Scotty from the MyADSL forums has been kind enough to write a review about his PS3 and here goes…
ok… well, lets start with the looks, it’s a very solid machine. the black plastic and the chrome give the ps3 an elegant look and to my surprise it goes well with black plasma/LCD screens as though that was the main design.
The noise levels are actually very low, I sit about 5 meters away from the TV and I don’t hear so much as air moving or a spinning of the disk drive. I did have a problem with ONE game (GTA:vice city) and that just made the disk drive spin up and make a wee bit of noise, but you can’t hear it behind the game though.
Backwards compatibility is now good, starts any of my 21 games with out a fuss. There were some people saying that the games didn’t look as good as they did on the ps2, which is honestly BS. I say this because none of my 21 games lose graphics.
The PS3 games on the other hand, are awesome, no doubt about it. The game Resistance:Fall of Man is fun and you get to annihilate monsters and you get an awesome collection of guns.
The next game that I played(although briefly) is Motorstorm. I love this game graphics are great and the physics/environment are also great. The game gets REALLY fun when you try use the motion sensor in the control(more about that later) there’s just chaos, the reason being is that it’s like trying to balance an aircraft on a pin, it’s possible, but the difficulty level is high, so you end up over turning and then over correcting, then there’s a wall.
Now to the controller which I love. It’s comfortable in my hands and the L2 and R2 triggers actually should have been there with the ps2 as they add a greater control and comfort. the motion sensor is extremely fun, hard as hell to use but once you get used to it, there’s no console that can get to that standard. If you really want to see what this controller can do, fork out R45 rand for a game called Flow, the resolution goes right up to 1080p and it uses the motion sensor very well.
The media that the PS3 can pump out it nothing sort of spectacular. It plays all my mpeg1/2 and 4 video’s, and it plays them extremely well. I’ve been watching music video’s on my TV and not only does it give me all the options to do things like pause, play, fast forward at various speeds but if a press the PS button found in the middle on the controller it will minimize the video and play it in the background that the screen with a slight dark tone so that you don’t get to distracted. The music functionality is just as awesome as the video player. With the music you get a fun animated graphic and you can minimize the music so that it plays in the background and then you can look at pictures. The pictures also have a slide show which is something that I wouldn’t have thought of.
The Internet is also great, because you can minimize, it’s got tabs which can be flipped to see the other tab by using the L2 or R2 triggers. There’s a full QWERTY on screen keyboard which is easy to use. There’s a new feature called download manager, which lets you background your download and then you can see how it does by going to this icon. The PS store is still growing but it looks better then the Xbox 360 answer to online stores. There’s Folding@home where you can use your ps3 to aid in curing illnesses.
Over all I think the ps3 is nothing short of outstanding and is worth it’s salt in my books. It’s more then just a games console, it’s the ultimate media center as well it really should be in every modern home. The PS3’s wireless control gives you the option to never get up and turn on/off the PS3 as there’s a menu (hold down the PS button) to turn off the console and if the console is off simply press the PS button and the console will spring into life. Truly an amazing console.
Buy a PS3 from Kalahari.net for R6299.95 right now
Last Updated: May 3, 2007
TheBradster69
May 3, 2007 at 14:27
Great review… did not know P$3 was that diverse !
Very happy with my x-box…BUT when i have enough $$$ …ill buy my p$3!!
p.s I wish shops would start playing their demos in HD !!
papa-action
May 3, 2007 at 14:28
I agree 100%. I was very satisfied with my purchase. Actually, I would have paid R 8000 for it (equivalent to price of a new relatively high spec’ed PC). My only gripe is the lack of games at the moment. There aren’t many first party titles and the XBox360 ports to the PS3 really don’t do the system any justice. This situation should improve within the next six to 12 months though with the release of some major first (and third) party titles.
Ruslan
May 3, 2007 at 14:48
Good review. Having also obtained the PS3 less than 1 week ago I did find some little nuances on an otherwise impressive system. For that price I would have at least expected a headset, some rear USB ports for my keyboard/mouse and an HD out of the box solution. Wasnt nice to dish out an extra R150 for a HDMI cable.
Otherwise in the gaming arena the online store is a nice place to get some cheap but good games and demos plus videos of upcoming games. In the retail gaming though I still have to find a game to buy seeing I own most of the X360 versions of the games I could have obtained for the PS3.
One big plus I see from the PS3 is the Blu-ray drive, you can get a nice albeit short list of available BR movies at a decent price. Musica’s shocker R400 tag is crazy, Kalahari’s R288 is more accesible IMO.
Overall the PS3 seems like a solid investment in the long run and it surely helps being a gamer with the best of both worlds. 😉
doobiwan
May 3, 2007 at 15:38
Uh, yeah. Buyers justification and all that. The box is shiny and undoubtedly better constructed than the 360, but it just does not deliver where it counts and thats games and user experience.
I’ve now had numerous occasions to play on a PS3 and it never fails to disappoint. I had heard so much about Motorstorm that I leap at the opportunity to play it this past weekend. Well it’s a racing game. On dirt. With cars and bikes. Which crash. I’ve seen better crashing in Burnout, I’ve seen better dirt racing in Colin McRae. I’ve seen better looking games on the 360, I’ve played more fun games on almost every platform out there.
As far as the controller goes, Scotty, whatever works for you, I found it horrid. I have largish hands, so that may be a factor, but I found it poorly laid out and poorly constructed, it was an ergonomically bad design 10 years ago and nothing has changed, except now the plastics so thin I could break it with a simple twist.
Anyone who believes the PS3 is currently worth R6300 needs a cold shower. There is no content to justify that price, two average to good unoriginal games and a handful of playable demo’s? Sorry, but no. In two years time when it’s under 3k and it’s got a respectable library it’s a different story. But right now as a value proposition as a games console the 360 (and even the Wii on import) beat it by a country mile.
papa-action
May 3, 2007 at 16:34
Hmm…looks like the PS3 will have a respectable library by the end of this year. Not all exclusives but respectable nonetheless.
Lair May, 07 2007
The Club June, 01 2007
The Darkness June, 01 2007
Sega Rally June, 01 2007
Eye of Judgment June, 01 2007
Ghost Recon: Advanced WarFighter 2 June, 05 2007
Ninja Gaiden Sigma June, 26 2007
Colin McRae: DIRT June, 30 2007
Killzone 2 July, 01 2007
The Getaway 3 July, 01 2007
Heavenly Sword August, 01 2007
Assassin’s Creed August, 01 2007
Stuntman: Ignition August, 14 2007
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots September, 01 2007
Haze September, 01 2007
Burnout 5 September, 11 2007
Grand Theft Auto IV October, 16 2007
Army of Two November, 01 2007
Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway November, 01 2007
Medal of Honor Airborne November, 01 2007
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames November, 01 2007
Eight Days December, 01 2007
Final Fantasy XIII December, 2007
Unreal Tournament December, 2007
LazySAGamer
May 3, 2007 at 17:17
Wow I didn’t know Army of Two was going to the PS3. I am really looking forward to that game
Kenneth
May 4, 2007 at 07:19
I popped into incredible connection the other day and played motorstorm on the ps3 for +/- 30 minutes. I must say I was not impressed at all; the graphics did not wow me(PGR3 on the 360 looked better in my opinion) and the game’s framerate also suffered which was hugely disapointing to me. Lower frame rate + less graphics = unconvinced customer. I tried the motion sensing, it was interesting but still only a gimmick: I’m sure developers will find better uses for it but as of yet I think I’ll stay with Wii motion sensing ;). What realy surprized me about all this is that motorstorm is saposed to be a console seller product…, the CG movies at that “fake” E3 looked absolutely amazing; just a pitty they couldn’t deliver what they promised when they released the game.
halicon
May 8, 2007 at 23:10
I bought an xbox360 about two months ago and I will admit – I was waiting for ps3 to hit South Africa, however when i got absolute confirmation of the PS3 price I bought an Xbox 306 Premium, an extra controller and three games which did not even hit anywhere near R6300 or woteva the rip off price is of the Sony Pay Station.
After the ps3 was released in SA i had a brief moment of panic thinking i bought the wrong console but a visit to the shop quickly dismissed that by the sheer quantity of games available for the Xbox.
I can not understand why someone would purchase a R6000 machine to play ps2 games. I have looked at alot of comparisons between the Xbox and ps3 and i always come to the same conclusion.
They are both outstanding consoles, however the one is almost double the cost of the other and I could never justify that kind of spend for a console that essentially does the same thing that the xbox does at almost half the price.
I am sure ps3 will have it’s day… but until now i do not think it has had it’s day and to be honest some of those games coming out for ps3… have been out for awhile on xbox and you know something is wrong when a game like TDU is being made for ps2 and not ps3.
anyway. Great web site here and great review Scotty. Enjoy your console and for freaks sake don’t drop it… it costs an arm and a leg 😉