Impressions:
System: Very impressed with the quality of the system and it's very heavy, its black, shiny and pretty. Those who said the system was quiet were not kidding. Sony did a great job here as you can barely tell the machine is running. The system uses a variable speed fan so as temperatures rise so does the speed of the fans.
Just a quick observation. I think this system is better suited to be placed in the upright position as the main exhaust fan would be pointing up thereby moving more air thru natural convection and the output fans.
The system fired up and I was ready to input my user name and settings which was all pretty logical. The system detected there was an update available from Sony and I patched the system with no problems.
User Interface is not too bad. It has it pro's and con's. The positive is that it's very logical and it's based on a grid system just like the PSP. The negative is that I prefer the Graphical User Interface of the 360. This should come as no surprise as Microsoft makes Windows.
One quirk I found in the video settings selection was that if you try and custom pick your resolution i.e. 1080i and 720p the User Interface automatically displays it in 720p. If you try and select 1080i as your default UI resolution it gives you 480p and 1080i as your only two choices. For right now I have the system displayed at 720p as default.
*Note* anyone who is updating their system may want to put their system on a UPS just in case of a power failure. Losing power during a BIOS update is one sure fire way to "brick" a system.
Overall everything went smoothly and I was a happy camper.
System Score: B+
p.s. I did not rate or take into account the Blu-Ray player as I have no interest in it or the HD-DVD player from MS.
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Controller: Again it's a toss up for me as the PS2 controller has always been my favorite up until the 360 controller. The 360 controller has become my favorite in feel, rumble, button, trigger placement and overall functionality. The PS3 controller does feel light but no different than the PS2 controller.
It's odd that a system with all the techno wizardry requires that you dock the Controller to the system so it can recognize it. Fortunately it's a one time thing or if you take your controller to a friends house and you need to do the same.
No getting around it I miss Rumble. Sixasis I'm not interested just bring back Rumble.
Controller Score: B-
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PSN (Playstation Network)
I found creating my PS3 account quite easy and I experienced NO Lockups. As I'm typing I'm downloading my 4th demo and the PSN Store is pretty straightforward. I still prefer the XBL package but hey it's free.
One nice feature with regard to PSN is that you can setup "Wallets" were you put in money to be used later similar to Market Place Points.
Downloading anything from PSN is all done in the foreground. Download speeds are on par with XBL maybe a little quicker. Once you login to PSN I wasn't quite sure how to logoff and there wasn't a selection to indicate a logoff from PSN.
PSN Score: C
I'll follow up later with some game impressions as I purchased R:FOM and Riiiiiiiiidge Raaaaaaacer today.
System: Very impressed with the quality of the system and it's very heavy, its black, shiny and pretty. Those who said the system was quiet were not kidding. Sony did a great job here as you can barely tell the machine is running. The system uses a variable speed fan so as temperatures rise so does the speed of the fans.
Just a quick observation. I think this system is better suited to be placed in the upright position as the main exhaust fan would be pointing up thereby moving more air thru natural convection and the output fans.
The system fired up and I was ready to input my user name and settings which was all pretty logical. The system detected there was an update available from Sony and I patched the system with no problems.
User Interface is not too bad. It has it pro's and con's. The positive is that it's very logical and it's based on a grid system just like the PSP. The negative is that I prefer the Graphical User Interface of the 360. This should come as no surprise as Microsoft makes Windows.
One quirk I found in the video settings selection was that if you try and custom pick your resolution i.e. 1080i and 720p the User Interface automatically displays it in 720p. If you try and select 1080i as your default UI resolution it gives you 480p and 1080i as your only two choices. For right now I have the system displayed at 720p as default.
*Note* anyone who is updating their system may want to put their system on a UPS just in case of a power failure. Losing power during a BIOS update is one sure fire way to "brick" a system.
Overall everything went smoothly and I was a happy camper.
System Score: B+
p.s. I did not rate or take into account the Blu-Ray player as I have no interest in it or the HD-DVD player from MS.
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Controller: Again it's a toss up for me as the PS2 controller has always been my favorite up until the 360 controller. The 360 controller has become my favorite in feel, rumble, button, trigger placement and overall functionality. The PS3 controller does feel light but no different than the PS2 controller.
It's odd that a system with all the techno wizardry requires that you dock the Controller to the system so it can recognize it. Fortunately it's a one time thing or if you take your controller to a friends house and you need to do the same.
No getting around it I miss Rumble. Sixasis I'm not interested just bring back Rumble.
Controller Score: B-
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PSN (Playstation Network)
I found creating my PS3 account quite easy and I experienced NO Lockups. As I'm typing I'm downloading my 4th demo and the PSN Store is pretty straightforward. I still prefer the XBL package but hey it's free.
One nice feature with regard to PSN is that you can setup "Wallets" were you put in money to be used later similar to Market Place Points.
Downloading anything from PSN is all done in the foreground. Download speeds are on par with XBL maybe a little quicker. Once you login to PSN I wasn't quite sure how to logoff and there wasn't a selection to indicate a logoff from PSN.
PSN Score: C
I'll follow up later with some game impressions as I purchased R:FOM and Riiiiiiiiidge Raaaaaaacer today.
Keep in mind i'm on v1.1
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