Great graphics, free online play, Blu-Ray player built-in, sleek design, and bearing one of the most recognized brands in the industry... How is this not the best console of this generation?

A luxurious price and fistsfull of boneheaded design and marketing decisions.
The processor is powerful, but is an absolute bitch to program for. It's architecture is just too different from most, many 3rd party studios don't even invest in the process of learning to program for it in an efficient way, which is why most PS3 ports are inferior to the original PC/360 games in some way... Of course, games that are programmed for it well, are more often than not great games.

At launch, in 2006, the thing was an absolute joke. The original price point of >600 USD made it an absolute no-sale for many people, coupled with a disturbing ad campaign.
Sony also decided to drop rumble from the original controllers, due to a lawsuit with the previous controllers. Rumble is considered an industry standard, just dropping it was a very dumb thing to do.
Because of this, initial support from western game developers was less than lukewarm. The shining point of this whole debacle for dedicated Playstation gamers was the ability to play PS2 games in HD, with perfect compatibility, due to the PS2's Emotion Engine being built-in to the 20 and 60GB versions of the console, and the hope that developers would tap into the console's full potential.


Fast forward three years, and we have PS3's being sold much cheaper, at a reasonable price, even, a handful of beautiful exclusive games, and a huge library of Blu-Ray movies since the fall of HD-DVD...

But, evidently, nothing can save the console from the geniuses at Sony. The Emotion Engine, and PS2 support, was completely dropped from the new series of consoles. So, now you can only get this 80GB bastardization of a great console.

If you want a PS3, and why wouldn't you, I recommend getting the good version of the console, the 60GB NTSC version with all of the features and not this Frankenstein console.

PS3 is nice for playing new gen games, but if what you really want is to watch movies and music...its much much cheaper to get a moddified xbox1. the Xbox is more stable and lives longer too.

owned an 80GB for close to two years now, it finally crapped out on me yesterday (yellow light of death, wont turn on) but for the ammount of time i have owned it and the ammount of use i got out of it im not that bothered, right now i cant afford the $150 for it to be repaired out of warranty by sony but soon as i have the cash its getting sent to them.

i bought it for gaming but after finding its capabilities as a media center that became its main function, for me it became invaluable when linked to tversity for streaming content from the PC, previously i had been burning avis to dvd and playing them on my divx dvd player, over the course of the last couple years i have probably saved more cash on blank dvd's than i spent buying the PS3.

only cons i can find with the system are the yellow light of death, but apparently this is extremely rare (and yes it did have enough air space around it and got cleaned once a week). another con was the controller, found that it didnt take long before the analog sticks started getting stuck, most noticably on games like GTA4 when riding motorbikes, on the upside the kids have been playing it and put the controller through some pretty harsh abuse and it still works fine other then the left analog stick getting stuck.

I've had my PS3 for the better part of a year now, and I can finally say that I know enough about it to write an honest review.

When I first saw the price tag of the 80GB, $399 sounded a bit hefty to me. It wasn't really something I was willing to put forth right away, but in the end I'm glad I did.

Pros: The PS3 has a rapidly expanding gamelibrary and features some of the most amazing graphics available on the market today - and if what all of the game developers claim is true, we haven't even touched the potential of the PS3's graphics yet (although personally, I don't know how much of that I believe). Not only was this (for years) one of the most affordable blue ray players - It offers all the same media-center machine perks we've come to expect from Sony.

With the ability to store music and movies directly to my harddrive and play them at any time, the PS3 is used as much for movie night as it is for gaming.

Add all this in with the little details such as PSP Remote Play, Bluetooth Headset capatability, and the amazing fact that, so far, I've never plugged anything into the USB ports and had it fail to recognize. I've got a PC USB adapter for the DualShock2 controllers - which works amazingly on the PS3, regardless of drivers.

But even though this is easily one of the staples of my entertainment life - it's not without it's cons. Hard to believe it, but this think get's pretty darn hot despite being completely silent. I guess there's just not enough fan power, but in any case, if you're playing something really detailed, it'll make you regret putting it on a stone or glass table - because they'll hold the heat and it'll freeze up on you.

There's also the minor the things like Controller Syncing. The controllers get great battery life, but if power should flicker in your neighborhood while your PS3 is on, when you turn it back on, 3 out of 5 times, it won't recognize your controller unless you re-sync via USB.

And the last and final con is a cross platform con - one that applies to all current systems from all brands... Murchandising. I'm incredibly reluctant to spend real money on fake stuff. I feel as though if I just paid $60 for a game, I should own it, in it's entirity, and have the right to get free updates... But no. Every company out there, is making it to where if you want to get the absolute most out of you game or console, you'd better be prepared to spend a little bit more in the online store.

Despite these few negative aspects, you'll noticed I've still awarded the PS3 a 5 star rating. Sure, it's a bit quarky at times, but once you know how to care for it, it'll take care of you and your gaming needs.

SiriusXM Radio coming to Playstation 3 via PSN ???

[url=http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=90999]http://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=90999[/url]

this is an awesome system/computer its very clean looking and has a lot to offer that we dont normally see in video game consoles. The Ps3 is nothing but a major multimedia player for your entertainment needs. the ps3 comes with a HDD which can be replaceable if you feel the need to upgrade for more space. its a video game console, movie support,built in web browser, holds your favorite photos, free online, and it has a built in blu-ray player which you can pay the price of a blu-ray player (in this economic crisis) but i would prefer not! for computer lovers out there you can even install Linux on to the PS3. for all of this the price is well balanced i wouldn't turn it down when you know what your getting awesome product.

I Think Its Really Good Value For The Money.

Your Gettin a Multimedia pc That Could Estimate Up to 900+ , Its So Easy To Custimize , It Has Beautiful Looks , It gives the user what they want.

Online Is Great , I Find The Wifi Has A Good Reception , When People Say Its Too Much , Think How Much A Blue-ray Dvd Player Would Be About 400 OR More So Your Getting Great Money !!!!!

PS3 is maybe a bit too expensive for ist quality, but it still is very good. It has free online gaming, throphies (same as achievements on XBOX), it looks cool and you can use remote play from PSP although the signal is pretty weak. I think that the only bad thing about it its price, its too expensive, but ill still rate it 5/5.

There are very few ways that I could imagine the PS3 being a better multimedia center. I have four external hard drives attached to my PS3 with all of our photos, music, tv shows and movies. We have rented movies from the store with absolutely no delay, not even one second once the movie starts. The playstation store has a ton of offerings for games, tv shows, movies, etc... I guess next would be music! The fact that the online access is free is a great benefit to me. Each time they they release an update it gets better and better. I have easily upgraded my internal hard drive; first to a 160 GB hard drive, then to a 500 GB hard drive. We use it for Blu Ray movies as well as regular DVD's. It only looks to get better and better. I'm glad I put my money behind this horse.

What can i say about the PS3 that already hasn't been said about clay aiken.

nope , nintendo always had the best exclusive titles and lots of them , secondly the kind of games that are on xbox xbox360 ps2 ps3 either exclusive or not , you can play them on a PC. thus having a high end gaming PC overruns every console , ... but hey Wii was not made to be in a hardware competition ... Wii is portable , uniqe , innovative and most importantly that it really fits to people that have gaming PCs, PS3 is good for people who don't have a gaming PC, don't have a bluray player and do not have a DVD player , you get 3 systems in PS3 that are combined in a one, ... unfortunately it's best and more people buy standalone stuff than a PACK.

Furthermore this system got the same controller all 3 consoles. Changed a few buttons , wooow.

No offence , but 360 is not any better. RROD ... and more hardware issues than any other console. Plus GTA4 freezed on PS3s , lol

I have nintendo things for 10 years, I honestly say that i have never had to RMA anything nor do any workarounds , no any freezes , no any possible issues with the systems, controllers or game discs.

I have nothing against the fans of the other 2 consoles, but the truth hurts, doesn't it.:P

Simply put- The BEST piece of AV/gaming hardware I own. Very VERY versitile, with abilities that dwarf the competitions. The arguement that there are "no games" is a claim that is dated at best. This system has MORE (yes MORE) exclusives than any other console this gen. It has superior HDMI specs, processor specs, audio specs, and media specs to boot. It is more expensive than the competition, but you get what you pay for in this case. A gorgeous machine with future-proofed specs and attention to detail all the way around.

I reccomend this to ANYONE who is looking for the following:

1) A Top notch (and reliable)gaming console

2) A High-end media-server for their home theatre.

3)An outstanding TV Web browsing/flash video playing machine.



3)

i recently bought a ps3 and i love it plus with the ps3 you can expand the hard drive but a operating system like linux on it. i don't see the xbox doing that plus if you want to watch blu-ray movies on the xbox you have to buy another product from microsoft. hands down the ps3 is my gaming system til they come out with something better.....

Simply put - not enough games. Sony messed up with this one (and the 360 quickly filled it's shoes). Poor selection of software and the highest price on the market equals fail.

The best. PS3 has the power and features over the Xbox360. I've had 2x Xbox360's, 3x Nintendo Wii's, and 2x PS3's, and by far the Sony tops the lot. With features like the Blu-ray player, Expandable memory, Free online play, and the soon to be released Play TV, this console is well worth the asking price!

This is a quality system that plays blu-ray games as well as movies. Beware that it may be cheaper to replace a 40 gig HDD with something bigger than to pay for the 80 gig HDD.

Although I only got a 40GB, the NEW 80GB is the same and is great for its price. Highly recommended :)