The system

So to start, if you've never laid your hands on this shiny black beast before the first thing you'll notice is how unbelievably large the console is. It's probably a good thing Sony decided upon black over the initial silver color, since the black exterior does have somewhat of a slimming effect on the machine; the curved convex housing, however, makes the system look as if it's innards are practically ready to burst out. And those are some heavy innards, with the console coming in at a hefty 11 pounds. To Sony's credit, they managed to house the system's power supply within the console rather than provide consumers with a giant power brick.


The console's touch sensitive eject and power buttons and the slot loading Blu-ray drive also add to its "cool factor," and we hope the slot loading mechanism can hold up over the long haul. After turning the system on for the first time you'll need to download (and then install) the latest firmware, which can take a lot longer than you'd like—especially when you're chomping at the bit to try out some gaming.


The PS3, like most modern consoles can stand either vertically or sit horizontally. We prefer ours vertical (with PS logo rotated accordingly), and since the console is so large, no stand is required for support in the vertical position. The thing that was the most striking about the PS3 system after having it on for some time was how amazingly quiet it remained. Whether it was in the Cross Media Bar (XMB), playing a game or movie, the loudest it ever seemed to get was perhaps comparable to the fan on a decent laptop. This is really appreciated after months and months of listening to the jet engine-like sounds of the Xbox 360.


The console does emit a fair amount of heat—some would say it's about the same as the 360's heat output, although we actually think it's slightly less. In fact, after playing with the 360 for more than an hour it literally does seem like the room it's in has warmed up a few degrees. We haven't noticed that effect with the PS3. It also seems like the PS3 may have been designed with better heat distribution in mind. While the 360 shoots heat out of the back like dragon's breath, the PS3 has more vents allowing warm air to flow out the back and top. Hopefully this will mean that we won't see many people complain about overheating... time will tell.


The User Interface

The aforementioned XMB should be instantly familiar to anyone that's picked up a PSP before. It's essentially the same user interface, and allows you to select games, music, videos, photos, network, online ID/friends, and settings. Within each category you can use the d-pad to move down to highlight what you want to select. It's easy to follow, looks good, and it works. We have come to enjoy the 360's "blades" UI in its dashboard as well, but it's hard to say if one is truly "better" than the other.


What we can say, though, is that the XMB is downright stupid when it comes to games or movies that have been put in the drive. Rather than starting up automatically after a disc has been inserted, you have to manually go over to the game or video disc icon and select it. Hopefully this is something Sony will change with a future firmware update. You can also use the XMB to set up Internet setting for the "Remote Play" feature that allows you to control the PS3 interface remotely through the PSP. Unfortunately, this sounds a lot cooler than it actually is. While listening to music, watching a video, or looking at a photo stored on your PS3 could be useful at times, the PSP's streaming seemed a little choppy. And in order to play a downloaded game, you actually have to re-download it to your PSP. We also found it curious that the PS3 played the audio through our speaker system even though we had sound coming through the PSP stream.


Online

Seeing as how this is the first console we've had that actually integrated Wi-Fi, it's really nice to be able to just connect at any time without worrying about Ethernet cables or wireless adapters. Setting up the wireless functionality on the PS3 is a breeze as long as you know/have easy access to your router's wireless settings. It's fantastic that Sony is offering all online functionality for free, but right now it's pretty barebones. As of this writing the PlayStation Store has just two downloadable games, some demos and some trailers. It also has Blu-ray movie trailers, which is nice, but we've gotten used to seeing trailers (on Xbox Live) for upcoming theatrical releases as well. This is Sony we're talking about after all; where's our Spider-Man 3 trailer?


It'll take some time, but eventually the PS Store will no doubt offer all kinds of media, including downloadable music, movies and TV shows. Sony will need to get the process started soon if it wants to compete with Microsoft's new HD movies/TV service. Sony also needs to work on its download speeds; right now downloads do seem a bit sluggish. If we're going to be downloading huge movie files and whatnot the current speeds will make it impossible to bear. What's worse is that once you've started a download you cannot do anything but let it chew on that download. You can't queue up multiple downloads, and you can't play music or games or anything while it's downloading. This is a feature we've really gotten used to on the 360, and Sony definitely needs to add it in a firmware update in the near future. And while they're at it, they should revamp the PS Store's design and navigation. It's clunky and really leaves a lot to be desired at the moment, although actual dollars are certainly preferred over MS Points (so don't change that!).


As for actually using the network for online gaming, once again Sony has a ways to go before it can match Xbox Live. Although we encountered lag at times, for the most part online gaming in NBA 07 and Resistance was smooth. But the lack of a unified friends system to let you know who's online and the lack of "achievements" is disappointing. Once again, these are things that are fixable, but Sony needs to get the ball rolling on it right away.


The Controller

It has been mentioned on other sites that the PS3 controller, which is nearly identical to the old PS2 DualShock, is very lightweight, and from our experience that's quite true, but not to the point that it feels "cheap." The controller actually feels solid, and the new L2 and R2 triggers are definitely a welcome addition over the old L2 and R2 shoulder buttons. The analog sticks feel as if they've been tightened up a bit, and even the d-pad seemed slightly improved. Of course, one of the major reasons for the controller's lightweight feel is that it lacks motors to simulate force feedback.


This is no surprise to anyone who's been following the controversial lawsuit between Sony and haptic technology company Immersion. Most in the industry believe that the lawsuit is at the root of the missing rumble capability, but Sony claims they're leaving it out in favor of motion sensing for cost reasons and because it's a passive experience compared to motion sensing. While the lack of vibration certainly isn't a deal breaker, we do admit that we missed the rumble sensation when firing a gun in Resistance, crashing in MotorStorm or going up for a slam dunk in NBA 07. Moreover, we've yet to see a game really make great use of the Sixaxis motion sensing. Perhaps when Lair or Warhawk are released we'll begin to appreciate this functionality more, but right now it simply feels tacked on.


And besides, we're greedy. Why can't we have rumble AND motion sensing? Certainly those claims about one interfering with the other are nonsense. Sony would be wise to either settle with Immersion and offer new controllers with both, or figure out a way to engineer the inclusion of rumble without violating Immersion's patents.


Moving on... obviously another huge addition to the controller is its wireless functionality. Claims have been made that it'll last about 30 hours on one charge; we didn't time it but it did seem to last a long while before finally needing a recharge. Unfortunately, the battery is internal, so if it dies permanently, then the controller is worthless. Additionally, because it's internal you can't take the battery out and charge it separately. We've gotten in the habit of charging up multiple 360 controller batteries on the Quick Charge kit, and then simply swapping out a battery when one loses its charge—nice and convenient.


With the PS3 controller, though, when the battery gets low you have to plug into the console's USB port with the included cable. This cable is way too short (4 feet?) and means that if you are in the middle of game when the battery needs a charge, you'll suddenly find your face incredibly close to your television. Of course, you can monitor your battery level by pressing in the PS button in the center of the controller, so that you don't get in those situations. The PS button also allows you to turn the system on and off (if you've left the power switch on so it's in "standby" mode). It would be nice if Sony included additional USB cables for controllers purchased separately, but because it's a standard USB you can buy a longer one anyway, which you'd probably want to do.


Despite our niggling, the PS3 controller is still pretty darn good, simply because it's close enough in design/form factor to the DualShock, which is arguably one of the best designed controllers on the market.


The Games

We tested out Resistance, Genji and NBA 07, as well as demos of Formula One, MotorStorm and downloadable titles Blast Factor and Cash Guns Chaos. Resistance without a doubt is the cream of the crop of what's currently playable on PS3. The visuals are mostly on par with Xbox 360, but the gameplay has been finely tuned by the folks at Insomniac and playing around with all the different weapons is a huge part of what makes the game so special—a staple of the Ratchet & Clank developer. The game itself doesn't really bring anything new to the first-person shooter genre, and certainly it's no Half-Life 2, but it's just a really well crafted product on almost every level.


The most fun we had after Resistance was actually with the MotorStorm demo. The game doesn't look quite as incredible as the E3:05 trailer, but it does have some pretty impressive graphics nonetheless. The gameplay is what counts, though, and racing around the mountainous terrain and monitoring the turbo button so as not to overheat (a la the classic Excitebike) is exhilarating. Flying off the edge of a cliff or crashing into a rock wall didn't disappoint either, since the crashes were animated in spectacular fashion. This will be a top PS3 game to watch for next year.


NBA 07 is one of the few games to support 1080p right now, but we don't have a 1080p television. Regardless, the game looks quite good. Its gameplay as a basketball title isn't quite up to the level of 2K Sports' NBA 2K7, but we'd call it "serviceable." It's lame that 989 only included PA guys and no actual announcers in the game, however.


Genji is certainly a looker, but its hack-and-slash gameplay is nothing we haven't seen in countless other action titles before it. That's not to say that it isn't enjoyable, because it can be at times, but you likely won't want to spend $60 dollars on this repetitive adventure.


Finally, of the two downloadable titles, Blast Factor is certainly the better, but is it worth $7.99? That's a hard call. When games like Geometry Wars are 400 MS Points ($5) on Xbox Live Arcade, it makes the $7.99 price less appealing. The Cash Guns Chaos demo reminded us a bit of the old SmashTV game, but after about 10 minutes of running around a square room shooting and picking up cash, we got bored and never touched it again.


Backwards Compatibility

While we didn't actively test this feature out, the couple PS1 and PS2 games we tried seemed to play just as they did on their original systems, with no noticeable difference and no enhancements either. Sony has included a great feature by allowing PS3 owners to create virtual PS1 and PS2 memory cards on the PS3's hard drive, as if tiny sections are partitioned off for those game saves. This will no doubt come in handy for gamers looking to save their PS1/PS2 games on the PS3.


And with a memory card adapter (sold separately) you could conceivably transfer over all of your old saves onto the HDD since there's plenty of room. This is definitely an area where Sony has trumped Microsoft. Microsoft provides no way of transferring original Xbox saves, and only a few hundred Xbox games work. Sony may have trouble with 200 or so PS1/PS2 titles not playing properly on the PS3, but that's out of 8,000 games.


Blu-ray

We're hardly audio/visual experts, but we can spot when something looks good and Blu-ray movies look very nice. If you've ever watched over-the-air HD broadcasts, Blu-ray movies on an HDTV seem comparable, especially the better film transfers like Black Hawk Down. And from what we've seen the general consensus is that the PS3's Blu-ray player is easily the equal of standalone players, if not better in some regards. And keep in mind that those standalone devices are around $1,000.


Obviously the big question is whether Blu-ray will beat out HD DVD. If it doesn't then the Blu-ray player will become useless, other than providing developers with a proprietary storage disc with lots of space. At the moment, the selection of available of Blu-ray movies is rather limited and it seems like many of the films aren't getting extra HD goodies over their DVD counterparts. Film studios should be taking advantage of the medium to include more than a prettier picture.


Navigating the movies with a PS3 controller is not exactly ideal, but it's manageable, and serious movie enthusiasts can soon buy a PS3 remote control to avoid the somewhat clumsy navigation.


Final Thoughts

If you manage to find a PS3 this holiday season and you feel you can part with $600+ dollars, you won't be disappointed. The PS3 is a great system with a ton of potential. Interestingly, that's exactly what Sony CEO Howard Stringer said consumers would be paying for. Back in June, he told a Tokyo news conference, "The price of the PS3 is high, but you're paying for potential." Unless you're in the market for a cheap Blu-ray player or simply must play Resistance there may not be much reason to own a PS3 now.


That said, for now you can think of the PS3 as an investment. There are so many great games in the pipeline for 2007 and beyond— MotorStorm, Heavenly Sword, Killzone, Metal Gear Solid 4, Gran Turismo 5, Oblivion, Assassin's Creed, Lair, Grand Theft Auto IV, Ratchet and Clank, Final Fantasy XIII and on and on—that your investment in the PS3 will certainly be justified in due time. Many of the 2007's top games will no doubt appear on both the PS3 and 360, but the PS3 will certainly have its fair share of good or even "AAA" games that will appear nowhere else.


It'll be a tight battle with Microsoft and Nintendo for sure, but it would appear that Sony is up to the challenge.

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