PlayStation 3: First Impressions

Quick Thoughts

Here are a few more observations before I go to bed..remember, this is just some quick thoughts about the PS3 from a few hours of playing.

I’ve played through a few hours of Resistance: Fall of Man and have been enjoying it a lot. It’s a fairly standard run and gun shooter in terms of the gameplay and the graphics, while solid, are not indicative of the PS3’s potential. However, it looks like developer Insomniac has created an overall presentation (the alternate history storyline, some scary alien-monster-thingies and more) that surpasses its flaws.

By the way, the SIXAXIS motion features are used in Resistance if you find yourself being bitten by one of the monsters. You can literally shake the controller to push the creature off you in the game.

I also played the new Genji game briefly. While some of the visual effects are pretty (the fire effects are nice) this game is another typical hack and slash action game that looks and feels like many, many similar games (Dynasty Warriors, anyone?)

The PS3 controller is very light compared to its Xbox 360 counterpart. You may have heard that the batteries for the wireless controller can’t be replaced and that you will have to get rid of the controller itself when its internal battery fails. While Sony claims it will take years for this to happen I think I would prefer a battery I could take out and replace?

One of the settings in the PS3 UI says to “Install Other OS”…hmmm, what does that mean?

As you can tell from the pictures provided in the article, the PS3 is very, very shiny. As a result it’s going to get dirty in our home and I suspect in other people’s homes very quickly.

I have to say the slot loading Blu-Ray disk drive is very cool. Not only is the power on/off “button” not really a button, the eject “button” for the disk drive isn’t one either. Again you gently push down the slightly raised eject icon just below the disk drive to pop out your PS3 disk.

I watched the Blu-Ray version of Black Hawk Down and was a tad disappointed to see that it looked a little darker than what I was expecting (keep in mind that my TV is “only” 42 inches and that home theater experts say I need a 65 inch TV to fully appreciate Blu-Ray).

The console runs pretty quiet even in full on game playing mode and it’s also surprisingly cooler than one might expect.

The web browser can only hold about three or four separate windows before the PS3’s memory causes it to tell you to shut down one of them.

The good news; the online Playstation 3 store is online but the bad news is that you only have the Japanese versions available. We think another system update will be needed before Friday to get the US version up and running. Until then there’s no multiplayer and no downloadable games.

A peek at the bottom?

Input ports

String of logos on the topside

Ooh, it's so shiny

Memory / flash card readers galore

Size matters?

That’s all for now..look for more details impressions later this week.