Sony PlayStation 3 (40GB) user reviews

rishi shah 19 February 2009

Good: processing power

Bad: price tag

Comment: not worth the price tag..
university lectures show that the processor is only single ppe and not multi ppe.
when its cheaper it will be worth it. blu ray player is not the best, firmware updates have made it so good but not actually that great. do not buy until it is cheaper.
a few good cames releasing to the ps3, but DLC exclusives mainly on the xbox, just way up all options between both consoles. price is the main factor not blu ray. its about the current games that are being released and the xbox will have more since there are more people and different styles of gaming.
ps3 does not have cross game invitations and chat.
MS is a software company, so believe in the software.
sony is a hardware company so believe in the hardware.

Lemon_Toast 8 August 2008

Good: the modern look of the system

Bad: Not being able to play PS2 games on it , price

Comment: there are some peaks to the product .. but overall i can see mainly flaws..

from the price for the system
the price of the games - though granted that games average from £19.99 - £40 .
the inability to play PS2 games,


check out the PSP or go for a xbox

nobbythesheep 30 June 2008

Good: Quality Build, Blu-Ray, Gaming Experience, Future Proof

Bad: No Dualshock Controller or HDMI Cable as Standard

Comment: The ps3 has a huge potential in terms of games and performance. Its blu-ray disks can hold more information than other games consoles and once the systems capabilities are harnessed by software designers it will be the clear market leader in terms of games. The volume of games can only increase now that the ps3 is selling well.

In terms of build quality the ps3 40gb is superb. It is solid and sturdy and weighs about 6 kg's. Put in a well ventilated area and it is virtually silent, and can be left on for 10 hours without it even getting hot or noisy (the 40gb new model has a better processor and is better at cooling itself than the earlier larger hard disk models). The hard drive can be easily changed to 120gb. (if you want to do this then you-tube it) Supposedly this does not void the warranty but i would check with Sony before doing this.

Aesthetically the design is pleasing and curved, it attracts a bit of dust but a gentle quick swish of a feather duster sorts that out. I believe it to be the more stylish of all of the games consoles currently out.

However, the most important aspect of a games console are the games, the ps3 is fantastic fun to play and will satisfy the gamer in you. Sound, graphics and game play are all top notch and my experiences in this area have been completely positive, i would say it performs even better than i expected it too.

Don't worry about this model not being able to play ps2 games, theres a reason its called a next-generation model, its for next generation games. Anyone with a large selection of ps2 games will already own a ps2, so this is a non issue.

The ps3 is the same price as some blu-ray players, which is a huge bonus. The system is much more future-proof than all of the other games consoles and this is reflected in it's price.

The systems other bonus is that it can be used as a multimedia center for videos, music and pictures, with so many features one begins to see the reason for the hefty price tag.

In terms of online game-play, compared to its closest rival it is free to play online and to have an account, whereas another system (xbox) will charge you a permanent charge of five pounds per month, and that would add up

In conducting my research i was initially put off by the price tag pf the ps3 but after several days of research i could see the huge benefits and capabilities of the system. When i bought it i was not disappointed.

I decided the ps3 suited me because of its potential for better games than the xbox could produce in the near future and its all round quality. If you just want lots of games now, or a particular game on the xbox the xbox is fine, but in the long run i decided the ps3 was actually better value for money despite its larger fee, in this case you get what you pay for.

graham goodband 2 June 2008

Good: Everything about it. It rocks dudes, simply unbelievable

Bad: Erm, nothing

Erik Aleksander Moe 16 April 2008

Good: Great picture and sound. A really great Blu-ray and SACD player

Bad: The fan can be a quite noisy

Comment: I have had the PS3 since last September and I have loved every minute of it, especially I replaced my amp with HDMI inputs so I could get the HD sound.
There has been one thing that had irritated me so much, the lack of a DTS-HD MA decoder. Now that it can decode the soundtrack, I must say that it is one of the very best Blu-ray players out there. In addition to this it is also a great SACD player. The sound is converted to PCM from DSD, but he converted sound is 24 bit 176 kHz, so the it is much better than various others that converts the DSD sound to 24 bit 96 kHz PCM.
I have bought a lot of Blu-ray movies and the picture and sound is really great. The colors on the best Blu-rays, like Blade Runner, and the latest Harry Potter and Spiderman are simply amazing. The sound is equally great if you connect the PS3 to an amplifier that can process the sound and switch the picture to the HDTV. There is, unfortunately, no other way to get the multichannel HD sound from the PS3 than through the HDMI port. Something that I have to mention is that the PS3 does not support bitstreaming the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA soundtracks, but since it now has an internal decoder for both I really don't see the need for it.

I haven't mentioned gaming yet, which is the main feature of the PS3. I have always loved the PS2, ever since I bought it when it first came, as a gaming console. The PS3 is even better. When playing games like Resistance Fall of Man and Elder Scrolls Oblivion I really almost feel like being there. There have been times when Oblivion hanged and I had to reset the console, but that is due to some bugs in the game. I do miss the feedback when playing racing games, but I have read that Sony (and others) are releasing controllers with feedback.
I haven't tried the network feature very much so I cannot really give a fair review on that.

Something that can be a little tiresome is the noise the console produces after a while, but when playing a game with lots of sounds all over the room or movies with the HD sound you don't think about it much.
The console also is a bit pricey, but what you get is a product of great quality and since it has a network feature can the firmware easily be updated when Sony distributes it. There has been lots of firmware updates adding new features all the time. Something that newly came was DTS-HD MA decoding and support for Blu-ray Profile 2 and Live. This goes to prove that it is one of the best deals on the market and that it is a really good choice of you only want to have a Blu-ray player, since so many of the Blu-ray player out there don't have a Ethernet feature.

To close I have to say that, despite the price, is the Playstation 3 a really great buy whether you are looking for a great gaming console with a Blu-ray player or just a great Blu-ray player.

Stuart Tracey 8 January 2008

Good: High quality build, blue-ray, value for money considering hardware specs, wifi, bluetooth, hard disk

Bad: Limited games, not being used to full potential, games too expensive

Comment: Could do with more than 256mb RAM, since I will end up installing another OS on it as well. Other than that It is a fantastic system. Would have been nice to have a couple of USB ports at the rear of the machine to keep it tidy looking say for example if an external HD is connected. NTFS support should be included however I am sure this will be updated at some point.

Overall a massive improvement on the PS2.

Greeny 4 January 2008

Good: Great all round

Bad: Poor selection of games and no PS2 backwards capability

Comment: Great recommend to anyone, especially when more games come out. If you get one i would recommend getting COD 4. Its the best online shooter I have ever played.

Waz 3 January 2008

Good: Web browser, hmdi support and blu ray.

Bad: Online support isn't great, no killer games, unoriginal and looks like a deep fat fryer.

Comment: Hasn't had the impact of the ps2. In a way sony has taken a step back and not a step forward.

Daniel_Subaharan 2 January 2008

Good: Connect External Device and plays BD

Bad: Not supports All Format Movies and NTFS External HDD

Comment: Cool design and I like the wireless controller. Best part is, I can watch BD Movies as well. It would be really great if it would support External NTFS HDD and all movie formats.

You can download demo games online and give a try before you buy. Its easy and cool. I like it.

Simon King 22 October 2007

Good: Blu Ray Built in, Picture quality

Bad: User Interface, WiFi setup

Comment: I have long been an XBOX user and pretty happy with that. I had a 360 not long after launch and it seems I'm one of the few that haven't had any issues with it.

I had made the decision to trade in my 360 Premium for an Elite mostly for the HDMI and the fact that it was supposed to be quieter. But the big issue was getting game saves off as my wife and son both have Viva Pinata gardens that they want to keep. Anyway long story short I spoke to a guy in GameStation and he warned me off the Elite as it too has reliability issues. With money in my pocket (so to speak) I decided to go for the new 40Gb PS3. As we have no PS1 or PS2 games backward compatibility isn't an issue and neither is the lack of memory card slot.

So after all of that preamble I got my new toy home and set it up. Which is nice and simple. I did have a couple of niggles such as having to change the security on my WiFi and a duff Remote Control for video playback. The store I got it from didn't have any HDMI cables either so I set it up initially on a composite input.

Once I got an HDMI cable and a working remote the system is working like a dream. It is so much quieter than the 360 and has the edge in a number of areas:

Builtin WiFi;
Blu-ray player;
Wireless controllers have rechargable batteries;
Quiet operation;

I prefer the user interface on the 360 it feels more intuitive and at the moment the 360 has more high quality games. It's disapointing that the 360 doesn't have WiFi whereas my phone, my PDA and my iPod (Touch) all have WiFi. But I'd say that Sony have set out the battle lines with the price cuts. At £300 the PS3 40Gb represents good value for money, you could buy it as a Blu-ray player alone at that price and the playback quality (through HDMI) is astonishing.

Sony have taken a brave decision with the remote control, it is not an IR remote but a BlueTooth device. In some ways this is a great idea and maybe someday all remote interfaces will be made this way. Imagine your PDA (or phone) could be the ultimate learning remote. But the downside is that you'll not be able to combine TV and PS3 remotes into one using any of the allinone style remotes. The wireless controllers use Bluetooth as well, in my view a smart use of an established wireless technology. The controllers charge up using a standard usb cable so if you lose one it'll be simple to replace.

Overall I am more impressed by the PS3 than the 360, I think Sony took that extra time to refine the product and get it right as it has all of the bases covered intelligently. And with the recent price cuts they have delivered value for money.