It’s no secret I was amazingly reticent about Sony’s PS3 when it first launched. There were a lot of things wrong with the picture. Over time, my coldness became more of a lukewarmness – still not completely satisfied but more impressed with particular aspects of the experience. As the price dropped and software/hardware updates became a regularity, ownership became a real possibility and I added it to my list.
So when WalMart in all of their WalMartiness offered a $100 gift card with the purchase of an 80GB PS3, I jumped on it. I opted to order it from their website rather than drive out to the store (which is kind of a lose-lose, really) and it arrived yesterday, in the midst of a million other things I really should be doing instead. So far I’ve only spent about an hour with it, but it’s such a different feel from other consoles I’ve experienced that the initial impressions are probably some of the most interesting.
Packaging and Pack-ins
Since this is just a base-model, 80GB unit there’s nothing really to write home about. It includes a DualShock 3 controller (finally) and… not much else. There’s no power brick as there were with the Wii and 360, which is nice, but seriously, Sony? Composite cables? Those are worthless. I initially decided to get the component video adapter ($20) since our TV doesn’t have HDMI, but I remembered that it does have DVI, and so instead the plan is to use a DVI/HDMI adapter with a standard HDMI cable – it’s about half the price and we can continue to use it when we upgrade to HDMI eventually. The cables are all still in transit, which means that all of my experience thus far has been through the included cables.
Setup
Physical setup: no different than any other piece of hardware, so it’s worth skipping. Except that when you first turn the unit on you have to plug in the wireless controller… okay, whatever. The initial startup process begins with an orchestra tuning their instruments (this is the startup screen?), then guides you through establishing the date and time (can’t this be pulled from the network?), giving your name, and optionally connecting to the internet. Nothing particularly difficult, though it felt more tedious than setting up the 360. Or a computer, for that matter.
Which brings me to an interesting point. The moment you’re launched into the dashboard (Sony calls it the Xross Media Bar, or XMB), you’re bombarded with stuff. Not visually – the layout is very clean, but there are sooooo many features and they’re all much more apparent than on the current 360 dash. It seriously does feel like Sony was out to design some kind of living room computer and decided that they might as well add games to it and call it a PlayStation.
After this, I left, because it needed to download a software update (140MB!) and I had an appointment. An interesting side note here: you have the option of downloading the update on your computer and sticking it on a thumb drive for the PS3, instead of getting it on the machine directly. Anyway, when I came back, it was done, and I only had to spend 5 minutes scrolling through the EULA to get it to install. Then I created a PlayStation Network account (for free, which is great), where I had to do the same thing. I was almost worn out from all the scrolling, but then I got giddy that I could actually use the unit and not have to install anything further (for now).
It still looks terrible, thanks to the composite cable. Type is blurry, and it’s just not the crisp HD that it wants to be. I’ve played with the XMB with a proper video connection and it’s downright gorgeous. It needs to be that when you first turn it on. But other than that, it’s fine for now. Like I said before, it’s very computer-like, which means there’s a LOT of stuff there. Some of the options in the settings, while nice to have, would benefit from a line or two of explanation.
Surfing the Net on the Information Superhighway
The PS3 includes a web browser. I like this. I was anxious to find out if it would work for the only things I would really use it for – watching videos. So I tested it with a couple of sites, with cautious optimism:
- Adult Swim: Because I never know when I’ll need to watch some Aqua Teen Hungerforce or Superjail. It works!
- Hulu: Because watching Prison Break and Chuck when they’re on TV is too much work. It works! (I think)
- YouTube: Because the world needs kitten videos. It works! (Probably)
Everything seemed to be functioning. I want to go back and play with it some more once I have it on a proper ethernet connection, and then I can give final impressions. But still, I was delighted to see that Hulu apparently works, because we had been debating the purchase of a cheap media center PC for similar purposes.
And that’s all I know. Next time: I don’t know yet. Maybe the PS Store or something.