Necessary disclosure: I do not own this model but do I own the 60GB model, recently upgraded to 320GB. I am also very familiar with the latest 80GB model (which is basically this one with a larger disk) because one of my neighbors has one and I am the neighborhood's unofficial and unpaid 'computer' consultant :). I did some research in anticipation of us purchasing a second unit because I promised the kids "their own" if their grades were going to meet a certain standard.
As compared to the 60GB model (see this model's pluses and minuses and what all PS3s have in common):
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+ Less expensive (I paid $599 for my 60GB PS3)
+ 266% more storage
+ Improved power efficiency
+ Dual shock controller (rumble)
+ Bundled Drake's Fortune and Pain voucher for a PSN download
+ Amazon Blu-ray movies promotion (buy 4 movies from list and get $100 off through end of 2008)
= Wireless Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet network connections
= Bluetooth for controllers, keyboards, earpieces, etc.
= Controllers charged via USB wires
= Free, unlimited access to the PSN network, including online play
= Full PSOne compatibility
= Blu-ray player
= DVD player
= CD player
= HDMI, component video (component wire included but no HDMI cable)
= Surround sound
= Internet browser
= Allows for installation of third-party operating systems such as Linux
= Disk is easily upgradeable without voiding warranty
= Quiet operation
- No memory card interfaces
- 2 USB ports vs. 4 USB ports on the 60GB
- No PS2 compatibility
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STORAGE and STORAGE UPGRADE:
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This model comes with an 160GB drive. This is nice because, based on my own experience, 160GB should be sufficient for a few years of use for as long as you don't plan to purchase lots of movies from the PSN store or download to many full games - if you are thiking about storing movies on your PS3 disk, consider upgrading to larger storage. However, unless you believe that Uncharted + Pain are worth the extra $100, you may be slightly better off buying the 80GB model for $100 less and then upgrading.
To give you an idea of the amount of storage you may need on your PS3, I recently checked the status of my 320GB disk and I found that I had 198GB free. That means that, one year after purchasing my (then) 60GB box I was using 122GB already. The space is taken by family pictures, a little music, lots of demos, many 'disk' games that dump gigabytes of data to the disk to improve performance, many videos the kids are making with the 'Eye' camera, game saves. I suspect that 'Home', when it becomes available, may require a few more GB's for its own use so 320GB may be what you need if you don't want to constantly worry about deleting old stuff before you run out of space.
If you are on the upgrade path, $80 would buy you a 320GB drive. I used the Western Digital WD3200BEVT 320 GB Scorpio Sata 5400 Rpm 8MB 2.5 inch myself but that was back in June/July and I paid about $150 then; you could get much larger drives for less now. 500GB drives are available for less than $100 and you should try to get one of those if you are planning to store lots of videos. One that I tested would be the Western Digital 500GB Scorpio Blue SATAII 5400RPM 2.5IN 8MB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive WD5000BEVT which replaced my laptop's 60GB little drive and I helped a friend upgrade his own PS3 with. The nice thing about upgrading your disk is that you are also going to be left with a perfectly good 80GB or $160GB drive which you can place into a cheap enclosure, and the StarTech AT2510U2 InfoSafe 2.5-Inch USB/SATA Hard Drive Enclosure worked for me. I am using the free leftover drive as a backup device for family photos.
Upgrading the disk is (relatively) easy and you can find a lot of advice on the Net. Search for "PlayStation 3 Hard Drive Upgrade (HOWTO)" for videos that should help you decide if you are comfortable with upgrading. If upgrading is the first thing you do (before installing games or uploading personal files), everything becomes very easy because you need not worry about backups or restores. I upgraded my box in a couple of hours WITH the backup/restore steps.
MEMORY CARD INTERFACES:
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The lack of memory card interfaces is annoying but you can get around it. Copy your stuff to a USB drive or flash drive and... problem solved. You can then upload your things through the USB. It's somewhat inconvenient but it's no big deal.
USB PORTS:
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My old 60GB model has 4 USB ports and I am using all of them. One for the PS3 Eye (camera), a second has a wireless keyboard dongle, the third is where the racing wheel plugs in and the last one I use to charge controllers. Of course, you can and you WILL be able to live with 2 slots but it is likely that you will be doing some plugging/unplugging if you begin adding peripherals. One way around it is to get a USB port multiplexer. Another solution is seek Bluetooth peripherals (wireless) if you can find them. Bluetooth keyboards, for example, are available.
PS2 COMPATIBILITY:
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This model does not support PS2 software. Since the original PS2-compatible PS3's are hard to get, this has to be accepted as reality. I assume that Sony, after polling existing and future PS3 users, found that most users don't need PS2 compatibility. Soon after we upgraded to a PS3 my kids were playing Kingdom Hearts and Destroy All Humans but I haven't seen them doing so in quite a while. It is nice to have PS2 compatibility but its lacking would not stop me from buying a PS3.
PSOne GAMES:
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The PS3 has full PSOne compatilibity. Lots of them are available for download at the PSN store. They are quite inexpensive and some of them are still fun to play.
SUMMARY:
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- If you like Drake's and you do not consider upgrading, buy THIS model. In fact, you should buy this model regardless of Drake's because you are likely to be unhappy with an unupgraded 80GB model - like I mentioned above, I am already using over 120GB and this is BEFORE Home.
- If you are planning to upgrade, you're better off with an 80GB model selling for $100 less because you can use the $100 you save to buy yourself Drake's for about $40 and use the balance to help pay for your disk upgrade.
- Get yourself a USB port multiplexer if you need more than 2 ports
- Transfer your photos to flash drives to get around the missing memory card interfaces
- Or or, even better, get the Playstation 3 Media Hub+ for 2 extra USB ports AND a card reader
- Keep your PS2 if you have one and still wish to play PS2 games in the future.
- Enjoy your new PS3.
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Note: I am not taking off one star for the lack of PS2 compatibility. I understand that Sony must compete on price and make a profit and times are tough. However, I simply can't see why Sony cut the number of USB ports from 4 down to 2 and this explains why this unit gets 4 stars instead of 5. This is a relatively significant inconvenience and I can't see how it would cost Sony more than a dollar or 2 if it provided 4 ports instead of 2.
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this AC adaptor has 5V 2A DC output, it also can be used on Dell and HP pdas (with plug adaptor)
PROS......
This is a great and original PS3 downloadable game.It is a different take on the original shooter with the levels, enemies, and your shots all forming part of a guitar song.It sounds a little bit different but makes for a fantastic game.Additionally each level is a complicated strategy to master in order to increase your score and survive.
Sackboy, as a playable character in Hot Shots Golf is an excellent addition.They are sure to please fans of both games.Sackboy comes with different alternatives that are unlocked in similar fashion to everyone else, that is, you start out with two costumes for it, and then when you play more you get more.
I can't tell you how GREAT this game is. I would RECOMMEND this to everybody.
Most people who give this game a low rating haven't played it with 3 or 4 local players. In this scenario, it's a complete blast for hours. The motion controls are well-balanced and quite successfully add to the fun as 4 people frantically move to win. Graphically, the game looks amazing with textures that hold up very well to the camera zooming, and the plastic characters also looking great. The music is really great, to the point where I wish I could buy the soundtrack; the character's sound effects are absolutely hilarious.
I can't believe that I actually (well, I think it was my bf but either way...) purchased a costume for my LBP sackgirl but it was just too cute to resist.The costume is adorable; I often wear the hair apart from the rest of the costume (the bandana is permanently attached though).The little combat boots are also separate too, I believe.
This game is part of the popular PixelJunk series, in which you must control a "grimp" who can jump from and attach to plants and other objects on your screen.The idea is to enter a level from the "main screen", and collect "spectra" by catching pollen from "prowlers", to grow "seeds" which allow you to get to all the places in a level.Your grimp can either jump or swing from branches (for a limited amount of time) to break open prowlers and capture the pollen that comes out.Finding a spectra completes 1/5 of the level and takes you back to the "main screen".You then reenter the level and re-clear it by finding 2 spectra, then 3 spectra,..., until you find all 5 spectra in the level.Finding spectra in the levels causes plants to grow in the "main screen", which lets you reach harder levels, 10 in all.Additionally, you have a timer in the form of "oscillator crystals", so you must collect crystals to keep the meter from emptying or risk game over (you may continue from the last spectra reached, as of the latest PSN update).
High Velocity Bowling is the Playstation 3 equivalent of Wii Sports Bowling on the Nintendo Wii. You bowl using the motion sensors inside your Sixaxis or Rumble Controller. You can pick your character and different bowling balls and you can also purchase additional items online. This game simply doesn't have the realism of Wii Sports Bowling. I am a big Playstation 3 fan but the use of motion sensors in this game just don't compare. For example on Wii Sports Bowling it makes a difference how you swing and follow through. With High Velocity bowling it doesn't matter at all. You can swing backwards, upside down or even while spinning in a circle and it doesn't make a bit of difference. Don't get me wrong it's still fun to play, it's just not as fun as I was expecting.
If you love tower defense games, there are better ones available on PSN: namely, PixelJunk Monsters. Besides having a local co-op mode and better trophies, it's art style holds up better graphically. There's nothing stopping Savage Moon from looking great, but it gets even worse when the camera zooms in on a location. The sound doesn't give any kind of really satisfying or enveloping surround effects during attacks or explosions.
BEATS is basically something to do while you listen to your MP3's. Symbols representing the PSP buttons fly onto screen from 3 directions and you press the correct one when its in the circle and are then graded on accuracy. Its simple and fun.
This is the exact same version as originally released on the Playstation. I have always loved Crash Bandicoot and it never gets old playing it. It is just a classic that I will probably always enjoy playing. It's fairly cheap to download and you can even play it on your PSP via remote play.
The first thing you'll notice after downloading LocoRoco is the music. A version of the main song plays when you select the game in the XMB. If you find the song making you smile, you'll probably like the game. My only real complaints are that the game doesn't have trophies, and it can be ambiguous as to if you've found enough of the creatures. For very young children, just getting the first LocoRoco to go through the machinery and follow her/him/zim around with the camera will keep them amused for hours.
This is a exact same version as originally released on the Playstation. I have always loved Crash Bandicoot and it never gets old playing it. It is just a clasic like Super Mario Mario Bros. It's fairly cheap to download and you can even play it on your PSP via remote play. This is the first and original version and it has always been my favorite.
This is a exact same version as originally released on the Playstation. I have always loved Crash Bandicoot and it never gets old playing it. It is just a clasic like Super Mario Mario Bros. It's fairly cheap to download and you can even play it on your PSP via remote play.
This is quite the novel game... I could write a thousand word essay as to why I think what I do of it... but I won't.Once you get past the games semi-steep learning curve, it has this incredible replay-ability to it.It's like a pinball machine in that aspect (and others); doing the same thing twice doesn't yield the same results.
If you have a PSN account, there is no reason not to get this game.Buy it.Now.Seriously!
GT 4 on the PS2 was a game that any car lover would love, it had something for everyone.I have to say that for me, this is a very good game, cant say that its for everyone.The game doesn't really have a Career mode, it just has single player, multiplayer and challenges.Single player consists of three other options, drift trial, single race and time trial.Single races are a 4 car race (instead of 6 like in the console games).The drift trial is a blast and if you are into time trials, there's a little fun there too.The game is supposed to be focus on collecting cars, and there's only 4 manufacturers with 10 cars each per day.At first I thought this was gonna be really annoying, but for me its not.Days pass fairly fast, and you can earn money pretty easy, so you are bound to encounter many cars you'll like to collect at some point or another.In fact, I would say that the lineups are varied enough to have at least 2 cars you would want to buy.I do have o point out that because its not a Career mode, you will not be buying cars for a specific purpose, rather than just having them, since the single player modes doesn't require you to drive a specific car, you'll use whichever car you want (as opposed to previous GT games, where you were looking for cars to compete in specific races).There's another mode for which I couldn't care less, challenge mode, which are mini challenges, blah, blah, blah.Haven't got the opportunity to race any friends yet, but Ill bet its a blast.The game runs smoother than silk.The graphics are splendid for a handheld, in fact, I would say none of the screenshots I've seen makes it justice.There's an in-car cam too, though you don't really see anything inside the car, its rather a black silhouette of the car around you, and while it sounds kinda lame, I think it serves its purpose (remember, this is a handheld game).I think the video game sites that reviewed this game were expecting too much, ITS A HANDHELD, its doing enough by having such a huge lineup and great physics.I wouldn't recommend it for people that relied on the career mode on the past games to have fun.It works wonders for me since all I did in GT4 was look for cars to collect and do time trials (racing against your shadow, gotta love it!).If you don't find any fun in collecting cars, checking the dealerships every day to see what's new, and doing some single races to have money for tomorrows cars, then don't buy it, rent it first, but be aware that you'll be missing on the best racer to ever grace the PSP.Did I mention how much fun the drifting is?
I find this game a lot of fun and very addictive. It's a tower defense game. The animated monsters are very cute and the noise they make when your kill them is funny. I think this game also offers a 2 person co-op mode which could be a lot of fun, a nice way to trick your kids/wife into playing videogames with you while keeping quiet :)