PS3 out Friday anyone other than me getting one ?

[Guest]

[Rich With Cards]

Howdy all,

Well here is me mega hyped about the PS3, yeah yeah I already have a wii and a XBrick360 which are great. I just couldnt resist the temptation of another Launch day experience. Plus what ever the opinion is of the gaming side of the PS3 I really wanted to take advantage of the Bluray Player, as i had been considering the 360's HD disk drive.
Let me know if you are getting one and we can share our feelings on the games and the bluray quality.
Games i am getting are Virtua Fighter 5, Virtua Tennis, F1 Championship and Motorstorm, I dont get time to play games like Resistance fall of man hence the sports and pick up and put down games.

All the best

Rich

[Geek Boy]

I've had a Japanese one since the end of November but I am getting a UK one on Friday as well.  B4 any1 starts accusing me of greed, I ought to explain that I have a large-ish collection of Jap PS2 games that will only run on a Jap PS3.  Likewise, my UK PS2 games will only run on a UK PS3.

The bundle I ordered from Game is marked as "despatched" so maybe it might turn up a little sooner than Friday....

I'll wait until you get yours b4 passing comment on my 3 and a half months of PS3 ownership.  Only thing I will say is Motorstorm looks sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet through HDMI on a full HD TV (although the game itself only runs at 720p)

[Roz]

Nooooooo way. Hope you enjoy yours though

[Sharon]

I was one of those that was going to wait until the price comes way down in about six months but I may be waiting much, much longer now  .  It was announced in the paper this morning that not only are the UK PS3's a lot more expensive than the US ones but that they won't play many PS2 games.  I don't understand why, if the US ones can play all the old PS2 games, why the UK ones can't  .  Surely they are the same machine just with a different voltage 

[Roz]

It's not my area... so I don't really know, but this might be worth double checking before panicking... the newspapers can get their knickers in a twist and not even be correct

[Geek Boy]

I was one of those that was going to wait until the price comes way down in about six months but I may be waiting much, much longer now  .  It was announced in the paper this morning that not only are the UK PS3's a lot more expensive than the US ones but that they won't play many PS2 games.  I don't understand why, if the US ones can play all the old PS2 games, why the UK ones can't  .  Surely they are the same machine just with a different voltage 

The PS3 is cheaper in Europe and Ireland than it is in the UK!  And the reason the UK PS3's won't play all the PS2 games but the US/Jap machines will is because.....

They took the Emotion Engine chip out of the European (and therefore UK) PS3's.  The various PS3 forums lit up like a Christmas tree when this was announced about 3 weeks ago.  The EE chip is the bit that emulates the PS2.  So the US/Jap machines have hardware emulation but the Euro machines will all have software emulation instead.  My understanding is that the PSOne games are emulated through software anyway (even on the US/Jap machines) so no change there.

From now on, all new PS3's for the US and Jap markets will be minus the EE chip as well.  There are strong rumours flying around that Sony will disable the EE chip in existing machines through a firmware update and download the emulation software at the same time.  And if you have a 360, you will know exactly how good software emulation is.  Not.

So they take out a key hardware component but they don't drop the launch price.  Nice eh?  And from what I've read, of the top 10 best selling PS2 titles only a third of them work through software emulation.  Some people have said that 1200 titles will be compatible by the 23rd but that's rubbish.  Over a year later and the 360 can still only run about 30% of original XBrick titles.  Sony have also said (as if the above wasn't enough) that they will not make backward compatibility a priority.

And they wonder why they get so much bad press!  Incidentally, Sony lose about $200 per machine sold (cost of build compared to retail price) so don't expect a price drop anytime soon.  Microsoft are close to announcing a new 360 that has a 120gb HD, HDMI output and quieter running (it's been confirmed apparently, they just haven't gone official with the news as yet).  It's all black and in limited quantities.  The new spec will then switch over to the standard white production colour.

[Sharon]

Thanks Geek Boy, I must admit I am a novice game player and have never heard of EE chips.  From a purely amateur perspective I just want a machine I can play my favourite games on - I was absolutely gutted when the newer versions of Windows stopped liking the first Tomb Raider.  I do re-play my favourite games and wouldn't be happy about having a pile of stuff that is now useless or having two PlayStation's.

I am still unclear as to why they have dumped this EE chip though.  If the software version is inferior but the chip works why not leave well enough alone.  Or is it just to make you buy all new games  .  As you say this is what gives Sony a bad name.

[Geek Boy]

Thanks Geek Boy, I must admit I am a novice game player and have never heard of EE chips.  From a purely amateur perspective I just want a machine I can play my favourite games on - I was absolutely gutted when the newer versions of Windows stopped liking the first Tomb Raider.  I do re-play my favourite games and wouldn't be happy about having a pile of stuff that is now useless or having two PlayStation's.

I am still unclear as to why they have dumped this EE chip though.  If the software version is inferior but the chip works why not leave well enough alone.  Or is it just to make you buy all new games  .  As you say this is what gives Sony a bad name.

Sony have said that software emulation gives them scope to add hi definition support and to uprate the graphic quality of PS2 titles.  A bit like the smoothing effect the PS2 could do for PSOne games.  The PS3 cannot upscale PS2 and PSOne games in it's current form.  They've also said that reducing the amount of hardware in the machine will cut production costs and therefore allow for reductions in price.

I don't really understand the decision especially if they have no plans to continue with ongoing support for backwards compatibility.  Why direct resources into developing the emulation software if they have no concrete plans to push it towards 100% compatibility?  According to an article I read in a magazine, the EE chip only costs $27 to manufacture so it's not exactly a huge saving to remove it.  It's funny because in the past, Sony have criticised Microsoft's decision to go with software emulation for the 360 and now they are doing the exact same thing themselves!  Maybe with the connection to the PSNetwork, they can monitor how many people are actually playing older titles and they've found that people are not really interested in doing it.

At the end of the day, are you buying a PS3 to play PS2 games?  Probably not but that didn't stop people complaining about it a few weeks ago.  Obviously it was an important factor in people wanting a PS3 in the first place so it makes Sony's decision all the more curious.  And besides, I've tried a few Jap games on my machine and they didn't all work perfectly so the claim of 100% is not strictly true!  Some people have already got their UK PS3's early and following the latest firmware update, there are reports that older titles are fraught with problems (scrappy graphics, glitches, frame-rate issues).

I was looking forward to less clutter as well but I guess I'll have to keep the PS2 after all....

[Geek Boy]

Sony gave away 46" LCD tellies to the first 100 or so customers at the London launch last night.  And a free taxi ride home.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6474045.stm?ls

 

But seriously ( ), what a cool thing to receive for waiting in line.

[Roz]

That makes up for having to keep your PS2

[Rich With Cards]

Well I wish I had as good an experience as that, I have preordered in December and booked my place to go to the Midnight launch I wish I hadnt bothered. I figured about 50 or so people might be there imagine my horror when I tirned up a little past 11 to see a crowd of about 100 people queing outside the shopping center. Then the center opened at about 1130 there must have been close to 300 people waiting by then this had something to do with there being people coming from other action replay shops across the UK, then we were served Champagne supposedly and orange for the kids. Then they had a band called the attics play with bugger all to say anything about the PS3. The band didnt fit the occasion either it was pretty loud and not a PS3 in sight only a couple of crummy posters. Then at 12 the shop opened and cut a long story short me and my brother didnt even enter the shop till about 130am probably due to only 1 debit card machine being present.
Finally i got to the front of the queue my console and games were neatly packed and then the really bad news The HD component cable I had ordered could not be supplied as they hadnt received any, my TV hasnt got a HDMI slot so my first experience of PS3 instead of the Jaw Dropping response when I powered up my XBrick360 was instead a rather muddy looking scart connection  .
ME and my Bro decided at 3am we didnt want to ruin the experience anymore so we went to bed, thankfully I managed to get the HD lead from Gamestation in Cannock  so I am happy now although I have only played Ridge Racer and Virtua Tennis so far and it is pretty good although i am not that keen on the controllers without the rumble feature they feel flimsy and the whole feeling of the motion six axis control is a little unrewarding. Hopefully it will get better.

[Geek Boy]

^ That's why I did mail order.  London aside ( ) these launch events are never all they're cracked up to be.

I would highly recommend Motorstorm though.  I've been playing it online over the last 24 hours and although most people don't have a headset (probably no bad thing considering all the trash talk you get on XBL), all the games were seriously good fun.  I've often come across all sorts of problems with XBL but so far, Sony's online facility has been impeccable.

[Morningangel-Iola]

Well considering I working from 11.30am to 5.30pm I was surpised I only sold one.

[Rich With Cards]

Well I have played all my games now and am feeling alot better about everything now, my favorite game is probably virtua Tennis followed closely by Motorstorm only because it is frustratingly difficult at times. Virtua Fighter is good but I prefer tekken from a gameplay point of view the virtua fighter combos are a little less fluid than tekken IMO. My brother is currently hogging the F1 game and I have only had 2 races but the visuals are stunning. Most dissapointing is Ridge racer I just dont feel they have pushed things along very much with this one. Must say I cant wait till Gran Turisimo I just hope it has the impact as Project gotham did on the XBrick.
Oh yeah and if you havent noticed I am basically a sports games player as I am rubbish at first person shooters and puzzle type games. 

[rns91294]

When are they getting rid of this "EE" chip for the ones in the US?  I have been holding off buying one of these, but if I can't play older games on it, I may need to go out and get one now.  Is there a way to know if the one you are buying has the EE chip in it?  Or do you basically have to wait until you get home and try to play a PS2 game in it?

[Geek Boy]

Well I have played all my games now and am feeling alot better about everything now, my favorite game is probably virtua Tennis followed closely by Motorstorm only because it is frustratingly difficult at times. Virtua Fighter is good but I prefer tekken from a gameplay point of view the virtua fighter combos are a little less fluid than tekken IMO. My brother is currently hogging the F1 game and I have only had 2 races but the visuals are stunning. Most dissapointing is Ridge racer I just dont feel they have pushed things along very much with this one. Must say I cant wait till Gran Turisimo I just hope it has the impact as Project gotham did on the XBrick.
Oh yeah and if you havent noticed I am basically a sports games player as I am rubbish at first person shooters and puzzle type games. 

Ridge Racer is officially the most boring racing game ever conceived.  Totally sterile.  It's just a demo at the end of the day.  Gran Turismo isn't out until next year so you're in for a bit of a wait I'm afraid.

When are they getting rid of this "EE" chip for the ones in the US?  I have been holding off buying one of these, but if I can't play older games on it, I may need to go out and get one now.  Is there a way to know if the one you are buying has the EE chip in it?  Or do you basically have to wait until you get home and try to play a PS2 game in it?

You have to wait until you get home - I'm not aware of any distinction on the boxes.  Or take some games to the store and ask if you can try them out first.  Problem is, if Sony disable the existing chips with a future firmware update then it doesn't really matter in the long run.

[Roz]

Yeah, they'll get you over a barrel sooner or later. You'll need the latest firmware to play your latest game and will then lose the functionality of the EE chip

[rns91294]

But if I think about it, I like the rumble feature with the PS2. So any old PS2 games, I would still want to play on the PS2 to get the rumble feature.  I really wish they didn't do away with that.