I had wanted to hold off as long as possible before taking the plunge, hoping that a suitable value loaded bundle deal might show up closer to xmas that would enable me to pick up a PS3 with an extra controller and a game or two of my choice.
However, with Sony slashing the price of the 60Gb model and releasing a cut-down 40Gb version my hand was forced somewhat. I wanted the 60Gb model with the memory card slots, backwards compatibility, and, who knows, the ability to play Super Audio CD’s might come in handy one day. Thus, Friday was the day I pulled the trigger.
The thought of holding off and missing out on the premium model drove me to drive myself into Allerton on Friday to try and take advantage of the too-good-to-be-true deal that Blockbusters were running; a 60Gb PS3 + Resistance Fall of Man + Warhawk with headset + FIFA 08. Unfortunately one Blockbusters had the console but no software, and another had some of the software but no consoles, which made for a lunchtime of futility.
Checking out the deals online during the afternoon, I decided to go to HMV on the way home that night to see if I could pick up their deal. It was less attractive than Blockbusters, but the other option was to go into town and hope that Virgin would still have enough of the parts that made up their offer to make it worth my while.
After being disappointed at lunchtime I opted for the safer bet, and later left HMV with a bag containing a PS3, Resistance: Fall of Man, Heavenly Sword, and Casino Royale in one hand and Elisha swinging from the other. It was only when I got to Boots on the other side of the retail park that I realised the HMV deal had one glaring omission – an extra controller.
No way was I going home with one joypad – I had in mind some multiplayer fun, so I bit the bullet and bought an extra one from Currys – possibly the most expensive place I could have gone on the planet. Still, I figured what the heck – with the amount of money I was investing, £5 here or there was hardly worth crying over.
I’ve read a lot of talk on the internet about the PSN store being clunky, but within ten minutes of setting the PS3 up I had successfully signed in using the ID I registered in February (had to get infoxicated), bought and downloaded Calling All Cars and SuperStardust HD, along with a handful of demos. Didn’t seem too shabby at all – in fact, I was quite impressed.
We left it downloading content and copying around 6Gb of music from my PSP while we watched some telly, and then Fliss and I played some SuperStardust HD and Calling All Cars until way too late. I ended up staying awake until past 2am just tinkering with the thing and adding people to my friends list. Then I left it running Folding@Home and went to bed.
Next morning I was tickled to see that a couple of the folk I’d sent friends requests to had accepted and left me a message. Heh! That’s pretty neat. The Cell had also romped its way through one working unit of Folding@Home data – also pretty neat. Gotta find that cure for cancer to offset my guilt at being a lazy gamer. 😉
We were out during the day, but when we got back we entertained ourselves all evening with the PS3 – even Elisha got in on the act, trying to play Super Rub-A-Dub – the duck game that uses the motion controls. How much she understood of what she was doing is open to question, but there’s no doubt she was enjoying watching the ducks on screen sloshing about as she moved the controller. I guess we could dress that up as a learning experience; motor control, hand/eye coordination and all that.
Saturday night went a similar way to Friday – playing Calling All Cars and SuperStardust HD. I haven’t even gotten round to playing Resistance: Fall of Man, yet, and I’ve been looking forward to it all year. From the demos I played I really fancy EA’s Skate, which stomps all over the Tony Hawk games, and Colin McRae’s ( 🙁 ) Dirt looks and plays fantastic, too. It’s actually really cool being able to download demos from the store – I didn’t think I’d bother with them, but it is a top way to try something before you splash out on it.
I figured I’d have buyer’s remorse at some point, but to be honest I’m just really pleased with it. It’s cost roughly the same as the PS2 did seven years ago, and if I get as much enjoyment out of the PS3 as I have from the PS2 then it’ll be worth every penny.
Oh, if you have a PS3, add me to your friends list. 😀
I don’t have a PS3 yet, just a Wii and a 360 but one of my good friends have one and last week we played Call all Cars and damn what a fun multiplayer game! Too bad that we didn’t find anyone playing online, so we had to stay with 1v1.
I am more or less in the same situation you were.
But my hand seems a bit harder to force. 🙂
None of the games on sale is compelling enough for me. Maybe WipEout HD will make me take the leap. 😉
I think the difference is that I [i]wanted[/i] Resistance: Fall of Man, and I knew Fliss would lap up Heavenly Sword, as she’s done God of War to death. So the fact I could get them with the console, when I’d probably have bought them anyway made it pretty easy choice. I know two other guys who took the plunge this weekend, so I’m obviously no the only one who was waiting in the wings. 😉
Probably the best thing about having a second controller is that you can avoid the inevitable wireless battery drain by keeping one plugged in, and using the other one. When then battery dies, just swap them over and continue with wireless heaven!
Good point – hadn’t thought of that. 🙂
We used it so much over the weekend that I had to put the primary controller on charge when I went to bed last night. I imagine that times between charging with the rumble controllers will be even more frequent.
Bluetooth rocks, though – I had my laptop mouse and my Nokia headset synched up to the PS3; it’s the way the future was meant to be… except for the retro USB keyboard we have. 😉
At least you didn’t get it in March like I did.(I’m a nutcase addict/devotee)
Any chance of a match on R:FOM online at any point?