6 days in the rain and all I got was .....this thing.

There seem to be two types of psychology when it comes to a game console developer's frame of mind. Creating something that's better for your image than the money you make off it, or something that makes tons of money, but makes you look cheap. Nintendo is one such company that needs money badly. But they were evidentally too cheap to create a system that was truly next-gen. Nothing wrong with that persay. But there are gung-ho hardcore gamers out there that strive to own the best quality game system out there and the new Playstation 3 was supposedly the answer. The problem is, you wouldn't really know it. At least, not yet.


It's come to a point in the United States where you almost can't even feel the Playstation 3's presence. At least not like Sony would want. It made national news upon release, as many people recall millions of eager gamers across the states standing outside stores for days on end to get a hold of a Playstation 3 at launch, usually to resell the console on EBAY to take cruel advantage of online buyers desperate for one themselves who weren't willing to sit outside of a store like a nincompoop. But now that the buzz has simmered down, and the smoke has cleared, ebay ads are becoming decidedly less expensive, and PS3's are becoming particularly easy to find in stores, while one particular game console, the Nintendo WII, has remained a hot-ticket item that can't be found anywhere! What we're finding is that the lust for Playstation is starting to fade from the public's hearts and Nintendo's 15 minutes of fame is becoming 15 hours! So why a lack of interest in the PS3? Isn't it the best? Let's check real quick.

The basic configuration of the console has a 20 GB internal hard drive. The "premium" version of the PlayStation 3 comes with an internal 60 GB 2.5" Serial ATA hard drive, IEEE 802.11b/g Wi-Fi connectivity, multiple flash memory card readers (SD/MultiMedia Card, CompactFlash, Memory Stick) and features a chrome-colored trim. Both consoles now feature a silver-colored text logo on the top face of the system. The hard drive is upgradeable, using the standard Serial ATA interface. No official Wi-Fi or flash memory card adapters have yet been released by Sony, although plans for such add-ons are in place. Nevertheless, as both models feature four USB 2.0 ports, wireless networking and flash memory card support can already be obtained through the use of widely available external USB adapters (info from wikipedia)

Inside the PS3 is the over-hyped 3.2 GHz Cell Broadband Engine with 1 PPE and 7 SPEs, touted as being a breakthrough graphics processor for a home game console, and in simple terms, it is an impressive item for the PS3 to work with. The Cell microprocessor allows programmers to assign SPEs different work by running individual programs on them. Programmers may also arrange data flow in different ways, for example using parallel, pipelined or streamed processing data flow models. The major bad press this chip has had in the news is that it doesn't outperform the XBOX 360's central processing unit by much. Sony had always promised that it would. Not just a little. But by FAR!

Through the unholy success of youtube's user-made videos, millions of gamers have been watching and laughing at the side-by-side comparisons of all the major multi-platform releases of games for both PS3 and XBOX 360 and have begun wondering why PS3 doesn't look any different. In fact, several instances where a PS3 game actually did look better was only because it was shown on an HDTV. Since both 360 and PS3 have complete compatibility with HDTV's, have wireless controllers as standard (PS3's is bluetooth), have wireless connectivity, and have next-gen movie capabilities, gamers are having trouble falling for this thing because they don't precisely see what its edge is supposed to be.


PS3's biggest press of anything has been its blu-ray player. Blu-ray is a new High Definition movie-disc format that is currently being sold alongside HD-DVD's. Both formats mainly appeal to a relatively small market of consumers that have committed to the evolution of movie discs. The positive evolution taking place in home entertainment is the fact that High Definition televisions are becoming more affordable and are becoming an established product that the average family pines for. What any HDTV owner realizes upon watching any non-highdef channel or DVD disc is that High Def tv's demand high-def signals. So movie companies are trying hard to sway the public towards one of these two new formats. It is still up in the air which one will take hold, but the fact of the matter is that Playstation 3 is a blu-ray player and XBOX 360, with an adapter, is an HD-DVD player. Both formats have yet to strongly take off.


Overall, Sony is gaining a reputation for creating the finest quality products, but products that are marketing blunders nonetheless. The Playstation 3 is not quite catching on in America, with the XBOX 360 and especially the Nintendo WII killing it in the market. Here are the biggest reasons why that you should take note of:

1) THE PRICE: The Sony Playstation's downside, in comparison to XBOX 360, is that all of its pricey technology, including blu-ray, is built-in. So the consumer has no option outside of that which makes the system a hefty $500 for the 20GB version and $600 for the 60GB version. The 60GB would be the one you'd want to go for though because obviously it has larger harddrive space that you'll sorely need, and is the only version that has wireless WIFI built into it. You can't even honestly say the thing is $600. Tax adds a whole extra 50 bucks (assuming you live in California, which you probably do)! But aside from that, when you get a Playstation 3, it essentially comes with nothing but a controller and it's main hookups. So it's essentially a paper weight until you start plunking down for an extra controller, $50 each, some games, $49 - $69 each, and extra video and sound accessories (if you care). The Playstation 3 is a big investment that requires an extraordinary amount of your precious greenbacks to really be worth anything.

2) THE DESIGN: One huge roasting the PS3 is undergoing lately with the gaming public is its online gaming experience. The XBOX 360 is hands down the most enjoyable console for online gaming (polls say the majority of gamers believe this) because of its widely supported and vastly growing community, its user-friendly online setup, its quality experience of live teamspeak, as well as features like a digital camera to integrate the player into the game, its extremely popular Live arcade and movie download system, and finally its popular user interface where you can keep a simple list of friends, know what games they're playing, invite them to chat or play, and so forth. The PS3, after looking at its interface (which is virtually just like the Playstation Portable's) obviously has no emphasis on hardcore online gaming. Software updates are said to be on the horizon, and would potentially change what it offers, but the system simply does not shine for the moment. Suprising, since SONY has told us from the start that it's going to take after the XBOX with a dedicated online service similar to XBOX Live. For the moment, though, it's yet to take off.


3) THE EXTRAS: The Playstation 3 has been widely known to have a future of playing a role for the Playstation Portable game deck, as the two have been given software updates to wireless connect together to download original Playstation 1 titles to the PSP via purchase on the Playstation 3's online store. This service is also almost non-existent and offers relatively nothing for the moment. Gamers have been openly expressing criticism at the fact that PSP doesn't even have the same comfortable control that the Playstation 1 controller does, namely two thumbsticks and more trigger buttons, so it doesn't serve as much of an incentive to see what PS3 will offer, as gamers don't want an experience if it won't be enjoyable.

Once again, you will need this 60GB version for ample storage space for Playstation Network downloads of applications, game saves, music, media, etc. But Sony has told people that the system easily expands storage space by simply dropping a larger capacity 2.5" SATA notebook hard drive into the system. What that'll set you back is beyond me.

The 60GB console features a front-slot-loading Blu-ray optical-disc drive and four USB ports, as well as memory stick, compact flash, and SD card reader support to provide for an absurd level of media connectivity. The 20GB PlayStation 3 doesn't have memory stick, compact flash, or SD card ports.

As for the controller, it has sustained the long-running classic feel and design of the typical Playstation 1 and 2 controller, with the same button, triggers, and thumb sticks we all appreciate. The only difference with the buttons is the triggers feel more springy (which is great!). The tilting angle of the thumbsticks has also be enlarged. However, the PS3 controller's main edge is the fact that it is a wireless bluetooth controller as standard, and it has a port on the front that can be connected to a USB device, such as the PSP perhaps. Also, the controller is a "six axis" motion-sensing controller which kinda makes it like a WII controller. The controller requires to be recharged after 30 hours of use and you'll be able to do this by connecting it to the PS3 with that little port on it I just mentioned (how convenient).

Wanna know why the controller sucks? The rechargable battery is built into the controller. So if the battery malfunctions, you have to get a whole new game pad!

4) THE GAMES: The game library of Playstation 3 is more than dissapointing. It's phenomenally abysmal. The system features less than 26 titles so far, and the lion's share of these games are already available on XBOX 360, including the delayed version of Sonic the Hedgehog, and games have begun with a standard price of $59.99. None of the new titles feature graphics that blow away the 360, and nothing exclusive has stood out at all.


5) THE MOVIES: With the blu-ray library of movies also still fresh and new, they're all sitting there at your local store not moving, and virtually every title has a base-price of $29.99 or more. The public, suprisingly, doesn't want to buy their movies over again as many of us just don't have HDTV's, or particularly care. It's not exactly true that people don't have an appreciation for this new format. It's just that it's not important to them yet, as HDTV's are certainly still not for everyone.
But the system does still support older formats, including CD-ROM, CDR+W, DVD, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, and DVD+R.


6) THE MOOLAH!: PS3 is losing a lot of moolah. Greenbacks. Money! With Sony losing an average of $300 per console sold, the technology is making their system suffer big time in the market place. The gaming public catches wing of this sort of thing in a heartbeat and typically think, "If I wait, this thing might go down in price." And honestly, that seems to be just what they're going to do. And it may be working. Rumors are already speculating that SONY may be considering already redesigning a new PS3 that removes backwards compatibility with classic PS2 and 1 games and a few other renditions that I'm just not aware of yet. The trouble with this is that it really confuses people like me. It's quite an epidemic with game companies lately. But at any rate, it's a good reason to not fret over the huge price, and save your bucks for another day.


One thing that looms dangerously over SONY's head is the fact that they just aren't as rich as Microsoft. The original XBOX should have failed. But Microsoft had the dough to make it stand up. SONY didn't quite need that dough because PS2 was a big hit. However, this time the tables have tragically turned and it's a terrible thing when a poor company's system is a flop, and a rich company's system is a hit. Bad ratio indeed!

I would have to say that if you are someone who is in the market for a blu-ray player, and have a family who loves video games, the Playstation 3 is a decidedly smart choice, since it's virtually the most affordable blu-ray player available, and having a next-gen Playstaton with that player is an obvious bonus. And you better make it a 60 gigger. You need that harddrive space! BAD! But I (and most gamers out there) just can't find it in my heart to give this system a big score. The game library is lousy, it's online system is way behind, its price is too much to ask of me, and it just doesn't offer much to the average gamer out there. Offer much that matters, anyway. Tell ya what. If tomorrow the price of HDTV's, blu-ray movies, and Playstation 3 games soares down drastically, maybe I'll consider it. At the moment, the PS3 is a dumb, rich kid's gadget. Case and point.