PS3 General Discussion

[Kent]

Well, last night at the bar I ran into a guy and told him I was going to buy a PS3 (now, I admit, I already know enough about this guy to know he's a 360 guy).

Any way, when I told him he said the PS3 is full of glitches (true?).
Also, he said Resistance was horrible and looked "blocky" (true?).

Regarding the music thing... If the future shows that custom soundtracks are not possible on the PS3 it may be a deal-breaker for me so please let me know what the deal is... As mentioned before, I always thought it was up to game developers.

Also, I'm a guy who kills the music on GT but I absolutely must have a custom track for Tony Hawk Pro Skater (4 was my favorite). Don't they have a Tony Hawk game for the PS3? Does that come with custom soundtrack capabilities?

Any way, thanks for any answers!

 

[Brett]

I pretty much agree with D-N on the custom soundtrack part, especially when it comes to racing game. I prefer to hear the sound effects of the car's engine, tyres, etc. I really do not need music, especially music I know really well, to distract me while I am flying along a hot lap around the Nurburgring Nordschleife. But that is still not to say I would like to have the option to play music in any game if I wanted to and it should not be up to the developers to determine which games have the option and which games do not.

Kent,

His comments on Resistance:Fall of Man sound a little fanboyish, especially since you said he was a 360 guy, and he probably has barely played the game. Did you ask him how much 360s he has had to send into Microsoft to get replaced? I can imagine at least one, if not more, especially if he plays it a lot. I had to send two in and gave up on the system for that reason. I do not feel like having to have a system replaced every three to six months. It has nothing to do with the quality of games or quality of customer services, as both were very good on the 360. I should not have to put up with a product that has serious reliability problems. It is pretty much the same as buying a brand new car and having to have it constantly being serviced on or worry about having to take it in and have it serviced. It is just something a consumer should not have to deal with on a brand new product. Granted, I will give it to people that there are going to be some bad apples in any new launch product, but the widespread problem on the 360 is not something that should happen. Had the 360 not had such serious hardware problems, then I would have most likely kept it and enjoyed it, but I just could not deal with the reliability concerns (and the constant nervousness of the 360 going KABLAMO! and I mean every time I played it I worried it would go KABLAMO! on me at any time).

I will say that compared to Gears of War, the graphics in RFoM are not quite as good in places as GoW, as GoW is really exceptional in a lot of places. But there are things in Resistance that are especially good. Some of the damage that can be done to the environment is very neat and the way glass shatters when you whack it or shoot it is very nicely done. I have yet to play all the way through RFoM and thusly have not experienced every bit of the graphics the game has to offer, but I have to say that it is a very good game and a very fun experience.

This will be a spoiler for those who have not played RFoM yet.

Spoiler

In fact I am just now only to the part where the Chimera pick you up and take you back to their conversion center. The first time one of the grunts latched onto me, I shook my controller as hard as I possibly could. The other day a friend of mine was over at my house playing through RFoM and he started a new game on his newly created account. He is farther along on the game than I am and while he was playing, I was watching most of it and at one point both of us almost crapped ourselves when one of the Grunts jumped on him out of nowhere. This grunt decided it would be a good idea to sneak attack him while he was in the middle of a large firefight with a bunch of Hybrids. To say the least, both of look out for those guys all the time now for that reason.

RFoM is a different type of shooter when compared to GoW. RFoM is a much more run and gun, quickly put your enemies down type of shooter. You do use cover in it, but it does not have an integrated cover system like in GoW. GoW stresses using cover at all times when you are in a battle and jumping from wall to wall behind cover is not an uncommon thing. If you are not in cover, then you will most likely quickly be killed; that is unless you happen to be flanking your enemy to get behind them and either chainsaw them to little meat chucks, which seems to get me in trouble more often than not , or to only use cover again and get them caught in a crossfire. I have played GoW through on Hardcore and finished over halfway through Insane before trading the 360 in and enjoyed the single player experience very much (I took great joy in chainsawing enemies in the single player, even though it caused more trouble than it would had I just taken cover and shot the enemy instead ). I have also played it a pretty good amount over at a friends house with two 360s connected together and it really does not get much more fun than chainsawing one of your friends into little pieces of meat.

Both RFoM and GoW are great games and I would recommend both of them. They offer different experiences when it comes to shooter type games. Finally, being that they are on different platforms should not detract from their quality of gameplay and the excitement that comes along with playing both, as both of them are excellent games. It really is a shame that exclusive platform titles take away from the experience of some gamers because they cannot afford more than one console or do not have the time for more than one console.

Like before, I had a 360 and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I did not want to deal with an unreliable piece of equipment. My first car was similarly unreliable and was more of a pain than it was a thrill. I feel much the same way about the 360, except the 360 brought me much more joy than my first car. But I do not feel like having to deal with a faulty product and that is one of the reasons I traded it in for a PS3.

Hopefully you will be able to read all the way through this post and take something from it.



Brett

 

[Jeremy Ricci]

Well, last night at the bar I ran into a guy and told him I was going to buy a PS3 (now, I admit, I already know enough about this guy to know he's a 360 guy).

Any way, when I told him he said the PS3 is full of glitches (true?).
Also, he said Resistance was horrible and looked "blocky" (true?).

Regarding the music thing... If the future shows that custom soundtracks are not possible on the PS3 it may be a deal-breaker for me so please let me know what the deal is... As mentioned before, I always thought it was up to game developers.

Also, I'm a guy who kills the music on GT but I absolutely must have a custom track for Tony Hawk Pro Skater (4 was my favorite). Don't they have a Tony Hawk game for the PS3? Does that come with custom soundtrack capabilities?

Any way, thanks for any answers!

Okay, here's a good answer:

PS3 is full of glitches: Standard fanboy banter when they cannot come to the realization that their console will eventually break down and is not built as solid as the PS3. No where near, in fact. Currently, the expressed failure rate given by retailers on PS3's is LESS than 1% of all consoles on the market.

The 360 has a failure rate (according to EB games return rate on defective consoles) of 25% to 33%.

Q: Resistance Fall of man is block (true?)
A: Absolutely not. In fact, it's got some of the most amazing level geometry I've ever seen in my life. It's geometry is FAR more imrpessive than Gears of War, in fact. The difference, however, is that Resistance uses almost ALL geometry, while Gears uses Normal maps. Here are some examples of EXTREME polygon pushing power:

Each tree, ball, character, brick, it's all being rendered in real time, that's impressive when you consider everything else that's going on. VERY FEW corridors and square pillars in this game.

If any of that looks 'blocky' then go find something else, lol, but it's really impressive, and runs a solid (and I mean solid) 30fps with 4xMSAA running at all times.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Well, last night at the bar I ran into a guy and told him I was going to buy a PS3 (now, I admit, I already know enough about this guy to know he's a 360 guy).

Any way, when I told him he said the PS3 is full of glitches (true?).
Also, he said Resistance was horrible and looked "blocky" (true?).

No & No.

The PS3 is remarkably well designed, both in terms of hardware and software. It takes far more “abuse” running F@H then anything the X360 can do, and despite running hours, days, and for some, weeks at a time, it shows no signs of having any problems what so ever.

My biggest concern was how glitchy it’s Blu-ray playback was going to be considering the relatively poor DVD playback capability of the first PS2s and frankly it never was a good DVD player even years later. However, I’ve logged at least 500 hours playing Blu-ray movies on the PS3 and can say the experience has been fantastic! Far better than my original Samsung Blu-ray player which I was all to happy to get rid of after getting my PS3, and equal to if not better than Panasonic's $1,200 BD10 Blu-ray player which I was fortunate enough to do some side-by-side comparisons with it and my PS3.

Don't allow yourself to fall victim to people who clearly do not even know what they are talking about, but also have a fairly obvious agenda and/or personal bias.

 

[Kent]

Well I'm glad to hear the side you all present.
That said, I told the guy about my concerns for reliability as well as how Sony plans the PS3 as a 10 year console.
Combine that with GT5 and GT5...

My thoughts are now directed at which game/games to buy... I've already run this by you guys so you've heard what I think. Just as well, I've heard what many of you think.

I may go with F1:CE over Resistance because I may wait for Call of Duty 4 before buying a shooter. Not sure about that though since I know GTHD and GT5P will be able to provide a good driving experience.

Ah, choices, choices... I love it!

 

[Brett]

Both F1:CE and Resistance are solid games and I would definitely recommend getting both. Maybe you should get the PS3 first and then rent both of the games and try them out to see which you would rather buy at first, with the other being a future purchase down the line.

 

[DuckRacer]

Personally, I've never really understood the importance of playing music during a game. I almost always set the music to "off" in the game settings as I find it distracting and would just as well focus on the sound effects much more so than music... I mean, how many race cars have a stereo? How many soldiers, ninjas & warriors, and dragon riders wear iPods in the middle of battle?

Then again, if I was one who had to listen to my own music during a game, I'd just play my music on my stereo while playing the game (again with the game music turned off), so for me at least either way I don't need to rely on developers... except to always have the option to turn off the music in a game. 👍

I agree and disagree. I don't want to listen to whatever when I'm in Resistance or GRAW2 as that would screw up the whole atmosphere of the game, but in games like GTHD, MotorStorm, Forza 2, and Crackdown, they really (or would, in the case of the first two) take the game to another level of enjoyment.

I use headphones when playing games. It'd be really odd to have a boombox blaring music when it would just be a muffled sound because of the headphones. And there's much more convenience.

Also, I'm a guy who kills the music on GT but I absolutely must have a custom track for Tony Hawk Pro Skater (4 was my favorite). Don't they have a Tony Hawk game for the PS3? Does that come with custom soundtrack capabilities?

I believe THP8 doesn't use custom soundtracks. The 360 version does.

Of course, the thing that Earth posted about having your own music in any game at any moment could solve that.

 

[LaBounti]

Wait for RFom to become a greatest hits. This year has a few good FPS coming out for PS3, Call of Duty 4 is rumored to be running at 60fps like the 360 version and Haze is looking like a multiplatform answer to Halo3. Then we have UT3 and Rfom 2 more than likely will be out fall 08 to not steal any of KZ2's thunder.

 

[DuckRacer]

That said, I told the guy about my concerns for reliability as well as how Sony plans the PS3 as a 10 year console.

Don't fall into the spin. Sony was talking about how they would support the console with warranties, controllers, accessories, consumer support, etc. The PS4 is still going to come out in 5 or so years.

Wait for RFom to become a greatest hits. This year has a few good FPS coming out for PS3, Call of Duty 4 is rumored to be running at 60fps like the 360 version and Haze is looking like a multiplatform answer to Halo3. Then we have UT3 and Rfom 2 more than likely will be out fall 08 to not steal any of KZ2's thunder.

Clarification: Call of Duty 4 is running at 60fps, just has slightly more jaggies off in the distance and such.

 

[Solid Lifters]

Well I'm glad to hear the side you all present.
That said, I told the guy about my concerns for reliability as well as how Sony plans the PS3 as a 10 year console.
Combine that with GT5 and GT5...

My thoughts are now directed at which game/games to buy... I've already run this by you guys so you've heard what I think. Just as well, I've heard what many of you think.

I may go with F1:CE over Resistance because I may wait for Call of Duty 4 before buying a shooter. Not sure about that though since I know GTHD and GT5P will be able to provide a good driving experience.

Ah, choices, choices... I love it!

Get the PS3. You'll love it! I have almost 1,000 family photos stored on mine. Pictures look fantastic! A lot better than my PC, that's for sure. However, DVD videos stored on the HDD don't look great. They look fine, but there's a horrible horizontal interlacing lines that appear on fine lines that have rapid movement. The rest of the pic is excellent. DVDs played don't have this, so it's best to not store them on the HDD. I also have 3,000 ;music files.

If you're worried about Resistance, you can download the game demo for free. It's pretty good, however there are some things I find VERY annoying that others agree. The aiming is horrible. Next, your own men get you killed by constantly getting in your way which leaves you nowhere to escape and take cover when you need to. VERY, VERY annoying. Also, your weapons becoming very ineffective the longer the distance you are from your target (not true with the sniper rifle the 'Fareye').

But, the weapons are pretty cool. There is a learning curve to using them effectively. What also I like are the unlockable tasks called 'Skill Points'. Like, kill three baddies with one grenade and the Skill Point is called 'In for Penny, In for a Pound' and will score you 1 skill point. Next is kill three baddies with a Hedgehog grenade and earn 'Acupuncture is cheaper' for 2 skill points. These, along with many more, are in the demo, and are fun to accomplish.

* In For a Penny... (1 points): Kill 3 Hybrids with a single grenade. Tip for Completion: Find a group of Hybrid and nade them, simple as that.

* Acupuncture Is Cheaper (2 points): Kill 3 enemies at once with the Hedgehog. Tip for Completion: Refer to tip for "In for a Penny".

* Lovely Parting Gifts (2 points): Squat over 15 dead Hybrids. Tip for Completion: Just remember to mash L2 while standing over the body of a dead Hybrid. This task is pretty simple as most levels contain way more than 15 Hybrid.

* Tag, You're It (2 points): Kill 5 enemies with the Bullseye within 30 seconds. Tip for Completion: Tag (L1) and enemy, and hold down the fire button (R1) until the enemy dies. Quickly repeat four more times. Easily done on the last are before fighting the second Titan.

* Gasping For Air (3 points): Kill 2 Hybrids in a level only after severing all of their hoses.Tip for Completion: Stay at a distance and use the Fareye to snipe the hoses before finishing them off. This will keep them from charging you and making hose cutting a huge pain in the rear.

* Nowhere To Hide (3 points): Kill 5 enemies in a level by shooting them through a wall with the Auger. Tip for Completion: Just blast enemies through their cover.

* Turrets (3 points): Kill 6 enemies with the Chimeran Sentry gun. Tip for Completion: The second stage, when coming toward the Menials, and Steel Head will pop in front of you. Man the turret in front of you off the right side. Push the 'triangle' button to use it and press R1 to fire. Go around the bend and attract the attention of the Menials. Let them follow you, and run for the turret. Blast them. Once all Menials are dead, jump off and die. Do the level before all over again. You have to in order to get the 6th enemy kill. It sucks they didn't include 5 Menials or you could get the turret skill point in one go, PLUS earn the Whirly Twirly skill point which is kill 5 menials with a Bullseye Trap.

Oh, Bullseye Traps are cool. Equip the Bullseye you get in both stages of the demo. Aim on the ground between sever baddies. Press L1 for a tag and hold it down. While holding it down, fire with R1 after it sticks in the ground. After unloading a fair amount of ammo, you'll see it twirling above the tag in mid air. Release the L1 button for a five second detonation delay, or release L1 and quickly hold it down for 2 seconds to detonate it.

 

[Earth]

Kent, the PS3 is a great buy at $499, especially if you have a HDTV which I strongly recommend.

Duk, you can expect Microsoft consoles every 4-5 years, but not Sony consoles. Microsoft has a habit of dishing out shoddy products and replacing them quickly. See Windows 2000, Xbox 1 and soon Xbox 360.

But Sony is different. Despite PS2's problems (glitches, can't read blue discs, etc) Sony didn't launch the PS3 until 6 1/2 years after the Japanese launch

The PS3 is better built then the PS2 (no massive glitches-failures as of yet), much more future proof (blu-ray, HDD), much more expensive, and Sony is building HOME ($) around it.

Look for PS4 to appear after 7 or more years UNLESS PS3 sells never take off which I doubt will happen

There is no reason to expect a quick launch of PS4. But there is plenty reason to expect Xbox 3 in 2-3 years

 

[Eric.]

Well, last night at the bar I ran into a guy and told him I was going to buy a PS3 (now, I admit, I already know enough about this guy to know he's a 360 guy).

Any way, when I told him he said the PS3 is full of glitches (true?).
Also, he said Resistance was horrible and looked "blocky" (true?).

Regarding the music thing... If the future shows that custom soundtracks are not possible on the PS3 it may be a deal-breaker for me so please let me know what the deal is... As mentioned before, I always thought it was up to game developers.

Also, I'm a guy who kills the music on GT but I absolutely must have a custom track for Tony Hawk Pro Skater (4 was my favorite). Don't they have a Tony Hawk game for the PS3? Does that come with custom soundtrack capabilities?

Any way, thanks for any answers!

Don't ask Xbots about the PS3. They are still upset about its future upper-hand and that their 360 is in Texas.

 

[Scaff]

Any way, when I told him he said the PS3 is full of glitches (true?).
Also, he said Resistance was horrible and looked "blocky" (true?).

Nope and nope.

The PS3 is proving to be a very, very reliable piece of kit and a long way from glitchy, Given the degree of stuff rammed into its case it a very, very well built machine. The fall out rate (currently I believe around 1%) is quite simply impressive.

As for RFoM being horrible and blocky, well the screen shots above and the numerous videos on the web will be enough for you to make your own judgements on, but I certainly don't think so. The scale of some of the maps and sheer volume of on-screen action in some of the stages is amazing, all without a hint of slow-down. The on-line is also great fun (and what has stopped me from finishing the single player), lag-free maps with room for up to 40 (yes that's right forty) players, if I recall the limit on GoW is around 7 or 8 players per map.

The reasons you have been given against the PS3 here are not true for the first one and a matter of opinion (on which I personally disagree) for the second one. Anyway the PS3 is the only place you will find Little Big Planet and I have to confess that its the title I am currently most looking forward to.

On the subject of skating games, you may also want to check out Skate, which is shaping up to be a nice sounding title.


Regards

Scaff

 

[godzilla_GTR]

When is skate dew for release? I Keep getting email's about it and NFS every week, but still don't know when it's coming....It look's awsome!

 

[DuckRacer]

Look for PS4 to appear after 7 or more years UNLESS PS3 sells never take off which I doubt will happen

The thing is, the next Xbox and Wii2 (or whatever) will probably launch in 2010, 2011 for the Wii2 if consumers can stand SD games for a total of 5 years. For the PS3 to last 7 years until the PS4 comes out would have it (PS4) launch in 2013. MS and Nintendo are going to force Sony's hand and make it launch in 2011 because the momentum of both their products will make the next PlayStation launching 2-3 years after the competition essentially flat.

And sales aren't looking too good, with the PS3 gaining nearly no ground on the 360. The only system that can really "take off" and get a ton of sales anyway (60 million+) is the Wii. The 360 won't because MS botched their year headstart (lack of AAA games, no price drop), as well as the lack of significant '08 games. The PS3 won't because it's going to require them to hit at least $400 to get enough sales to build momentum, and that's going to take a while because the 360 and Wii are going to drop their prices as well.

Will the PS3 last until 2012, possibly to mid-2013 in terms of support from developers and Sony? Possibly. Will the PS4 come out years after the competition's products come out? No.

.


Anyway... I'm going to waddle off and revamp the PGR4 thread as well as create some threads for PS3 games (probably Heavenly Sword and Warhawk).

EDIT: @ Godzilla – skate's coming out Sept 5th for 360 and Sept 18th for PS3.

 

[godzilla_GTR]

Thank's Duck, ive been searching the site hectickly every time i get the news letter trying to find it lol.

Someone need's to make a Tenchu Z(or as all the shop's over think, Tenchu 2 lol) thread in the 360 board...

 

[Mx²]

Last question from me, do you think $110 for a 2 year warranty is worth it?

 

[DuckRacer]

Someone need's to make a Tenchu Z(or as all the shop's over think, Tenchu 2 lol) thread in the 360 board...

Hell no. Not that trash.

Last question from me, do you think $110 for a 2 year warranty is worth it?

No, since PS3s are reliable as a Nintendo product and you'd be better off putting that $110 towards games.

 

[Mx²]

OK, thanks Duck! If I did get a problem with it would Sony help me out or would I be stuck in the dark? *knock on wood* that never happens.

 

[slackbladder]

This is just my take on things.

I see PS3 sales kicking off this autumn/winter and in the New Year, possibly with a price cut but mainly due to some strong games coming out (and summer is a bad time to sell consoles).

The 360 seems to have slowed in sales. The original Xbox sold some 20 million and I'm expecting the 360 to sell around the same, but not much more. I think most 360 owners are previous Xbox owners (I know I am). The same goes for the PS3 and until previous PS2 owners see a reason to spend money on it, they'd go without or possibly get a Wii (because it's so cheap).

Anyway, PS4 will probably come 2011 some 5 years after the PS3's US and Japanese launch (the PS3 will continue until say 2013). The new Xbox will come 2010 probably (and the 360 will be killed off as ruthlessly as the original Xbox). As far as Microsoft are concerned they have that extra year advantage.
Unless Sony think of something they might be playing catch up all over again.

 

[Kent]

Putting the next gen aside...

I'm guessing the PS3's sales will continue to grow steadily for a long time to come. My guess is that many people who purchase the Wii will eventually purchase a PS3 sometime down the road when the price is much better than it is now.
As for the near future, I'd say sales will grow steadily in this scenerio as well. With a short term price drop I expect to see a slight jump in sales. Following that we will more than likely see a jump based on '08 games. After that I'd say we are begining to look at the long term and that's when I point to the first paragraph of this post and say "repeat."

So with that out of the way...
Don't buy an extended 2-year warranty?
Is there a factory warranty?
Also, is there any official word on Sony's policy for people without warranties who suffer a malfunction with the PS3?

 

[Brett]

Sony gives a one year factory warranty on the PS3 straight out of the box.

Here is a link to Sony's website covering the warranty on the PS3:

Clicky here for Sony Warranty Information!!!

 

[DuckRacer]

OK, thanks Duck! If I did get a problem with it would Sony help me out or would I be stuck in the dark? *knock on wood* that never happens.

You have a one year warranty.

The 360 seems to have slowed in sales. The original Xbox sold some 20 million and I'm expecting the 360 to sell around the same, but not much more. I think most 360 owners are previous Xbox owners (I know I am). The same goes for the PS3 and until previous PS2 owners see a reason to spend money on it, they'd go without or possibly get a Wii (because it's so cheap).

I think the reason 360 sales have slowed down so much is because MS hasn't dropped the price in 20 months. If they dropped the 360 Pro by $100, combined with Halo 3 and GTA4, it'll skyrocket the sales.

Also, I believe MS released a statistic that said half its userbase never owned an Xbox before.

I'm guessing the PS3's sales will continue to grow steadily for a long time to come. My guess is that many people who purchase the Wii will eventually purchase a PS3 sometime down the road when the price is much better than it is now.
As for the near future, I'd say sales will grow steadily in this scenerio as well. With a short term price drop I expect to see a slight jump in sales. Following that we will more than likely see a jump based on '08 games. After that I'd say we are begining to look at the long term and that's when I point to the first paragraph of this post and say "repeat."

I don't agree entirely on the whole thing about Wii owners jumping to PS3, if Nintendo decides to release an HD-capable Wii in 2009 they might migrate to that while waiting for the next full Nintendo console. If they don't stick with Nintendo, I'm guessing there'll be a 60/40 split –*people would go to the PS3 because of the better range of games, but the 360 will also nab a good amount of people because of the lower pricepoint.

IMO, I think MS will "beat out" Sony in overall sales this fall, but will generally weaken in '08 and '09. Sony has some big system-selling games coming out for both years (GT5, MGS4, FFXIII, GOW3), as well as a ton of solid A games coming out that will help as well (Infamous, MotorStorm 2, those kind of games), and will eventually catch up with the 360 by '09. With the Wii... anything could happen. Hype dies, the system barely sells, hype lives on, the Wii sells tons of units and dwarfs the competition.

So with that out of the way...
Don't buy an extended 2-year warranty?
Is there a factory warranty?
Also, is there any official word on Sony's policy for people without warranties who suffer a malfunction with the PS3?

1 year factory warranty. I don't think Sony has said anything about what happens if your PS3 dies after the warranty.

EDIT:

http://gamers-creed.com/?p=83

There's a new list supposedly "leaked" for the next firmware update which one of the PR Managers on the PS.Blog confirmed will be detailed next week. 1.9 anyone?

-Network–
- HTML has been added under network allowing users to view HTML documents saved on the PS3 HDD.
- Save HTML has been added as an option in the PS3 web browser. allowing users to save the source of the document to there PS3 HDD.
- Priority can now be set to Background downloading. allowing you to changes the order of when a download is active.
–Picture–
- New Sideshow Option [Effects Show] added.
- Picture Options added [Black&White, Old, Worn, Overexposed] added under the options menu.
- Animated GIF Image support added.
–Music–
- Added Graphic Equalizer added under Music Options menu. all 7.1 channels are configurable independently.
–Settings–
- Keyboard Mapping has been added to the sections Keyboard section of settings. shortcuts such as the disk in drive, or a particular game can be set to a shortcut on the keyboard with a key not currently in use.

And here was the "leaked" 2.0 update details from several months ago.

Settings
- [Dynamic Normalizer] has been added as an option under [Sound Settings].
- [Energy Saver] has been added as an option.
- [Equalizer] has been added as a feature under [Music Settings].
- [Full] has been added as an option for [DVD Wide Display] under [BD / DVD Settings].
- [Photo Settings] has been added as an option.
- [PS / PS2 Settings] has been added as an option.
- [RSS Channel Settings] has been added as an option.
- [Sample Rate] has been added to [Audio CD Import] under [Music Settings].
- [Screen Saver] has been expanded under [Display Settings].
- The method of selecting an output resolution has been changed in [Video Output Settings] under [Display Settings].
- [Theme Settings] has been added as an option.
- [Zero Unused Disk Space] has been added as an option under [System Settings] > [Format Utility].
Photo
- Additional slideshow effects have been added.
- [Photo Effects] have been added as a feature.
- Wallpaper feature has been added.
- [Zoom] has been added as a feature.
Music
- Additional visualization effects have been added.
- CD information can now be entered.
- Three-speed fast forward and fast reverse has been added as a feature.
Video
- Files can now be played sequentially.
- Three-speed fast forward and fast reverse has been added as a feature.
- You can now select [Zoom] under [Screen Mode] when playing video files saved on the hard disk or storage media.*.
*An appropriate USB adapter (not included) is required to use storage media with some models.
Game
- Support for PlayStation 3 format software titles has been expanded.
- XMB™ (XrossMediaBar) is now accessible during gameplay.
Network
- [RSS Channel] has been added as a feature.
Friends
- You can now have multiple chat sessions.
- You can now select an image to use as your Avatar from [Photo].
Other
- Date and Time is now shown when the PS button is pressed.
- File sorting has been changed.
- [Help] has been added as a feature.
- Playability status with the PS3™ system has changed for some PlayStation® and PlayStation®2 format titles.
To check on the latest status, visit the search site for compatible titles.
- [Secure Delete] has been added as an option.
- Some PlayStation Network features have been revised

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Don't ask Xbots about the PS3. They are still upset about its future upper-hand and that their 360 is in Texas.

HEY!!! Don't Mess With Texas!

Kent, the PS3 is a great buy at $499, especially if you have a HDTV which I strongly recommend.

Duk, you can expect Microsoft consoles every 4-5 years, but not Sony consoles. Microsoft has a habit of dishing out shoddy products and replacing them quickly. See Windows 2000, Xbox 1 and soon Xbox 360.

But Sony is different. Despite PS2's problems (glitches, can't read blue discs, etc) Sony didn't launch the PS3 until 6 1/2 years after the Japanese launch

The PS3 is better built then the PS2 (no massive glitches-failures as of yet), much more future proof (blu-ray, HDD), much more expensive, and Sony is building HOME ($) around it.

Look for PS4 to appear after 7 or more years UNLESS PS3 sells never take off which I doubt will happen

There is no reason to expect a quick launch of PS4. But there is plenty reason to expect Xbox 3 in 2-3 years

All excellent points of which I tend to agree on as well.

The thing is, the next Xbox and Wii2 (or whatever) will probably launch in 2010, 2011 for the Wii2 if consumers can stand SD games for a total of 5 years. For the PS3 to last 7 years until the PS4 comes out would have it (PS4) launch in 2013. MS and Nintendo are going to force Sony's hand and make it launch in 2011 because the momentum of both their products will make the next PlayStation launching 2-3 years after the competition essentially flat.

That's taking in consideration several events that may easily never happen.

For instance, there is still a very good chance Microsoft (specifically the less than impressed commercial investors) pulls the plug on their Xbox hardware division, and focus all their attention on PC gaming software and online distribution. Even if MS does release a new Xbox to resolve all their current problems with the X360 and support for games on high capacity blue laser discs, I seriously doubt it would offer any significant leap frog over what the PS3 is capable of doing.

I also seriously doubt Nintendo will break from tradition and release any kind of state of the art high tech console that would offer any kind of leap frog over what the PS3 is capable of doing.

So I agree with Earth, the PS3 shows far better signs of lasting even longer than the PS2 ever did, and the PS2 was around for seven years before the PS3 came out and still isn't dead. In fact the PS2 has even been outselling the X360, especially in software sales, and will likely be around for at least another year, and perhaps two more years of software support. In fact, it is quite possible one of the reasons for the slow PS3 sales is that many are still enjoying their PS2s and the support it gets even today from developers.

However, ther is a great deal of evidence that supports a predictably long life for the PS3 even before a PS4 ever comes out. For example, firmware updates that the PS3 is able and often gets that the PS2 never could will continue to allow the system to keep up with many new advanaces. Also, the PS2 was around for seven years despite the fact that the Xbox was in many ways a technically superior console.

This time around the tables are turned, and the PS3 is far more superior technically speaking than its competitors, so expecting it to last at least seven years before a new console comes out from Sony is a very reasonable prediction.

I think the reason 360 sales have slowed down so much is because MS hasn't dropped the price in 20 months. If they dropped the 360 Pro by $100, combined with Halo 3 and GTA4, it'll skyrocket the sales.

That and all the problems that MS is having with the reliability of the X360 isn't helping any either, and the chance that X360 sales may have simply plateaued, and that the majority of those that have an interest in owning a X360 already have one.

Also, I believe MS released a statistic that said half its user base never owned an Xbox before.

However you must also consider the source. Microsoft has said a lot of things, including those involving their Xbox division that have not even been close to being true.

EDIT:

http://gamers-creed.com/?p=83

There's a new list supposedly "leaked" for the next firmware update which one of the PR Managers on the PS.Blog confirmed will be detailed next week. 1.9 anyone?



And here was the "leaked" 2.0 update details from several months ago.

Great find! 👍👍

 

[DuckRacer]

D-N, I see what you're saying, and agree as well as disagree with them. I'm not in the mood to debate them for the next 15 posts as this thread has been relatively calm (probably because I've been biting my tongue and haven't stirred the pot) but I do have two things to address:

I also seriously doubt Nintendo will break from tradition and release any kind of state of the art high tech console that would offer any kind of leap frog over what the PS3 is capable of doing.

1. What tradition of Nintendo's do you speak of?

2. I wasn't talking about a potential WiiHD in '09 leapfrogging the PS3's capabilities (features and graphics wise), just delivering HD games so they'd be up-to-par graphically with the competition.

However you must also consider the source. Microsoft has said a lot of things, including those involving their Xbox division that have not even been close to being true.

True, I know they have said things like the failure rate being 2-3% and all... but I don't know why they would actually lie about something trivial like this. I don't think they'd be facing lawsuits 'n all if they said that the new-to-Xbox owner rate was 15%. And judging from anecdotal evidence, I don't think most people who own a 360 were primarily Xbox owners last gen. Around a 50/50 split doesn't sound off.

 

[ND4SPD]

Gah, I can't wait for the update where we could put our own backgrounds on the PS3......

 

[Dead_Poetic]

Gah, I can't wait for the update where we could put our own backgrounds on the PS3......

I know. Really, it seems like a very easy thing to do, and yet we havent gotten it yet.

 

[Gen.]

Gah, I can't wait for the update where we could put our own backgrounds on the PS3......

That's really odd as the PSP uses the XMB as well, and custom backgrounds are enabled.

This gen sucks. (lol gen.)

 

[LaBounti]

Psp did not have this feature right away. Many of PSP's cool features were added after the systems release. Same will go for the PS3.

I agree with Earth and Slackbladder. I dont agree with duck about the new Xbox and wiiHD. Other than graphics I dont see a selling point for the next Xbox system, as in why it would force Sony to release PS4 sooner. If PS2 had Xbox graphics and a HDD, We probably would not even see PS3 until this year. If Wii can out sell everything(for now) with Xbox like graphics and a low price, imagine what a $200PS3 can do for Sony in 2010. Microsoft's new system will not be less than $300. If all it can do is offer better graphics and cost more, developers will focus on PS3($200) and 360($180)(unless Microsoft forces developers to only make their big games on the new Xbox(like they did with 360).

I would think Sony is better off releasing PS3 "extreme" Edition with a new GPU, beefed up CPU and 512XDR2 and 512GDDR4 to match the new Xbox without making a completely new system. 100 percent backwards compatible with PS3 and games could have "extreme" versions with a few games that have standard modes to work on normal PS3s.

PS3E could keep up with the new Xbox in graphics and still keep all the old features from PS3. and by 2013 they still wont need a new system if it can do every thing the new Xbox can do graphically and cost less. Think about it. Other than graphics what could be the selling point of PS4? PS3 has proven reliable so far and developer will get better and better at programing games(EA). Developers will be praising Sony for adding Blu-ray. They could milk the system as long as they can to make up for all the losses in lawsuits, PS3 R&D(paid for by ps2 profits) and early losses from sales. A new Xbox would be a good thing for Sony if they used the PS3E strategy. And if they just tagged the PS3E "PS4" the whole world would just call it PS3.5. like they are going to do with the 3rd Xbox in 3 years.

Just my thoughts nothing more.

 

[Maven]

I wouldn't be expecting a new console from Sony for a few more years. Although I'm not sure of the dates, the situation looks like this: PS1 came out in 1996 (?) and was replaced in 2001, right? (As I get older, years become a blur... ) The PS2 came out in 2001 and was replaced in 2006 by the PS3.

Now, I think the Xbox came out in 2002 and the X360 came out in 2005. That's a shelf life of 3 years as compared to Sony's typical 5. Will MicroSoft thus bring out the NeXbox in 2008? I doubt it as we'd probably already have heard rumors about it, but I think that maybe late 2009 isn't beyond the range of possibility. It really depends on how powerful it is and how limiting the choice of disc media proves to be. I can be almost certain that Sony wouldn't have marketed the PS3 at $600 if it wasn't sure that it could last the full 5 year span until 2011 or so..

And what if MicroSoft releases a new machine early? I don't think Sony will bite. They've seen that a company can do well with having a less powerful console on the market, considering how popular the Wii is and how well the PS2 continues to do.

MicroSoft might be gambling that in two years, the technology will come down in price enough that they can release a newer, more powerful machine without a strong backlash and I think that the PS3 is powerful enough that with two more years of experience programming for it, it will be able to stand up against it.