Official PS3 thread (Part Deux)

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 12:08 pm

The wizards at Anandtech take apart a PS3, also contains a link to where they claim to have upgraded the PS3's hard drive to 320GB with no problem:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=4908

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 5:40 pm

I just checked out the kiosk at Target. It had a 26 or 32 inch LCD screen.

They had to reset it because it was locked behind a shelf with glass doors. The girl said they do that several times because there's no air circulation back there.

Anyways, tried Motorstorm. Looked okay, a bit floaty and you have to build up acceleration to get a sense of speed. In the flyover before the race, you saw smearing or motion artifacts as it panned over the course. That's probably more to do with the LCD though. But during the race, I didn't notice it at all.

Wary about the overheating, especially if you put it in an AV cabinet with other components generating their own heat.

EZSnappin · Post by **EZSnappin** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 7:46 pm

I tried Motorstorm at Best Buy today and I concur with the floaty comment, and I felt it was somewhat unresponsive as well. The crashes, however, looked spectacular. There are also a large variety of crashes - I saw plenty as the unresponsive control allowed me to hit big rocks, cliff faces, grandstands, you name it.

I watched someone else play NBA 07, which looked fine. What I've seen in person didn't impress me anymore than what I've seen on the 360, which is neither an endorsement nor condemnation of either one.

They're both too rich for my blood right now so I'll just enjoy whichever one my friends have when I go mooch some time on their systems.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:18 pm

If this article is correct, looks like the number of launch PS3's will be far less than Sony has led anyone to believe.

http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?optio ... 5&Itemid=2

I am betting that the blue laser diode is a major cause of such shortages and if so, Sony will miss their targets for units sold this year badly. This is exactly the scenario that Sony could ill afford being last to the dance....

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:27 pm

More perspective/info on upgrading PS3 hard drives:

http://news.spong.com/article/11130?cb=90

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:27 pm

Not much info, but a lot of nice pictures of the unit and its packaging:

http://boardsus.playstation.com/playsta ... ing&page=1

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:33 pm

IGN has posted a review for NBA 07... they like it better than I did, apparently (from my admittedly brief time at the kiosk):

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/745/745694p3.html

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:36 pm

Courtesy of 2old2play: there has been confusion over whether or not the battery was replaceable in the SIXaxis when it kicked the bucket, or if you had to chunk it or send it in for replacement. Apparently, it *can* be manually replaced:

http://www.2old2play.com/News/PS3_SixAx ... eplacement

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:51 pm

Awesome pics - thanks

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:36 am

http://www.firingsquad.com/features/ps3 ... pressions/

Some early impressions of a US $599 PS3....overall very positive as I expected.

Wilk5280 · Post by **Wilk5280** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:49 am

I played it again at Best Buy yesterday.

Couple of impressions of the Sony Kiosk there.

1. The TV they're using is very nice. The picture was sweet and overall look MUCH better than the picture quality of the Samsung display the 360 had going (running Madden). I'm not sure if it was the game or the way the samsung tv was setup, but the picture was very dark and just looked drab overall. The PS3 screen, while running Motorstorm, looked very vivid and sharp. The colors really stood out.

2. The controller wasn't mounted down like the one in the Target Kiosk so I was able to try out the sixaxis functionality. While pretty cool, I guess, it was very sensitive and personally would prefer some sort of rumble feature over it. While the controller does feel light, it also seems very well built and will feel natural in the hands of anyone used to using the Dual Shock controller.

3. Still not a fan of the game motorstorm, but the graphics look great overall and better than some 360 games. The particle effects are something to see for sure. The accumulation of dirt and mud on your vehicle is done very well too.

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 11:23 pm

Holy cow! If this is true then this killed any desire I might have had for a PS3 at least until I get a newer HDTV:

If you have a 1080i-capable television (that would be many older HD sets), you may be dismayed to learn that 720p PS3 titles will not upscale to fit the resolution. Instead, 720p titles will always be downsized to 480i or 480p. IGN confirmed this after testing four games -- Resistance: Fall of Man, NHL 2K7, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, and Need for Speed Carbon -- on a 1080i set that did not support 720p; all scaled down to 480p.

Take it as you will, whether you prefer 1080i or 480p. Microsoft's Xbox 360 currently upscales 720p to 1080i if necessary (i.e. 720p is not supported).

My HDTV only supports 1080i and 480p so if I read that correctly a lot of games would be scaled back to 480p on my set. This is going to affect a lot of tube and projection HDTVs from the last few years. Wow!

Link here: http://feeds.joystiq.com/~r/weblogsinc/ ... /49878434/

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:02 am

mixdj1 wrote: My HDTV only supports 1080i and 480p ... Wow!

Same with my tv.. But have been wanting a second HDTV for some time now.. considering the Sony SXRD XBR but thats another story....

I did get to see a PS3 in action tonight. It was playing the truck racing game(I have no idea of the title and am too lazy to look it up). The game looked as good or maybe better than anything I had seen before.... I did not play it as I will wait till I get my own. The machine is big but not all that big IMO. I don't think I will like the fact that it appears and likely will be a fingerprint magnet.

I also hope it will work well with my new Logitech remote.

CC and Compusa did not even have a kiosk up - BB was the only one.. and their Wii Kiosk was not even functional.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:21 am

Hmm, may have something to do with HDMI. I hear via HDMI, they actually enable DRM.

Anyways, you can't use the Harmony remote with the PS3. It doesn't have an IR port I believe. The controllers are Bluetooth.

Now a third party could put an IR receiver via the USB. I've seen that made for computers, to control the DVD player on a computer.

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:24 am

Off topic but I saw a HD-DVD and an xbox at CC playing King Kong and it looked damn good too but I am not willing to spend 200 on a console add on so soon espec since I will bet getting a Blu-Ray for HD movies.

Wilk5280 · Post by **Wilk5280** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:56 am

mixdj1 wrote:Holy cow! If this is true then this killed any desire I might have had for a PS3 at least until I get a newer HDTV:

If you have a 1080i-capable television (that would be many older HD sets), you may be dismayed to learn that 720p PS3 titles will not upscale to fit the resolution. Instead, 720p titles will always be downsized to 480i or 480p. IGN confirmed this after testing four games -- Resistance: Fall of Man, NHL 2K7, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, and Need for Speed Carbon -- on a 1080i set that did not support 720p; all scaled down to 480p.

Take it as you will, whether you prefer 1080i or 480p. Microsoft's Xbox 360 currently upscales 720p to 1080i if necessary (i.e. 720p is not supported).
My HDTV only supports 1080i and 480p so if I read that correctly a lot of games would be scaled back to 480p on my set. This is going to affect a lot of tube and projection HDTVs from the last few years. Wow!

Link here: http://feeds.joystiq.com/~r/weblogsinc/ ... /49878434/

Now that is just crazy. of course they did a wonderful job of making sure people actually knew this prior to paying 7 or 8 bills for their system, accessories and a game. I did not know this until your post and if I had been getting a system at launch I'd be pissed as all get-out right now

Diablo25 · Post by **Diablo25** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 10:07 am

Not that I am getting a PS3 (well, if I see one Ill grab it for the Ebay $$) but...my TV supports 720P

This is a bonehead mistake by Sony..if true.

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 10:26 am

I heard there is an internal scaler but it's not available to the game developers.

Apparently, what developers need to do is to support 720p and 1080i.

But that would require users to select a resolution output in the game, possibly.

There is an output option among the system settings too.

DivotMaker · Post by **DivotMaker** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 10:56 am

Doesn't sound like it...

As it turns out, gamers who own older HD sets that feature only 480i, 480p, and 1080i resolution input capabilities will have to settle for the display quality being downsized as the game boots in its 480p mode rather than upscaling the image from its more desirable 720p mode to the TV's 1080i. We tested this development on older HDTV sets with games designed for 720p but not 1080i -- Resistance: Fall of Man, NHL 2K7, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, and Need for Speed Carbon. Sure enough, the system downshifted all four titles to 480p rather than moving up to 1080i.

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/746/746282p1.html

Airdog · Post by **Airdog** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:26 pm

Ouch, that is quite harsh. Is this normal for a lot of upconverting DVD players and such to doÉ

I think all of the TVs I sell at work are 720pé1080i so I havenèt noticed anything like that.

Which reminds me, Sharp better get that damn 42 inch LCD and HD-DVD player to us mighty soon. Ièm pumped to see some 1080p Sharp DVD demo reel action.

I bet that within the first two days customers will (try to) make me hook it up to other televisions to see their picture quality.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 4:52 pm

Interesting little tidbit from IGN:

As it turns out, gamers who own older HD sets that feature only 480i, 480p, and 1080i resolution input capabilities will have to settle for the display quality being downsized as the game boots in its 480p mode rather than upscaling the image from its more desirable 720p mode to the TV's 1080i. We tested this development on older HDTV sets with games designed for 720p but not 1080i -- Resistance: Fall of Man, NHL 2K7, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07, and Need for Speed Carbon. Sure enough, the system downshifted all four titles to 480p rather than moving up to 1080i. This issue came up with either a digital HD video connection (using an HDMI cord) and an analog HD video connection (using component cables.)

Airdog · Post by **Airdog** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 4:53 pm

For some reason that sounds eerily familiar... oh wait (points upwards two posts).

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 4:55 pm

Airdog wrote:For some reason that sounds eerily familiar... oh wait (points upwards two posts).

RUUUSE!1!!!1!

NOBODY IS IMMUNE!

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 4:59 pm

Even the best hitters fail more than 60% of the time.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:14 am

Chris Morris of CNN lukewarm about PS3:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/11/15/comment ... 2006111612

Take care,
PK