Sony Playstation 3 (Steve)

I stumped up a small fortune for a new PS3, along with Motorstorm and Resistance:FOM last weekend. I've had a few days with the beast now and feel compelled to air my thoughts so far*

First impressions are very good. It's a very slick looking machine, and feels sturdy and expensive (which it is). It comes with a whole host of cables to get you up and running, but NO HDMI cable, which I find unforgivable given Sony's continual blathering about HD. Alas the quality feel of the product does not extend to the controller, or the SIXAXIS as they insist on calling it. It feels cheap, light, and it still has crappy analogue sticks. The new analogue triggers also feel very flimsy and are poorly positioned. I've only had limited time with the 360 controller, but the general consensus is that it is a far superior pad.

The games are a joy though. Motorstorm is absolutely stunning to look at, huge fun to play and has a cracking 12-player online mode that never gets dull. Resistance is also a great hit. It's no Halo beater, but the single player game is absorbing and the online modes are expansive, with a good number of levels, FORTY-player online matches and a great set of weapons.

The online stuff is not bad so far. It doesn't match up to what I've heard about Live on the 360 - it's probably closer to Live on the original Xbox at the moment, but with the ability to download smaller games, game demos and movie trailers, all in HD glory. And on that point, the video output of the PS3 through HDMI on my Panasonic plasma is STUNNING. Truly gorgeous. Both games and Blu-Ray movies look the business.

Chuck in a load of extra connnectivity (USB, multiple memory card/stick ports, ethernet, wifi, all sorts of video/audio outputs) and this does seem to be the ultimate living room hub. It's certainly a neater solution than the 360, and much quieter (and less unreliable so far, but time will tell). The cost is going to be the killer if anything - £425 gets you a lot, but are the extra features worthwhile for everyone?

It's a good machine, and there's a lot more to come. PS Home, Little Big Planet, and a lot of exclusive games. It gets a big spanx thumbs up.

*Sucker Kenshi in to buying one

Blu-Ray wishlist (Steve)

Aliens
Bullit
The Last Waltz - The Band
Star Wars - Original Trilogy
Superman 2
Terminator 1 & 2
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Blade Runner
2001: A Space Odyssey

Next month please

List of HD DVD's that I want (Wickedkitten)

Children of Men
Nine Inch Nails: Beside you in Time
The Mummy
The Mummy Returns
The Scorpion King
The Departed
The Prestige
The Deer Hunter
Superman: The Movie
V For Vendetta
Batman Begins
Unforgiven
The Last Samurai
Dawn of the Dead
Seven

Planet Earth
The Road Warrior
Blade
Conan the Barbarian

What happened to Peter Moore @ GDC? (k3nshi)

So yeah Eurogamer et al reported how Reggie was at the Sony announcement, and how Phil Harrison was there for the Miyamoto keynote.

Which kind of makes me wonder, where was the MS 360 figurehead person?

I'm sure MS sent their spies.

New Nintendo Console... (k3nshi)

...a higher spec Wii, with 100% backwards compatibility and gfx horsepower simillar to the 360 and PS3.

Within 3 years.

Carmack speaks (k3nshi)

Carmack:

Like Prey, there's a lesson to be learned, something a lot of companies don't really ever learn. You hear it from the fan base a lot. "Do it right. We'll still be here. We'll wait," and it's tempting to just let things slip. But that's really not OK. If you're doing something cutting edge, you're making fundamental decisions about your architecture, and if you let it slide for a year or two, then it's just not the right decision anymore. Even if you pile on all these extras, it's not optimal. It's not targeted at what you're doing. So I have some concerns about Prey coming out this late.

Source

God of War coming to PSP (k3nshi)

Damn