Are first impressions meant to last or made to be break ? On Friday I wrote of my first notion of the PlayStation 3 console . free-base on gambling last week , I found the artwork great but otherwise the experience was n’t much dissimilar from other games console . I picked up the PlayStation 3 Saturday morning when it launched here in Japan and after a weekend with the gadget find myself with a fresh opinion of the industry ’s modish hot intersection .
What my initial review give way to take into account was the machine ’s boniface of non - gaming functions and the web gambling , all of which were not play up or available in the monstrance that I looked at last week . The console has disclose itself to be very elastic when it comes to access and playing additional content .
There are several non - gaming role include a medicine musician , movie player , characterization watcher and Internet browser app . Unusually for a Sony Cartesian product , the PlayStation 3 is much more open in terms of the message it can playback and that ’s honest newsworthiness .
The PlayStation 3 will playback MPEG1 , MPEG2 and MPEG4 video recording , which means that a lot of the mental object available on the Internet can be played back on your TV through the PS3 . Better yet , you may plug an external hard - disk drive into one of the USB port wine on the PS3 and playback videos without give birth to transfer then to the console ’s own operose - record drive .
That ’s pretty coolheaded — who would have thought a Sony product would offer such receptivity rather of the common interlace - down support user have grown used to ?
Last week I disturb on the cyberspace web internet browser . With the extra resolution useable on an high-definition television it ’s quite possible to browse the Web via your television place without all of the scrolling normally required due to the low-down solvent of received definition TV . I discovered that the browser app includes Flash support so picture from sites such as YouTube can be viewed . Again , another this is a very coolheaded feature and something that ’s often overleap on internet browser for devices other than personal computer .
When you switch on the PS3 for the first time you are bid the chance to make a PlayStation internet account . This is Sony ’s online gaming connection and your ID also get you access code to the online store . Through the store flick trailers and plot demos can be downloaded to the PS3 . High - def trailer for the new James Bond movie “ Casino Royale ” and the animated movie “ Open Season ” were among those on offer at the weekend . There ’s also no digital right management fatuousness here so the lagger can be save to an outside hard - disk private road and wreak back on a microcomputer . Fee - based content will in all probability have some restrictions .
The download was tight too . It felt like Sony ’s server was next door to my house . It took about 20 second to download an 80 MB trailer , which is one of the fast downloads I ’ve see .
The PS3 ’s versatility is just drop dead to grow as other uses are ascertain for the console . Especially intriguing is the “ Install other O ” selection in the carte .
I also had a chance to try out on-line gaming with a copy of “ Ridge Racer 7 . ” On launching day afternoon I did a few circle with participant identified by their accounts as being in Japan , Taiwan and Hong Kong , and find smooth sailing . The game allows users to ship desexualize - text edition subject matter to other players which it mechanically translates into the language of the receiver , which is a nice touch .
I do have a few gripes . First of all , why is n’t there a mellow - definition cable in the box ? The PS3 is mean to be all about high - definition gaming , so it seems a little cheap of Sony to send the cabinet without such a cable . Of course drug user are pushed to buy Sony ’s own cablegram , which be ¥ 4,480 ( US$ 38 ) . It would be better to include the HD cable than the Ethernet cable , which a lot of people already have , but I suppose that ’s the item . Most multitude have the Ethernet cable so leaving it out of the box wo n’t mean an extra sales agreement for Sony .
Also , what ’s with the user accounting jell ? When I selected Japan as my commonwealth it only admit me to choose Japanese as my language . The on - concealment menu can be define to one of several languages , so why assume in the account configurations that Japanese is the only language understood by gamers in Japan ?
