KEY POINTS:
After so many fleeting encounters with the PS3 at trade fairs, in Sony display rooms and US electronics stores, it was almost an anticlimax to have the thing finally sitting on my lounge floor.
After all, there were riots over the PS3 when it was launched in the
US; someone was shot in the melee outside one store. Supply shortages led to a delay in it getting here.
Then there's the $1200 price tag. With all that, you'd expect it to do more than play movies, music and games and connect you to the internet.
But that's exactly what it does - only better than before, with more features packed into the box than any previous games console, ever. It also looks good and doesn't need a bulky power pack to run.
The PS3, at heart, is a sophisticated video game machine. The cell processor within allows for vastly better graphics rendering. PS3 games I've played so far are impressive. Resistance: Fall of Man, a sort of cross between Call of Duty and Half Life, is fast and furious and looks great. Motorstorm is a thrilling off-road racer with crashes to top Burnout Revenge. But it wasn't until I played Formula One Championship Edition, a game I already know well from the PS2, that I was able to compare the leap forward graphics have taken.
The cars and scenery are much more realistic on the PS3, which seems to give a video-like sheen to everything.
We've already seen this transformation with the Xbox 360 and at the moment there doesn't seem to be much difference in the graphics quality between the two machines. However, the PS3 may pull ahead as developers take advantage of its considerable hardware grunt.
Those familiar with the interface of the PSP, Sony's handheld gaming gadget, will be right at home with the identical PS3 screens. It's a minimalist look. Five icons - photo, music, video, game and network, hover over a pastel background. It's far more stylish than the Xbox interface.
Sony made the right move in ditching plans to sell the PS3 with a 20GB hard drive. The 60GB version we get instead, is large enough to store a lot of music, which can be ripped from CDs inserted in the PS3's neat slot drive.
A little hatch flips up to reveal a group of flash card slots - SD, compact flash and memory stick are all accommodated, letting you transfer your photos to the PS3's hard drive. A clever photo slideshow tool lets you display your pictures as polaroids scattered on a table top.
When it comes to networking, the PS3 has all the bases covered - bluetooth, wi-fi and ethernet. The built-in wi-fi allows you to connect your PSP to play the media held on the PS3's hardware. I like the idea of that, I could use the PSP for playing music around the house and not be restricted to the size of the memory card in it.
Going online to the Playstation Network is simple and free and you'll need to do it to join online games. The Playstation store is fairly spartan at present. You can download games like the quirky timewaster Flow as well as high-definition movie trailers. The PS3 has a web browser for surfing the internet from your TV screen. It works, but the on-screen keyboard is fiddly. If you're planning on using the PS3 for internet use, you'd best invest in a wireless keyboard.
The PS3's controller is very similar to the PS2's, but is wireless for greater convenience and features the so-called "six axis" tilt system. I'm still getting the hang of this, but it allows you to tilt the controller to simulate movement or a change in point of view. It's a feature similar to that employed by the Nintendo Wii remote and likely to become integral to future games.
Finally, the Blu-ray drive which explains the big cost differential between the PS3 and the Xbox 360, does a good job of playing Blu-ray movies.
There aren't many Blu-ray titles available yet, but the format has good support from the movie studios so the library will grow.
Casino Royale and Talladega Nights look great, because I own a flat screen TV capable of playing them in HD.
You too will need to have an HD screen to get the most out of the PS3, which the average Kiwi family may want to look seriously at when the inevitable price cut puts it below the $1000 mark.
