The PlayStation 3

1. System Stability

So far, the PlayStation 3 has been a fairly reliable system. Sure, you’ll see the broken system our two on YouTube, but our PS3 has been flawless, even with several firmware upgrades along the way!

2. Media Marketplace

Hindsight is 20/20 and even then, the PS3 has not launched with access to Sony Connect or downloadable media. In a way, the integrated Blu-Ray player in every PS3 minimizes the incentive Sony has behind downloadable movies. People always prefer to have something tangible, and clearly Sony would rather have you purchase a Blu-Ray movie in their current war against HD-DVD.

3. HDMI/1080p support?

Standard on the PS3. Kudos, Sony. Kudos.

4. 20GB is too small

60GB on the “high-end” PS3. But what’s even more important is that Sony has made the hard drive user replaceable. Put in any Serial ATA drive you want. Coming from a company that once forced you to use ATRAC for portable music, this is simply amazing.

5. Microtransaction security

So far, Xbox Live Marketplace is superior to the online PlayStation store. Still, we’d prefer to have separate logins for games and for commerce.

6. No internet browser

Not only does Sony include a web browser, it has Flash, and works with websites like YouTube! I wonder if the SIXAXIS controller will blend...

7. No WMV-HD

With Blu-Ray, this really isn’t an issue. Microsoft had WMV-HD discs at retail but they weren’t supporting it. Sony’s only retail HD content is Blu-Ray.

8. No MPEG4 (H.264)

The PlayStation 3 does play H.264 content. Nice.

9. No System Wide Calibration

This is still a problem. Maybe there’s hope for the next generation of system consoles.

10. Poor DVD Playback Quality

I haven’t had a chance to test the PS3’s DVD playback at all. The big difference between Holiday 2005 and Holiday 2006 is the availability of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Turns out, the Blu-Ray player in the PS3 is actually very good. DVD wise, most consumer players pale in comparison to the latest video technology from AMD and NVIDIA. The exception, of course, is a consumer player with a Gennum VXP or Silicon Optix Realta or ReonVX with HQV technology.

11. No Pressure Sensitive Face Buttons

For the PS3, the problem is the lack of vibration feedback. Sigh. Imagine if you had vibration feedback and controller tilt sensations! Guys like EA and Sega Sports could come up with even crazier free throw mechanics…

Comments

In the end, it’s pretty impressive to see how Sony has been able to address some of the mistakes that Microsoft made with the Xbox 360 launch. This has nothing to do with Sony’s intuition -- it’s the advantage of coming in second.