Some questions for PS3 owners

[Apache Chief]

Hello -

First off, I'm not a fanboy of either Microsoft or Sony. They're both fine machines, and software is the most important thing. This isn't meant to be a "which is better" thread.

But - my second 360 recently red-ringed on me. (I know - that's nothing, I've read about people on their third or fourth.) Two things arrived in the mail today - my box to return my 360 for repairs, and my stimulus check from the feds.

I can't help but think that it might be a nice opportunity to get a more reliable machine, and turn in my repaired 360 (whenever I get it) for store credit somewhere. So, some questions for the Sony crowd:

(First off - I don't play console games online, and I don't care about exclusives. All my current favorites, and the games I'm most looking forward to, are available on both machines. My questions are about the hardware.)

1) Is the PS3 more reliable? I'd like to be able to play my games without worrying that my machine is going to freeze up or overheat at any moment. Does Sony have problems like Microsoft does?

2) Is the PS3 quiet? Sometimes my 360 sounded like it was trying to achieve lift off.

3) How much do the games use the controllers wiggle feature, or whatever the hell it's called? I'm an old-school gamer - I like to interact with my games using controllers and buttons, not by waving a magic wand around.

4) Is the PS3 backwards compatible? I turned in my PS2 for a 360 before I got a chance to play God of War 2.

5) It seems that there are many versions available. How much memory do I need, if I just the space for game saves?

ty much for any info or advice

 

[Swordfish_II]

4) Is the PS3 backwards compatible? I turned in my PS2 for a 360 before I got a chance to play God of War 2.

5) It seems that there are many versions available. How much memory do I need, if I just the space for game saves?

ty much for any info or advice

PS2 backwards compatibility is currently only available with the 80GB version.

And several games require a ~5GB installation before you can play to compensate for Blu-Ray's slow read speed.

 

[entransify]

2) Is the PS3 quiet? Sometimes my 360 sounded like it was trying to achieve lift off.

3) How much do the games use the controllers wiggle feature, or whatever the hell it's called? I'm an old-school gamer - I like to interact with my games using controllers and buttons, not by waving a magic wand around.

2. Usually, though the fan turns on after a while and you have to deal with it.

3. I have no use for it myself, so I don't bother with it. So I personally wouldn't know.

 

[s3kShUn86]

My response

Hello -

First off, I'm not a fanboy of either Microsoft or Sony. They're both fine machines, and software is the most important thing. This isn't meant to be a "which is better" thread.

But - my second 360 recently red-ringed on me. (I know - that's nothing, I've read about people on their third or fourth.) Two things arrived in the mail today - my box to return my 360 for repairs, and my stimulus check from the feds.

I can't help but think that it might be a nice opportunity to get a more reliable machine, and turn in my repaired 360 (whenever I get it) for store credit somewhere. So, some questions for the Sony crowd:

(First off - I don't play console games online, and I don't care about exclusives. All my current favorites, and the games I'm most looking forward to, are available on both machines. My questions are about the hardware.)

Full disclosure, bit of a Nintendo fanboy, but thats not really relevant here. I have a 60GB PS3 not sure if its a launch or not.

1) Is the PS3 more reliable? I'd like to be able to play my games without worrying that my machine is going to freeze up or overheat at any moment. Does Sony have problems like Microsoft does?

I rarely turn my PS3 off, ever. When I am not playing games, it churning out Folding@Home. I have set that thing both vertically and horizontally, and nothing bad has happened. To be fair the much hyped 2.40 firmware recently FUBAR'd up some PS3 consoles, which could be repaired at home, if you are semi technically proficient. Sony has quickly pulled the firmware and then hasn't said much about it. This is the first time its happened, a firmware update ruining the console, more here.

2) Is the PS3 quiet? Sometimes my 360 sounded like it was trying to achieve lift off.

Quiet enough for me. Mind you its not perfectly silent, but not audibly so. Personally I like a little white noise in the background, and as mentioned before I never turned my PS3 off, and I sleep just fine.

3) How much do the games use the controllers wiggle feature, or whatever the hell it's called? I'm an old-school gamer - I like to interact with my games using controllers and buttons, not by waving a magic wand around.

Best described as gimmicky. Lair had horrible controls with the Sixaxis, patched by Sony first to improve and then to make oldschool optional. Uncharted used it to throw grenades, actually worked kinda well, tilt it back or forward to adjust pitch. Army of Two also used it for the parachuting sequences, and it was really handy when playing the game solo, but also optional. You can wiggle the controller to reload in Army or Two, never used it much. Its also optional in Warhawk, but I don't have the game so I can't comment.

4) Is the PS3 backwards compatible? I turned in my PS2 for a 360 before I got a chance to play God of War 2.

20 GB and 60 GB have near perfect backward compatibility as they include a PS2 or most of one inside the PS3. The 80 GB lacks some or all of the hardware and has to emulate it via software for a worse result. The 40 GB has no backwards compatibility at all.
Wikipedia link
Official link

5) It seems that there are many versions available. How much memory do I need, if I just the space for game saves?

Need almost no space for game saves, 20 GB is plenty. The problem is most games install something on the hard drive, sometimes mandatory, and for patches. The install can be up to several GBs and can be a pain to do repeatedly. So if your flighty and like playing several games at once, it might be a pain. The biggest patch was 128MB for the Orange Box. And Sony is planning rolling out movies and TV Shows or something. Either way the HD can be fairly cheaply upgraded, its just a way to differentiate the unit. What seems stupid to me is that the 60 GB has more features than the 80 GB yet a lesser ranking.

 

[Squall]

1) Yes, the PS3 is definitely more reliable than the XBox 360. My friends and I that own PS3s are still using the ones we picked up at the store (mine in particular is a 60 GB model I picked up the month of the console's release). My friends that own XBox 360s, however, are all on their 2nd or 3rd consoles due to the RROD issue.

2) In my experience, the PS3 is much quieter than the XBox 360.

3) Much to the chagrin of some PS3 owners, the traditional controller D-pad and buttons are all you need for most games. (Personally, though, I agree with you... I don't need SixAxis, and the DualShock rumble feature is a neat little feature that I like, but can easily live without.)

4) All models of the PS3 can play PS3 games, PS1 games, Blu-ray disks, DVDs, and audio CDs. The 40 GB model of the PS3 can't play PS2 games, but the other three models (20 GB, 60 GB, 80 GB) can.

Bonus! There are a lot of connectivity features between the PS3 and PSP, if you own both. Like being able to put a Blu-ray movie or DVD or PS1 game in your PS3 and then wirelessly play it on your PSP wherever you have a wi-fi connection available. You can access all the video clips and mp3s you've stored on the PS3 wirelessly through the PSP, too.

5) If all you're planning on doing is keeping game saves on your hard drive, then any of the above will be all the space you'll ever need. But downloading free demos, trailers, and extra content for games you already own is so much fun!

From an engineering standpoint, the PS3 is clearly the superior machine to the XBox 360. I know, I know, it's all about the games, though. Well, that's becoming less and less of an issue as every month goes by now...

 

[s3kShUn86]

Nice thing about this

I know, I know, it's all about the games, though. Well, that's becoming less and less of an issue as every month goes by now...

That is one good thing about this, it gets ridiculously expensive to make exclusives for a console in this day and age. The only problem I have with this is that the PS3 usually gets shafted 95% of the time. I suppose this is due to the difficulty in developing for the Cell processor, and hopefully this will disappear with time.

 

[Punisher]

That is one good thing about this, it gets ridiculously expensive to make exclusives for a console in this day and age. The only problem I have with this is that the PS3 usually gets shafted 95% of the time. I suppose this is due to the difficulty in developing for the Cell processor, and hopefully this will disappear with time.

Not really the case anymore, the PS3 is getting Bioshock and Eternal Sonata, both former Xbox exclusives(well, Bioshock is on the PC too) with extra content not originally in the 360 versions.

That's the great thing about this generation, everybody wins. The best games are mulitplatform-Oblivion, Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, Resident Evil 5, etc.

 

[s3kShUn86]

Let me clarify

Not really the case anymore, the PS3 is getting Bioshock and Eternal Sonata, both former Xbox exclusives(well, Bioshock is on the PC too) with extra content not originally in the 360 versions.

That's the great thing about this generation, everybody wins. The best games are mulitplatform-Oblivion, Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, Resident Evil 5, etc.

The Orange Box on Xbox360 was lovingly done by Valve, where as it was done by EA on the PS3, and it shows. Valve has announced that the Xbox360 is getting all the new updates they have been posting including the medic weapons upgrades and the Goldrush scenario, but nothing on the PS3 front. Before the patch the game was near unplayable at times. Compare FEAR on the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Or Lost Planet, sure more maps but a worse gameplay experience. Most game do far off worse on the PS3 vs the Xbox 360 on metacritic often citing frame rate issues or slight glitches. Mind you I don't regret getting my PS3, but at the same time I have to admit it seems to be the red haired stepchild of the consoles. On the other hand the trend you mentioned is true and nice, Overlord for example is a little better on the PS3 because they did nice little things like adding a minimap, a much requested feature. The only exception is Unreal Tournament III, which came out on the PS3 first and may come out on the Xbox 360. Modding is a big part of the Unreal Tournament community it seems, and Microsoft's refusal to allow it is what held up the game.

EDIT:
Upon some quick research, the Xbox 360 version can only be described as gimped. The UT3 community can only be designed as mad geniuses creating a 2d Mario mod, a snowboarding mod, adding characters, changing rules, almost unlimited replay value, which is missing on the Xbox 360. The UT3 community will be likely be supporting this game for years to come, long after Epic stops. So this would be a rare, but welcome example where the PS3 experience is better.

 

[Goodfellow]

Hello -

First off, I'm not a fanboy of either Microsoft or Sony. They're both fine machines, and software is the most important thing. This isn't meant to be a "which is better" thread.

But - my second 360 recently red-ringed on me. (I know - that's nothing, I've read about people on their third or fourth.) Two things arrived in the mail today - my box to return my 360 for repairs, and my stimulus check from the feds.

I can't help but think that it might be a nice opportunity to get a more reliable machine, and turn in my repaired 360 (whenever I get it) for store credit somewhere. So, some questions for the Sony crowd:

(First off - I don't play console games online, and I don't care about exclusives. All my current favorites, and the games I'm most looking forward to, are available on both machines. My questions are about the hardware.)

1) Is the PS3 more reliable? I'd like to be able to play my games without worrying that my machine is going to freeze up or overheat at any moment. Does Sony have problems like Microsoft does?

2) Is the PS3 quiet? Sometimes my 360 sounded like it was trying to achieve lift off.

3) How much do the games use the controllers wiggle feature, or whatever the hell it's called? I'm an old-school gamer - I like to interact with my games using controllers and buttons, not by waving a magic wand around.

4) Is the PS3 backwards compatible? I turned in my PS2 for a 360 before I got a chance to play God of War 2.

5) It seems that there are many versions available. How much memory do I need, if I just the space for game saves?

ty much for any info or advice

I am in the same boat as you. I am on my fourth 360, and now I do not even know if I want to keep it anymore. To be frank, I think the PS3 is the superior machine and have spent nearly 8 months straight playing it other than the few breaks I took for Mario Galaxy and Smash Brothers. I have replayed both God of Wars, all 3 MGS, every GTA and FF game on the PS3, and the only problem I ever experienced was a slowdown in frame rate during the final boss battle in FFIX, which, from what I have read, has been fixed.

As for the answers to your questions:

1. I have had mine since Jan 2007 and have not had a single issue. There is less than a 1% fail ratio on the market. I think MGSIV and GTAIV have brought that up to a 2% though.

2. That is hard to say. I have never heard my PS3 breath, but others have complained about the noise.

3. Most games except Dragons Lair (or whatever it was called) give you the option if you want to have the motion sensitivity on. However, I'd say only half, if that, even utilize its use.

4. The 80GB, 60GB, and 20GB models are. Right now the 40GB is not, Sony is going to issue an update in Oct that will render the 40GB backwards compatible.

5. Again, memory is hard. I have a 60GB PS3, and I am down to 25GBs, which includes MGSIV, DMC4, GTAIV, Heavenly Sword, Uncharted, Conan, and many many PS1/PS2 games. Nice thing is though, you can easily replace the HDD with any laptop HDD.

 

[n1c3guy707]

5) It seems that there are many versions available. How much memory do I need, if I just the space for game saves?

Well the game saves are small in size but the newer games coming out for the PS3 has massive mandatory HD installs. I just bought my PS3 last month with 2 games, MGS4 and GTA4 combined ate up nearly 8 gigs of the PS3's HD. So if you are going to buy a PS3 get the 80 gig or exchange your HD with a bigger one like I did.

 

[s3kShUn86]

Where'd you hear this?

4. The 80GB, 60GB, and 20GB models are. Right now the 40GB is not, Sony is going to issue an update in Oct that will render the 40GB backwards compatible.

Where did you hear this? From my understanding the 40 GB PS3 is physically incapable of doing this. The 80 GB's PS2 emulation is mostly hardware with software emulating the Emotions Engine chip. This also doesn't make sense from a business standpoint, the main difference between the two version is backwards compatibility, hence justifying the $100 difference.

 

[Goodfellow]

Where did you hear this? From my understanding the 40 GB PS3 is physically incapable of doing this. The 80 GB's PS2 emulation is mostly hardware with software emulating the Emotions Engine chip. This also doesn't make sense from a business standpoint, the main difference between the two version is backwards compatibility, hence justifying the $100 difference.

I believe the info came from a German site. The PS3 can easily create emulation software via firmware just like it was able to install Profile 2.0 even though it wasn't built with it unlike every other BR player on the market.