So... my blu ray dvd player died the other night, and instead of getting a new one, been 'thinking'about looking into buying a PS3. The price of PS3's have gone down considerably this year, an with the upcoming holiday season, I'm predicting the price will drop even further.

I'm after some advice/info from PS3 owners about whether I should invest in a PS3 now... or wait til the PS4 is released next year (which I was told by my local EB Games). Apart from the fact that the PSN is free, whereas Xbox Live is subscription based... is there anything else anyone would say about the PS3 to help memake my mind up?

Are there prepaid cards for the PS3, akin to the Microsoft points cards for Xbox Live? I've heard that PSN has a subscription based form (akin to Xbox Live Gold), and if so... can you purchase Subscription cards, like what you can for Xbox Live? Apart from the technical advantages (graphic wise etc for games), what are the other advantages of a PS3?

Any advice/info would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I would just go with a PS3, I dont think an announcement on PS4 is even close (Gamestop employees arent always right unfortunatly). It has 3D Stereoscopic built in, PSN is free and it does have cards like Xbox Live does.Netflix, music unlimited, hulu plus, NFL Season Ticket are some supported "extras" if you are signed on for any of them. Games library is getting bigger with Uncharted 3, Resistance 3, God of War Origins Collection, Shadow of Colossuss and Ico HD, and all the games that are multiconsole. PSN+ is not necessary but you do get some games for free (PS1 and Older), discounts on most content from Sony, 60 minut game trials, early access to betas, and irc some free avatars.

However as you probably know Xbox Live beats PSN with a cocked hat in most fronts. Except the fact PSN is free.

I play on my PS3 more than my other consoles (360 and Wii), updates arent as bad as what people say but those hacking attacks still trouble me.

Hope that helps

PS3 on bestbuy; Base 160gb Model: 250 USD, Factory Refurbished 320gb 250 USD

Don't buy a PS3 unless you're interested in its exclusives. There is nothing on the system level that is going to make it worth the money to you, really.

The PS4 is not coming out next year.

1) PS4, next year? EB employee was either trolling you or an Xbox fanboy.

2) If you're going to actually USE it as a blu-ray player, it's a good purchase - more so if you don't have a 360.

3) Some exclusives coming out are making it harder and harder (for me) to NOT get one - Ico/SotC HD, Silent Hill 2/3 HD, MGS HD, The Last Guardian, Disgaia 4, ect.

Until it broke, I used the shit out of it. It replaced my DVD player, played Bluray, Library has grown so backward compatibility is less of an issue.
Don't regret the purchase.

I have to admit, I was rather foolish to fall for that "We're taking preorders for the PS4, which'll be released next year.". I should know better...

@ N10-Aden: Thanks for the tech info. Still undecided, but as I have a surplus of $$$ free atm, I don't know IF it'll be worth getting a PS3 or not. Still on the fence lol

@ FIGHT SMACK IN THE ORPHANAGE: There aren't many exclusives on it I'm interested in tbh. Warhawk is probably the only one... for the rest of it's game library, I admit I'll probably keep using my Xbox 360 for the console games I'm after. Although I'm tempted to get Saints Row The Third, X-Men Destiny and (eventually) Mass Effect 3 on the PS3. Of course with the latter, I'd still get ME3 on the Xbox, to continue my Shepard from ME1 all the way through.

@ tanis1lionheart: 1- Yeah... I'm an idiot lol. 2- I have a Xbox 360 Pro and Xbox 360 Slim, but they are DVD only, not blu ray. 3- See above.

@ impudent urinal: I have a feeling that both the Xbox 360 and PS3 have their own faults etc and tech. issues, which can lead to downtime for repairs etc. That's why I kept my Xbox 360 Pro, after buying my Xbox 360 Slim... kept it as a backup in case my Slim needs to go in for repairs.

its worth it, both as a bluray player and a game system.
the ps4 is not due until around 2015, or so sony said.
then again, sony says a lot of things.

also, the ps3 has its shares of good games.
resistance and killzone series being among the few.
and on the "versions" battle, it also has its victories.
L.A. noire on X360 looks like a dreamcast game compared to the ps3 (slight exageration).

From my personal standpoint:

Ps3 games like:

Fallout 3 and oblivion and such,offer less content than the xbox 360 version.

Xbox 360 games seem to get patched more often,whilst games from the ps3 are less finished.

I heard that the xbox 360 version of fallout,has a patch you can downlaod to fix many bugs,and also it has added content.Same goes for fallout 3,cept fallout 3 is less bugged.

1) PS4, next year? EB employee was either trolling you or an Xbox fanboy.

2) If you're going to actually USE it as a blu-ray player, it's a good purchase - more so if you don't have a 360.

3) Some exclusives coming out are making it harder and harder (for me) to NOT get one - Ico/SotC HD, Silent Hill 2/3 HD, MGS HD, The Last Guardian, Disgaia 4, ect.
Both the Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid HD collections are releasing on the 360 as well.

PS4 releasing next year is insane I don't know why you would believe anything like that.

Yes, there are prepaid PSN cards (here in Europe there are cards for 20€ and 50€, I assume it's similar in au).

If you only want a blu ray player, then you should just buy a regular blu ray player, since PS3 is now way more expensive than the average player, but if not, I definitely recommend several of the exclusives (Demon's Souls and LittleBigPlanet in particular). Overall, I guess if you have money to spare you could do a lot worse than buy a PS3. There may be some more obscure titles, including some downloadable ones that could catch your interest.

Just whatever you do avoid a lot of the earlier multiplatform games on it. All the arguments you hear about X360 having better graphics and framerates on multiplat titles is for the most part bullshit now, but back in 2006-2007, it was damn true.

Demon's Souls probably doesn't matter much anymore now that Dark Souls is about to release and Demon's Souls servers are shutting down. Dark Souls is going to be multiplatform.

So? Multiplayer is truly unique and PvP is fun, but everything else that's great about it can be played offline (and should as far as I'm concerned)

You seem to be completely ignoring my other point: Demon's Souls isn't exactly a major selling point for the PS3 now that its successor is about to release as a multiplatform title (and with functioning online). If the choice is Dark Souls or Demon's Souls plus a PS3, that's probably a pretty easy choice to make.

Fuck.

I get what you're saying, I just don't really look at it like that. So what if Dark Souls is releasing soon, on Xbox360 too? It doesn't make Demon's Souls any less of a game. If he's considering getting a PS3, I might as well recommend my favorite game on it. Why should Dark Souls change anything?

Because it will essentially be the same game.

If you decide to get a PS3, don't bother signing up for Playstation Plus. It's not worth it at all despite the discounts and free stuff you get initially. If at any point you let your subscription lapse, all games and content you downloaded will cease to work until you get renew your subscription.

So... my blu ray dvd player died the other night, and instead of getting a new one, been 'thinking'about looking into buying a PS3. The price of PS3's have gone down considerably this year, an with the upcoming holiday season, I'm predicting the price will drop even further.

I'm after some advice/info from PS3 owners about whether I should invest in a PS3 now... or wait til the PS4 is released next year (which I was told by my local EB Games). Apart from the fact that the PSN is free, whereas Xbox Live is subscription based... is there anything else anyone would say about the PS3 to help memake my mind up?

Are there prepaid cards for the PS3, akin to the Microsoft points cards for Xbox Live? I've heard that PSN has a subscription based form (akin to Xbox Live Gold), and if so... can you purchase Subscription cards, like what you can for Xbox Live? Apart from the technical advantages (graphic wise etc for games), what are the other advantages of a PS3?

Any advice/info would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I figure you'll look at it a lot like me. I bought my PS3 as a replacement for an old BD player and for a few exclusives that I was interested in, most of which (I'm looking at you, Uncharted) disappointed me badly. On the other hand, the Infamous series (which I didn't know a thing about) turned out to be among my favorite sandbox games of all time.

Anyway, as for the downsides, controlling movies with a dualshock sucks. A lot. If you buy the remote for it, it sucks less, but is still not as effective as a remote for a stand-alone player. I also suspect you'll be as unhappy with PS3 exclusives as I am in general. Or if you want that phrased more directly/entertainingly, I would rather smash my balls with a hammer made of crystallized syphilis than play shit like Resistance, Killzone, Uncharted, Metal Gear Solid, etc. PSN Plus is a total waste of money for your purposes. You already get pretty much any features you're likely to care about with your XBL gold account. The design is also very inconvenient if you're concerned about space. Installation of games can suck, and is definitely inferior to installation on 360.

On the plus side, a few of the exclusives are very good and it's easier to update than the other 2 BD players I've had.

I know I bashed on it a lot, but I don't regret my decision to buy one at all, nor do I suggest that you kick it to the curb. I do actually recommend it (albeit tepidly) if you can get it for a price you find agreeable.

As a BD player it is definatly superior in cost to the first BD player my brother got when they first introduced BD players and quality on it is consistent.

I think you can pick up a remote for it on the cheap at most retailers and online resellers. I dont know about gamestop because I stopped going there last year.

This is a question only you can really answer.

The PS3 is a Blu-Ray player and more, but the extra price means its only worthwhile if you a) have the money and won't really be too out of pocket by the purchase, in which case you might as well, or b) there are PS3 exclusives that you feel you might want.

Other than that, all the PS3 really offers is a quiet machine, no disc swapping in games, and no Red Ring (but that, touch wood, seems to be a thing of the past now, anyway). I find the PS3 a more convienient, more user friendly machine for these reasons, but they are hardly reasons to buy the thing, when you already have a 360.

So it comes back to exclusives, which have been pretty thin on the ground for both consoles in recent times. Personally, I feel that the PS3 has some pretty good exclusives, but not many and still fewer that I would recommend unconditionally. Valkyria Chronicles is in my Top 3 Games of this Gen, but other than that, its slim pickings.

Demon's Souls is very good, but not really essential (it has an amazingly atmospheric and enjoyable first world, but the rest are pretty average), Uncharted 2 is loved by most, but not by me, I have a soft spot in my heart for Killzone 2 (but not Killzone 3), and Metal Gear Solid 4 was... well, I suppose it was just about worth playing once, just for the experience.

Basically, it comes down to the price as I said before, because unforunately, the PS3 has nothing that would cause me to recommend anyone go out and buy it on its own merits alone. Its just too expensive for a system with such a shallow pool of quality exclusives. But when you are buying a new Blu-Ray player anyway, then it becomes easier to recommend, because it isn't a bad machine at all, and there might be something you like, or at least want to have go at.

If you don't have it already...I'd suggest getting 'Blur'.

A FUN racing game?
Well...fuck me...

Metal Gear Solid 4's a good game, man. I've played through it maybe 5 or 6 times. Kojima is pretty much the best when it comes to easter eggs. There's also a lot of unlockables/collectibles and the game is a pretty difficult stealth game on the harder difficulties.

Metal Gear Solid 4's a good game, man. I've played through it maybe 5 or 6 times. Kojima is pretty much the best when it comes to easter eggs. There's also a lot of unlockables/collectibles and the game is a pretty difficult stealth game on the harder difficulties.

I know, lol.

I beat it on most of the end diffuclties and have fond memories of it.

many disliked it, doesnt mean its a bad game.

Well, each to their own, but I didn't think much of MG4 at all. The awful dialogue (Big Mama!) and cutscenes that last forever and ever and ever (that Prague one is insanely long), killed my enthusiasm. Metal Gear Solid 1 is still the only MGS that I rate as being anything special (but that is an ace game, admittedly).

Kojima does have more ambition than most companies have in their entire staff and game libraries, but he's hit and miss. And for me, MGS4 missed far more often than it hit. All the best moments were IMO, either echoing or directly referencing/copying elements of MGS1.

I didn't hate it, but I certainly don't look back on it with fondness. More like... bemusement.

The awful dialogue is another reason I liked 4 and why I like MGS in general. The series has always been heavily influenced by dumb action movies.

The cutscenes weren't really a problem for me, either. I skipped them on every other playthough except one, so it's not really a big deal anyway.

Syphon Filter (series) > Metal Gear Sold (Series)


Just sayin...

Nah man that ain't even close to being true.

Yes, but without the cutscenes, there isn't much of a game left! Unless you *really* work with the game, helping it out by putting it on Very Hard, and ignoring the fact that you can just run straight past all the enemies instead of sneaking...

And yes, the dialogue is 'so bad, its good' at times, but at least in the first game, it was acceptable, and was about interesting and exciting stuff. In MGS4, the dialogue and plot is so ponderously overwritten (No, I wasn't sleeping Otacon, please go on and tell me more about the war enonomy, because its just so fascinating...)

And the emotion is *painfully* overwrought (which it occasionally was in MGS1, but not too often - not all the time, like in 4). Take that final scene in the graveyard. Good twist, exciting setup... then it goes on for a good 10-15 minutes, droning on about all sorts of rubbish you don't care about, before finally, finally getting to the good bit.

But like I said earlier, it was definately a unique experience, which counts for a lot in my book. I'm not sorry to have played it, I'm not sorry to have bought it, I'm perfectly happy to own it.

But I just don't really ever want to play it again!

The MGS games have always been pretty short and MGS4 isn't really any shorter. The whole series has pretty high replayability for me, so the game lasting 4 hours or so once you know what you're doing isn't a big deal. Like I said before, I played through MGS4 several times in a row until I had everything unlocked. I'm aware not everybody is going to get as much out of the game as I did, though.

I agree with you about the ending being terrible, though. That's a pretty common complaint. Also the reverse escort mission in the middle of the game blows after the first time as well (though I got a kick out of the foreshadowing in that mission, once I noticed it).

mgs4 in a nutshell: nanomachines do everything.
better get used to love the word too.

Modern games of all kinds include more levels, locations etc etc, but because of the shortening attention spans of the public now, these games are less involved, much easier and play lightning fast compared to the old titles. And its huge cutscenes aside, MGS4 is just as guilty of that as any other modern title.

Plus I found the level of technobabble reached unacceptable points in MGS4. The tech in MGS1 was chunky and characterful (tanks, big guys with unfeasibly large vulcan cannons, the metal gear itself etc). There were fantastical elements, like the whole idea of Psycho Mantis and Decoy Octopus etc, but they were balanced out by the generally realistic 'breach the terrorist base' feel. They struck the right balance.

But whilst MGS4 may have had some realistic elements, they were completely drowned out by all the nanomachines, population control through technology, invisible little robot helpers, jumping walkers, tecno-camoflague suits, and of course the fact that Snake is now some old guy (except when he's wearing a techno mask that makes him look young again...

It was too much, and it smothered the narrative (which because of MGS2 and 3 had already become bloated). And there was no inexplicable use of polar bears in the end sequence...

Thanks for the info. I've decided that I will get one, but going to wait until the Pre-Christmas sales before grabbing one. At the moment, 160gb PS3's are selling for under $400 AUSD, so the price is going down. Least I'll have some time to check out PS3 games and see if any appeal to me.

Vrykolas, man, it doesn't really matter how much you point out flaws in the story because I loved it :)

And that's your right, so more power to you. What animal award did you get first time round, by the way? I got a panther or something like that (the description was 'got seen all the time, dealt huge quantities of punishment, and took hardly any in return'). I'm guessing you get a snake if you're very sneaky.

Stealth? Pfft.

I got Eagle I think. I didn't do a stealth run until my third playthrough.