Archive for November, 2005

Just so you know: all those rumours you may have heard on other sites about the price of the PlayStation 3 being between three and four hundred dollars?

False.

See? You gotta trust me on these things. I never reported this stuff ’cause I knew it was fishy.

the Inquirer – Sony denies Playstation 3 timetable and pricing

IGN has a top ten list to wait for the PS3. I wrote one myself a while ago, so I was curious what they came up with. Here’s IGN’s list and my comments.

10. Xbox 360 Doesn’t Have a Killer App

True enough. Though I don’t know how important it is to have a killer app at launch. The Xbox 360 seems to have done pretty well. Once they get some competition, then they’ll need some killer apps. Hmmm. I guess the PS3 need some at launch then, right?

9. Dual-Screen and 1080p Support

I like the 1080p support. The dual-screen thing could be cool if I could use my old SD TV for the second one.

8. Hefty Expandability / Connectivity Options

Yup, shoulda put that one on my list. It’s got Bluetooth 2.0. WiFi. USB 2.0. Several memory card formats. It’s just bristling with future-proofness.

7. You Can Still Pre-Order

After seeing what’s happened in the last couple days, I’m thinking I should pre-order two, one each from two different stores. Just in case. Then if I actually do get both, just sell one.

6. Seven-Player Wireless Support

I want this to be meaningful, I really do. I only play multiplayer. (Did you know that about me?) So I desperately hope that game developers will make use of this one.

5. The HD IP Camera

Nya. I don’t know if I care so much about that one. Show me something cool, then I might care.

4. Full Backwards Compatibility

Except no bringing forward of save games? What good is that?

3. Stronger Japanese Developer Support

I’m not so big on RPG’s (unless they’re the Champions of Norrath variety), so this is good, but not great.

2. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

This will be cool. It might actually make me play a single-player game.

1. The Blu-ray Player

Yes! Definitely!

IGN – Ten Reasons to Wait for PS3

Thanks to lynux3 at the Gamespot forums I found this article about the Bluetooth used in the PlayStation 3 (PS3). I don’t see any timestamp on this article, so I don’t know how old it is, but I found it interesting, so I thought you might as well.

First of all, they point out that the PS3 will use Bluetooth 2.0 EDR, which is nothing new. It’s in the PS3 specs. This means that it’ll support seven controllers. The PS3 itself is the eighth Bluetooth device. They point out that Bluetooth 2.0 devices have a range of 30 feet or greater, which I didn’t know. That means I don’t have to worry about the range, because I’ll probably never get further than 10 feet. But at least I know I have the space if I need it.

The report also says that “The reports from Sony are that the Bluetooth PS3 controllers will have a battery life of up to 24 hours, which is similar to other devices using Bluetooth technology.” The real question is: what happens then? Do I plug it in for a charge, or do I have to replace the batteries? It better be the former! If the latter, then lots of people will be really ticked.

Bluetooth 2.0 EDR can transmit data at rates up to 3.0Mbps. Even if for whatever reason it can only achieve 1.0Mbps (or less), that should still be plenty of bandwidth for lag-free gaming.

BlueTomorrow – PlayStation Will Utilize Bluetooth Technology in its PS3 Controllers