon

I tried Halo on my brother's XBox and absolutely hated it.
I own Left 4 Dead on the PC, so that's taken care of.

And the rest of the games I know absolutely nothing about. Heard some names, saw some pics, but nothing that really grabbed my attention.

I will say, however, there were a couple of original XBox titles I wouldn't have minded playing, like the Dead or Alive games and Jet Set Radio Future, but even that's a moot point now since the 360 has inadequate backward compatibility.

> The game disc thing kind of worries me... but the only thing this will maybe
> turn into, is on larger games you will probably have to load some content to the
> hard drive or something along those lines or just throw it on 2+ discs

That reminds me too, unlike the XBox. You can freely swap out Hard Drives in the PS3. I took out my 60gb drive and stuck a 320gb in my system. Easy as Pi.

Alyas
"Good... Bad... I'm the guy with the gun."

I guess my hands are larger then the norm because the ps3 controller (and ps1/2 for that matter) just seems so small. As for the hard drive swapping, i do wish i could slap a 1tb HD on my xbox. I wouldn't mind getting a PS3 to have one just in case a game comes out i want to play... but 400 bucks to have a console i play every now and then is too much right now. Maybe if this "slim" ps3 rumors turn out to be true i could sink my teeth into it.

Oddly enough one of my most hated features of the ps3 is the bullshit glossy curved top that looks like you couldn't set anything on top of it without it falling off. I almost wish consoles would just go to old NES style boxy looks again or maybe make them look somewhat like a home entertainment piece should look (blend in next to the reciever/dvd player/etc)

> > As for graphics... I don't think you could possibly sound anymore like a
> fanboy
>
> Not trying to. But just look at Fallout 3, for example. Bethesda even said
> they developed the game on the PS3 so that it could look as great as possible
> first, and then reduced the graphics so that the 360 could handle it.
>
> > I personally love the 360 controller (minus the d-pad). The sony controller is
> > awesome because of its familiarity but still very skinny, would probably like
> it
> > better if it was a smidge bigger.
>
> For me, a controller's gotta have a great D-Pad, it shouldn't take the backseat
> to the analog stick (like the God-forsaken Gamecube controller,) it should have
> a nice layout, and it should fit just right. The 360 controller is way too big
> in my opinion, the PS3 controller is the perfect size. And my fingers just
> can't get used to the layout of the XBox controller.
>
> > As for free online play. I don't know much about the PS3 but the xbox has
> quite
> > a bit of free content for gold members speratically as well as slowly getting
> > deals with companys like last.fm to offer services so its not so bad (I agree
> > the 7.99 does suck... but its almost nothing when you think a coke costs like
> > 1-2 bucks depending on your area.)
>
> Well, on the PS3, there's no gold membership or whatnot. Whereas Microsoft
> likes you charge you the cost of a new game just to play online the game you
> already bought, you can play all of your games online for free on the PS3.
> That's a major thing for me because I'm not really an online gamer, I prefer
> single-player games. But I'll pop online in games like Burnout Paradise once in
> a blue moon, and I'd rather not pay $60+ for the privilege of doing that.
>
> > And lastly, exclusive games that I enjoy(ed) or have some good following
> >
> > Gears of War 1/2
> > Halo 3
> > Fable II
> > Crackdown
> > Left 4 Dead
> > Mass Effect
> > Blue Dragon
>
> I tried Halo on my brother's XBox and absolutely hated it.
> I own Left 4 Dead on the PC, so that's taken care of.
>
> And the rest of the games I know absolutely nothing about. Heard some names,
> saw some pics, but nothing that really grabbed my attention.
>
> I will say, however, there were a couple of original XBox titles I wouldn't have
> minded playing, like the Dead or Alive games and Jet Set Radio Future, but even
> that's a moot point now since the 360 has inadequate backward compatibility.
>
> > The game disc thing kind of worries me... but the only thing this will maybe
> > turn into, is on larger games you will probably have to load some content to
> the
> > hard drive or something along those lines or just throw it on 2+ discs
>
> That reminds me too, unlike the XBox. You can freely swap out Hard Drives in
> the PS3. I took out my 60gb drive and stuck a 320gb in my system. Easy as Pi.
>
> Alyas
> "Good... Bad... I'm the guy with the gun."
>

> stuff" part, and I just haven't resumed it since then. I do plan on getting the
> After Years, since FF4 was my favorite out of the whole series so far, but I'm
> going to wait until all the chapters are released. Episodic content isn't
> really my bag of tea.

The chapters are quite short, sure they do help in understanding the story, plus you can import the data of these save for the final chapter but still some of them I beat under 2 hours. As for the final chapter, I'm up to 8 hours and I'm having a hard time with behemoths and friends. That chapter alone makes the game worth it.