PS3: First Impressions
by Scott Hardie on December 9, 2006
On Tuesday, which happened to be Denise's birthday (we celebrated the night before), an acquaintance sold me a brand new Playstation 3 and I hit Best Buy to choose carefully from among the whopping half-dozen titles available. When I unpacked the system with a friend, I found it to be much bigger and heavier than I expected, but it's sleek and doesn't have any buttons; you just wave your finger over it to turn it on. The far left edge of the screen is cut off on my TV set, since the system doesn't include any display-centering option, but I hope to figure out a solution. Wireless controllers are a godsend, even if I'm disappointed to continue playing on the same lousy controller design from twelve years ago. Our first game was Tony Hawk's Project 8, which is more or less the same as any other game in the series, although I had a lot more trouble than usual getting and keeping my skater up to full speed. Eventually we got bored and switched to Call of Duty 3, my first time playing that series, and holy cow what a game. If you like action, it throws you into an immersive experience not unlike the opening of Saving Private Ryan, with violence all around you. I also picked up Marvel Ultimate Alliance to play later but I don't have high hopes for it, not liking the X-Men Legends series much.
While I'm eagerly looking forward to more games to come out, I don't really mind the lack of games available now. I didn't buy this system within weeks of launch because I just couldn't wait, I bought it because I knew this was the only opportunity I was going to get until sometime in 2008. I'm still slowly working my way through Elder Scrolls on Xbox 360 and Guitar Hero II on PS2. My overall impression of the PS3 so far is exactly what I expected: It's a powerful and expensive system that plays exactly like the PS2, and does not deserve the preeminent status that it enjoys over its much more innovative competitors from Microsoft and Nintendo.
As for the Blu-Ray player, I have yet to try it, but I'll rent some Blu-Ray discs from Netflix sooner or later. The system came with Talladega Nights but even as slim as my 2006 movie viewing has been, I'm not sure I can bring myself to watch it; the previews look so bad. I only have a regular TV anyway – HD can come later, after I track down a Wii.
St Pete gaming group: Want to come down on a Saturday night? I didn't buy all this to play it alone.
One Reply to PS3: First Impressions
Logical Operator
The creator of Funeratic, Scott Hardie, blogs about running this site, losing weight, and other passions including his wife Kelly, his friends, movies, gaming, and Florida. Read more »
The Money Pit
Nobody's falling off of staircases or dropping bathtubs through the floor, but this month, our house has had a lot of things go wrong at once. It feels like every day brings another visit from a contractor. Here's our list so far: Mold remediation: A patch of black mold in the primary bathroom meant having the shower tiles stripped out and the infected drywall removed. Go »Chatt Story
Kelly and I are home from a brief road trip to Chattanooga. The primary reason for going was the wedding of an old friend of Kelly. The ceremony was beautiful, held on the banks of Fall Creek Falls Lake, with some of the best-written vows I've ever heard, at once personal and profound. Go »Amazon Appreciation
I just wanted to take a minute to thank Amazon.com. They've been my primary retailer for over a decade now, not to mention the seller of most prizes in the goo game and Oscars contests on this site. Once they started offering their Prime service ($80/yr gets you free 2-day shipping and discounted overnight shipping), they leveled the playing field against local retailers: No longer did I feel the need to save up a list of several items and buy them all at once to save on shipping. Go »alt.tv.bitchbitchbitch
Continuing in my tradition of discussing pop culture 5-to-10 years after its shelf life: Once upon a time, I was an enormous fan of ER. From the time I started watching early in season one, I didn't miss a single first-run broadcast until I finally stopped watching late in season five. I learned the medical jargon; I memorized every minor character's name; I speculated about and debated the future plotlines endlessly. Go »Sarasota
Aaron Weiss likes taking pictures with his spiffy new camera – go figure – and yesterday he captured this beautiful panoramic shot of part of downtown Sarasota. This is why I live here. [I compressed his version for filesize, which caused the pixelization in the sky.] Go »
Aaron Shurtleff | December 11, 2006
As the gaming group representative for Sony, I say, "Hell, yeah!!!"
And, while I could comment on the PS3 issues, I will not do so for now. But it would be nice of you to give the PS3 some time. :)