279w ago - The 360 blew it's load last year and now it's the Playstation 3's turn. Only a few weeks into the new year and the PS3 has quickly become THE system for gamers to own. A couple of us here at the Pail sat down and figured out how and why the PS3 is going to kick ass in 2008.
Blu-ray Movies
You could say that it's all Warner's fault. With their announcement of going exclusively to Blu-ray, Paramount and Universal started shifting in their chairs. Now the two companies are using their escape clause to leave HD-DVD behind; and all hope for HD-DVD with them. Blu-ray is now the unofficial winner of the hi-def movie format war. Sony was taking a risk on putting a blu-ray player in the PS3, and it paid off.
Blu-ray Games
Blu-ray discs aren't just used for movies. The PS3 game discs also use the format. This allows developers to store more content on the disc. With all the hi-def graphics and audio gamers are demanding now, more storage space is key. The Xbox 360 developers are hampered by the fact they can only put content on a regular DVD. The folks over at Ninja Theory have said they would not have been able to make the game fit on a regular DVD. Now some 360 devs have said they may need to cache content on the hard drive just to have the game look and feel the way they want.
User Upgradable Hard Drive
Speaking of hard drives, want to swap out the 20GB one that came with your Premium 360? Well then you get to go and buy another 20GB for $100 or a 120GB for $180! With the PS3 you just have to buy a regular 3.5 inch hard drive, pop the side off, replace, format, good to go. This will be handy when HD movie downloads come to the PS3. Spare 200GB drive lying around? Use it! You can thank the proprietary housing and connector on the 360 for this mess.
Standard Connections
Yes we all know Sony is notorious for proprietary connections/media, but they were smart on the PS3. First of all it uses Bluetooth for it's controllers and other peripherals. The 360 has it's own wireless standard that developers have to deal with and license if they want to use it. Let's move on to memory card slots. No big bulky memory cars here; you can use that compact flash memory card that has been collecting dust for the past couple years. With the 360 you get to buy more console specific connections. ANd how do you charge your Sixaxis controller? Regular ol'USB.
The Extras
Sony and the community, are coming out with some great extras for the PS3. First off we have the Dual Shock 3 controller coming out this year. This combines the best of Sixaxis and gives it a little rumbly. Fans are so excited over this that they are paying the price and importing it in from Japan. The Playstation Eye Toy is another great extra. Not just web cam like the Vision, this one has a built in mic too and it's HD! Plus we've already seen a little bit of it's potential with the Eye of Judgement card game; able to recognize the card in "real life" and display it's creature on the screen. The community is also behind the PS3 with some homebrew apps. Use at your own risk however. You will be able to create and install mods on the PS3, and dream console owners have had since the beginning.
Home
Imagine "Second Life"... wait don't. Stop imagining. Second Live sucks. Home is going to be Third Life meets PS3 meets Miis meets the your living room. Home is an online social network where the user is represented by a, very customisable, 3D avatar. In this 3D world you actually have an apartment where you can keep trophies won in Games, Invite friends for online gaming, or chill and catch up with an old buddy. Even if you're not keen to the idea of home you have to remember one thing. It's Free! This service is free of charge. An entire online world that would normally cost a monthly service fee is going to be free. Now that's the kind of thinking that's going to get Sony on top of the game.
MGS4
Metal Gear Solid may be the life blood of Sony's reign in 08'. MGS4 is a PS3 exclusive getting ready to rock us all with their world wide projected release in Q2 of 08'. The latest update on Metal Gear is that it playable from start to finish and as an added bonus you can actually pause those long cut scenes that have mad the MGS series famous. This title is the most exciting game to look forward to in 08' when it comes to all platforms.
Little Big Planet
Little Big Planet is an innovative new title that is waiting to change our perspective all together. This game is a sort of puzzle game with fully interactive invironments where the user can create, place and build objects. The maps or builds that you create can be shared or even created with friends. LBP is a new IP with exciting abilities. It's release is dated for Q3 of this year.
PSP Downloadable Blu-ray Movies
Although the UMD format seems to be failing, Sony has pulled a new feature out of the closet that has everyone talking, downloadable Blu-Ray. This exciting new feature is excatly what what it sounds like but with the end of the HD format wars end in sight you can expect more and more movies comming out for this formate. Along with this add-on president of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Davic Bishop says, "There was always the promise of greater interactivity [with the PlayStation Portable]. You'll see that coming in the new year."
Free Online Game Play
That's right all of you jerks out there on your X-Box live paying for a service that can't even hold up to Christmas sales. PS3's online gaming is free of charge. That means free online gaming all the time. Now most of us don't mind paying for X-Box Live's relatively cheap service but when It takes 20 minutes just to connect and then another 20 to find a fucking game, I can't help but wonder, "What am I paying for?". With the PS3 free online service there's no worry it has all the functionality of X-Box Live and it's free of charge. Winner!
More pics can be seen at the link at the top of this story!
Thanks mate , very useful....
Spore- First game where you create life from a cellular phase to a creature you can control and eat other creatures to gain experience to evolve to a high state.
Little Big Planet- this game seems fun to play and it has co-op with three players you can play with. You can make your puzzle levels. Looks great to get.
Disgaea 3- A Japanese RPG game where the levels beyond 99. It's a type of Final fantasy tactics game, sorta like playing chess. It has downloadable content to get more characters. Hopefully this game will have wireless play to play eachother in a battlemap.
PS3 Home- I'm been waiting for this online game since Sony shown this game from E3. It's free, not a RPG game but as a avatar game. I like to show everyone my apartment and my music and movies collection. Can't wait to get it.
If memory serves fifa 08 is up to 8 players at once on one screen
in defense of the 360 though you have to remember that really it is only the equivalent of a ps2 and im sure microsoft will catch up to the ps3... but by then the ps4 will be on the horizon lol
I think Gears was almost at the peak of the 360 potential, whilst games of similar quality are only just being started on the PS3. PS3 has so much more too go and i think in 08 and especially from '09 and onwards we will really start to see the gap emerge.