PS3 Info please

[Doggy]

My lad want's one of these consoles for his birthday next week. I don't know anything about them, 'cept he wants 2 controllers.
Had a quick google & it seems there are 160 & 320 Gb versions, different colours & all sorts of marketing carp to confuse the innocent.
He's not a kid, (20) & probably not fussed about appearances.

How do I tell a good offering from the rest, anyone, please?

[jamjar1383]

My lad want's one of these consoles for his birthday next week. I don't know anything about them, 'cept he wants 2 controllers.
Had a quick google & it seems there are 160 & 320 Gb versions, different colours & all sorts of marketing carp to confuse the innocent.
He's not a kid, (20) & probably not fussed about appearances.

How do I tell a good offering from the rest, anyone, please?

doggy im 28 and have always been into gaming, my advice would be tell him to save his cash and buy an xbox 360,
mrs jamjar has read reviews that the ps3 isnt much more than an expensive bluray player, xbox's are much more popular and robust for gaming, and the newer ones have far fewer problems.

[Doggy]

I'm sure that's advice jj, but he's already got an xbox.

[Gary406]

jamjar you cant be serious about that ???

xbox 360s arnt a patch on ps3s. ps3s wipe the floor with 360s.

dog. it doesnt matter what harddrive the console has. as long as its a new slim ps3 it will be fine

if it was me i would definately avoid 2nd hand console unless you know the seller .

[jasper5]

Have a read here....http://www.avforums.com/forums/ps3/

We have a PS3 and it's a fantastic bit of kit, especially when hooked up to a HDTV.

Ours is a couple of years old, but I gather the new ones are really good.

You can do all sorts of things on the PS3, it's fantastic on a 32" LCD, but on my 42" Pioneer plasma, the pictures come alive. (be careful gaming on a plasma, don't have too long sessions and put a snowy channel on afterwards to clean the screen).

[Roylewaa]

As said you can't go wrong with a PS3, Ive had mine since they first came out, its an original 60gb one and its never missed a beat and its been used a hell of alot

My advice would be to go for decent sized hard drive one as its suprising how quick it fills up as alot of games semi install on the hard drive, and for movies etc

I personally would go for a 160gb model in charcoal black, a tadge cheaper than the 320gb version, and more than ample hard drive, unless your son plans to do what I do and download 720/1080p movies to play on it, then I would advise the bigger one, obviously the movie needs to be converted to MKV format, you want any more info on that, let me know

[highlander]

We've got a PS3 as well - it's a superb machine, really good at games, really good at video. It's a real multimedia powerhouse. We've got one of the original 60 GB models from several years ago; it can play PS1 and PS2 games straight off the disc (the slim ones can't), and it has all the built-in media card slots (the newer ones don't have these).

If you get a really good deal on one with a very small hard drive, go for it - you can replace the hard disk without invalidating the warranty. I plan on doing this later this year.

Also, get the Blu Ray disc remote control. Very good, well-designed remote control unit.

PS3 has access to the BBC iPlayer, ITV Player, 4OD, LoveFilm, etc. direct from the menu. It has built-in WiFi, or you can use an ethernet cable to connect it to your router.

The built-in web browser is a bit crap, which is a shame.

There's loads of really good games out for PS3 as well (there weren't that many to start with, which is where everyone seems to get the idea that there's no good PS3 games - it's a load of crap, as there's tons of them). Guitar Hero / Rock Band games are a real hoot. Gran Turismo 5 (has the 406 Coupe in it, and also happens to be a brilliant racing game for single player or online multiplayer fun). Heavy Rain (superb murder-mystery thriller - properly intense, creepy, tension-building fun). Assassins' Creed 1, 2, and 3 (shadowy assassins versus sinister Templar Knights). Dragon's Age: Origins (story-driven role-playing button mash). Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (epic role-playing game, real hack-n-slash action and spellcasting). Tom Clancy's HAWX (fighter jets in aerial combat).

[sirwiggum]

Would've been good if it had had PS2 support. They killed that off. Also, you aren't allowed to run Linux on it cause they're mean.

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a great wee game. I'm well into the Fallout games too that are very similar (same company, same game engine), but are set in a post-1950s style nuclear wasteland.

[FarmerPug]

Id expect the PS3 to be better, Playstation have been in the buisness longer, the PS2 which i had was fantastic at the time.
Although ive also tried that kinect thing on xbox which is okay not really as good to play as GTA, or gran turusmo though.

[sirwiggum]

I've the Xbox and the wii.

the wii just gets used for Goldeneye, Super Mario Bros wii, and some virtual arcade N64 / commodore 64 games.

No interest in Kinect.

GTA4 is amazing, like driving round NY city.

Gran turismo alternatives on the Xbox - Forza series and Project Gotham series.

[Roylewaa]

There are some superb games out and coming out, yes when the PS3 was first released I think there was only 6 games available as apose to the 360 when it was released, as software houses were having difficulty writing the complex code needed for the PS3 software

Killzone 2 and 3, and the Uncharted 1 & 2 to name a few