Playstation 3: The Movie Machine

The other day somebody asked me how I'm enjoying the Playstation 3. I purchased it about three weeks ago, and have probably turned it on about once every two or three days since. Good sign, right? Well, that depends on how you look at it.

Immediately answering the question, I said "it's great at playing movies." And to that, there is no doubt. Previously I mentioned how impressed I was with its upscaling abilities with DVD, and of course, it's great at playing Blu-Rays, which look fine. And really, that's about all I've done with the system. It came with Motor Storm, which I popped in and played once. Not overly impressed with it. Sure, the graphics are fine and the sound is standard; the racing is neat but I just couldn't care about it at all. Perhaps it's just too run of the mill.

Are there any other games available? Anything good? There may be a couple but I really don't feel like playing them. Without a doubt I went into the PS3 with Blu-Ray in mind, and that's how I've been treating it. I downloaded some demos but have yet to play them. In fact, I now use it as my primary CD player too! Every day I look online to see what other media functionality can be done with the system or will be coming up.

So as a media player, it's pretty good. It's silent, it can be turned on with a remote (a real annoyance when using an HTPC) and it's smooth. As for it's game playing abilities: couldn't tell you.

And a good point was raised: if you are in the next-gen, you probably have a 360. If all your friends are on the 360, you will get one too, as the structure to play online, compare games and whatnot is so slick on Microsoft's system, it's difficult to get along without it. I want practically the exact same system on the PS3. But nobody I know has one to even test out the service. Ah well.

I'm sure in about a year there will be some great games that show off the true potential of the PS3, but until then, we're much better off playing games on the 360. This is especially true for cross-platform games: if you're going to get the same experience, why not go with the 360 and get some achievement points and compare with friends? Until then, I will continue to be extremely happy with the PS3 as it spins high definition movies and treats me to a wonderful visualization as I play my apparently obsolete CDs.