PS3 is most pre-ordered console

[kempez]

Oh sweet Jesus Rollerskating Christ, not THIS discussion AGAIN!!

YAY!

OK agreed we shouldn't get onto this again.

PS3 pre-orders then...yessss

My mates getting one just for Blu-Ray on his 1080p screen

[digit]

I'm looking forward to getting hold of a Playstation 3...

That is when my friends get hold of one, a flat mate came back from game after paying a £50 deposit. He claims he has a garentee of one at launch, whether that turns out to be true or not we shall see. If its anything like the 360 scenerio and judging from the figures in this thread it will be worse, his 'late' order I doubt will be fufilled but I could be wrong

Personallly its of no surprise to me that the playstation 3 is in such high demand, it thought of the N64, and the dreamcast, the latter of which was the better machine but without the games to match.

Hell I had a playstation myself at one point and enjoyed Gran Turismo and Metal Gear Solid a lot. The ps2 also has Singstar and Guitar Hero and a whole host of other bemani games not available on other machines. If this continues with the playstation 3 that will be fantastic, a ddr or dancing stage game with online functionality would be ace

[Nick]

Right, can PLEASE stop the arguing and stick to the subject matter?

We created this sub-forums to try and stop the anti-(insert platform here) comments.

A few points you should ALL consider before posting:

1) Everyone is entitled to an opinion, whether it is based on fact or just something you heard from a bloke in a pub.

2) If you don't agree with an opinion, refer to rule one.


Since the PS3 isn't out in the UK yet, I would expect very few of you to able to discuss the PS3 from you're own actual experience of the console.

For your reference, here's an honest opinion (yet again) for how the PS3 stands right now:

It is more powerful than the Xbox 360.
Sorry, but it is. Even from the variety of full games and demos out now, it's pretty clear that the PS3 has some serious processing power.

Software support is patchy at best.
Yep, sorry again, but there are few compelling titles right now. Resistance: Fall Of Man is very much a love it or loathe it game. Tarinder likes it, I didn't. Motorstorm is great (in my opinion). Call Of Duty 3, whilst not being the best looking game on the PS3 plays far better on the PS3 than the Wii. Many of the other titles are sequels with not very much new in terms of gameplay... they're more just graphically enhanced versions. I've seen little that makes use of the six-axis controller's features other than as a standard joypad... Yes, there are some games in the pipeline that do and some demos too but there's nothing so far that really goes to town with it.

Online is a big worry.
Why? Well, Sony are unproven in this respect. Online with the PS2 was near non-existent and the PlayStation Network for the PS3 is, to be frank, rubbish. Sony really shuld just copy Microsoft and go for a completely GUI driven system with easy to selct buttons rather than a text based webpage with hyperlinks that your cursor jumps to.

Multiplayer online is another question mark... there's just nothing out that gives me any chance to assess if it's any good at all.

Media stuff.
Another big question mark. The Xbox 360 is a brilliant media extender. The PS3 has none of that unless I lob stuff onto a memory stick and stream it like that. The Wii is in the same boat here...

Summing up
The difference between the Wii and the PS3 is that the Wii costs a helluva lot less, so I expect less from it. Compared with the Xbox 360, the PS3 costs more and I would therefore expect at least the same, if not more, from the system.

Provided developers work hard to utilise the PS3's power, we should start to see compelling games trickling onto the system sometime around the end of the year/early 2008.

The home media side of the PS3 at this time seems to be near completely neglected, perhaps as a symptom of the online side of the PS3 in general.

This is quite lacking and is something Sony will have to fix if the PS3 is to become a long term, serious contender against the Xbox 360.

I say this because pretty much everyone who has posted in here has, at one point or another, espoused the opinion that it's gameplay over graphics that makes a game playable and gives it long term appeal... and online is one area where the life of a game is massively extended.

So, if it were case of a standalone system that you played on your own and used just for games, the PS3 shows masses of promise.

However, directly compared with the Xbox 360, which is a fair comparison as they're both major next-gen consoles aimed at gamers, the PS3 comes up wanting in online experience, media capabilities and mutliplayer.

So if it were my cash on the line, I'd perhaps hold off ordering now and wait until they were freely available and the price had settled to the RRP without bundles I may not want.

And before anyone goes off on one, remember, I have a PS3, an Xbox 360 and a Wii... so I've no brand loyalty whatsoever.

[menthel]

I am still not convinced that it is much more powerful. I will hold back my judgement until mid 2008 before I decide. I think by then the programmers should have got to grips with the PS3 and then we will see. My worry is that although the PS3 seems to be more powerful, that is will be damn hard for the programmers to 'unleash' it fully.

[Silent Shark]

I remember a while ago reading that devs said that the difference in performance of PS3 and 360 games was the the PS3 could 'do more' at the same time. Otherwise, there would be no real difference. (I wish I could find the link...)

An example they gave was an explosion with shrapnel in game would have 10 pieces on the 360, but 25 on the PS3. This wasn't because it could work faster or was more powerful, it's just because there were more cores to work with. This could also result in things like more AIs being generated.

If you look at the Ridge Racer game on both machines, the differences are tiny. It'll be interesting to see if any upcoming multi-plat games take advantage of one consoles ability over the other, or if publishers will save money by making a game to run on the lowest specs and then just port it directly (much more likely).

[Nick]

Devs will develop on whatever platform it is easiest to write on.

So I expect to see PS3 only titles looking and behaving differently to multi-platform games.

That said, games based on a common engine such as UE3 will either look the same or perhaps have more graphical tricks/faster framerates on the PS3....

This is PURE conjecture though... so don't nobody hold me to it!

[kalniel]

Chatting to the guys at the press event, they expressed an opinion that actually the PS3 wasn't all that different to develop on - it's still different, but it's not the gap that existed between XBox and PS2.

[kempez]

So Nick just to clarify and looking at the specs of the PS3.

The Cell is better in terms of raw processing power, so should mean less of a bottleneck for graphics.

The 360 has a far more advanced GPU than the PS3, but not as ¿fast? (from specs and personal experience of PC-based cards).

Having played both (own a 360, played on a mates PS3 quite a few times now): i think that the PS3 has potential...but not sure how much the quality of graphics can develop compared to the GPU of the 360. However looking at late PS2 titles I expect devs can eek out every little bit that is there.

I agree on what you said but just wondering what you though (as you've had more play-time with the PS3 than me).

I still think that 6x more pre-orders is crazy, mostly based purely on the pricing of the PS3

[badass]

The 360 has a far more advanced GPU than the PS3, but not as ¿fast? (from specs and personal experience of PC-based cards).

TBH we'll have to wait untill the R600 is out to know this. Its about half as powerfull as that but with better AA and AF.

[Dorza]

So Nick just to clarify and looking at the specs of the PS3.

The Cell is better in terms of raw processing power, so should mean less of a bottleneck for graphics.

Lets not forget that sony wanted to do graphics on the cell all by them selves, but had to turn to nvidia according to reports, even so FPP is reported to be 2 TFLOPS on the 360 its 1. If this is correct than computationally it is double the power. However the PS3 isn't leaps and bounds better in terms of bandwidth or memory size. In some areas it is actually worse. It doesn't matter how powerful the system is, if it lacks the bandwidth that the CPU & GPU are capable of then it means next to nothing later down the line.

The 360 has a far more advanced GPU than the PS3, but not as ¿fast? (from specs and personal experience of PC-based cards).

Possibly, but you can't compare pc graphics cards to console graphic systems even if they are the basis for future computer products. There are a lot of extras and radical differences that have to be factored in before they are released for pc systems.

The PS3 GPU is i think based on G70 and the 360 is R600 according to what I have read, they are both hybrid components however. The PS3 GPU is better than the 360 GPU in some areas and vise versa. And unless the PS3 has a trick up its sleeve like the 360 did, the 360 does HD better too from what I can gather.

At the end of the day i honestly don't think the PS3 is way ahead of the 360. Computationally wise yes it is, but in the real world what does this mean? Raw power isn't everything; there are many other aspects to consider. By the time developers actually unleash its power won't a bout of new consoles be firmly on the cards?

Despite this the PS3 will eventually outsell the 360, but not without a struggle. I have said before just how important previous playstation marketing has and will be to sony for the PS3. I am not at all suprised by these reported pre order sales. I have always thought the PS3 will do better over here in ratio to anywhere else.

I actually found this thread on neowin a very interesting read. It concerns the GPUs in both systems.

[dangel]

Lets not forget that sony wanted to do graphics on the cell all by them selves, but had to turn to nvidia according to reports, even so FPP is reported to be 2 TFLOPS on the 360 its 1. If this is correct than computationally it is double the power. However the PS3 isn't leaps and bounds better in terms of bandwidth or memory size. In some areas it is actually worse. It doesn't matter how powerful the system is, if it lacks the bandwidth that the CPU & GPU are capable of then it means next to nothing later down the line.

Absolutely - I just can't agree with Nick that it's any more powerful in real terms - the limit is always the GPU at high res. Devs seem to be saying that there pretty much even once you take into account their relative differences in hardware implementation.

Sure it'll outsell the 360 - but not on it's own merits as much as the brand name (that's still the market's number one). I'm not expecting PS3 games to look any different than their 360 counterparts at the end of the day..

[Nick]

Like I said guys, that's just the way it feels...

The PS3 feels smoother in similar games to the Xbox 360... It's not until we see some mutli-platform titles that anyone can make a call.

I will say that the info I was given a while back, just after the Autumn update on the Xbox 360 enabled 1080 HD, was that the GPU was never intended to pump out that resolution... MS never asked for it to do this and it was added in as an afterthought because of the resolutions the PS3 was promising.

I'm not saying the PS3 is any better, I've already said my piece on that... I'm just saying that I think it has more potential...

Right now, my league table looks like this:

Xbox 360: online gaming, solo gaming, media streaming. (basically it does pretty much everything right but 'two player in the same room' games are a bit lacking)

PS3: for the hardcore gamer with cash to spare. (I'd hold off buying one until around Christmas when they should be widely available and have better software support. Media streaming is non-existent, online experience pales to nothing against Xbox Live (and that's gaming being unproven and general online experience being poor))

Wii: The party/family console. Great as a social machine and for the casual gamer who can't faff about. Some great 'fan' titles (Zelda) and Virtual Console for the retro gamer but not much longevity for the gamer who wants to game alone.

[kempez]

Ah fair enough Nick. "Fell" is quite often a good indication of what the system is capable of imo

As an addition to the 360's online capabilities I have to say that the Media Centre extending with Vista is smooth and sexy. Slick as hell (though setting up my network was another thing).

That's the main reason I plumped for Retail Ultimate instead of business (needed for networking) and I'm very glad I got it

[Stringent]

If the PS3 is the most pre-ordered console, how come many shops/on-line retailers are still taking orders? Currently I do have my name down for one and expect it at launch. I haven't decided what games I'll be getting just yet. Probably two at most.

I don't have the cash to part with for a HD TV yet. On the side, HD TV's are another laborious issue. Everything is so complicated. I spent about 2hrs before I managed to get my head around it. No-one seems to say, right 26" get the LGxxxx, 32" get the Toshiba whatever etc, There doesn't seem to be a 'best TV' for the screen sizes. Anyway, side tracked.

The PS3 does have some major flaws and drawbacks. Because the 360 has been around for a year, yes there are loads of games for it, the online side has been developed etc. There is no reason why Sony can't do this if they want to. They had better do, otherwise their investment in it will be wasted.

Sony kit is overpriced anyways compared to other brands, but you get what you pay for.

I nearly got a PS2, but when I heard there was going to be a PS3 I stopped and said I'm getting one. Thats it. I ignored the 360 basically because its Microsoft, and Microsoft = bugs and lots of patches. That was in my mind.

My 2p worth.

[menthel]

I think sony have got a lot of consoles available for launch. What has surprised me is that you only get a composite lead with the ps3. Not even component, so you will need to pay out for a component or hdmi cable if you want hi-def gaming. I am still going to get one when the games get more interesting.

[directhex]

I think sony have got a lot of consoles available for launch. What has surprised me is that you only get a composite lead with the ps3. Not even component, so you will need to pay out for a component or hdmi cable if you want hi-def gaming. I am still going to get one when the games get mote interesting.

at least existing ps2 component cables work