To PS3 or not to PS3?

Well, here I sit on the horns of a dilemma. I have, since the drive in my old XBox died, been without a games console (apart from my PSP, which is more of a travel companion). I do have a Gamecube, but save for the odd go at Donkey Konga, or a run at Resident Evil 4, it has not seen the light of day since I completed Zelda and all of the other games I had on it. No, that now lives with my fiancee who is happy to join me in the odd post-pub game of Monkeyball. So, I need to get a new console to fill the slot on my TV stand and stop me building a monster PC just to play games.

 Why do I need one at all, I hear some nay-sayers ask? Well, the fact is I prefer a good couple of hours gaming to watching Big Brother or the like - games are, by nature, interactive and get your mind working. I tend to watch DVDs to relax and play games for fun. The last ones I really enjoyed were the Prince of Persia trilogy (including the extra in-between version on the PSP) and Tomb Raider Legend. I've played a lot of Neverwinter Nights on my laptop and have also spent a lot of time playing Dawn of War and the like. But what I really like to have as a leisure option is a nice console with a racing game, a golf and/or other sport game, maybe a fighting game and something with a bit of action (i.e Halo, or Splinter Cell for example). So, given the fact that I will no doubt buy my other half a Wii (she is a) a Zelda fanatic and b) very interested in the nunchuk controller), do I get myself an XBox 360 or a PS3? This is my current dilemma.

 

The issue is that, despite some comments made by fans of Microsoft's white box, I have yet to be blown away by the 360. Yes, Prey and Condemned looked good, but no better than on my Vaio laptop. Yes, Gears of War looks interesting, but Resistance: Fall of Man on the PS3 looks better. The racers on 360 are either not much better than those on the old XBox, or they are highly detailed and the cars look like they are skating on the roads...in fact the only thing I like about the 360 is its price, as I can now pick one up for around £200 or even less if I went for the Core version. The other reason I dislike the 360 is that the core version is so basic that it means all games for the system are written down to that spec - no game can require hard-disk space to install files to, for example. At least the "base" PS3 still has a 20gb hard drive (in other markets, the UK only gets the full-fat 60gb version). I fear that the 360 is too compromised to be truly next-gen and is too pricey to appeal to someone who just wants a games console to dick around with.

 So, the Playstation 3. Well, I have to admit to loving my PSP, but I never really got on with my PS2 (bought one of the Gran Turismo 3 packs the day they came out many moons ago) - I preferred the fun factor of the Gamecube (I used to take it round to friends' houses regularly) and the superior technology of the first XBox (Halo 2 was great) to the black box from Sony. Yes, I know it had Final Fantasy ( I really enjoyed FF-X), but that didn't sell the system to me and I eventually sold it and 13 games to a friend for what I paid for the console a little over a year later, but I digress. The fact is that I am not a Sony fanboy, PSP aside, (I had a Saturn and N64 instead of a PS One, too) so they system has a lot to do in order to convince me to shell out at least £425 for a console alone. It needs to be able to store movies for me to watch and it needs to be able to play games that look great and are good to play, as it has to prevent me from wanting to build the monster PC that I keep threatening my fiancee I am going to. If it can do enough to convince me I don't need a high-end gaming PC to get my entertainment fix, then it will be worth the money. I can stick with my trusty Vaio Core Duo and save myself about £1000. So, the big question is "does it manage to do it?"

 

The answer is a resounding "maybe". Yes it is expensive, but it does have some lovely launch titles (Mr Gates, where exactly is Halo 3, by the way?), with Resistance Fall of Man, Formula One Championship Edition (my sad fascination with F1 comes from the fact I used to work for the company that designed many of the cars, not to mention the Bugatti Veyron...), Tekken 5, Enchanted Arms, Assassins Creed, Virtua Tennis 3 and others all look amazing and seem to have good gameplay (I have only had the briefest of trails of the console and can only really say that F1 Championship Edition and Resistance: Fall of Man are both rather good) from what I can see. So far so good. The downsides? Well it doesn't do DiVX, so I have to re-encode all the videos on my PC to store on the PS3, but that's not a huge issue... It currently doesn't upscale 1080i video to 720p (but it soon will due to a planned firmware update) and...well, that's about it. From what I have read DVD playback is fine, bluray playback is as good as commercial bluray players and it all seems to be good news. So, aside from having to find the cash, what is holding me back? Well, not a lot really. Once I have the spare funds (hey, weddings cost a LOT), I think I will treat myself. PS3, two controllers, Resistance:Fall of Man, F1, Virtua Tennis 3 and maybe Tekken 5 to begin with. Then add in things like a football/NFL game, an RPG and maybe the latest Tiger Woods. That should see me through the next three years or so.... Happy gaming!