By David Carnoy,Philip Wong
07/05/2008
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av/others/0,39037618,39092522p,00.htm

In the gaming world, being first to market has its advantages, but it also has some downsides. With its Xbox 360, Microsoft has staked itself a year's lead over arch rival Sony in the next-gen gaming wars and, just as importantly, the battle for living-room dominance--these powerful minicomputers also do double duty as digital media hubs.

Like the 360, the PS3 is available in two versions. Both feature the powerful Cell processor, inbuilt Blu-ray player, and HDMI video output. The baseline 40GB version retails for S$599, while the step-up deluxe model boasts an 80GB hard drive, multiformat memory card reader and twice as many USB ports for S$200 more.

The big question, of course, is whether the 80GB PS3 is S$100 better than the flagship Xbox 360 Elite. From a pure gaming perspective, the short answer is: No, not today. The catalog of games is far from impressive with only a handful of hits such as Grand Theft Auto IV and the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 4. However, in terms of design and in-the-box features, the value is here: The two versions of the PS3 are well worth their respective price tags.

Design: Back In Black

The PS3's sexy shape and futuristic look are ample evidence that the company's renowned design standards are alive and well. One look at its glossy exterior and touch-sensitive power and eject buttons on its face, and you can see why it might cost what it does. Like the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, the PS3 can stand vertically or lie horizontally in an A/V rack, though because of its curved top, it's not meant to have any other components resting on top of it. While its 40GB sibling is available in black, white and silver, the 60GB version is shipped in the dark shade.

There's no way to customize its look, too, as you can with Xbox 360's interchangeable, if overpriced, faceplates. As with the PSP, its glossy finish is a fingerprint and smudge magnet. If you handle it at all, you'll end up having to wipe it off, so you'll probably just want to stick it in a rack and leave it there. Dimensions-wise, the PS3 measures 325 x 97 x 274mm, which is roughly in line with the overall volume of the Xbox 360. That said, the PS3 does weigh a bit more at 4.99kg to 360's 4.49kg including power supply. Most impressively, there's no external power supply for the PS3; you just plug the included power cable into the back of the unit and you're good to go.

Another obvious difference between the Xbox 360 and the PS3 is the way you load media. As opposed to the more typical tray loader, the PS3 has a front-slot-loading, Blu-ray optical disc drive, which contributes to the unit's slicker appearance. Discs slide in and eject smoothly enough, so chalk one up for the PS3 here. On the front, you'll find four USB ports for connecting (and charging) controllers and other accessories, including USB keyboards, thumbdrives, and the PSP. It also offers a built-in memory card reader behind a door that supports not only memory cards from Sony's entire Memory Stick family, but CompactFlash and SD/MMC media as well.

Around back is where you'll find ports for network, HDMI, optical digital audio and proprietary PlayStation A/V output for analog audio and video. A composite-A/V cable ships with the unit, and because it uses the same connector as the PlayStation 2, that system's S-video and component cables will work with it as well. That's all fine, but we would have liked to have seen at least one USB port on the back for peripherals such as its EyeToy camera that spoil the PS3's otherwise clean lines by sticking obtrusively out of the front. On a more positive note, the internal hard drive is said to be user-replaceable.

Controller Makeover

The bundled SixAxis controller looks very similar to the original PS2 Dual Shock gamepad, but there are some notable differences. For starters, it's wireless. You can connect as many as seven controllers via Bluetooth, which Sony's claims offers a 20m range. Recharging it simply requires connecting an included USB cable between the console and the controller. You can continue to play for around 30 hours as the battery juices up, but the cable's somewhat short 1.524m length is a pain. Furthermore, the battery isn't removable, which means that if it dies you'll have to replace the entire S$66 controller.

As for the controller's design, Sony has made a few tweaks. The L2 and R2 trigger buttons are a bit bigger, and the increased depth in stroke offers players more subtle game control. Sony has also increased the tilting angle of the analog joysticks to give you more precise control and a wider range of motion. Those analog sticks are more sensitive as well. The PS2's Dual Shock controller had 8-bit sensitivity, while the PS3's controller has 10-bit motion detection. A new Dual Shock 3 iteration has also been recently introduced which reinstates force feedback support omitted in the SixAxis.

You'll get SixAxis motion sensing for both models, which is capable of sensing motion in six directions: Up, down, left, right, forward, and backward. Game developers have incorporated it into many of the new games in one form or another. For example, in 2K Sports' NHL 2K7, a quick thrust of the controller makes your defensive player perform a check. In Tony Hawk's Project 8, you can steer your skater and control his movements by tilting the controller from side to side and forward and back.

To be sure, some implementations of the tilt sensitivity are better than others. Furthermore, it's unclear if all the games that utilize motion sensitivity will require it--some are optional and can be switched off. Clearly, Sony wanted to steal some of Nintendo's thunder, and there's no denying that the Wii's motion-sensitive controllers are more central to that console's DNA. The Wii controllers are also more sophisticated, including the ability to measure actual motion (spatial movement) and acceleration, rather than just tilting--but unlike the Wii, the PS3 doesn't require a motion-sensor bar in front of the TV.

Unlike the PS2 controller, the SixAxis controller has a centered Home button, which functions much like its counterpart on the Xbox 360 controller. You use it to return to the console's main menu screen, as well as to sync the controller to the console and start it up or shut it down wirelessly.

Familiar Interface

If you own a Sony PSP, you'll immediately notice the similarities between the PS3's interface and the PSP's cross media bar-style graphical user interface. You navigate horizontally through top-level selection categories such as users, system settings, and media options such as photos, music, videos, games, network, and friends. When you select a top-level category, a vertical list of sub options appears, and you can navigate down that list until you find the option you want. The interface is polished and generally user-friendly, but you do have to drill down a few levels to reach certain features, and getting to some functions isn't quite as intuitive as it should be.

Digital Media Hub

The PS3's media features are extensive--enough so the console could be a worthwhile purchase even for people who never deign to ever fire up a game. For starters, the PlayStation 3 hits the shelves as the one of the more affordable Blu-ray player you can buy. Before we delve into the console's HD movie prowess (see Movie Watching), let's take a holistic look at its multimedia functionality.

In addition to the built-in memory card reader on the 80GB model, the PS3 can read digital photos from a variety of USB-attached devices, including most digital cameras, the PSP, USB thumbdrives, and home-burned CD-Rs. (One caveat: The images may need to be placed in a special directory such as DCIM or Picture) A few different slide show styles are available, including a unique "photo album" view that splays the images across a white work surface as if you'd dumped them there and spread them out.

When stored internally on the hard drive, photos appear rapidly, and in the basic slideshow mode, you can advance your slides forward by simply pressing on the top-right shoulder button (the left shoulder takes you back a slide). Most JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, and PNG images should work just fine. By contrast, the Xbox 360 lacks both an internal media reader and the impressive photo album viewer, and the Wii--while including some cool and fun photo-viewing and manipulation functionality--offers only a built-in SD card reader.

As for music, the PS3 supports most of the major music file types, including MP3, ATRAC, AAC, and WAV and, like the Xbox 360, has a built-in music visualizer. As with the photos, you can import songs externally but have to create a special Music folder--or rip songs directly to the hard drive from a CD. While the PS3 even plays Sony's increasingly obscure SACD discs, it cannot playback music from attached iPods, nor can it stream from other music players that incorporate copy-protected music formats. Here, the 360 has a leg-up: It offers some iPod compatibility, and it can play back WMA music files as well.

On the video front, the PS3 plays Blu-ray at 24 frames as well as upscales DVD movies to 1080p. It also supports MPEG-1/2/4/h.264 and AVCHD and recently DivX, Xvid and WMV video files (reading from the "video" directory). If you transfer the videos to the PS3's hard drive, thumbnails on the video menu are shown as 15-second video clips, rather than just as still images of the first frame of the video. In addition, you can stream these audio-visual multimedia files from your PC over your home network or from your PS3 to your PSP using the PS3's Remote Play feature.

Sony's Version Of Web TV

Taking a page out of the PSP's book, the PS3 also has a built-in Web browser, but the nice thing about the PS3 is that if you connect a USB keyboard, you don't have to type in URL addresses using the system's tedious virtual keyboard. Likewise, a USB mouse lets you point and click your way through a Web page, just as if you were on a PC. The system will eventually allow you to pair the PS3 with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, which is probably the ideal setup for living-room use.

The browser appears to be pretty robust with the requisite Flash support, and it certainly is a nice convenience for those who browse from their living-room couch. That said, the sharpness of the Web pages' appearance--and how readable they are--will depend on the quality of your TV and its size. For example, viewing Web pages on a 60-inch DLP set is going to be more of a challenge than, say, looking at those same pages over a 20-inch computer monitor. And viewing Web pages on anything less than an HDTV at full resolution (720p, 1080i or 1080p) will be decidedly eye-straining.

The PlayStation Network

Similar to Microsoft's Xbox Live service, the PlayStation Network or PSN includes typical online gaming along with community and messaging, as well as voice and video chat. Xbox Live Silver, Microsoft's free entry-level service, gives you access to some community options, but to play online multiplayer games you have to upgrade to Xbox Live Gold service, which comes at a premium.

The PSN's PlayStation Store also offers game demos, themes, wallpapers and other video content downloads such as movie and game trailers in HD, too. This has been remodeled in April 2008 into eight sections to further enhance browsing speed and to facilitate easier access for its library. Instead of the points-based payment system found on Microsoft and Nintendo's networks, Sony is sticking to dollars and cents--users can simply transfer cash to their PlayStation 3 Wallet via credit card or with prepaid gift cards.

While not exactly a PSN element, Sony has further rolled out Folding@Home support for PS3 in March 2007. This allows users an opportunity to contribute part of the Cell processor's powerful processing power to run a distributed computing project managed by Stanford University. For a good cause, too, for media research to better understand the development of many diseases.

Cell Inside

While the 360 uses more off-the-shelf PC components, the PlayStation 3's 3.2GHz Cell processor was built from the ground up just for the console. It consists of a single PowerPC-based core with seven synergistic processing units and is the result of a joint effort between IBM, Sony, and Toshiba. The key about the Cell is that it has the juice to run a new class of gameplay physics that enables spectacular effects and a whole new depth of realism. Paired with its inbuilt RSX Reality Synthesizer graphics-processing unit, a gargantuan 550MHz, 300-million-transistor graphics chip, and you're looking at a mini supercomputer.

At the end of the day, as Microsoft learned, you can tout all the power you want, but if you can't keep your system cool--and fairly quiet--you're going to have some serious problems on your hands. The latter, is indeed, an issue for early batches of the consoles and their infamous irritating noise level, though there are some online reports of quiet-running units in forums, too. The low rumbling noise aside, the set also runs pretty warm but not blazingly hot and to the extent of compromising stability after long hours of operation.

Play Time

In fact, it's very hard to tell major visual differences between titles that are already available on the 360 and its PS3 counterparts because they're ports of the same game. Where you start to see some of the promise is in Sony's in-house titles, such as Grand Turismo 5 Prologue. The game looks impressive, with crisp graphics and smooth 1080p gameplay. The older Ridge Racer 7 is another title that really jumps out at you visually with acid Dolby Digital surround dance tracks.

The long and short of it is that the PS3 clearly measures up to the Xbox in terms of its graphics prowess, and the added combination of tilt control and force feedback offers a new twist. That said, there really isn't anything available yet that's too unique or so far beyond what the Xbox 360 offers that you think "I gotta get this system to play that game". The reality is you're going to have to wait for more PS3 exclusives such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and evergreen hits.

Backward Compatibility

While you're waiting for more killer PS3 game, you can still fall back on hundreds, if not thousands, of PlayStation catalog titles. The 80GB PS3 is fully backward-compatible with nearly all PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 1 games. Just toss in a disc and the PS3 will create a virtual memory card on its hard drive to store saved games and preferences. We had no trouble running PS2 titles such as Final Fantasy X-2, although we expect that a handful of older titles won't run on it.

Hardware and accessory compatibility is a mixed bag. You can't connect PS2 controllers to the PS3 because the new console lacks the older controller port. But because the PS3 control design is nearly identical, your older games will play just fine. Likewise, games that utilize any unique accessories which must plug into the PS2-style control port--such as Guitar Hero's mighty ax--won't work on the PS3. But USB accessories--such as the EyeToy--should be good to go.

Movie Watching

Because we were more familiar watching Disney's Cars on the Samsung BD-P1400, we decided to do so using that disc rather than Casino Royale. Watching on a reference 100-inch Stewart GrayHawk RS G3 projection screen, we viewed several scenes from the movie on the Samsung first, then switched over to PS3. In case you're wondering, disc load times were blazing-fast for the console compared to the standalone. As for the picture, it was quite comparable to what we saw on the Samsung, and navigating the disc was fairly zippy. In other words, at first glance, the PS3 seems to stack up fairly well against comparable or even costlier Blu-ray players which obviate the need for those kits to actually exist.

Furthermore, the PS3 is currently the only player in Asia that meets Blu-ray Profile 2.0 standard. That doesn't mean much now--there's very limited corresponding software. But expect more to be released in 2008 and beyond that should enable the PS3 advanced in-movie interactive features. Likewise, it's also the first to be upgraded with onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD surround sound decoding, outputted via uncompressed LPCM (native CD audio format) through HDMI.

As a 1080p upscaling DVD player, the console delivered pretty respectable visuals on par with just about any entry-to-midrange standalones. This gives it an edge over the 360 which plays DVD in 480p only, without any support for HD discs since dropping the now-defunct HD-DVD addon drive. Accessing Blu-ray and DVD menus with the standard PS3 controller is functional but awkward, though Sony offers a more traditional Bluetooth remote for S$49 extra.

Conclusion

The PS3 is a versatile and impressive piece of home entertainment equipment that lives up to the hype. So far, the majority of the existing game titles don't do all that much to sell the system, but that should start to change soon as more impressive titles come to market. Whether you buy the PS3 today or whenever it becomes available in quantity, you can be sure you'll feel you got your money's worth--from a gaming and a multimedia perspective.