Recently, Playstation 3 has gotten more hype with the release of the much anticipated Metal Gear Solid 4. I finally succumbed and bought a 40GB PS3. I realized the 80GB PS3 was coming out with MGS4, new controller, backwards compatibility, and more USB/SD ports. The new features was certainly enticing, but unnecessary for my case; I have an existing PS2, rumble was never a big deal, and what the heck am I going to do with more ports and 40GB.
The PS3 arrived nicely packaged and very shiny as advertised. I plugged it into my existing network and updated to the latest firmware, which took about 30 minutes. The wireless controller charges directly through USB so there is no need to worry about batteries. Setting it up to run as a media server was a little more painful. I’m running Vista and I thought there was a way to share folders easily, but apparently you can only do it through Windows Media Player, you have to add folders to the Library and enable Media Sharing. In addition, you may have to change some network firewalls settings to allow streaming. Once set up it was beautiful to behold the upconverted videos whether avi, mpg4, or wmvs. I do wish the user interface was better, there is no way to play a folder, you have to rely on a playlist, and there is no slider to advance the media.
The PS3 also integrates to your PSP, this allows you to stream media and games directly to your PSP anywhere, even over the internet. This is certainly a cool feature and nice for the lazy. The web browser on the PS3 is functional though its certainly not a very fun time.
I’m currently playing Resistance: The Fall of Man, its not bad for a FPS, but I still prefer Gears of War and Call of Duty 4. The games are still a huge rip off at $60 a pop. I’m sure I’ll eventually get MSG4 even though I haven’t felt the draw as much as the original. Overall, the PS3 feels shinier than the Xbox360, but not always as user friendly.
