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Sony PlayStation 3 Console (60GB Premium Version)
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| Price: |
26 new or used available from £215.00
Average customer review:
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #2026 in Computer & Video Games
- Brand: Sony
- Released on: 2007-03-23
- Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
Editorial Reviews
What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision Review
More than just a games console, the PS3 delivers glorious 1080p/24fps video from Blu-ray discs, and even upscales regular DVDs.
Manufacturer's Description
The PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system unleashes a brilliant, high-definition entertainment experience with its Cell Broadband Engine that delivers a gaming experience that is beyond what you know today. Its built-in Blu-ray Disc drive delivers a whole new generation in high-definition gaming and unmatched digital media storage. Whether it’s gaming, Blu-ray movies, music or online services, PlayStation 3 will change your digital life.
 PlayStation 3: Tower of power |
Under the hood: The PlayStation 3 system’s Cell Broadband Engine is the very thing that game developers have always dreamt about. Its unique multi-processing unit design represents a tour de force in parallel processing. The ability to do more of everything at the same time means more enemies, more AI, more explosions, and more realistic gameplay. Amazing gameplay elements such as ragdoll physics and keyframe animation, enemy AI behaving unpredictably, glass cracking based on the size of the object that impacted it, and individual flecks of dust in a beam of sunlight are all possible with the PlayStation 3. The Cell Broadband Engine has the muscle and horsepower to move beyond artificial intelligence. Blu-ray:
SIXAXIS wireless controller:
Multimedia support:
|  A sleek new look |
 With the wireless, motion-sensitive controller | ||
 Resistance: Fall of Man |
Customer Reviews
The undercurrent truth! What you need to know before you buy!
OK, while i'm not going to tell you to run out and buy a PS3, or advocate burning all Sony merchandise, or give some speech about anti-microsoft, I just want to clear up some misconceptions about this console.
Firstly, as has already been mentioned, the price tag for a PS3, while hefty does not compare directly with that of the 360. The main thing is that a PS3 comes with everything already built in while the Xbox 360 shaves off some price to get you more likely to buy it but to get this cost cut in place they have to leave out some heavy duty technology. You will have to buy wireless network controllers, an external HD DVD drive etc... the PS3 does not have any hidden extras.
Secondly, while the XBox live campaign revolves around existing memberships, this comes a a monthly cost to the subscriber. The PS3 online community is a free subscription. Sure you still need an account created and there is nothing to stop them putting a fee on in the future but for the time being it is a free sign up.
CAUTION!!!! Just as a quick note to anyone considering buying a cheaper version of the PS3 (i.e. the 40Gb version) just be aware that while 20Gb is not the end of the world the big thing to note is the fact that the 40Gb version is not backwards compatible - this means all those loveable PS2 games will not work, so your choice of game is going to be limited to what you can afford to buy brand new for the PS3.
About Blu-Ray vs HD-DVD: This is being compared to the war between VHS and Beta. While at this stage it is impossible to tell what will happen with the new formats as there is already some concern over a new format realtively soon after DVD's were main stream, remember that no matter which format is technically better, the winner (if there is one) will be the one with the best marketing ploy, not necessarily the best technology. Beta was technically better than VHS but went the way of the dinosaur due to bad marketing...but both new formats are nice, hold a lot of data and have vast potential in the gaming market especially due to the extra content this inevitably will brign to the gamer of tomorrow.
In the end it is a personal choice, and neither the 360 or PS3 will dissappoint in graphics. It is still early days in the game market to compare game titles yet but the Wii will be a favourite among younger gamers and familys while the PS3 and 360 will hit it off more for the hard-core gamer. Whichever you choose - enjoy!
Patience is a virtue...
Get ready, this is gonna be a long one but I'm sure you'll find some good points and useful info here...
After browsing through the various reviews of the PS3 here, it has become apparent that a comparison to marmite would be fair. Love or Hate. But why? Well looking at the haters it seems the the problem is not infact the console, but infact a great deal of impatience and a lack of knowledge. Firstly many have said their PS3 is overheating and freezing, however these people have also mentioned that their consoles are imported...and there you have the answer. In Japan and America the mains voltage is around about a mere 100-127 Volts compared to the 240 volts of the british mains, add to that the the fact the PS3 sucks a massive 380 watts of power (almost twice as much as the 360) then you can see why there are overheating problems. The answer? Simply buy a 500 watt step down converter; I'm guessing the overheating complainers have failed to do this. Also bare in mind that the 360 also had overheating problems in its first few months; thankfully I waited.
Secondly, from a hell of a lot of hindsight, a consoles launch, in terms of games at least, is generally duff. At most a console has one and if your lucky maybe two good sometimes only decent games at launch. Giving up on a console so early on is ridiculous, especially one with so much promise as the PS3; Devil May Cry 4, Heavenly Sword, FFXIII, Killzone, MGS4 (and no it wont be available on 360, not for a good long while after the PS3 at least if ever) these are the types of games that will define the PS3. My point is a console can only really be judged towards the end of it life, not as soon as it hits the shelf; only now can we really pass fair judgement on the passing generation. Again bare in mind the 360 has seen a year on the shelfs and only now is it starting to see some defining titles, namely Gears of War. The Wii, to be fair, has probably had the best launch of the 3, this being down to the fact that Zelda and Wii Sports are TWO fantastically fun games in their own rights. However the Wii cannot be compared any further with the other two as to do so would simply not make sense; it would be like puting a strawberry in an apple variety contest between royal gala and granny smiths - all three are fruits but a strawberry is quite clearly not, in any other sense, comparible to an apple.
One thing that does annoy me to the point of leaving my unbias approach here is the 360's DVD Drive, an act of shortsightedness if ever I saw one. Many people moan that in buying a PS3 they are being forced into a format war they do not want to be a part of, saying that microsofts approach of giving you the choice (and thus cutting the cost) is far better. I do not agree. What people forget is the the Blu-Ray drive is not for movies alone but for games that require the superior space a Blu-Ray offers (25Gb single, 50Gb double). Think about that for a minute. A DVD holds around 9Gb on a dual layer, now think of GTA: San Andreas...now think of the potential of a superior console combined with an extra 41Gb of space and you get the picture; wether it be GTA4 (note: exclusive 360 content likely to be the stuff that wont fit on the disk) or any other game for that matter. Hold it a second you say, the 360 has an HD DVD add-on drive does it not? Correct, however microsoft has stated it is merely for high definition movies; thus either the problem remains of inferior data storage, or, microsoft haven't yet dropped the bomb that in the future you will require the HD DVD drive to play certain games (after watching a conference with Peter Molyneux, producer of Fable, and hearing what he plans to do with Fable 2 (it sounds unbelievable, lets hope he's not lying this time) I reckon we have the first potential HD DVD game for the 360). Anyway apart from that minor annoyance I haven't much to complain of the 360 so far, nor of the Wii and hopefully the same will apply to the PS3 if I manage to get my hands on one in March or at least when I do get my hands on one.
The main niggle I can see with the PS3 is the hefty price tag (of the 60Gb version at least), but what must be taken into cosideration is that a Blu-Ray player alone (movies only obviously) will cost around £1000 already making the PS3 sound like a steal. Furthermore however, when you think that to bring the 360 to similar spec as the PS3 it will cost you around £460 (£280 for the premium pack, £130 for the HD DVD Drive + £50 for the WiFi adapter) compared to the PS3's price of £425 - £480 (and thats with a 60Gb hard drive and a state of the art not yet on the shelves CPU (The Cell) and GPU (nVidia's RSX)) and you can see the PS3 is infact, if anything, quite cheap to be honest (remember sony makes a loss of around £120 on every PS3 sold at the moment, so we should be thankful!).
In my opinion I don't think there'll be any losers in this generation, especially and I mean especially, for us gamers. The Wii will most likely sell best for the next two years due to its low price (and it's genius controls), however after this initial period I'm sure we'll find (especially after a PS3 price cut) everything will more or less level off, which is probably the best result for everyone.
To finish all I will say is that give each console time and patience, try for yourself and look at the bigger picture before you love or hate...
Great (especially if you take Amazon's deal)
I did not even consider a PS3 until the price came down recently, as like many reviews have said, it was a bit pricey. I bought a Nintendo Wii a few weeks ago, and I love it for many reasons (which I will not mention, as this is a PS3 review). Then the news came out that the PS3 was dropping in price...
I thought long and hard about it, as even with the price drop, the PS3 still carries quite a hefty price tag. I had a look on a lot of websites and stores, and in my opinion, Amazon has the best offer on the PS3 at the moment, as they include an HDMI cable and 2 games, and they seem to have a greater selection of games to choose from than other sites and stores. Eventually, after 2 days of indecision, I took the plunge and went for the Amazon offer.
The next day, my PS3 arrived (with the 2 games, the free HDMI cable, and the Bluetooth Blu-Ray remote - sold separately - which I would highly recommend if you want to use the Blu-Ray functionality of the console frequently). From the moment I opened the box, it was apparent what I had paid for. The PS3 oozes quality. I plugged in all the relevant cables, switched my Sony flat panel to HDMI input, and proceeded to set up the console.
The quality of the console continues to impress with the built-in menu system, which is really easy to navigate and looks great. Basic setup of the console took about 5 minutes, I hit a few snags with the wireless setup, but got it working with a console update in the end.
The Sony online store is great too, and apparently they will be adding more and more content as time goes on. There are lots of HD movie trailers, game trailers and demos to download (I highly recommend Gran Turismo HD, if racing games are your thing). You can also download console and game updates from the net, if you hook your PS3 up.
I then decided to try one of the games I got with the console - Heavenly Sword. All I can say is WOW! This game looks really amazing, and if you have an HDTV, your eyes will water. The gameplay is great too, and the wireless Sixaxis controller is very responsive. The game also uses some motion sensing, and I found the Sixaxis controller pretty easy to use in this regard too. If this is what the first generation of PS3 games looks like, then I can't wait to see what we will be playing on it a year from now.
On top of all this, you get a Blu-Ray player, the machine upscales normal DVD's to 1080i as well, and there are some nice little features like the ability to install another OS onto the hard drive.
People are griping a lot about the lack of games for the console at the moment, but people have always griped about the quantity and quality of games available at console launches as far back as I can remember. Have patience, in 6 months time, you will be swimming in great titles. There are some great titles out now, and by March next year, you will not be sorry you bought a PS3.
The reason I mentioned the Wii in the beginning is that many people try to compare and put down one console over another. I still love my Wii for different reasons to the PS3 (the control system is unique and the games are really fun, especially with 2 or more players). The PS3 has true next-generation graphics, some great titles out now with many many more really great ones in the pipeline, built-in Blu-Ray, etc. I cannot comment on the XBox 360, as I have not owned one (I had an XBox which I was pretty happy with). Like many others have said, if you have the money, buy all 3 consoles, but if you can only afford one, I would highly highly recommend the PS3 (and the Wii, if you have another couple hundred quid lying around). And to those of you who are still wondering if the price tag is worth it (so did I) - the answer is YES.
This console is GREAT!!!
