Sony Play Station 3

The new PlayStation 3 console has an elegant design featuring clean lines and pleasing curves.
In contrast to the Xbox 360’s puckered “inhale” shape, the PS3 sides expand outward, barely
containing the hardware inside. Designers had to build the case around the advanced cooling
system built to handle heat output from the Cell processor, the Nvidia GPU, and the system
power supply. PC or even Xbox 360 owners would expect a system with as much power as the PS3
to sound like a small aircraft on power up, but the system is actually remarkably quiet.

The PlayStation 3 comes in two versions.

Highs:

• Amazing audiovisual performance;
• Blu-ray drive;
• future-proof hardware;
• backwards compatible

Lows:

• Price;
• no force-feedback;
• weak launch lineup;
• smudge-prone exterior;
• a few technical glitches

Software update

An update to the PS3™ system software was released on July 8, 2008. You can use this update to upgrade your system software to version 2.41. This update corrects a problem that prevented a limited number of PS3™ systems from starting properly after updating to version 2.40.

Newer Variants & Discontinued Variants

The PlayStation was first launched in 20GB and 60GB capacities. Later, when the 20GB PS3 was discontinued, the 80GB & 40GB console was introduced.

Price (as on 07/08)

80 GB : $800 - $900

60 GB : $700 - $800

40 GB : $399

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XBox 360

The Xbox 360 comes packing a serious amount of appeal for both gamers and developers. From a development standpoint, game creators are being handed the keys to a powerful piece of machinery that challenges them to try to tap its potential. The powerful hardware, complete with an unprecedented amount of RAM (one of the key things developers always want more of), is as tricked-out as a console has ever been. Third-party support is shaping up strongly, with just about everyone who developed on the Xbox coming to the party in a big way. Even more significant is that Microsoft has made sure to fill gaps in the stable of third parties that were absent on the Xbox.

New Features

• Download Manager: Marketplace items now download in the background, you can queue up to six pieces of content.
• DVD bookmark support will remember the film’s timing and location when resuming viewing.
• Fast-forward and rewind now offered at 2x -16x for any videos saved to hard drive.
• Boot to Dashboard setting will bypass the loading of any disc in the drive and open directly to Dashboard during power-on.
• You can begin slideshows from any photo.
• The music player saves “shuffle” setting.
• The music player saves “repeat” setting.
• The music player now displays which file is currently playing in the playlist.
• The music volume level persists between game / reboots.
• Eight new locales added (Chile, Brazil, India, South Africa, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia).
• Separate settings are now offered for Game and User volume controls.
• Themes can now be set from the “System” blade on the Dashboard.
• User-selected music continues play when switching from Dashboard to game or game to Dashboard.
• “All Arcade Games” added as a selection in the Xbox Live Arcade area.
• Personal gamer pictures are now allowed, displayed only to those on your friends list.
• Added support to disable sound effects when navigating Dashboard.
• Instantaneous “Change Theme” option has been added upon downloading new Dashboard Themes.
• You can preserve the folder structure of source when viewing photos.
• A / B labels now provided to identify memory units in Dashboard.
• Online status is set to “Away” when screensaver becomes active.

The good: Superior selection of games, including several console-exclusive titles; all games in high-definition; easy-to-use Dashboard interface; excellent online gaming and communications via Xbox Live; plays hundreds of (but not all) original Xbox titles; doubles as a superior digital media hub and Windows Media Center extender; online Marketplace allows for easy purchases of downloadable full-scale games, mini-games, movies, and TV shows; latest version offers HDMI output with 1080p support.

The bad: Early versions of the console prone to “red ring of death” system crash; noisy exhaust fan and DVD drive; gigantic oversize power supply; no built-in wireless networking or flash media reader; DVD playback has substandard video quality; support for next-gen HD DVD movies requires a bulky external accessory; 20GB hard drive fills up very quickly; online gaming requires a paid subscription to Xbox Live.

Price : $300 to $550

Software Update

January 2006 System Update with

• Improvements to the Xbox Guide.
• Option to retain your saved games when you delete a profile.
• Increased accuracy of “last time played.”
• Network configuration improvements for Xbox Live members in the Netherlands.
• More detailed messaging for unreadable disk or region errors.

Conclusion

The PlayStation 3 in a rather large nutshell. It truly is technologically superior to both the Xbox 360 and the Wii (which isn’t really a direct competitor). But to succeed, Sony and its third-party partners must tap into their traditional strength of delivering compelling games for the console. The PS3 looks like an expensive box at first, but seems less so when you compare its cost to the cost of a stand-alone Blu-ray player, a high-end PC graphics card, the Xbox 360 with its HD-DVD add-on, or even a Media Center PC.

So it all leads to point one: price. $800 is a massive price tag and one that, while the hardware may justify, the competition makes a mockery of. Sony is, infamously, making a heavy loss on each unit sold at the moment too, which may yet tie its hands for future price cuts, and that leaves the PlayStation 3 in a very weak place. The machine is genuinely excellent and in many ways it’s better than the Xbox 360. But it’s not got enough up its sleeve to justify a $350 price premium.