I still like it! Yesterday I hooked up an HDMI cable to it, and that works fine. Note that I have a DVI/HDCP input on my television, and it works fine with my PS3 for both games and music. Luckily my TV has a priority sensing system - one component connector shares an input with the DVI input. So my DVR is hooked up to the comonent input, and the PS3 to the DVI. Normally I watch HDTV from my DVR through the component input. But when I turn on the PS3, I magically see the PS3 video.

I hooked up a new optical cable to the PS3, and that’s how I get my audio. Works quite well. The only problem is that every once in a while the audio drops out. I first noticed this with a downloadable demo game, but have since found this to be a problem with other sources as well. It seems to be random. It’s happened three times now, and I have to turn off the PS3 to get my audio back. Hmm. Actually, I haven’t tried fiddling with the audio settings. I should try that next time it happens.

I have a CD in there now, and the visualizer is pretty cool. I wish it had more options though. You can continue listening to music while browsing the web. But the music stops if you enter the Online Store.

I have a couple complaints about the PS3, actually. I am writing them up so that you may know about them, but don’t get me wrong - I like my PS3, and I’m glad I bought it.

So, right. There’s the audio problem. What else?

Supposedly video clips are supposed to show a little preview when browsing them. But I don’t get that, and I can’t figure out how to turn it on.

I tried out two PS2 games, and they both mostly worked fine. There seems to be some gaming lag, however. It was hard to time the button presses when playing Frequency. I had to make sure to time my button presses with the leading edge of the notes, not in the middle. I’ve been trying to find a memory card adapter, but none are available in the stores.

You can turn off the system and/or controller from the controller. You can turn off individual controllers by holding down the PS button, then choosing “Turn Off Controller” from the menu. But it would be nice to be able to turn off the controller without having to use the PS3.

I wish I could upload my own avatar. The list of available ones isn’t that great.

But what I don’t like the most isn’t to do with the PS3 itself. It’s the fact that Call of Duty 3 doesn’t support local multiplayer. That really ticks me off.

Even though IGN got their PS3 to see their iPod, I had no such luck. I hook it up and nothing happens. The iPod thinks it’s plugged in, but I get nothing on the PS3 end. Anybody else have any luck?

[Edit: an whatever happened to getting to the XMB menu during a game? That functionality isn’t there, though I’m pretty sure I saw a video of that at one point.]

I don’t have a lot of time to into each of these news items in detail, so I thought I’d give you another round-up.

First off, there’s a video of voice and video chat on the PS3. That’s something I haven’t had a chance to try yet, because I don’t have a headset or an EyeToy. But once I find a good BlueTooth headset, I’ll be buying it.

PS3 Network voice and video chat

CNET takes a look at the PS3 in this review. They like it, but complain about the lack of HDMI cable in the box, or USB port on the back. Things like that. They give it an 8.8 (Excellent).

Sony PlayStation 3 (60GB)

Take-Two currently has 20 games in development for the PS3!

Take-Two Offers 20 Games for PS3

People have been wondering about registering PS3 OnlineID’s online. The latest (19nov06) from Sony:

You can only register your PLAYSTATION(R) Network Online ID through the use of the PLAYSTATION(R)3 system. You cannot use your PC to register at this time. We do not have any information on when PC access will be offered. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Register your PS3 nickname online even if you can’t get a PS3 due to massive launch shortages - videogamesblogger.com:

It looks like Yellow Dog Linux isn’t the only Linux to run on the PLAYSTATION 3. Fedora Core 5 looks to be an option too.

PS3 Linux - The void has been filled..Full install instructions for Fedora Core 5!

The rumour is that there will be another PS3 shipment of about 100,000 units next week. And another 3 shipments after that. Just rumours, as yet. Don’t know for sure.

Sony confirms 2nd PS3 shipment coming next week

Worried about backwards compatibility? There are places that you can look.

Playstation 3 Backwards Compatibility Status site

Maybe the PS3 doesn’t suck as much power as some have reported. Maybe it’s only 190W instead of 380W.

Just 190W Watts

So here is my home theater setup, with my PS3 in the component rack on the right.

Here’s a pic of my own personal PS3.

Sorry about the quality - these pics were taken with my cellphone camera.

Well whilst Henning’s enjoying his PS3 I thought I should bring up the critical reception to the games so far released.

You know what? Things aren’t as bad as you might think. First a bit about my methodology. I’ve taken reviews from sites I understand to be well respected on the web rather than doing a gamerankings and taking everything I can find. Seems more accountable that way, the sites include: IGN, 1up, Game Informer, GamePro, Gamespot, GameDaily, Gamesradar US, GameVideos, Eurogamer, UnderGroundOnline and GameSpy. I’ll probably miss some reviews by doing this now, but waiting didn’t make much sense. I’ve then added them together to present you with average scores for the launch titles:

• Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire: 36%
• Genji: Days of the Blade: 56%
• Untold Legends: 62%
• NBA 07: 64%
• Tony Hawk’s Project 8: 68%
• NHL2K7: 76%
• Madden 2007: 77%
• Ridge Racer 7: 80%
• Need For Speed: Carbon: 80%
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance: 80%
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07: 81%
• NBA2K7: 82%
• Call of Duty 3: 83%
• Resistance: 86%

The average score is 72%, which isn’t great (thanks Gundam!), but to be fair there are also 7 very good titles in that list. No way bad for a console launching with 14 games. In fact, if it wasn’t for 1up’s undermarking (their scores are significantly lower than those of the competition) of Madden 2007 and NHL2K7 there’d be 9 very good titles in that list! The other thing that rapidly becomes clear is that apart from Resistance there are no titles that stand head and shoulders above the rest and even then some reviews have found that underwhelming. Hopefully Motorstorm will change that, but that’s a way away.

As Henning said for the most part PS3 titles are poorer than 360 ones; I see two exceptions however in Madden 2007 and NBA2K7, with every review highlighting the advances made on the PS3. Madden, it should be noted, usually receives a lower score for being “more of the same” from the 360 title. It is also odd to note that it is predominantly first party Sony titles which chalk up the worst games, hopefully this is something which will improve over time, but these teams should know the PS3 inside out.

Most disappointing has to be Tony Hawk’s Project 8, I was hoping for a lot more from Neversoft, but it appears as though they didn’t deliver critically.

What are your opinions on the launch lineup? What have you played? Do you disagree with any of the critics?

I am currently downloading the MotorStorm demo (456MB) so while I had a moment I thought I’d go online.

I got to my Toys ‘R’ Us store at about 8:15 this morning, and it was a ghost town. I had no problems getting my PS3, there was only one other person there. I think that they didn’t have any PS3’s for the general public - just for preorders. But I’m just guessing. I picked up Resistance (the last one), Call of Duty 3, and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. I was required to buy a second controller, which was fine, and I actually wanted to buy an additional two, but they didn’t have enough for that. And they didn’t have any memory card adapters either. So after purchasing my PS3, 3 games, and extra controller, I went to Best Buy which was very close by. They didn’t have a memory card adapter either (and neither did Future Shop right next door). Doh! But I did pick up two extra controllers and The Transporter on BD. So now I own The Terminator, The Transporter, MI3, and Talladega Nights on BD. The last one came free with my PS3.

Speaking of which, I would take a picture of my PS3 and post it, except my wife took the digital camera for the weekend. (Along with the kids, so I can’t complain.) I have a new cellphone with a camera (my first ever cellphone), so maybe I can figure something out.

Oop, MotorStorm just finished downloading (that didn’t take long - 11 minutes). Now it’s installing.

Anyway, the first thing I did was apply the update, which I had saved on my PSP’s MemoryStick. I downloaded it from QJ.net onto my PC, then used my PC to transfer it to the \ps3\update folder on my MemoryStick (I had to create those folders). I stuck in in my PS3. (Ooop, install is done. I guess I’ll finish typing this up first!) When I chose system update, I was given the choice of going online or using local storage. I did the latter, and the PS3 found the update, copied it from the MemoryStick, and applied it. No problems whatsoever.

I created an account. I am now Blackstaffer! (If you read the books by L.E. Modessit Jr., you’ll know what that is.) So look me up online.

While I had my MemoryStick in the PS3, I checked out the photos, which was cool. I played the videos just fine.

Then I tried Resistance: Fall of Man. Sure enough, I got that 720p problem. I had configured my PS3 to put out 1080i. That’s a bad idea. So I went back to the system settings, made my PS3 put out 720p, went back to Resistance, and all was fine. I’m lucky my TV accepts and scales 720p. I played Resistance for a bit, and it’s a lot of fun. I’m just in try-out mode now, though, so I haven’t spent a lot of time there. I did go online quickly to see what was going on, and found three games that I could join (unranked).

Then I tried M:UA for just a bit, and I think it’s a cool game. Except for the camera. It’s too jerky, and quite annoying at times.

Then I tried the webbrowser. A disappointment, there. The first website I visited, of course, was PS3Blog.net, and it looked like crap. Everything was all placed wrong, images weren’t scaled properly, etc. Yuck. I hope they fix this up.

Well, hopefully I’ll be able to get a pic for you guys soon.

Any questions? I’ll be checking in again in a few hours. I’m going to go try the MotorStorm demo, eat lunch, and then try some BD movies.

For those of you lucky enough to have gotten a PS3, the Motorstorm demo is available for download!

Although, the launch lineup is a little thin, you can still get a full taste of next-gen gaming with demos such as this. Great news for day one!

MotorStorm

Read our answers and add your own in the comments.

1. Other than Resistance, what will be the best PS3 title for 2006?

Tom: Hmm… I’m going to give a bit of a cop-out answer. Motorstorm might be getting released in Japan without an online mode, but otherwise it’s pretty much fully featured! It clearly is shaping up to be something very special. It sounds like an excellent mix of great fun gameplay and incredible graphics.

Henning: Ridge Racer 7 I guess. But I’m going by popular demand, not my own opinion. I don’t like drifting.

Darrin: I pick Rainbow Six although I haven’t seen the reviews yet. Other than Resistance, all the other titles I’m excited about aren’t scheduled for release until Q1 2007.

2. Aside from the launch games, what will be the best thing about the PS3 at launch?

Tom: I’m torn between Blu-ray compatibility and the PS store/web-browsing, these things are not really offered by Nintendo or Microsoft out of the box and I think they’ll get a lot of use!

Darrin: Good playable game demos. We’ll at least get a taste of some big PS3 games like Motorstorm this year. And of course, Blu-Ray movies and online content.

Henning: BD movies!

3. What do you think the reaction to the PS3 launch will be?

Tom: Mixed- The hardware seems to be there, save some minor issues (’only’ 97% backwards compatibility, resolution scaling); but the software really doesn’t seem to be there yet. Save for Resistance the games that are available are also on the xbox 360, and in many cases are only as good as if not slightly worse. For now, I’ll chalk this down to launch titles, but lets hope this isn’t the start of a pattern.

Henning: I think that it will be generally positive. Retailers and eBay have learned a lot from last year’s mess, so while this year wi’ll still be crazy, it’ll also be good.

Darrin: Excitement mixed with skepticism. The PS3 will launch in 2006, but we will have to wait until March/April 2007 until the hardware availability is there and there is a high quality comprehensive game lineup to match. I’m just hoping there are no other bad surprises.

4. What kind of reliability do you expect to see from the PS3?

Tom: So far, things are looking pretty good. I think Sony will have learnt from their PS2 mistakes. That is not to say that there won’t be though, it took a long time for those PS2 problems to come to light.

Henning: Decent, but not without problems here and there.

Darrin: I have no idea, but this is my biggest concern about the PS3. Sony has a lot of experience with consumer electronics, but the PS3 is an extremely ambitious product, and all that bleeding edge technology is ripe for problems.

5. What has been the biggest disappointment leading up to launch?

Henning: Low shipment quantities.

Tom: Without a doubt, the delay of the European launch!

Darrin: No big disappointments yet, but the important stuff is still to come. True, everything about the 2006 launch was scaled back. But if all the important stuff goes smoothly (hardware, games, multimedia and online functionality), we will quickly forget such hiccups.

6. What unanswered questions do you still have about the PS3 before launch?

Darrin: I want to hear what the rumored secret feature is. Many have forgotten this, but I’m holding onto hope that Sony still has a big positive surprise for us.

Henning: Will I be able to get the gamertag I want?

Tom: How often will we get firmware upgrades and what kind of timeline can we expect for future features! Sony has been open on its intentions with the PSP firmware, so a similar approach with PS3 would be very welcome.

7. Do you think that the PS3 is going to have the online functionality that you want?

Tom: To be honest the PS3 at launch practically offers the online functionality I want, it seems that later games will do a better job though with things like the friends list. I’ve always been interested in playing online casually and that what the PS3 seems to offer, unlike the xbox 360’s commitment based approach.

Darrin: Absolutely. Regular multiplayer games and chat are old news. I’m really looking forward to seeing more novel online experiences in the direction of Second Life and MMO’s. We’ve seen that stuff in the PC world, but I think the PS3 will open up a much larger market to that kind of content and encourage more development and innovation.

Henning: Yes, except for chat during games.

8. What game from on another platform would you like to see on the PS3?

Henning: Monster Madness (upcoming title for PC and XBox 360)

Tom: Pretty unoriginal here, Halo 3. It’s the only game I’m really interested in a 360 for at the moment. Other than that the line-ups are pretty similar!

Darrin: Alan Wake, Crackdown, and Mass Effect all look really good.

9. What PS3 titles are you most looking forward to in the first quarter of 2007?

Henning: F1 Championship. No, make that MotorStorm. Heavenly Sword? Gaaaah!

Tom: Probably Heavenly Sword. I cannot wait to see how that has progressed since we last saw it!

Darrin: It’s really hard to tell what will be good without playing them. There are so many good ones, but I’d pick Mercenaries 2 and Warhawk for myself and I can’t wait to watch my girlfriend play SingStar. I am not a karaoke type, but that actually looks pretty cool.

10. How do you think that PS3 Linux will be used?

Henning: I don’t think it’ll produce much that’s interesting for quite some time. I’m not holding out hope.

Tom: I doubt it will get huge support, but there should be a community of users. I’d certainly recommend that everybody downloads a Linux kit- it will help give you access to quite a community of people building homebrew gaming apps.

Darrin: I can see some people who normally don’t have their own PC’s, using it as a convenient PC.

11. What kind of user created content do you expect to see on PS3?

Darrin: We will see a huge rise in user created content, but it will be content for pre-written software. We will see user developed content for games like Second Life, custom songs for games like SingStar, and lots of user created blogs and websites and opinion and editorial. A lot of people are expecting lone hobbyist programmers to start brand new applications from scratch; that kind of hobbyist activity has gradually disappeared and isn’t coming back. Even making simple games typically requires multiple people with different skill sets and requires huge amounts of skill, effort, management, coordination, and time. That’s just not feasible for hobbyists. But writing a blog, setting up a store in Second Life, uploading a home video, or uploading custom music tracks is well within the reach of hobbyists and that kind of activity is about to take off on game consoles.

Henning: See my answer above

Tom: Games- at first, basic things like Tetris or puzzles, then maybe some more advanced stuff. I’d also expect to see things like user specific characters in games (with mapped faces), along with lots of community features like pictures and videos.

So you’ve got an HDTV? And you have that PS3 pre-order? And you have a component or HDMI cable? You might think you’re set for HDTV gaming.

Well it is not so cut and dry if latest reports are to be believed. If you own an early HDTV which can only display 1080i, but not 720p, games like Resistance will be downscaled to 480p. Apparently the problem is that the PS3 does not upscale games to 1080i, although 1080i is an option on the PS3’s XMB.

The PS3’s upscaling capability could be something of a problem. We already know that PSOne and PS2 games are not upscaled by the PS3, something that the xbox360 does with original xbox games. We also know the PS3 does not upscale DVDs. Is this a design oversight? Or is this something that Sony can work on for a future firmware update?

IGN- PS3 Downscales 720p on Incapable TVs

For launch, I’m definitely excited about Resistance. And there are one or two other PS3 titles that I’m keeping my eye on. But overall, the PS3 launch lineup is still a little light (PS2 is having a great season though!).

But looking to next quarter: wow! There is a lot of really good content right around the corner. Here are my personal top picks for Q1 2007 in alphabetical order:

1. Burnout 5
2. The Darkness
3. Haze
4. Heavenly Sword
5. Lair
6. Mercenaries 2
7. MotorStorm
8. SingStar
9. Virtua Fighter 5
10. Warhawk

I’ve known about all these titles, but is anyone else surprised to hear so much scheduled so soon? To be honest, despite the fact that these are all listed for Q1 2007 releases on IGN, game companies are notorious for missing these dates. I’ll be happy if three or four of these games actually ship in Q1 which is probably a more reasonable and likely outcome.

There are also a lot of other titles that I left off the top 10. Some games like Alone in the Dark and Strangehold and Eye Of Judgement are hard to judge: they look like they might turn out to be amazing and they might completely miss the mark.

Anyway, if you aren’t able to get a PS3 until after the new year, this is one less reason to worry about it.

What does everyone think of the Q1 lineup? I left off a lot of titles; anyone have different picks?

IGN’s PS3 Release Dates

This is understandable. The main draw to the magazine was the demo disc filled with PS2 game demos and videos. With the PlayStation Network, we will download game demos, videos, and various other game content and previews electronically without the need for physical discs. This will be a much better medium and I look forward to trying it out.

I hope all of the staff find better positions and that some of the writers continue producing editorial content in some other format.

Anyone surprised or disappointed by this move?

Ziff Davis Discontinues Official PlayStation Magazine

When asked about Afrika, Phil Harrison answered:

The game is non-violent, as you would expect.

As we would expect? I don’t know what everyone else is expecting, but I was expecting that large African wildlife would kill and eat each other. What else do animals do? Yes, they sleep and raise offspring and groom. But a fundamental part of animals is eating and avoiding being eaten. That’s the most exciting thing to watch. Have you ever watched a lion or a crocodile? Usually it’s either just laying around or it’s trying to kill something.

The mystery continues…

I’ve been waiting for this phone call (they told me it was coming). My local Toys ‘R’ Us store finally got some information about quantities and gave me a call. My PS3 will be waiting for me Friday at 8am.

Woo hoo!

Oops. Did I already say that? Whatever

Woo hoo!

I’ll be required to buy an additional controller and two games. I was gonna do that anyway, so I don’t care.

Here’s just a small reminder in case you haven’t entered the HDMI giveaway contest yet. That’s right. eHDMI.com is giving away two HDMI cables through PS3Blog.net.

So head over to the post below to see how to enter. It’s quite easy. Only enter once, please!

I’m thinking of shortening the deadline to get those cables out faster. I’ll have to talk to eHDMI about it, though…

Win an HDMI Cable from eHDMI.com