Yes, I know that Sony dropped the ball by horribly undershipping the holiday’s most in-demand item, but they have a had a sucessful track record in terms of total console sales and popularity. The PS3 is the largest of all the systems and comes with a blu-ray DVD player built in, which is why Sony loses $200 plus on each console sold. But, after the first of the year you can expect a large in-flux of systems and those smart enough to not spend $3000 on ebay for one, will be rewarded with a very powerful gaming and entertainment machine.
Why you want a PS3:
The PS3 is a very popular line of gaming systems. Look at the history, the PS1 outsold the Sega Saturn and N64 by a mile, the PS2 sold 25 million plus systems worldwide and creamed the Xbox and Gamecube. And just like the popular kids at school always had the most friends, the most popular system has an awful lot of developer friends. In fact some mega titles are headed the way of the PS3 including the next installment of the Final Fantasy series and most certainly a God of War 3 game will make an appearance. The initial release of games has been disappointing (except Resistance: Fall of Man) but don’t expect that to last very long.
It hooks up with the PSP easily. You can swap photos on the go, exchange music and do some other fluff stuff. The biggies are going to be the games that tie together for both systems (think SOCOM titles that when hooked up together), unlock weapons and levels for each system. And then there’s the talk about being able to take PS1 titles and transfer them from the PS3 to the PSP, that could be something really cool.
HDMI, the premiere AV hookup. Although it only comes with a standard set of AV cables, you can purchase an HDMI cable that plugs directly into you PS3 to your high def television for an unprecedented video connection. Plus, plugging in your fiber optic cable in the back of the PS3 to your receiver will allow for Dolby Digital audio, which quite frankly should be the standard now, but sadly is not. This is a plus because at least the machine comes with an HDMI plug in, it stinks you have to go buy a cable after forking out so much money, but hey, what are ya gonna do?
Backwards compatibility. You can play games from the PS1 and PS2, but it can be a bit rough to do at first since many games require you plugging in the wireless controller and going online to find patches to play the game. So while you don’t have to throw out your library of PS2 titles, things are not as smooth as they should be.
60 gig hard drive. Even if you purchase the core, 20 gig system, memory cards are but a memory. 60 gigs is a ton of room for a gaming console, so count on using it to download demos, of games, product updates, game levels and upgrades, pretty much anything you want.
The premiere system come with wireless network so you can game from anywhere in the house without any problems. Oh sure it has the port for connecting a standard LAN line, but being able to play upstairs when the kids are watching a movie downstairs is a bonus.
