New Consoles, Part PS3.

You many have noticed I haven't followed up with a post about my PS3 yet. Well, the reason is quite simple. I haven't played it much. There's a combination of reasons, some being there just aren't enough hours in the day. However, there's also the well documented dearth of software available for the system so far.

I don't plan to make this into yet another PS3 bash fest. You can find plenty of those all over the internet. But the fact is, so far my impression of the PS3 is pretty underwhelming. The hardware itself is impressive with the best build quality of a Sony console yet. (Which isn't saying a whole lot really.) The X Bar interface is pretty slick and PSP users will feel right at home with it. It runs a little loud and blows a little hot, but it doesn't seem like it's going to overheat.

I can't speak to the BluRay disc playing ability, though everything I've read says it's a pretty good player. I can tell you the DVD interface is a million times better than the PS2's, for what that's worth. You can also play SACDs, but you have to use the HDMI output and I've got nothing that takes that. Baah.

I haven't mentioned games yet, because frankly there's not a lot out there yet. I've got a couple, and they probably look as good as their Xbox360 ports. The Gran Turismo demo is a stunner though. Here's hoping they actually put some AI in that game this time around.

I'd never thought about how much the rumble feature adds to games and I'm really disappointed Sony didn't settle with that company to include it on the PS3. That's the biggest thing I've noticed. I mean there really isn't anything lacking on these games, but not having the rumble just feels several generations ago at this point and is really silly.

At this point, there really isn't much else to say. I think it's totally ignorant to say the PS3 is a failure at this early in the game, but let's just say I can't think of a whole lot to justify the high price tag at this point, unless you really want a BluRay player.

(Still, I'm not complaining that I got one for Xmas. Virtua Fighter 5 comes out next month. For me, that's a system seller right there.)