I'm thinking about buying a ps3, what should I know?

I may buy a new ps3 slim. What should I know?

I know it won't play ps2 games.

Do all ps3s have wifi?
Do you have to pay for the playstation network?
Does it come with an hdmi cable?
Any advice?

I am also considering a PS3 for Christmas, or possibly a Wii. The PS3 won't play PS2 games?!? Is that true? 'cause that'd be a BIG entry in the "CON" column for it.

You should know why, exactly, you want it.

People tell me it will, eventually, via emulation, but that is just a rumor.

As far as I know, yup.

Nope, it is free.

Yup.

Nope. None I can think of.

But don't you have to pay for XBox live ? Is it that different?
What can you do for free on the playstation network?

Are you sure? When I bought my PS3 I had to get a HDMI cable separately.

Well, I bought one about a year ago now and I don't regret a thing.

All PS3's come with wi-fi out of the box, which is a big plus for me. It means no Ethernet cables across the living room and automatic updates to the latest software and online multiplayer games... For FREE! The PS Network is 100% no charge.

I'm not sure about the Slim, but my PS3 came with a HDMI to RCA interface and not standard HDMI male to male wire. I bought those $3 cables I linked to in Forbin's Techforge thread last week. They work fine.

The best thing about my PS3 is the built in Blu-Ray capability. Having it has given me an opportunity to rediscover my favorite movies again in a new format and have the latest and greatest technology for new releases.

I'd advise you to jump in with both feet.

This just in... Walmart will have a PS3 Slim along with Batman: Arkham Aslylum, InFamous and the Blu-Ray of The Dark Knight for $299 on Black Friday. These are two of the best games this year and a great way to jump into BluRay while saving $100.

I'm just saying...

Honestly, not much... The PS3 just got streaming Netflix and you can use the built in browser to access anything on the web. XBOX has some sort of interface for Facebook and Twitter, but I'm not sure about the rest of the web. You can also play multiplayer games online. The real big difference in my mind is the $50/yr for XBox Live access that is free on PSN.

It may or may not be a deal killer. The truth is that everyone that games is on XBL and PSN has a way to go, but it's getting there.

So it doesn't come with a real hdmi cable, but instead comes with a hdmi hybrid which links to the TV's standard def ports?

Honestly, I don't know if it's worth it. I'm not in to Rated M games. I'm not big on first person shooters, etc.
The only games I'm interest in are both Ratchet & Clanks, portal, and uh... I guess that's it.

What kind of download speed do you need for the Ps3 network? Cause I only average about 1.3mps. And does this thing communicate all the time? I don't want a video game console eating up my bandwidth.

edit - does the ps3 browser support flash? Can I watch youtube on it?

As far as game titles, the 360 and the PS3 are almost identical.

Just check out the list of games for each system on www.metacritic.com

The PS3 has free online play and Blu-Ray... the 360 has XBOX Live, which you pay for but its vastly superior to the Playstation Network.

I got a Wii because I don't give a fuck about Madden, WWII shooters, and games that I could just play on my PC. I like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc.

Neither was I when I bought mine... I was not nor do I consider myself now to be a "gamer."

I bought my PS3 forit's other capabilities primarily and the gaming was just an added bonus. I have grown to appreciate Madden, Call of Duty and a few others, but I don't see myself getting into games out side of those.

I don't regret my purchase 1 bit. You have to make your own call on this.

Alpha does the ps3 browser play youtube videos. Cause that would be a big positive for me.

I'm really swinging both ways on this. I bought a ps2 played it for about a year and a half then never touched it again.

Maybe I should go with an ipod touch instead.
I can't really decide.

It remains constantly connected while turned on (although you can tell it to disconnect) but that doesn't really use any bandwidth, just checks to see if people you know are online and stuff like that. You are always asked before any updates are downloaded.

Yes, and YouTube has a specially formatted version of their site for viewing on PS3 and Wii.

http://lifehacker.com/5132509/youtube-optimizes-for-your-wii-and-ps3

[YT="How to upgrade your PS3 hard drive"]AuyQPW3bDS0[/YT]

I have yet to encounter a file format incompatible with the PS3. It plays everything! Flash, swf, mp3, mov, wmv, avi, etc.

Thanks, Ricewiend. I will make it a point to get a 250 GB drive for my PS3!

Does anyone know if the PS3 uses SATA or EIDE interface for hard drives?

Really stupid question:

We all know the PS3 has a Blu-Ray player. I assume it will upconvert/play DVD's as well? I ask because I plan on hooking up the PS3 to the main TV in the den and moving my nice upconverting DVD player into the bedroom.

It's SATA...
But there is a 250GB model out now...
Current models dont have PS2 backwards compatibility...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3

It doesn't handle mkvs's natively, however there are converters you can download which convert mkv's to vob files so they will work, and they are super fast (takes about a minute to convert an entire movie).

It will upconvert DVD's so long as it is connected via HDMI, and does a bloody nice job of it as well.

I kinda regret buying a 360 over a PS3. The 360 was far cheaper up front, but overall more expensive once you buy all the peripherals, most of which are included in the PS3. The one 360-exclusive game I wanted, Ace Combat 6, turned out to be quite underwhelming, and I'm going to be deprived of titles like God of War III and Final Fantasy XIV. Playing Halo over Xbox Live was fun for a matter of weeks, but it's not worth the expensive of the service; the game itself is blah. Everything else I care about--Silent Hill, Guitar Hero, Resident Evil--has been multi-platform. Not that I care about Blu-Rays, but that player alone is worth a PS3 IMO.

Left 4 Dead 2 has me comtemplating buying an XBox.... but I don't regret the PS3 one bit.

Buy a Wii.

(And with the $$$ you save you can buy a Blu-Ray player and still have spare change.)

Just a side note.. if you're into bit torrents, the Vuze bit torrent client now interfaces with the PS3 and XBox 360 via wi-fi... So if you download a... movie trailer or music video, you can use your wi-fi to play it on your PS3. No burning CD's, DVD's or BD's anymore.

I assume you already know this, but the PS3 can use your PC as a media server if you have Windows Media Player 11 installed. You just select the drives to be shared on your pc and then you can select files to play from your PS3.

I rarely burn media to play on the PS3 anyway, just usually throw it on a USB stick.

Play it on PC.

I just want to reiterate something Bailey said:

You can throw whatever you've downloaded from BitTorrent onto a USB thumbdrive and play it on the PS3 straight off the drive.

You'll never touch your old PS2 games. The leap in graphics is that big.

Yes
No
Yes
Get one immediately. If anyone suggests you get an X-BOX 360, beat them unconscious, burn their possessions, and call the police.

Do not listen to this man, he is a thought-criminal.

Yeah, it's an all-around media center.

Playstation Home, which is like the retarded child nephew of Second Life.

PSN is rather underwhelming, but they're working on it.

If you play a lot of networked games, then XBox Live might be better. From what I hear, it is organized better, and since you are paying for it, it doesn't go down a lot. If you are a casual network gamer, I'm not sure if the cost would be worth it.

It would also depend, I guess, on what games you play. I can play Street Fighter 4 just fine on the Playstation Network. Something more data intense though, like a first person shooter, might not work as well. (Though I have heard few complaints from friends who play these a lot on PSN.)

You can also download games on the PSN. Some of these are really fun, and they cost $10. The best part though, is you can download demos to try them out before you buy them. You can also download movie trailers in full 1080p.

Also ps3 and xbox both have dragon age and fo3.