Playstation 3

[Voodoo Child]

I haven't had a gaming system since my Playstation 2 broke about a year ago, and I'd love to start playing some basketball games again, because I hear they've gotten really advanced, but I don't want to buy an X-Box 360, and I don't want to just buy another PS2 with the PS3 coming out soon.

So my question is, does anyone know when the PS3 comes out, how many are coming out, and if I need to get on a waiting list or something?

 

[playmaker15]

It'll be out in Novemeber, I hope your ready to dish out some paper because it's going to cost you 600 bucks. I'll take the 360.

 

[Beat]

Comes out novemeber 17 and its supposed to be about $600

 

[Sex Panther]

I heard the PS3 comes out before christmas, late-november, at about 500$ or so ($600 with some extras). And unless, you pre-oreder it now before June, you'll be getting a PS3 by January-February '07. Hope that helps.

 

[Trip]

I've been watching this closely, as I plan to buy a PS3 on launch day.

Power-wise, the PS3 will definitely be much stronger than the 360. It'll also employ the Blu-Ray technology and plays Blu-Ray movies right off the bat (standalone players cost $1000). Graphically, it's also amazing. There will be two packages, one for $500 US and another for $600. The $500 edition will still trump the $400 XBOX 360, and comes with a next-generation disc player. The $600 edition carries 60 gigs of hard drive (as opposed to the $500 one's 20 gig, which is also on the premium XBOX), and can provide true high definition gaming, although you'll need a HDTV.

The PS3s will be released on Novemer 17 2006, and 4 million units will be distributed by the end of the year. EB Games and Gamestop won't take pre-orders until September, but other stores like Toys R Us have started. Put $50 down and you're guaranteed to get one on the day of the release.

 

[Voodoo Child]

$600 bucks? What a waste of money for a video game counsel. I might as well go to my local pawn shop and pick up a PS2 for ten bucks; same thing to me. I mean, ****, I can buy enough mescaline to keep me ****** all week for under $50, and that's twice as entertaining.

November is also too late. I'll be away at college and won't have much time for video games. I was looking for something for the summer.

What happened to the "spring" release date that I kept hearing about?

 

[Trip]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post">$600 bucks? What a waste of money for a video game counsel. I might as well go to my local pawn shop and pick up a PS2 for ten bucks; same thing to me. I mean, ****, I can buy enough mescaline to keep me ****** all week for under $50, and that's twice as entertaining.

November is also too late. I'll be away at college and won't have much time for video games. I was looking for something for the summer.

What happened to the "spring" release date that I kept hearing about?</div>
Got pushed back because the Blu-Ray technology is too hard to mass-produce at the time.

If you want to play games over the summer, might as well buy a XBOX 360.

 

[Voodoo Child]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Locke:</div><div class="quote_post">Got pushed back because the Blu-Ray technology is too hard to mass-produce at the time.

If you want to play games over the summer, might as well buy a XBOX 360.</div>

What's "Blu-Ray technology" exactly?

 

[Trip]

Basically, a Blu-Ray disc is a new DVD format, specifically geared towards high definition movies and the likes. A regular DVD right now holds 4.7 GB of info on one side; a Blu-Ray disc holds 25 GB. Basically, in gaming, having this much space would mean developers adding more features in games, and extending the gameplay. For anyone who thought GTA San Andreas was big (3 cities), on a Blu-Ray disc you could play the whole world. For basketball games, it would mean more minigames, and more detail in gameplay.

Blu-Ray players will come out this summer, with beginning prices of $1000 US. Movies will also come out as well on Blu-Ray with HD resolutions and more special features. Currently, the Blu-Ray disc, backed by Sony, is competing with another format, HD-DVD, which Microsoft is backing. The XBOX-360 will soon have a HD-DVD add-on, but the games on the system will still come on DVDs, which has a significantly lower capacity. A Blu-Ray disc holds 25 GB, a HD-DVD holds 15 GB. A war is being predicted, and the winning format will likely become the new medium, taking over the DVD. Sony is hoping that by equipping the PS3 with a Blu-Ray Drive, it will push a lot of Blu-Ray players into homes. When these people buy the PS3, they would look at buying Blu-Ray movies, which is basically the goal both formats try to achieve.

Think of this as the new DVD taking over VHS thing that happened around 2001. Coincidentally, the PS2's release with a built-in DVD drive pushed a lot of DVD players into homes. Can the PS3 do the same for the Blu-Ray format? Sony sure hopes so.

However, if you don't have a HDTV, none of this would be relevant. But playing on the XBOX 360 and PS3 won't be as nice as well.

 

[Jurassic]

Locke, thanks for dropping the knowledge.

I personally think that Blu-Ray is overrated. It'll be a sad day when movie theatres are obsolete because everyone has huge high def tvs and blu-ray dvd players.

Like you said with San Andreas, a blu-ray disc could make a game like San Andreas even bigger. I beat San Andreas, and I think it took me 40-50 hours(even then I was only at 60% completion of side missions, mini games, etc). Do I really want to play a game that is going to take me 5 times longer to beat? Absolutely not.

There is a point where technology starts to be overkill.

 

[Really Lost One]

ps3 is a thing of beauty

 

[Trip]

Actually, the controller has been re-designed. It will now be basically a wireless version of the PS2 controller, and has motion sensing. So when you play a flying game, for example, if you tilt the controller one way, the plane leans that way as well. Very sweet. As a result though, the rumble feature will not be included in the controller.

Jurassic, I agree on the thing about the games being too long. However, I don't see why not. San Andreas did take a long time to beat, but it was so well-received because of the vast landscape and freedom. If a game gets too long and takes forever to beat, I'd no doubt get bored of it and dump it, but so what? These new games will be just as expensive as the games nowadays, and it's just more bang for the buck. These new formats bring much better graphics and save the hassle as well of possibly having to have multiple disc games in the future. It's a problem, but a problem that's definitely good to have.

I don't think the fact that Blu-Ray will be much clearer than DVD would be overkill as well. The movie industry has been on a decline for a while now, and the main problem has been the lack of good movies. If you have good movies, people will still pay to see it. Not to mention the movie studios actually make more money off of DVD sales as well. If a clearer version makes more people want to buy it, then the movie industry would embrace releasing movies only on Blu-ray. Same thing with basketball as well, HD basketball games make watching at home so much more intriguing, but people are still showing up to the games. It challenges the industries to be more creative and give the population better options. In the end, it's us consumers who win.

 

[Voodoo Child]

How much difference is there really in this "Blu-Ray" technology and your average t.v.? Is it really that much clearer? I'm perfectly contented with just a normal t.v. and a VCR-DVD player.

Why are we putting so much money into making our t.v.'s a little bit clearer? Let's preserve nature, clean up our parks, do things that really matter in life. Even if video games are the basis of your existence, wouldn't you rather have the tech companies working on more entertaining gameplay than better image quality?

Reading this thread has actually inspired me not to buy any video game counsels this summer, even if I can find one really cheap.

 

[Laker_fan]

Honestly, theres no point getting it when it comes out. If you wait a year(trust me, time goes quick) the price will drop by over a third.

 

[Trip]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post">How much difference is there really in this "Blu-Ray" technology and your average t.v.? Is it really that much clearer? I'm perfectly contented with just a normal t.v. and a VCR-DVD player.

Why are we putting so much money into making our t.v.'s a little bit clearer? Let's preserve nature, clean up our parks, do things that really matter in life. Even if video games are the basis of your existence, wouldn't you rather have the tech companies working on more entertaining gameplay than better image quality?

Reading this thread has actually inspired me not to buy any video game counsels this summer, even if I can find one really cheap.</div>
Actually, yes. Have you ever been to a Best Buy and seen the stuff that plays on their big-screen TVs? Once you put it side by side with your normal TV, the difference is largely noticeable. I have a HDTV and now I can never watch basketball games in normal telecast again. When you do get a HDTV, you'll see the difference.

I do agree that gameplay should always be the number one priority, but sadly, visual quality sells games. The PS3 does have a very realistic physics engine, but that is hardly noticeable compared to the stunning graphics that it will provide. If it doesn't look too good, it usually doesn't catch your eye, meaning no one will buy it.

 

[Voodoo Child]

I broke down and got the 360 today. Any recommended titles? Anyone play online?

 

[Mamba]

Fight Night Round 3 is the best game on that system. It's F'n amazing.

 

[Chutney]

FIFA's also real good looking on that system, if you're into soccer.

 

[Voodoo Child]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Chutney:</div><div class="quote_post">FIFA's also real good looking on that system, if you're into soccer.</div>

I'm not into soccer at all, but the video games are fun as hell to play.

Anyone want to take me on with X-Box Live? I've got College Basketball 2K6, and NBA Live '06, and I'll be getting Madden later this week.

 

[STC]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm not into soccer at all, but the video games are fun as hell to play.

Anyone want to take me on with X-Box Live? I've got College Basketball 2K6, and NBA Live '06, and I'll be getting Madden later this week.</div>

you should checked out nba 2k6, i heard that game was amazing

i heard fight night on xbox live is sickkkk

you should wait for the new madden coming out this summer, last years wasnt that good

anyone spends 600 on a video game system is a jerkoff

 

[Moo2K4]

I've been playing Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for a while now. I personally feel it's the best game on the system, but it's time consuming. I've logged over 30 hours and have hardly scratched the surface of the game. But, if you're in to RPGs and want a game that will take FOREVER, that's the game for you. Plus, it is very fun in my opinion. Other than that, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter rocks. It's the best shooter on the system, and from my understanding, is great if you have Live. Outside of those two, I can really only recommend Call of Duty 2 and DOA4.

 

[Moo2K4]

<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Voodoo Child:</div><div class="quote_post">I'm not into soccer at all, but the video games are fun as hell to play.

Anyone want to take me on with X-Box Live? I've got College Basketball 2K6, and NBA Live '06, and I'll be getting Madden later this week.</div>You shoulda gotten NBA 2K6. So much better than Live. The pacing is better, the camera is better, gameplay, etc., etc. I couldn't stand Live. It seemed like it moved at half the speed it should. I had to go in and turn the game speed up for it to even be halfway playable for me. And with 2K6, I've been playing that since I got my 360 in January and love it still.

 

[Laker_fan]

Ehhh, I've still got the PS2. I'm going to wait like one year after the PS3 come's out to get it. I guess I got around 2-3 years left to wait until I get another console.