Which gaming console should you buy?


Which console to buy has becoming increasingly more complex? It's now not simply a case of picking the one with the top games or the next generation console/upgrade of the one you already have. The main consoles to choose from are the PSP3, Wii and the Xbox 360.

If you read my Wii review it describes this console as the most ground breaking when it was first released changing the course of gaming for years to come and spawned the newer controllers from its competitors. Since this original review Nintedo have improved its original Wii Remote, with the MotionPlus for an improved/increased accuracy. The Wii is great value if the type of games and controller appeal to you, a very good alternative to the other power-strong consoles.

If high grade graphics is what you're after, you should be looking at the Xbox 360 or the PS3. The PS3 specification boasts the best console graphically and is free to play online. The unit also doubles as a Blu-ray player and the PlayStation Move controller gives a wireless experience similar, if not better than the Wii MotionPlus.

The Xbox 360, on the other hand have a system called Xbox Live for online use, which does unfortunately come at a cost financially (but it is very reputable). The most interesting feature is its newest form of its controller, which is something a little different called 'Kinect', a controller less system that allows the users' body movements and speech to directly interact with games, like spinning a roulette wheel in a casino. A highly ambitious project leaving us in intense anticipation of its final results.

An in depth comparison can be seen in my console comparison review.

Friday, 12 November 2010

Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) Review.

Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3)


  



"Our vision has taken us to unprecedented levels of success and innovation. Just keeping up with conventional technology is not enough for us."
Kaz Hirai, Sony Computer Entertainment

At last, the most recent console from Sony is now here. The PlayStation 3 is powered by the "Cell processor", which is boasted to be 35 times more powerful than its predecessor, the PS2.
Its graphics is powered by an nVidia graphics chip called an RSX ("Reality Synthesizer") which operates at 550 MHz core clock with greater than 300 million transistors, and is claimed to be more powerful than two GeForce 6800 Ultra cards put together.

Comparing the PS3 to the Xbox 360 as far as specifications are considered is virtually impossible, due to the GPUs and CPUs construction. The RSX has a slightly smaller number of pipelines than what the Xbox 360 boasts, but this could still mean that they are more powerful. Graphics aside, the Nintendo Wii is an even harder comparison due to the completely different market/retailer that they appeal to (however with the PlayStation Move this may well change).
The online facility, as with the Xbox 360 is an important/crucial factor. The PS3 can have the facility be played online for free, a huge positive in comparison with the Xbox: Live which has a subscription of £32-£40 a year. However, there have been mixed reviews with the PlayStation Network, and it is widely known that Xbox: Live is far superior. Downloadable files will cost you extra, but this should not be a major issue for the overall lifetime of you PS3 online experience.
The standard controllers on the PS3 are not a redesign as first anticipated; in fact the controller looks similar to the old PS2 controller with the added addition of wireless capabilities.

The Sixaxis controller uses Bluetooth technology and has a motion sensor, with 6 degrees of freedom (all of which is standard). A newer version was designed to incorporate the rumble feature called the Dual Shock 3. The PS3 can accommodate up to 7 players at one time, also additional controllers can be connected to the USB 2.0 ports available. Furthermore, PSP owners will be able to connect their handheld gaming device to a Wi-Fi port as either a controller or an additional screen, perhaps even for viewing tactical information in game. The console system is available in a number of various colours which include white, silver and black. The media format that all the games will be stored on is Blu-ray (which is the successor to DVDs) - a standard single-layer Blu-ray Disc would hold 25 GB (roughly 5 times more storage than a standard single-layer DVD). The Blu-ray drive will support all Blu-ray formats (BD-ROM/BD-R/BD-RE) and be backward compatible with current CD and DVD formats to enable 'some' PS2 games to be played (although Sony say 200 of these games do not work). As well as this flexibility, what really separates the PS3 from the Xbox 360 is the fact that the console can doubles up as a Blu-ray/DVD player. At the moment the benefits of such a system has not reached its full potential, but can be just as successful as the PS2 was to DVDs (providing that Blu-ray stays competitive with HD-DVDs).

September 2010, sees the release of Sony's new motion control system, PlayStation Move, to rival the Wii MotionPlus and Kinect for Xbox 360. It has many similarities to the MotionPlus controller - The facility to mimic sword fighting, golf, tennis, boxing etc.

One notable advantage over its Nintendo counterpart is its more noticeable precision.
Also, if the requirement in the game is to recognise both hand movements, then the another PlayStation Move controller or the navigation controller can be added (to the unused hand). This means there are two controllers acting wirelessly - this is not the case with the Wii. At the moment, barring unreliable third-party hardware, the system in the Wii has the MotionPlus in one hand with the wired nunchuck controller in the other, which does become a bit restrictive at times, especially during sports like boxing. Nevertheless, what Sony have created on the face of it is nothing really new and the fact that their main rival, Microsoft have come up with an original concept in Kinect, it will be worrying times leading up to the next generation of console for Sony.





The PS3 comes in varying hard drive sizes, at release it gave a retail value of £425 - which is quite considerable compared to the other consoles. What should also be priced-in is a 2nd controller (£30) and couple of games (£80), which gives an overall total of £535! Adding PlayStation Move to that makes the cost even more considerable - maybe this is why it has taken so long for Sony to come up with it.
As the years have past, this console is slowly becoming cost effective. However, as purely a console, the PS3 is still rather expensive. However, if you are looking for a great console and a Blu-ray player then this would be great value at this price.
Prior to the concept of Kinect, the PS3 was marginally superior to the Xbox 360, but with the introduction of the PlayStation Move, from a cursory perspective it now looks like Sony are comfortable with the present, whereas Microsoft have looked to the future.



Still can't decide? View my console buyer’s review.


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