The Sega Dreamcast was the first of the post Playstation consoles to hit the market, and was a release day purchase for me. It’s a shame that Sega dropped support for it, as it truly was a great system. Regardless, there was no question that I’d be supplementing the DC with the hotly anticipated Playstation 2 when it arrived on the scene. Much to my disappointment, I was completely underwhelmed with the PS2. I expected it to be a noticeable step up from the Dreamcast, and it simply wasn’t. It wasn’t long before an Xbox sat in the space previously occupied by the PS2.
I was much more impressed with the Xbox, and even more so with the 360 that succeeded it. In fact, I was so satisfied with the 360 that I never saw myself owning a Playstation 3, especially at the price. Well, I should have learned long ago never to say never. When my DVD player went kaput, I started to think about upgrading to blu-ray. In researching blu-ray players, I discovered that the PS3 was the most affordable point of entry. That was all the rationalization I needed to spring for another gaming console.
As expected, blu-ray knocked my socks off, even at 1080i (and better still at the 1080p I’m running now). However, I wasn’t quite prepared for how powerful a gaming platform the PS3 is. MLB ’08 was, at the time, the most impressive game I’d ever laid eyes on, and represented a noticeable step up from what I’d become accustomed to on the 360. A year and a half later, virtually all of my movie and gaming purchases are for the PS3, and the system continues to amaze. So much so, in fact, that I just bought a second one for the bedroom!
Kudos
· Blu-Ray!!!
· Processing power for gaming
· Multi-Media capability (movies, gaming, music, photos, video)
· Tons of great downloadable content, and a very nice interface (Playstation Store)
· Ease of upgrading hard drive, ample storage capacity (my entire 16,000+ song music collection is now stored on the PS3)
. DS controller is compact, familiar and doesn't require batteries
. Wireless connectivity to internet and compatible devices (e.g. Bluetooth)
Quibbles
· Can’t be used as a media server, only a client – I’d like to stream music from one PS3 to another
· The ability to automatically update and share game save data between PS3’s would be nice
. Not much comes in the box, so plan on shelling out for an HDMI cable and, possibly, a headset
· Upgrading hard drive, if necessary, can add a lot to overall cost
· Online community growing, but not as large or established as Xbox Live
3 comments:
As you know, I do 95% of my gaming on my 360. I briefly addressed why in my 2009 Game Of The Year Nomination post. I'll quickly sum up by saying it's because:
1) I like the 360 controller better.
2) You can install games to your hard drive for faster loading times.
3) Xbox Live is much better than PSN, even though it isn't free.
4) Most of the add-on content and even some of the games I want to play are released on the 360 first, a great example of this being the DLC for Fallout 3. While the gap is narrowing, it is still there in some places.
With that out of the way, there is no doubt that the PS3 is the better quality console and gives you more bang for your buck. The Blu-Ray is a great feature as is the built-in wireless (Microsoft charges $100 bucks for there wireless adapter which is ridiculous). The fabled "red ring of death" for the 360 has no comparison on the PS3; the reliability of the PS3 is certainly much, much greater. Add these with what you summed up so well in the blog and it's easy to see why the PS3 is your console of choice. I will say this, however; if you were a big online gamer you would have a much more difficult decision.
I'll agree with Pete. I haven't touched my 360 since I got the PS3 again. The exclusives for the system (God of War, Uncharted, MLB, and others) are much better to me than the exclusives on the 360. I rarely play online though and I rarely use the PS store.
Either way, it's a great time to be a gamer!
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