I can assure you. That 60 bucks will not go unused, if the machine last that long(crosses fingers).I did not buy any games with it as there is nothing out as of yet that interest me in the least. I mainly got the machine as a Blu-Ray player for netflix. It comes with Taledaga Nights on Blu-Ray. I was hoping I could return this movie next week to Walmart and exchange it but there is no UPC on the movie box and it says "for demonstration purposes not for resale" on the back of the box, so that idea is out.
The first thing I did after hookin up the system via HDMI(had to buy the cable) was try to register for the Sony network. I could not do this though as I had to update my system. So, I started to update and it took around 15 minutes or so to download the patch, then another 5 or so to apply it. All went smooth.
After the update, I started the process for registering for the network. I am not sure how it works, but I think it binds to your console's serial number as it asked if I wanted to register a primary or seconday account. I chose primary. The registration was pretty smooth. You don't use a typical QWERTY keyboard for registering, you instead use what looks like a phone pad and you have to hit X a certain amount of times to get the letter you want. You have an option to opt out of all contact, but I chose to let Sony contact me via my spam email address. I also chose not to enter any billiing information for premium content as that stuff does not interest me much at all.
After I registered, I added 2 friends that I know of that own PS3s, the send friend request is very similar to the xbox live method. I am still awaiting them to accept.
I then check out the web browser thats built in. Its look pretty damn good in 1080p. I just wish it was wider to take up the whole screen. After that I hit the sony store and downloaded some F1 racing demo. That took around 20-30 minutes to download and was close to 700megs. After the download I did one race and though the game was damn smooth. The motion blur was nice but sort of made me sick(or I thought it would make me sick after a long play) as I get motion sickness from some games(mainly 1p shooters).
I then opened the Blu-Ray movie and started it. I played the trailers on the disc and DAMN they looked kick ass. Using the ps3 controller for navigating the menus is a pain. I wish this thing had a nice remote or it would work with my harmony. The movie did not look that great but it was better than a normal DVD. I did not watch it much as I need to hoop up my surround sound before I watch it. I like the fact that you can bring up the dvd menu and keep watching the movie, however I could not figure out how to navigate the pop up menu in the movie. Also, the initial menu on the movie looked damn good too.. .much much better than a normal DVD movie. I can see myself falling in love with Blu-Ray... I hope more titles are released in this format quickly before I have a chance to watch them on DVD.
The ps3 controller seems light and well, not too solid but plenty good enough. I love the new L2/R2 buttons. When the next wave of sports games come out, I will be torn on which console to get them for ps3/360 as my friends will mostly be on Live but I prefer the ps3 style controller and well 1080p(the 360 needs HDMI).
Also, the initial setup was easy. My house is wired so I plugged in the included cat5 cable to my wall and everything worked perfectly.
The console itself seems VERY heavy, maybe b/c the power box is included inside the console...
Well, thats all for now. Will post more later if I think of anything or try to answer some questions.
BD
