Stompy

I'm contemplating getting a PS3.

A few reasons.

One, the blu-ray drive. I was going to pick up an HD-DVD drive for my 360 when I realized, "at this point, I would have spent $600 on the 360.. as much as the PS3 costs." Then I realized... I would totally buy a PS3 if it was $399. Well, at this point either way, I'm spending the same amount. Logical? Who knows.

Also, you can put linux on it. I'm assuming it's full non-restricted... meaning you can run a web-server, file-server, and a potential media center, correct? If I'm not mistaken, the HD is also swappable.. meaning I could put in a larger drive? Essentially this would replace the soon-to-be-MythTV box I'm planning on building.

My main gripe with the 360 is that you need a transcoder (and I've tried TONS) on your Media Center to convert anything that's not WMV. While they work well in their own ways, they are definitely a pain. Any HDTV mpegs I have always get decoded to look ... not so good as the original counterparts.

I've thought about setting up a MythTV box to do this without a problem when I figured... "A PS3 *might* suit my needs... on top of that, a blu-ray player and a console..."

The PS3 almost seems like... a mini-PC. Then again, I heard it cannot multi-task very well.

Basically... I *can* get one now and afford it, but I'm highly afraid that the console is gonna bomb. For $600, I need to be sure that what I'm purchasing can be used for what I wanna use it for.

It won't make or break me by any means but... there are a TON of articles and reviews calling it "the bomb of 2006" or "complete failure." Plus a lot of developers are doing simultaneous PS3/360 releases. In terms of the console portion, unstable. Everything else... possible interest.

To me, as a normal consumer who generally reads unbiased reviews... seems a bit intimidating.

Thoughts? I know there's a debate vs. PS3 and 360... but in terms of what I've specified in this thread... how good of a media center type machine is it?

Hell, if anything, I could set up a spare 1TB linux server and have the PS3 stream from that... assuming I'm thinking it works as it should.

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Cynthetiq

Xbox Media Center... for the ORIGINAL old school, original gangsta, Xbox, hacked. I love mine.

but c'mon... really, if you are buying it to be a console game machine, then aren't you buying it for the games that you wish to play on it?

I have a friend with 7 XBMC on all his TVs around the house connected to his home media server, no DVD players at all around the house, just an xbox in every room.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Stompy

That's the thing. I'm hoping it's more than just a console.

If I'm going to spend $200 anyway on an HD-DVD drive, then you figure... everything for HD-DVD is on BluRay and will always be due to hybrid players.

My MythTV box was over $399, not including BluRay. Also, not including potential console gaming.

So while the console aspect might fail.. might being a strong word, which is what I'm worried about... I really wonder how the openness of Linux + Media Center-type services will hold up.

While 7 Xboxes will seem amazing, I haven't yet found a great solution for non-WMV formats with 360. I mean, they WORK, but they aren't flawless by any means like a straight up linux stream would be.

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Cynthetiq

I dunno, I don't 360 and neither does my friend, my Xbox is running a linux distro of some sort, I don't know more about it since I don't want to tinker with it. I haven't hit a codec I can't do, unlike some other boxes I have encountered that can't do Quicktime. I wanted a box I can play downloads from my server without headache or me having to "service" it once in a while. As far as HD/Blue-ray, NAB (broadcasters show) in 06 didn't even have many broadcaster people settling on a standard yet and still haven't, so as a consumer I'm even not getting into the fray. I don't buy into the "picture" is better crap they are feeding because from a broadcaster's point of view, it's utter crap.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Stompy

Hm, I'm assuming then your XBox 1? I wish I had all that.

But alas, just a 360 with wishes of a central media center.

Wondering if PS3 would solve this issue

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Prophecy

That's the major issue I'm seeing. Consoles are for games and till the format war is officially over buying a 360 because it's can play HD-DVD or a PS3 because it plays Blu-Ray to me seems like you're asking for a raw deal. Same for modding the systems. However, that's not what you're asking.

The PS3

Fedora Core will run on PS3, though I've heard people saying it's slow since it's "only the "central" processor (PPE) of the PS3 is used." Yellow Dog Linux also works on the PS3, though I have no idea how well. Users have gotten XVID, DIVX, DVD and MPEG formats running with decent to good quality visually. Everything I've seen about audio on both systems seemed like it was near perfect quality.

The video below is the installing of Fedora Linux on PS3 w/ Voiceover. The guy just uses the option in the XMB menu to install it.


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The Xbox 360

I can't help you here, I haven't seen or really looked for anything in the way of mods there.

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La Fede È Il Mio Schermo,
Non salti Ciecamente In Incertezza,
E Potete Raccogliere Le Ricompense.

Cynthetiq

Look for an orignal modded Xbox. They used to run about $300 already modded with a giant HD normall preloaded with about 40-100 games depending on the size of the drive. I even have NES, SNES, MAME emulators.

Such a fun system... upgrading my system, it was the best $120 I ever spent on a video games.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Lasereth

Hell, the PS3 has a couple of games that are worth buying the system for, but no one wants to admit it because right now it's "uncool" to support Sony. DOWN WITH THE MAN!!!!! FIGHT THE MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WII RUULLESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!

Even though if the PS3 were $250 or $399 like the 360 and Wii, it would have sold just as many units. The price really is the only downside of the PS3.

I've heard it's easy as hell to get Linux running on it and Sony meant it that way, but I have no idea how to do it.

If you do buy one, please buy Resistance: Fall of Man with it, or MotorStorm if you like racing games.

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Esoteric

That's news to me, I personally don't see ANY game worth buying the system for right now.

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From a head full of pressure rests the senses that I clutch
Made a date with Divinity, but she wouldn't let me fuck
I got touched by a hazy shaded, God help me change
Caught a rush on the floor from the life in my veins

Dennis

The only real winner I see on the horizon for PS3 is Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, even for that I am not willing to drop two weeks pay on it.

Esoteric

Agreed. Maybe Devil May Cry 4 too, but I think I can wait for a price drop before going out and buying a PS3 just for those 2 games.

__________________
From a head full of pressure rests the senses that I clutch
Made a date with Divinity, but she wouldn't let me fuck
I got touched by a hazy shaded, God help me change
Caught a rush on the floor from the life in my veins

Prophecy

Agreed whole heartedly, and well that's mainly because Sony has no exclusive games that are worth $600+$60+tax. All the good games are multi-platform.

Resistance: Fall of Man is just another FPS in my book, I'm not going to spend that type of cash when I've played the legion of stellar FPS on the PC. If you've played one, you've played pretty much all of them. (Btw System Shock II has been updated with user created high res textures, models, sound, etc. I'd rather replay that than Resistance.)


MotorStorm is nice but I'm not huge on racing games in the first place, the only racer I currently own is Hang-On for the Sega Master system.

Only PS3 games(read: exclusive games) I want have yet to released and are slated for release at least six months from now.

Edit: Heavenly Sword is supposedly three months away.

__________________
La Disciplina È La Mia Spada,
La Fede È Il Mio Schermo,
Non salti Ciecamente In Incertezza,
E Potete Raccogliere Le Ricompense.

Stompy

Yeah but $300 on top of $200 I'd spend for the 360's HD-DVD player is now $500, right around the price of a PS3. And hey, I get the console portion of it all for an extra $100 essentially. I can get emu's running in Linux for sure (hopefully) along w/ my gamepads.

I'm researching more into the Linux end, but if it's working like how I'm hoping it does, it seems like a very viable addition to a media center type situation.

Just wondering if anyone had personal experience with the PS3/Linux side of things.

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Cynthetiq

yeah, but you can't put an Xbox 360 HD DVD on the Original Xbox.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Stompy

That I know - I have a 360 already.

I meant in general just buying the HD player will be $200.

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Lasereth

Have you played Resistance: Fall of Man and MotorStorm? I have, as well as Twilight Princess and Red Steel and Wii Sports and Rayman for Wii. Resistance and MotorStorm are just as good as anything the Wii has to offer, Sony simply sucked it up marketing them, especially Resistance (ZERO ads before the PS3 launched, and only recently did Resistance start getting TV time). I'll admit that it's debatable whether these games are worth buying the PS3 for, but they're good games either way. I personally don't think Twilight Princess is worth buying a Wii for if you already have a Gamecube. I guess the games that are coming out down the road should have a pretty big impact on the purchase decision as well as others have stated in this thread.

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"A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

Esoteric

Nah, but from what I've seen they don't look too appealing to me. Definitely not worth buying a PS3 for.

__________________
From a head full of pressure rests the senses that I clutch
Made a date with Divinity, but she wouldn't let me fuck
I got touched by a hazy shaded, God help me change
Caught a rush on the floor from the life in my veins

cartmen34

I'll probably get a PS3 just so I can play GT5 and F1 Champ edition.

Why, yes, I am a huge fan of racing.

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tuffrr

The xbox 1 makes a great media centre with xbmc.

Using the xbox 360 as a media centre is also looking quite promising with the latest hypervisor exploits discovered. Not possible yet but at least an open door has been found. Give it 6-12 months and i reckon xbmc will be running on the 360.

I don't know much about the PS3 but haven't heard too many good things.

Ballzor

I dont have much experience with the 360, but I'm in love with my PS3

Pros:

HD games are just incredible, motor storm is probably the best racing game I've seen, (physics wise at least), and GT5 is going to be nuts.

having your a huge music, picture, and ripped movie library is the best feature about the PS3, Whether you support pirating or not. PS3 + www.phazeddl.com, and the PSP video 9 converter, and youhave a knockout combination. Its blockbuster on your media center. I know 360 can do the same so its not really anything spectacular, but just being able to bring the PS3 to a party and have everything you need all sorted and ready to go is so convenient.

the wireless controllers take only a short time to charge and will last about week- 2 weeks of on off play. they're soon going to add the rumble feature back into the controllers so that should add some much needed weight and feedback. Also the motion control is kind of a nifty feature, though offers nothing near what the Wii can do. The PS3 can register up to 7 controllers which might be a little overkill, but if any games should come out that can utilize this, it would definitely be sweet.

I believe they're going to release a wireless camera for the PS3, so you will soon be able to video chat with your buddies which will be cool.

They're also comming out with a Wii, virtual persistant world where you can create an avatar and have your own custom house. The coolest feature being that you can take your media saved to your ps3 (say a movie), and play it on your virtual TV for all your friends to watch ingame. (whether you have a problem with watching a movie on a virtiual tv, on your tv, its still cool and a nifty way to share your content with everybody). They're also going to use this virtual world as a method for advertising. People will be able t o post moving advertisements and websites on walls in public places.

If you sync the PSP with the PS3, you can use a feature called remote play, where the PSP will switch to the PS3 menu, and you can access all of your content on the PS3 on the PSP wirelessly, which is sweet if you want to take your PSP to another TV, hook it up and watch a movie or whatever that way. They're also adding features like in game PSP sync capabilities, where like the PSP screen will act as a rear view mirror for racing games etc.

The games comming out this christmas are going to be the real make or break deall for the PS3 and the other systems. For PS3 you got GTA 4 and MGS4 comming out. For Wii - smash bros , and xbox has halo. if sony can get the cost down for around christmas, I feel they may have a chance at pulling ahead in th emarket, but who knows when that will be able to happen. I've looked at some of the games comming out in the future and there are some really incredible titles comming out. One game is going to feature the ability configure a battle anyway you wish, want to see what would happen if you had a rocket launcher vs a batallion of WW1 bolt action rifles. Or how about an Uzi vs the british Bren gun. theres something like 200 weapons modelled, and the single player is all about travelling through time to fight battles in history with different weapons. If anyone has looked into the new medal of honor- airborne, its going to feature airdrops with completely nonlinear gameplay. You can land in a different place everytime and have to fight your way to your teammates, should be cool. I would compare Resistance Fall of man to the Playstations version of Halo. The multiplayer is just money, its got voice chat and rediculously huge maps. The different weapons also add a great twist to standard multiplay. One weapon can shoot through walls, another can shoot a tracer round that if it strikes its target, all of the bullets will be drawn to the target, even if they're behind a wall. The aliens can jump higher and run faster with a hit of the R2 button, but the humans have superior fire power. In full HD its just incredible IMO.


The wireless internet is a great feature, but nothing spectacular. It operates fairly smoothly but doesnt replace a computer by a longshot.

I personally haven't tried it for fear of damaging my system, but being able to run Linux looks real cool. And you can easily switch between the standard os and linux on startup so you're not stuck with just one or the other.

Now for the Cons:

the motion sensor on the controller is just kind of akward. When playing gmes like call of duty you sometimes have to use it to twist a primer for explosives, and the weird method of twisting the controller around is really akward feeling. Its almost useless in games like motorstorm seeing as how its impossible to get decent response when going aroudn turns and whatnot. It depends on what they do with it in the f uture but right now its a total failure.

To get movies onto the PS3 is a nightmare, you have to convert them to Mpeg4 and if you use mpeg4 sp, a third of the time the video will fail and the PS3 wont recognize it, or the audio wont sync up correctly, sometimes its worse than others but I've watched movies where the audio was almost 30 seconds off. This can be fixed if you use mpeg4 AVC, but it takes up to 2 and a half hours to convert an hour and a half long movie.

As of right now there are only 2 visualizers that the PS3 features for your songs, which definitely get boring after a while. hopefully they'll release more in the future but as of right now its just no good. Also with the music, theres no way to set it so that the music comes up at the individual songs, they will only appear as the default albums which gets annoying after a while.

The cost of everything is just rediculous now. Games are around 60, controllers and the HD cable are around 50, and it really is not worth it. Even with the high price, they're still producing the units at a loss, which makes me fear that the PS3 might go the way of the Dreamcast, though I sure hope not.

The PS3 is also notoriously difficult to program for, and cross platform games I've heard are just a nightmare trying to convert to the PS3. This could contrbute to the lack of decent games on the market as of yet. But there is some good news, sony is soon to release a new Dev kit that will ease a lot of the problems that the system has been having, so hopefully that will convince more developers to look at this system in the future.

The system is designed for internet multiplay, and so far there havent been many home multiplayer games to enjoy with your friends which is a drag. For now at least its pass the controller play.

The biggest drag for those of you with a dated HD television is that 1080i is barely supported by any games. so unless you want to shell out another thousand on a progressive television, you might just have to settle for the screen constantly scrolling up on 720p setting if you have an HD I tv.


Final Comments:

The PS3 definitely has its ups and downs. The cost, lack of developer support, and the stubborn codec support for movies really bring this system down, but the incredible games, internet features, and easy to use library are just way too much fun. I would say the system is incredible, the company behind it is not. For any of those people are saying this system is a complete failure havent had a chance to really try everything out. And those who swear by it are just fanboys. Its graphics are not that much better than the 360 so far as I've heard, which kind of was the systems main draw. But definitely time will tell who comes out on top. Personally I feel the Wii is a lot of fun now, but just wont have the staying power like 3 years down the road. from what I've seen, its graphics are not that much better than the gamecube and theres only so much you can do with that controller, not to say that it isn't a good option for passive gamers and children ( and if your drunk, wii bowling is just money).

So theres my review. I would give the PS3/PSP combo a rating of 7.5/10 right now. Once some more features come out and the game library and internet features are added, I'd say it would be closer to an 8.8/10. Only time will tell tho.

Cheers

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Le Berger, Le Mouton, Ce qui vous mangerait? Je ne sais pas. -let it all drop cause fuck it I guess we lost-
<Danao>I am french so excuse my langage..
<Krost> ^^
<Krost> I'm American so excuse my president.

CyCo PL

I WANT the PS3 to succeed, I really do. But, it's bringing back memories of the Sega Saturn. I don't know if anybody remembers, but the Saturn was more powerful than the PSX, as it had 2 CPU's and 6 other processors... but it was difficult for third party developers to take full advantage of the full potential of the Saturn, thus resulting in awesome first-party titles and lackluster third-party titles. A lot of the feedback I've read from game developers about the PS3 closely resembles the same problems they had with the Saturn... and you know how that turned out. The Saturn was also more expensive than the PSX because it had beefier components.

I don't own an Xbox 360 or a PS3 (I have a Wii though), but I've been trying to decide which console to purchase. Right now the only advantages I see the PS3 having, besides the beefier components, is Metal Gear Solid 4, and Square Enix. But even that isn't saying much, because Microsoft has Mistwalker exclusively making games for the 360.

Right now it seems like I've already made the decision to get the 360, but I'm still holding out... I really want the PS3 to succeed, because I loved the PS1 and PS2 so much. But, Sony's going to have to pass the torch sometime, and that might be now. They're losing a lot of their big exclusives, and the exclusives they have in comparison to the exclusives the 360 will have, just don't seem like enough to me.

YaWhateva

I agree with your entire post and it's making me sad because I love the Playstation brand so much. One thing is, I thought Sony was going to be coming out with some sort of software dev kit that it will give out to any company developing games for the PS3 to try and curb the difficulty of development. I am not sure about this though. I will be buying an xbox360 elite when they come out at the end of the month because there are games that I actually want to play on it. I still hold out hope though, the PS3 is having a better first year than the xbox360 did when it came out so hopefully the wheels will start moving as games like Lair and White Knight Story and FFXIII and MGS4 start coming out. At least thats what I hope will happen.

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“If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again.” - Bill O'Reilly

"This is my United States of Whateva!"

Ballzor

mind you, the PS3 is doing very well in Japan and Europe, just in the US its got no draw. And Sega focused solely on video game products, Sony is a corporate bohemoth, they've got their hand in every aspect of technology and its not like the PS3 will sink the company. You gotta think staying power. I personally dont think the Wii has what it takes, its gonna be 360/PS3 5 years from now IMO. A lot is riding on the DVD-HD/Blueray race. If blueray becomes the next big thing then PS3's got it made. All the PS3 needs is a cost drop, and its the winning horse IMO. Believe me, there's no way the PS3 will go the way of the Saturn, the situations are different. It'll just take time, and maybe they could hang the head of Sony n put somebody in charge who can make solid decisions.

If anything. Its going to be just a switch of the PS2/Xbox war. The 360 will just be more popular this time around.

(btw they've already started developing the PS4, I think its slated for like a 2010-11 release, that might be complete bullshit, read it on some unreliable website)

__________________
Le Berger, Le Mouton, Ce qui vous mangerait? Je ne sais pas. -let it all drop cause fuck it I guess we lost-
<Danao>I am french so excuse my langage..
<Krost> ^^
<Krost> I'm American so excuse my president.

CyCo PL

Sony starting development on PS4 wouldn't surprise me at all, considering the disadvantage they're at right now due to the late release of the PS3... But I agree with what you're saying, which is why I'm holding out to see if the PS3 will get some more foothold in the US. The Saturn also did extremely well in Japan, but most of the best Saturn games never made it to NA, or were extremely limited release (i.e. Panzer Dragoon Saga). Devs just didn't see a reason to port games over to a continent where the console was failing. I just really don't want to see the PS3 go that direction. I'm extremely cautious now, because I've been burned in the past (spent 450 bucks on a Saturn on release).

YaWhateva

I know Sony will never go away and I am glad for that. I know I will eventually get a PS3, hopefully there will be a price drop in the near future. It will be bad though if Sony loses more of their 3rd party developers. They have lost some already and that is hurting them a lot. I think if Square Enix ever jumps ship, Sony will be in big trouble in console war.

Microsoft is also trying to push their way into the Japanese market. Mistwalker (I love Hironobu Sakaguchi more than words can express) already has a game out that caused a spike in Japanese sales of the 360 (Blue Dragon) and is soon to be coming out with Lost Odyssey this year. They may take some away from Sony in Japan.

BTW, I miss my Saturn.

__________________
“If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation, and I will not trust the Bush administration again.” - Bill O'Reilly

"This is my United States of Whateva!"

Anexkahn

I have to agree with the xbox1 and xbmc as THE solution for a media box. I thought about building a beefy media PC, but i really cant beat what xbmc offers. Never once come across something I cant stream, can stream directly from my windows shares, my offsite ftp server, or any other number of places. Everything from wmv's to qtimes, even to some old real media stuff works great.

you can put one of these together for under 200 bucks if you look around for a xbox 1 that someone is getting rid of because of DDE's, swap the drive in it, and about 70 bucks for the chip. Software is available through IRC and its a fun project even with limited know how, it isn't that hard to get up and running.

nine

Just found this thread. Recently got XBMC set up the way I want it. I can now wirelessly stream DVD ISO files from my PC (with 1.5 TB of storage) and watch from in the lounge. Absolutely amazing software and gives the XBOX a whole new lease of life.