UK PS3 Pre-orders

[Lenny]

The HDMI is for HD-TV only. And most good HDMI cables can cost upwards of £30.

In the box you'll get a Stereo AV Cable, which I think is what the PS2 came with.

Then again, if you have a PS2, and don't have a HDTV, or are going to get one, then I guess that whichever cable you've got to connect your PS2 to your TV will work with the PS3. But that's only an educated guesstimate.

[Rane Longfox]

Cunning.

[Evolution]

The PS3 does looks very very good, but then, having to shell out over £500 to play a game, well that's dam right robbery.

I think i'll wait till it reduces in price.

[PERCON]

I would love a ps3 and wouldn't have hesitated to pay the £350 that was originally stated about 6 months ago for one. It was raised after the US launch and as it stands £425 is a bit much imo, those that desperately want it won't care about the price though. The two games I wanted a ps3 for come out in the autumn (Late October I believe), those are Metal Gear Solid 4 and GTA4. MGS4 is to be exclusive to the PS3 but GTA4 will be on the 360 as well.

The one thing the PS3 has that the 360 can't hope to match is the blu-ray drive. I could store my entire laptop hard drive on one blu-ray disc (40GB), compared to 4.7GB for a DVD. The amount of information the game developers could fit on there is revolutionary. Considering a blu-ray drive would cost £400 to fit in a PC the PS3 is a bargain.

The future games list is impressive, but the games currently available are also quite tasty. Resistance:Fall of Man is apparantely the game to play if you get a PS3.

Here's the summary:

-60GB Hard drive to save stuff on.
-Wireless controllers (Rechargable in console)
-Wireless broadband ready for easy net access
-Blu-ray drive for films, music, saving lots of stuff onto, increased capacity for games.
-HD-ready for those privileged enough to have a HD-TV.
-Many great games will be released by the end of the year to get the game count up a lot higher.


After all that my advice remains to wait until the price drops...

[Lucien21]

There are currently rumours going about of MGS4 on the 360.

Metal Gear Solid 4 Substance maybe.

[Lenny]

I haven't seen the rumours yet, but I can say that Kojima has said time and time again that MGS4 is a PS3 exclusive. There may be a spin-off or two going to other consoles, but the main game is exclusive.

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The one thing the PS3 has that the 360 can't hope to match is the blu-ray drive. I could store my entire laptop hard drive on one blu-ray disc (40GB), compared to 4.7GB for a DVD. The amount of information the game developers could fit on there is revolutionary.

I'm just waiting for GTA4 to come out on 4 or 5 DVDs for the 360, and a single Blu-Ray disc for the PS3... maybe even one of the first games on a dual layr BD-R. I know it's awfully....fnaboyish of me, but who cares? I mean, who doesn't want to see the look of pure hatred on the 360 fanboy faces when one can walk into Game and buy a single disc for a game?

Talking about GTA4, it makes you wonder how long it's actually been in development. Rockstar has said that it's coming out on 19th October 2007, and as far as I know, they never miss a date. They announced it, what, middle of last year? Unless they're running a slave labour camp with all their programmers on black coffee 24/365, then they must have already been some way into the development stage before they announced it.

Then again, take Killzone. The amazing CGI trailer was shown at E3 2005, when the PS3 was officially announced, and the dev's have recently said that they're doing pretty well - with a demo ready to come out within the next couple of months. Yes, it might be two years or so since they announced Killzone, but two years is a relatively short amount of time when games are concerned.

Fo example, take Oblivion. Bethesda have been developing Oblivion since the start of the millenium. It took them six years to get it out on the PC, another 6 months to get it up and running on the 360, and a further six months to get it working for the PS3 - 7 years for one game. But damn, it looks like it was more than worth it.

[Lucien21]

Currently the disc space on the PS3 is wasted.

None of the games come close to filling them and infact due to the slower speed of the blu-ray drive developers have actually taken to duplicating the program in various parts of the disc to speed up access.

But to be honest, Who cares? The Final Fantasy games on the PS were multi disc games, didn't stop me enjoying them. Having the game on 1 blu-ray rather than a couple of DVD's doesn't make the game any better.

The only 360 game that uses multi-discs at the moment is "Blue Dragon" which has 3 discs I believe.

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P.s Hideo was quoted recently saying that MGS4 could run on the 360 and he has a strong interest in the 360.

[Lenny]

Currently, yes.

In fact, I think the closest that any game gets is Resistance, with 15gb of 25gb used up.

I'd honestly prefer games on one disc - take GTAIV as an example again. If it's as big as everyone reckons it's going to be, then on DVD-9's, which is what most 360 games are on, I think, it will be multiple disc. Say you had an island/city per disc. What would you be thinking if you left a city on a mission, you drove over a bridge, and this message popped up:

Please Insert Disc 2.

It's all fine and groovy if you're going to visit the city once, but if it's a major city (which cities are in GTA), I can imagine you'd get pretty ticked off if you had to change the disc every single time you left or entered the city. You might get used to it in the end, but if you had half the country's police force after you - cars, bikes, tanks, couple of fighter jets - and the message popped up? I'd be more than ticked off.

You've probably played Vice City - how annoying was the simply loading screen popping up? Thankfully they got rid of it in SA, but if it came back in the form of "Please insert disc"...

For something like Blue Dragon, or an FF, in fact any RPG, multiple discs is no biggy. In fact, it shows that the game is a biggy. You'll change the disc to further the story line, and chances are you won't need to put in the first disc again (am I right there? Or is the world map split up onto the discs?). Now that wouldn't bother me at all, whereas the same happening on a GTA game would.

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IGN: MGS4 Possible on Xbox 360

^ Saying it is technically possible.

MGS4 for Xbox 360 Debunked | PlayStation Universe (PSU)
Kojima reveals more MGS4 | PlayStation Universe (PSU)

^ Both saying that MGS4 is a PS3 exclusive. Particularly the last dashed point in the second article.

[bruno-1012]

I suppose I could get one now if I wanted but I will wait until the price drops. (In the shops but the question is always what region)

I don't have HD TV so the full benefit of these consoles is missing.

I won't be getting HD as I can't receive Sky or other HD services at home so not worth the cost.

The offer of a Samsung 19" widescreen monitor for £100 was more tempting at the moment as I upgraded my C box but I'm still using the CRT with dvi adapter.

[Lenny]

Region as in different counties, yes?

Personally I think that there's more chance of buying one online, at somewhere like Amazon, Gameplay or Play, than in a high street shop.

[bruno-1012]

They are on sale in Dubai which is where I am for the moment.

Got to check things out with electronics as the deals can be great but watch the small print...caveat emptor is the phrase, i think.

[Lenny]

Ah! Regions as in region coding!

For games it doesn't matter - all PS3 games are region free.

However the console will be region locked for DVDs, Blu-Ray films, and all the PlayStation Network settings.

Sadly Dubai is in Region 3:

[bruno-1012]

Exactly - same problem with the PSP I bought last year.

Had to confirm it was europe compatible.

Don't intend getting movies for it but I want the option.

If I get a PS3 I will want to play movies on it at some point.

[Lenny]

Talking about playing films on it:

Casino Royale Blu-ray for first 500,000 Europeans | PlayStation Universe (PSU)

More reason to buy a European PS3.

[bruno-1012]

Lenny,

You might want to brush up on some geography.

The map you show has the UAE clearly in region 2.

It is more about where they get supplies from.