The Geeks Go To Town On Sony’s New Box!

Now that the dust is settling—sort of—on November’s launch of the PS3, the console is slooooowly starting to filter out to the public at large. It’s still taking some time for regular people to purchase it at anything remotely resembling a sane price-point, but for now, at least, it is out there, somewhere. And we at GameAxis have been giving it a serious look.

Because at the end of it all, the one thing that everyone wants to know is, “Is this console worth it? Does it live up to all that hype?”

You’ll have to read on for all the details, but the short answer is, “Not yet. But it might soon.”

The History

No one needs an extended, detailed summary of Sony or the Playstation series of consoles, and I’m not about to start one here, but context is important. The PS3 comes out of the gates with a lot of expectations to meet. Sony is the only console manufacturer to have ever held onto the lead two generations in a row. Each iteration of the Playstation console has always pushed the limits of whatever consumer technology was currently available, and the PS3 is a considerably larger step in that direction than the previous two. The wealth of features—many, some would argue, not actually necessary or welcome—and the power of the console have put it in the “elite” high end of the gamer spectrum. It joins the ranks of previous consoles such as the Neo-Geo or 3DO as being dramatically more expensive than its competitors, which puts in the very real position of being too high-end for the average consumer. It also offers a much more feature-rich experience than previous “elite” consoles that could only offer better graphics.

As those that faithfully follow the industry are aware, the Playstation 3 comes in two flavors. The “budget” model, costing US$499 (before insane eBay price jacking), comes with the hopeful successor to DVD, a Blu-Ray drive, a 20GB hard drive, one Bluetooth wireless SixAxis controller, and an HDMI port for High-Definition images. The premium model that retails for US$599 has the same features, but replaces the 20GB drive with a 60GB model, and includes some fancy chrome trim and Wi-Fi capability as well as a Flash Card reader.

The launch of the console itself has been marred in the uglier side of humanity. Violence, and in some cases, even death, have plagued the entry of the PS3 into the market. The Japanese launch was filled with stories of Chinese nationals who’s only interest in the PS3 was selling it at inflated prices on the “grey market” of parallel imports. The American launch had stories of muggings, stabbings and even shootings as criminals attempted to capitalize on the high-desire, low availability aspect of the console to similarly sell the PS3 for inflated prices.

And now we’re about to tell you exactly what you get in terms of power and promise for the price. We’re going to look at each part of the 60 GB PS3 to see what it does and find out what it means to you, the gamer.

Under The Hood

The PS3 has been touted as the most powerful console of the current generation, and on paper, that is definitely the case.

The Cell Microprocessor is an extremely robust and flexible piece of technology. Traditional processors of years past were “single task” affairs in that all the calculation and number crunching took place once one operation was completed and a new task appeared. In recent years, the PC community has enjoyed what is commonly known as “dual core processing” in which two separate, independent processors can substantially increase the computational power of a PC by “combining forces.” The Cell Broadband Engine, as Sony calls it, actually has something similar with two Power Processing Elements (PPEs) acting in the conventional fashion of dual core seen in PCs today. But this is supplemented by additional “cells” (roughly speaking, think miniature processors) called Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs) that are also capable of performing independent calculations. The PS3 has seven SPEs to bolster the two PPEs, making for a total of nine independent threads of computational that can be ultimately combined together.

In gamer terms, the upshot of this is that the Cell Broadband Engine is extremely good at physical simulation in addition to beefier graphics. However this is still a relatively new—and difficult—way to code. Even with the assistance of Linux based cell development platforms, there is still a steep learning curve for programmers to tap into almost “esoteric” method of coding required to get all these PPEs and SPEs working in conjunction with each other. Of course, the other factor that complicates all this is the NVIDIA custom graphics processor unit.

The end result of all this, for the moment, is that games ported over from other platforms, such as the Xbox 360, will not look substantially better on the PS3 because they will not fully utilize the cell processor. In fact, even just trying to get a “traditionally coded” game on the Xbox 360 to run on the PS3 architecture can be a challenge in itself as can be attested to by recent comparisons of Xbox 360 games to their PS3 equivalents. The jump from the Xbox 360 tri-core processor to the PS3 Cell has resulted in inefficient (some would even say lazy) code that results in slower frame-rates and even less detailed graphics, because the effort required to customize such a game to the Cell processor is not economically feasible at this point.

Blu-Ray Blues

One of the prime causes that Sony itself cites for the small production numbers and higher price of the PS3 is this, the Blu-Ray drive that is the new media heart of the console. The difficulty in manufacturing the Blu-Ray diode has caused a massive shortage of not just PS3s, but dedicated Blu-Ray players in general. What’s the big deal with this thing? Well it all depends on your priorities.

From the gamer perspective, Blu-Ray means two things; more expensive games, and higher storage capacity. The Blu-Ray disc can potentially hold up to 50 GB on a single side compared to DVD’s upper limit of 9 GB. The limitations of the DVD format are already appearing on Xbox 360 games such as Blue Dragon which require three DVDs. Of course, the ability to store more data (more tellingly, at High-Definition quality) means that Blu-Ray is a more expensive venture.

However it’s also important for another factor; movies. The format war is now full on, as HD-DVD and Blu-Ray battle it out in a fashion similar to the VHS/Beta war of the past. Currently, the PS3 is the cheapest Blu-Ray player on the market, and, surprisingly, also the best one in terms of performance. While the initial batch of Blu-Ray discs used the old MPEG encoding of DVDs—resulting in pictures not substantially better—the next generation are using more recent codecs and are showing much better performance in terms of image and storage capacity.

The bottom line; Blu-Ray games won’t be spread on multiple discs, will enjoy more content and you’ll get to watch HD Blu-Ray movies as well. It’s all expensive, though.

Wire Out

The Wi-Fi capability of the PS3 is one of the more interesting and less scrutinized features of the console at the moment. Of course, the most common use for it is simply being able to connect to the internet without needing an ethernet cable. But some of the other uses are more gimmicky, such as the ability to link to a PSP and receive content directly from the PS3. This has already been used with the Playstation store that currently sells some PS1 ports and other titles, which do not currently work on the PS3, but work just fine on the PSP. Of course, the OTHER function that would make the Wi-Fi capability very handy would be things like wireless headsets or bluetooth enabled phones and cameras that could directly transfer content to the PS3’s audio and video folders. Alas, the PS3 is in dire need of a system update with better protocols, because for the moment, those phones, cameras and headsets with bluetooth capability are not recognized by the PS3. We’ve managed to get wireless keyboards up and running on the PS3, but that required the use of USB dongle to activate the feature.

Drive Harder

One of the most interesting surprises when the retail version of the PS3 finally came out was the hard drive unit. It’s pretty clear that Sony knew there were some tech fetishists out there that would want to do and store more. The PS3 has made its hard drive very modular, with the intention that more enterprising users can easily disconnect the existing drive and install a higher capacity model should they desire it. This isn’t that big a shock when you consider that the PS3 has been designed from the get-go to not just store additional game content, but play back videos, music and pictures. This kind of content, especially High-Def video, will eat up the free space fast.

For gamers—particularly those who play on the PC or the Xboxes—the advantages of a hard drive are obvious. Faster load times, more content that is downloadable, these are first benefits. But the PS3 is the only of the current generation that easily allows the more adventurous gamer to get a little more bang and put in a bigger hard drive.

HDMI Out Of The Box

It came as more recent addition, but now, regardless of whether you purchase the 20GB or 60GB model, both sets come with an HDMI port. This really only matters if you’ve got the gear to take advantage of it, which is a high-end media system like a killer High-Def TV and Blu-Ray player. HDMI allows for uncompressed transmission of video and audio signals in a single cable, which is good. Anyone that’s hooked up a console in recent years knows that there’s some kind of video cable—or cables—that are accompanied by audio cables. HDMI takes care of this in one cable. On the other hand, HDMI, or High-Definition Multimedia Interface, comes built in with a feature called HDCP or High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection. This is a form of encryption that looks for a specific digital license from a product. If it does not find that license, the High Def images are immediately downgraded to 480p, thus completely negating the benefits of having a 1080p capable television. At the moment, only newer HD TVs are built to be recognized by the HDCP system, BUT, the strict enforcement of this system is not happening yet, so the current range of HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs can be safely viewed at full resolution.

For gamers, all you have to know is this. If you want to make sure you get the most out of your system in terms of resolution, you’ll want to play it safe and get a more recent, HDCP enabled TV. While there’s no guarantee that Sony will use this downgrading system on their games, it’s a safe bet that movies will eventually be subject to this.

Cross The Line

The cross media bar is the heart of all your non-gaming activities on the PS3. It’s a matter of preference, but for the GAX and HWZ crew, where the PSP is a familiar toy, the PS3 interface is both familiar and intuitive. Being able to navigate through symbols so quickly just feels right. The features here are pretty impressive too. Much has already been made about the novel way that photos are presented, and though the music features are not as robust as the typical iPod, it’s still there and still useful. Video playback is also similarly functional, though not particularly robust. Through the miracle of OS updates, it’s hard to say for sure whether all this will remain fixed or not, since any criticisms laid at the PS3’s feet right now may be addressed in the future. But for the real tech-heads and more venturesome, the ability to switch out to another OS is particularly attractive and it’s a feature the other two consoles simply cannot compete with. It’s not included, but you CAN (and at GAX and HWZ we aleady have) install a custom Linux OS complete with Open Office, Gimp and Firefox. Hook up a keyboard and mouse via the USB ports and your PS3 turns into a functional PC in your living room. Maybe the casual user doesn’t find this too exciting, but for tech-heads this is pretty damn cool. So in addition to getting the nifty PSP interface, a full blown PC system is just lying in wait within the PS3.

For the gamer, honestly, none of these features mean much; you’ll probably simply slot in your disc or go to the games folder to access downloaded content and start playing. But for everyone else, this adds a significant amount of extra value. And for techies in particular, a Microsoft free PC has a certain attraction. This may not do much for your game experience, but it enhances the overall appeal of the system significantly.

Going Online For Fun & Profit

Here’s one area where—for the moment—the Xbox 360 definitively trumps the PS3. Xbox Live is unquestionably the best way to handle online gameplay, community and transactions on a console. While the PS3 also lets players take it online to kill and compete, the lack of a cohesive gamer identity or unified system for mutli-player games feels very primitive and shallow compared to the Xbox Live experience. The Playstation store is also showing some birth pains compared the more mature Marketplace. However, there are some demos available, there are some games available for transfer to the PSP, and a few trailers—like the ad for Blackhawk Down on Blu-Ray—that are a signal of things to come.

The gamer take on this is one of promise. Having games like Tekken for your PSP is pretty cool. It’s very telling that the horrible Gundam game is not available as a demo as it would be obvious after a playthrough that it’s not worth buying. But Genji, Resistance and even Motorstorm are available and all of these are worth the wait.

The Games

This is a matter of wait and see. Compared to the launch of the Xbox 360, the PS3’s lineup of launch games is actually pretty solid. Titles like Resistance: Fall of Man, Ridge Racer 7, and the inevitable ports from other consoles all give the PS3 a broad selection of quality games, excepting Resistance, which is excellent, and Gundam, which is undeniably bad. Compare this with the likes Xbox 360 launch exclusives like Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo and you begin to appreciate the difference in quality.

But you gotta’ take in context and that context right now is two things; Gears of War and Legend of Zelda. The PS3 has nothing remotely like these two power house games at the moment, though obviously Metal Gear and Final Fantasy are waiting in the wings. Xbox 360 developers have had a year to assess and exploit the strengths of the system while PS3 developers are only just beginning to analyze the potential.

For the moment, the Xbox 360 wins in terms of sheer choice and quality of titles. But to say that this situation will remain would be very premature. Still, for the gamer, right this moment, the choice is clear; Xbox 360 has more quality games.

The Legality

It’s a depressing thing to have to write, but here it is. When it comes to the legal department, Xbox 360 wins. The regional version of the console is available here as a legal purchase. The PS3, on the other hand, is strictly a parallel import and the Straits Times has condemned the console as unsafe due to voltage differences, which are untrue, by the way, because the PS3 has a built in voltage converter. However this ignorant view has already resulted in a general condemnation of retailers selling the console and warnings of heavy fines for those that do sell it. So for the moment, if you’re concerned about being a law abiding citizen, you have only one choice; the Xbox 360. Both the Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii are technically contraband technology in Singapore, so if you want to play it absolutely safe, your only legal choice is a Microsoft Xbox 360.

And yes, from a gamer perspective, being told you have no choice at all absolutely SUCKS.

Pictures taken from the Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Virtual Press Office