Dark_Lord
Dark Lord of the Sith
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UK, October 13, 2006 - So, want to know what we did yesterday? We sat in a small room with garish wallpaper, staring eyeball to diode at the future. Well, a future at any rate - Sony's future to be precise. You see, finally, after months of staring at the bugger from behind inch-thick Plexiglas, the PlayStation 3 tossed aside its security blanket and exposed itself fully to the IGN UK team.
First things first then. Yes, it looks every bit as imposing as it does in the photos you've undoubtedly seen. With its sleek curves, see-thru hood and delicate metallic flourishes, the PlayStation 3 is clearly a machine designed to dominate your front room, screaming "I AM THE FUTURE OF HOME ENTERTAINMENT!" at anyone in the vicinity. Of course, as with Sony's other high-concept gaming beauty, it's also prone to lose its impressive lustre within minutes if you're of a sticky-fingered inclination. Or, in our case, thirty people who really should be doing some proper work raid the PS3 party to caress, ogle and tease the thing in pure, schoolboy-ish excitement. And - just in case you were wondering - yes, the front-mounted PS logo DOES rotate to accommodate both your horizontal and vertical storage requirements.
[SIZE=-1]PlayStation 3: The Wilderness Years.[/SIZE]
Much like the PSP though, the PS3's impressive form factor is only the tip of the machine's unerring ability to stun the crowds - so let's dive a little deeper. Actually, not too deep just yet, we'll start where most people are likely to start their PlayStation 3 experience: with the 'on' button.
Since sending out smoke signals to our US-bound brethren trumpetting the arrival of Sony's behemoth in our UK office, we've been inundated with requests, queries and rumours to prove or disprove. One of the more intriguing ones floating around in our inbox was whether Sony had really pulled out the stops, replacing the console's external buttons and switches with flat, heat-sensitive panels. Well, alas, that doesn't appear to be the case. Certainly, the machine's 'on/off' and 'eject' buttons are completely flush with the small shelf protruding beneath the disc-slot, but touch-sensitivity seems to be the order of the day here. You'll still have that tingle of retro-futuristic glee, sending your PS3 spiralling into action with the most delicate of touches, you just won't accidentally fire your precious Blu-Ray discs across the room if you've set your thermostat too high. What's more, if you don't believe us, we got our friendly Sony PR to put his debug console through its paces too, with a specially designed series of scientific tests. Here are his findings: "I tried breathing on [the buttons] and nothing happened. But it did turn on when I touched it with a 2p piece." Next stop: the Nobel prize!
[SIZE=-1]Mysteries Revealed: PS3 is bigger than the PSP, afterall.[/SIZE]
So with that particular quandary resolved, let's fire the damn thing up! If you've used a PSP before, you'll be instantly familiar with the PS3's Cross Media Bar navigation system (or XMB, if you prefer). One nice new touch during boot-up though is the tantalizing orchestral tune-up sound that accompanies the wafting hessian backdrop and unassuming "Sony Computer Entertainment" logo - it's got that whole "Let's get this goddamn show on the road!" feel to it, so nice job Sony.
Navigating the XMB itself is a doddle, with the eight main categories - menu, settings, photo, music, video, game, network and friends - branching off into a multitude of sub-options. As much as we'd love to list each and everyone of them, we'd kind of like to leave you at least SOMETHING to discover for yourselves, so we'll just tease you with the news that the PS3 text input menu (identical to the slightly cumbersome nine-square mobile phone-style layout found on the PSP) now features fully-fledged predictive text. While the PSP stopped short, offering simple suffixes for things like web addresses, it seems that the PS3 has a complete dictionary to cross-reference, taking much of the pain out of the process. And when we say complete, we mean complete - three digits into sticking in one of the IGN team's name, the PS3 kindly suggested we might be trying to type "Ejaculations". Sadly, we weren't.
Interface-wise, we've still got a lot of unanswered questions. For example, what happens when you stick a DVD, PS1 or PS2 disc in the machine? Well, as of right now nothing - the debug unit Sony's demoed to us still features slightly outdated firmware, meaning the machine flatly refuses to play anything other than Blu-Ray discs. Similarly, all attempts to connect our PSPs and Cyber-shot digi-cams to the console were met with resounding indifference. However, we'll be getting our hands on an updated version of the machine imminently, so rest assured we'll be probing even deeper next time around.
So, having messed around with the PS3's XMB, there wasn't too much left for us to do beyond stick in a game. Chris Roper, IGN, asks: "Can you do a quick write up on impressions of using the system's basics - i.e. Loading and ejecting a disc?" Well, Chris, it's quite simple. You carefully position the disc-based media of your choice against the PS3's front-loading drive slot and the magic fairies deep inside suck it up like a particularly enthusiastic four-quid ****e. It's hardly the cutting edge of technology, but it's yet another example of Sony's dedication to removing all unsightly obtrusions in its quest for ultimate sexiness. Plus, it makes the Xbox 360's tray-loading drive look positively last-gen. Bonus! Ejecting a disc demands nothing more than a carefully placed finger on the appropriate button in front of the slot - minimal fuss, minimal exertion required!
[SIZE=-1]Sony, Simmons and a gigantic ball of floating hair.[/SIZE]
This time around, Sony's only game offering was the TGS build of MotorStorm, which Alex is already knee-deep in comprehensive hands-on coverage for. Instead of duplicating that, we'll take a look at one last thing - possibly the most controversial aspect of the PS3: the controller. Prepare to be shocked though: we don't really like it all that much. True enough, you can go along with Phil Harrison's proclamation that it's already the industry-standard controller amongst umpteen-million gamers around the globe, but, arguably, that doesn't make it the best. Personally, we can't help but feel that the SIXAXIS (as it's now known) has been sadly neglected when viewed alongside the rest of the PS3. Compared to Microsoft's uber-comfortable Xbox 360 pad, the SIXAXIS feels cheap, plasticky, uncomfortable and disconcertingly light - almost as if it's going to fly out of your hands during those more extreme gaming moments.
More worrying still, the newly-designed lower L and R shoulder triggers feel more like they belong on an early controller prototype than the near-final model. Replicating the 360 pad, rather than being simple shoulder-mounted buttons, the triggers are now hinged horizontally along the controller, with pressure forcing them inward along the bottom - like triggers then, really. Trouble is, they're placed almost unnaturally low meaning we found ourselves operating them by jamming our fingers in between the hinges to apply pressure, rather than using the buttons themselves. What's more, the triggers are convex, with no grooves to keep your fingers in place - an issue further compounded by their smooth finish, offering no resistance against your finger tips. Invariably we found our digits slipping off with the triggers snapping back to their default position. Bah. Of course, the PS2's Dual Shock pad wasn't without its faults either but we still learned to live with it. It's just a shame that Sony hasn't used its resources to bring its controller up to next-gen standards along with its cutting-edge hardware.
[SIZE=-1]IGN UK puts PS3's wireless controller to the test.[/SIZE]
Skipping over the four red LEDs sandwiched between the shoulder buttons, designed to show which player number your pad is assigned to, there's one last thing to mention about the controller - that's the PS button slap-bang in the middle of the pad. At present, it doesn't seem its full power has been truly harnessed, with our friendly Sony representative unable to explain what we can expect from it in final retail units. For the time being though, holding the button down for a couple of seconds - whether in-game of other wise - brings up a secondary menu, featuring options to turn off your console or disable the wireless controller you're using. Even more handily, the display shows the amount of play-time (in minutes, no less!) left in your current battery charge. Toot!
So for now, that's it. However, with plenty of questions still left unanswered, you can be sure we'll be badgering Sony for another look at its monstrous next-gen creation soon. And, of course, as soon as that happens, we'll bring our findings straight to you, loyal reader. If you think that means we're going to stop bragging about the fact we've all licked a PS3's undercarriage and you haven't though, you're sadly mistaken. Sorry.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/738/738858p1.html
