WAIP: October 26, 2009: Playstation 3 Acquired Edition (The First Experiences)

On Friday night I finally took the plunge and picked up a PS3. I picked it up in Jersey (boo hiss) because we were visiting my wife's Aunt and the tax just so happens to be a tad bit cheaper in Jersey. When we got back to Cindy's (wife) Aunt's house I unpacked it slowly, but deliberately, and proceeded to hook it up to a busted standard definition television (let us not forget the fact that I hooked it up incorrectly at first). I purchased a HDMI cable online so my standard definition gaming will be limited.

So I went through all the set-up procedures (pretty standard issue here) but it took me a few minutes to really learn the way the on screen keyboard works. The standard issue QWERTY keyboard works just fine and it is actually a bit quicker than the 360 on screen keyboard (good thing too considering their version of the 360 chat pad is said to be not that great). What I cannot figure out is why some of the time they have this cell phone like keyboard that forces you to type in some T9-like formula that really does not make sense in the realm of the console but in the grand scheme of everything this is a low priority issue.

The real annoying issues came out of having to update the console. Before I could sign into the Playstation Network I had to update the console to 3.02 and folks, people are not kidding when they say that the console takes forever to update. I would measure the time in time it takes to make a sandwich (slowly) and then eat that sandwich (slowly). It was painstaking considering all that I wanted to do was play my new console.

After that I signed into PSN and began to browse their very pretty and well organized store front. The first thing that I noticed, other than the aesthetics, was the lack of content compared to the Xbox Live Marketplace (not really disconcerting but an easy observation to make). So I queued up the demos of inFamous and MLB: The Show 09 and went on my merry way (meaning I left the Playstation Store).

I then popped in LittleBigPlanet (which needed an update that was long enough but not nearly as long as the system update) and proceeded to be melted by that games charm and attention to detail. I managed to accidentally get myself online in one of the levels I was playing and while it was more funny than anything that one experience was a smidgen laggy and I immediately noticed that lack of people talking (which I think that this game benefits from when it is there).

I later installed the demos for inFamous and The Show. Yes you heard correctly, you have to install your demos and I think this might go the same for PSN titles but do not hold me to that seeing as I have not purchased one yet. It does not make sense to me and it is just one thing getting in your way of playing your games sooner.

That is all for my initial thoughts on the Playstation 3 and though it may sound like I do not like the thing, that is not the case. I quite enjoy the Playstation experience I had so far and I am looking forward to playing Uncharted 1 this coming week. I thought I would not like the controller at all but I really do not mind it. I still prefer the 360 controller but I can (and still need too) get used to the Playstation controller (I need to stop pressing the 'SQUARE' button instead of the 'X' button when it says to press the 'X' button. I need to train myself on the PS controller).

But for now I PS3'ed out and I just want to play some Borderlands on my 360 (mental hug).