PlayStation 3 80GB MotorStorm Bundle

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This system is incredible. By now you either love it or hate it, so I won't go into details. But here's a word of warning on the 80 GB model. The backwards compatibility is very much reduced from the 60 GB model. This is because the 80 GB lacks the hardware that previous models use to play PS1 and PS2 games (Emotion Engine). Now, games from old systems run on emulation software. While this works with some titles, others don't work right at all. Sony promises to release patches with future system updates, but they've also said their priority will be with developing PS3 games and not spending time and energy on PS1 and 2.

So if backwards compatibility is a big selling point for you, get the 60 GB model instead (while they're still around...remember they've been discontinued). Also noteworthy is that hard drives on the 60 GB model are fully upgradable with any HDD drive on the market.

Let me restate this, however. The PlayStation 3 really IS the greatest console of this generation. It's power and capabilities are just downright colossal.

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For all of you considering the PS3 this is one of the best choices you can make when it comes to home entertainment. Gaming and multimedia are taken to the next level.

First getting my hands on the PS3 made me realize that this is the largest Playstation conosle by volume and weight they have ever come out with. I quickly realized how sturdy and well made this product is. The plastic that is used is solid and heavy duty. I also realized how easy dust and fingerprints attract to the shiny finish which is both plastic and fake chrome. Connecting the PS3 was the easy part. Unlike the Wii and 360 Sony has left the power station inside the console. Which means you only need one heavy duty plug to connect. From the back of the console you have many choices for video and audio outputs. The standard AV outlet is there which allows you to play with the cables it comes with or to buy component cables for high definition viewing. You also have a optical digital output for full digital sound. New to any video game console is HDMI output. This allows you to have the PS3 in full high definiton video and audio. HDMI is capable of a full digital signal allowing 1080p true high definition picture. It is also capable of unleashing 7.1 high definition sound. So audiophiles should be happy about what this console offers. On the front end you get three memory card slots which are hidden behing a plastic door...so as to not diminish the appearance of the PS3. Also they included four USB outlets. This allows you to connect various devices like a photo camera, internet camera, mouse, or even a printer. The Sony PS3 has a feature that allows it to be on standby at all times. Which is similar to the other consoles. I will talk more about this feature on the PS3 further in the review.

I would like to cover all the interface options the PS3 accompanies seperately so consumers can become aware of all the advantages this console carries. For those of you familiar with the Playstation Portable this interface is almost exactly the same.

You are able to create seperate logins for anyone who uses the PS3. This allows for each person to go online with their information. Although it doesn't really have many more advantages than that right now it is rather insignificant.

Next is the system settings. This allows the user to adapt the PS3 to their television and sound system. You can adjust the high defention settings to fit the maximum resolution of your t.v. You also have setting for your blue tooth devices and internet connections. The PS3 comes with built in wi-fi which seems to have a strong connection that gives you almost seamless online use.

The PS3 also has a photo viewer. You can download photos by two different means. One is by using your camera and connecting it via USB. I haven't checked to see how viable this option is. Next you can download the pictures with a memory card. This operation is rather simple and downloads are quick. Generally you get your standard slide shows although they have a fun feature. It allows you to view your pictures on a blank canvas as they fall onto the blank canvas. Slide shows are best when you set them to your music.

Next is the music player. You can dowload songs by two different means. One being memory card and the other cd. Songs download much quicker via memory card than cd. Although Sony has talked about having downloads via the internet which I think would go over very well. You can listen to music while viewing a feature that uses colors and textures. It is your standard music viewer...nothing special there.

I want to talk about one of the most notorious features of the PS3. The Bluray player. Most of you now know what a Bluray player is and does. I have viewed numerous movies on it. I have also viewed these movies on two different hdtv's. One a 1080p and a 1080i. I really did not notice much of a picture difference. After viewing a few movies on the XBox 360 hddvd player and the PS3 Bluray player I really did not notice much of a difference. One thing I have noticed about hd movies is that the ones more than a couple years older have a slightly grainy appearance since they were remastered for high definition. Newly made movies appear crystal clear with vivid colors and tremoundous definition. The PS3 does allow you to view regular DVD's which can make the transition that much easier. The regular DVD movies are upscaled on your HDTV allowing an excellent picture. For many of the new movies it is almost difficult to notice a difference in a DVD picture and Blu-ray picture.

Now would be the gameplay part of the interface. This keeps track of the game disc you may have in the player or also games or demos that you have downloaded. This interface is rather simple and easy to negotiate. For any PS2 owner it also carries your virtual memory card with all your game data. As far as the games go I have played numerous games plus several demos. The games that are non exclusive like Madden Football are deficent on the PS3 compared to XBox 360 counterparts. The game speed is smooth and polished. The visuals on exclusive PS3 games like Heavenly Sword and Ratchet and Clank is quite impressive. The PS3 seems to create a living vivid environment with the ability to create many textures and surfaces. Game demos like Motorstorm and Gran Turismo HD show what the PS3 is capable of. Amazing graphics and sound quality will become apparent in many of the games this holiday season and beyond. I have also enjoyed the few full games that are downloadable. The games have enhanced hd graphics and are affordable at only $7.99-$9.99. What I have enjoyed is online gaming. With the PS3 you don't have to pay any added fees. The gameplay was seamless and quick and allows you to use a blue tooth headset when playing. I also believe you can use your PS2 headset via USB. The online gaming is virtually the same as the 360.

Lastly I will cover the online features of the PS3. On the interface online is a big part. From the browser to having friends and checking your mail. Of course the largest feature is the Playstation store. Which is obviously not very unique. The 360 has a market which could be considered the pedigree for consoles. The Wii is limited to just classic video games. The Playstation store is decent right now with very numerous items to download. You have games, demos, and movie trailers. The store will continue to grow and has a nice feature that allows you to dowload PSone games for the Playstation Portable (PSP). After dowloading it to your PS3 then you transfer it via USB to your PSP. Also a very intriguing feature that I think is really amazing is called remote play. When your PSP is integrated into your PS3 you have the ability to view and listen to stuff on your PS3 anywhere in the world with your PSP. All you need is a wifi connection. I have tried this feature out and it's really enjoyable. I was able to view movie trailers and listen to my music on my PSP. The feature is nice although it is supposed to work when the PS3 is on standby. It did not work for me then. Only when the PS3 was on and set for remote play.

There are also two features that are becoming more apparent for owners. Folding at Home is a beneficial program that works with Stanford University. The program runs when your PS3 is idle. What it does is run computations that help scientists work for many cures to diseases. A beneficial plus to the PS3. I can vouch for having my PS3 on nonstop 24 hours a day 7 days a week for many months without any problems. Secondly I want to talk about HOME. No not your real home but the PS3 program that will be available early 2008. This program will be a virtual online social interface allowing you to meet numerous other PS3 players. I have been allowed to participate on the Beta version and I must say this has extreme potential.

2008 will be an exciting year for PS3 owners. The experience is already excellent with over a dozen very good games. The PS3 will have over a half dozen superb games releasing next year. Games like Gran Turismo 5, Killzone 2, Little Big Planet, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy are just the beginning. If any of these games suit you it would be an excellent reason to own a PS3.

In closing I will say without a doubt the PS3 has been quite an experience. I feel the $500 is well worth it for the features you get. Wifi, Bluray, memory card readers, HDMI, and of course the game playing.

I believe many of you are on the fence and trying to justify a large scale purchase like this. The games are here and the experience is superb. If you want a wonderful living room centerpiece that will provide numerous hours of use the PS3 is the way to go.

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This 80G system is basically the same as 60G, but there is some hardware reduction which leads to manufacturing cost reduction. But Sony probably won't pass on the savings to the consumers since they've been selling PS3 at loss since launch.

One of the hardware reduction is EE+GS removal which is responsible for PS and PS2 backward compatibility. Now the new 80G system's backward compatibility will rely on software emulation. We all know dedicated hardware is better than software emulation. So this raises a little concern.

Other hardware modifications for cost reduction are consolidation of some ICs into a single chip and moving to smaller 65nm die cell processor. This will reduce the complexity of the board. Also smaller die means less power consumption which also means less heat dispassion from the components.

So whether you want to buy new 80G system or phasing out 60G system is up to how you feel about the hardware changes. If removal of backward compatibility hardware concerns you, buy 60G system before it's all gone, not to mention it's $100 cheaper. If you think additional 20G hard drive space (which really isn't much) is important to you, buy 80G system. 80G system probably runs much cooler too. Either way it's a great system.

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Some background. I have had an XBox 360 for 1 year now. I have had a Wii for about a month. I decided to pick up a PS3 recently (80GB + Motorstorm) since I am expecting some decent games to be coming out on the system, and I'm peeved that we still have this HD-DVD vs. Blu Ray war being fought (I have the HD drive on the 360).

So, my perspective from having all three systems is:

The Wii is really fun to play, really, really fun. The enjoyment level of being immersed with the controller in even hokey ways (Super Mario Galaxy) is a nice change from the same gameplay/controllers we've seen repackaged since the PS1 days except in shinier packages.

That said, I do get tired of it (literally in some cases!) after a while, and yes, yearn for 'eye candy'. It's silly, and maybe I'm a bit shallow but it's true.

The XBox 360 has delivered on the eye candy side of the equation with games like Gears of War, Halo 3, and Mass Effect (I have yet to pick up Mass Effect however). But, the more I play the 360, the more I feel like I should be playing these games on a PC. It seems to lack the same charm a game console has. Also, our 360 has already been replaced once due to the "Ring of Death", and ever since my wife got bored playing Viva Pinata, we do not really turn it on much except to play HD-DVDs. It's incredibly loud as well, which means that using it for Media Playback is non-optimal (in our room anyway).

So, hearing of games coming out shortly for the PS3 that is starting to flex that system's muscle, I decided to pick one up.

I wanted to pick up Motorstorm, so the 80GB package seemed ideal. Especially due to the fact that I do not have any PS2 games. So backwards compatibility is a non-issue for me.

I took it home and unpacked it. This system is SUBSTANTIAL. WOW. You do feel like you got your $499 worth in weight anyway. That is until you feel the controller. Sorry, but the XBox 360 controller FAR exceeds the ergonomics of the SixAxis. The weight (or lack thereof) of the SixAxis makes it feel really flimsy in comparison. In addition, my hands feel cramped. Maybe due to the XBox being developed in the US, it was developed for American sized hands. I am Indian (as in from India) by ethnicity so it's not like I'm a 6'5" cowboy from Texas!

Put it next to the 360 in my cabinet. The 360 looks very cheap, but the PS3 has a very odd design to it that just doesn't 'fit right' with anything else. Very odd shape and dimensions. I like Matte finishes on things (does not distract from what the star should be -the picture on the TV) and the (dare I say it?) blingy exterior of the PS3 is a distraction. I'd prefer something low key, personally.

First really big disappointment? This Hi-Def system doesn't come with any hi-def cables. So, they put in a HD Blu-Ray drive, and the system excels at rendering 1080p graphics but they give you an RCA AV cable that would have been cutting edge in the SNES days. Right.

So, an extra $30 later, I have the PS3 hooked up via component cabling to my rear projection TV (no HDMI for that set). The system has a huge update to download once I setup Wifi (which was pretty standard, and easy). I leave it and come back and my system refuses to start up. Or something. For some reason, it appears that it chose a video mode that my TV didn't like after the reboot. Strange. So I hold the power button down for 5 seconds and it reboots into 480 mode. It starts the system update, and another 10 minutes go by before it's ready to use. I set the 1080i mode again and it seems fine in subsequent reboots. Maybe that was a glitch in the system software that it leaves the factory with *shrug*.

I have a PSP, so the PS3 interface is familiar to me. It looks a bit "programmer art" to me on the PS3 for some reason however. Maybe because at 1080i it looks like a lot of monochromatic icons and text shoved onto the screen. I find the 360's UI easier to read and navigate, but really ugly due to the ads and explosions of colors. Somewhere, in between the PS3 UI and the 360's is perfection. Neither has it, though for now, I'd give the 360 the slight advantage.

I browsed the Sony online store for a little bit. Seemed very much like it was trying to be a web browser interface rather than a console UI. It would feel at home to almost any PC user. But is a little odd when you're on a gaming machine. Microsoft gets this part right as well.

Now, the games. I don't have a Blu-Ray disc to test at the moment for movies, but my system did come with Motorstorm. So, I popped it in. First thing I notice is that loads are not as smooth as the 360's. Loading animations have a lot of jerkiness to it, and the game seems to take a lot longer to load than just about any 360 game I have. Now, since this is my only PS3 game this could just be an issue with Motorstorm.

But once I get into the game, I am blown away. Neither Gears, nor Halo 3 blew me away much in-game. Sure, they had some really nicely rendered in-game cinematics (which in Gears would cause frame rate hitching) but Motorstorm is jut gorgeous. The ground deforms, the terrain looks almost photorealistic at times (blur your vision a tiny bit and it starts looking real). I was actually impressed, and was prepared to be a skeptic.

The bad part came after a bit of play time. The controller feels really weird in my hands. The pseudo-triggers modeled after the 360s at the bottom of the SixAxis feels wrong. My hands start to cramp up after a while. I just may have to learn how to grip the thing a little less brutishly. So, I'll continue to play with it. But picking up the 360 controller afterwards, I'm amazed at how that controller fits me like a glove. I also like the staggered analog sticks on the 360. Feels right. I do miss rumble a bit. It's nice feedback.

I went from feeling like I wasted almost $600 (when you factor in an extra controller and the $30 component cables) to feeling pretty good about my purchase. I think the system has a lot of potential. I have yet to play anything multiplayer, but the 360's implementation of Live has probably set the bar here. BUT, the Sony service is FREE. I resent having to pay Microsoft $50 a year.

As to how it stacks up against the 360? Well, I like that I didn't have to pay for WiFi (saved $90), but hated that I had to pay for component cables ($30). I like that I get a hi-def player with the set (almost $200 extra with the 360), and the larger HDD. I like that the system doesn't sound like a vacuum cleaner when playing games or movies. But I like the game selection on the 360 *MUCH* more as of today. I dislike the PS3 controller. I dislike in particular, Sony's attitude. It took me a really long time to even warm up to purchasing this box because I really do dislike Sony.

But in the final tally, this is really one impressive machine. But is that enough to make it a better system than the 360, who seems to be getting the best games right now? Doubtful really. Last generation the XBox was the superior machine tech wise. But the PS2 annihilated it in the marketplace. This time, we may see a role reversal. If the 360's hardware was stable, reliable, and quiet it would be a much better box. But as of right now, I'd say the 360 is just a slightly better system because of the games it has.

The Wii is the wildcard in all of this. I find it to be the most enjoyable system of the three currently due to the top notch Mario titles (Galaxy and Paper Mario). Nintendo really is trying something different and the system is *fun*. But the hardcore gamer will probably feel something is missing from their diet if it was the only system that they purchased. Get a 360 or PS3 to balance your gaming needs.

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I've owned game consoles since the Atari 2600; all of Nintendo's consoles from the NES to the Gamecube; Playstations 1, 2, and Portable; and Microsoft's original X-Box. In my household currently are all three of the next-gen systems Wii and the 360 (owned by housemates) and now Sony's latest creation, the Playstation 3 (owned by me, by way of Amazon).

I was torn between getting my own 360 Elite, and this system. I took a very hard look at both, and backed both out of my shopping cart multiple times. A number of factors went into my final decision to purchase the Playstation 3.

1. I am a PC gamer first and foremost. My gaming rig with an Intel Quad and an 8800 is my primary platform, and likely always will be. It also means that owning an 360 is a little redundant, as most of the killer apps for that system are also available for the PC. The only exceptions are 360 exclusives like Mass Effect and some (few) games that simply run better on the 360 (Madden '08). Generally speaking, though, having a top-flight PC cancels out a lot of the benefit of owning a 360.

2. The sheer value of the Playstation 3 at this time. As stated by other reviews, $499 gets you a game console, a Blu-Ray player, a media center that can wirelessly connect (out of the box) and stream from your libraries on any Windows Media Player 11 PC, free multiplayer access through PSNet, and far and away the most powerful computer you can get for under a grand (type "Cell BE" into Wikipedia and read up). It's a fully-capable entertainment center and media hub that can power your 1080p/7.1 Home Theatre straight out of the box and it may be the single biggest reason that Blu-Ray will likely win the format war.

With the 360, you pretty much just get the game console ($399-499 if you want the hard drive and HDMI). Want to watch HD-DVDs? Have to buy the extra drive ($150-200). Want wireless networking? Have to buy the wireless adapter ($50-100). Heck, want to play your games while charging your wireless controller? Have to buy the play-and-charge kit ($20). Even XBOX Live, outstanding as it is, costs and extra 5 bucks a month. Geez, Microsoft.

3. The expanding game library. I'm no "fanboy" XBOX at this moment has a superior game lineup. Mass Effect almost made me buy the 360 by itself, and even though I'll be able to play it on my housemate's console, it still kills me not to own it. ;) But 2008 is shaping up to be an outstanding year for Sony's monster. With Uncharted, and Ratchet and Clank, Sony finally has some jealousy-inspiring exclusives. It only gets better as the year goes on Final Fantasy XIII, Home, LittleBigPlanet, Kingdom Hearts, Metal Gear, etc. Game devs and their tools are finally catching up with the Cell BE and that's something to be excited about.

4. Interoperability. I have the PSP, and it can do some pretty wondrous things with the PS3, from streaming media to playing downloaded games. I also plan to get a Sony HD Camcorder that uses the AVCHD format, and the PS3 supports it natively. I have the Sony Ericsson Walkman phone. All these things can work with the Memory Stick Pro Duo from PS3 to PSP to my phone to my PC, I can access movies, pics, MP3s, you name it. That is extremely handy for me. Now, not everyone has that kind of Memory Stick-centric lifestyle, but lemme tell you apart from being annoyed with Sony's penchant for proprietary hardware, it's a beautiful synergy when you do play along. Everything just works.

5. The Red Ring of Death. The new 360 have supposedly solved this problem, and they very likely have, but I won't lie... it was a huge worry for me. My housemate's 360 was out of commission for a month while he had it sent in for repairs. I didn't want that sort of headache. The PS3 doesn't have that sort of recallable flaw, and it's really a load off the mind.

Those were my reasons for buying the Playstation 3, and I was not disappointed in any sense once I got it home and set it up. It's a substantial, attractive, well-engineered piece of hardware, and you're in awe of it as soon as you take it out of the box. After a firmware update and a couple of downloads, I was browsing my entire MP3, video, and photo library wirelessly, and it looked and sounded great streamed right off my PC. I read a couple of my favorite internet forums from the comfort of my couch. I downloaded game demos while playing Ratchet and Clank (great game, by the way). And when I got off for the night, I turned on Folding@Home and did something for humanity :)

If gaming is all you want, and if you don't have a cutting-edge PC, perhaps the 360 and it's killer game lineup is a better option. In all other aspects, Playstation 3 is unbeatable. It's a technophile's dream and an A+ piece of hardware with vast potential, even now and into the immediate future. It's an amazing machine, an evolution of the gaming console, and I for one am proud to say I own a Playstation 3.