Gearheads of War

To put it simply...DON'T.  At least not yet.  I'll start with the positives.

The machine itself is nicely designed on the exterior and it is seriously whisper quiet compared to the roar of the 360.  It's like a Lexus vs. a Harley in terms of the amount of noise they make.

The Blu-Ray also looks very good.  The picture is clear although the HD-DVD add-on for the 360 looks better.  That is probably because I have my Elite connected via HDMI and my PS3 is connected through component.  I'm sure that will change when I get my new 1080p HDTV later this year, but for now, HD-DVD will continue to be my format of choice when movies are available in both formats.

The online is relatively easy to sign up for and it didn't cost me anything.  I had a PSP before, so I was used to the interface.  I'm not crazy about it, but it is really easy to use.  And again, it's free.

I also downloaded the Heavenly Sword demo and the game looks absolutely amazing.  I've preordered it and I'm really glad I'm going to have a PS3 for that game alone.

And finally, I love that I got the 60 GB model with the good backwards compatibility.  Pretty much every single PS2 game I own works very well on it and I don't think that will continue when Sony removes the engine that does all the backwards compat stuff smoothly.

Now, there is plenty of things I don't like in terms of the PS3.  First of all, the lack of games I want is frightening.  I tried Resistance and it is AWFUL.  I can't believe the scores that some sites gave this game.  Seriously.   The enemies are terrible looking.  The guns shoot like something out of Buck Rodgers.

I also have always had a problem with the PlayStation controllers as well.  They are light and feel cheap and have always made my thumb hurt.  Not only that, but for some odd reason, game designers decided in all their wisdom to use the R1 button as the button to shoot.  Not the trigger like on the 360, but it would be like making the bumper button the trigger.  It makes literally NO sense whatsoever.

Downloading something off of PSN seems to take forever as well because not only do you have to go through the whole download, but then it also goes through a lengthy install process.

And finally, a minor disappointment that I knew I was going to have before I ever decided to take the plunge is that I do want achievements when I play games.  So I think I will be buying almost all of my games that are multiplatform on the 360.  I have nearly 11,000 achievement points and even though I know the points are basically worthless, there is something about my nature that enjoys getting them.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have any regrets about buying the PS3.  I think it will definitely pay off in the long run, but until I get Heavenly Sword in September, I will basically look at it as a Blu-Ray player.  A very dusty (the glossy finish is awesome, but it attracts dust unlike anything I've ever seen) Blu-Ray player.

I'm going to go back to Rapture now. And next week, I'll probably be playing Stranglehold on my 360, Hard Boiled on Blu-Ray be damned.