PS3 General Discussion

[Touring Mars]

I just reviewed a game on Amazon, World Snooker Championship 2007

My mate bought me the game as a thanks for letting him stay at my place for a week. He bought me a second SIXAXIS too, so we could play it two-player, which is loads of fun. Unfortunately he got a bit ripped off, since he paid atleast as much for it pre-owned from GAME as Amazon are selling it brand-new. Other reviews mention that the game freezes, which also happened to me yesterday, not a good sign given that it was only the 3rd time I've played it. Nevertheless, here's what I had to say about it...

Excellent two-player game, but not the best by any stretch..

Overall Rating: 2/5
Fun Rating: 3/5

This game does mostly what it says on the tin, but the graphics and sound are very disappointing for a PS3 game. However, it's strength lies in multi-player mode, and it makes for a great 'jump right in' two-player game that anyone can pick up quickly, with easy to use controls. I haven't played it online yet, but the possibilities of playing real people is a plus point in a game where the AI seems to have just two levels - Bungling Amateur and Seasoned Professional. You need to play through Championship Mode to open up venues, players, and other game modes, which is a bit of a daunting task having played a full 'season' in the Snooker tour without reaching a single tournament. As someone who has played this game in previous versions and has played other snooker games, I can safely say that this is pretty hard. After winning a first round qualifier game against an AI opponent who could string fewer balls together than Rocky Balboa could string words together, and with the strategic acumen of the average Lemming, I had high hopes for winning the 2nd round qualifier, only to be destroyed by a 132 break...

The game is well under par in a few other respects. The incessant garble coming from the 'commentary box' makes me want to hunt down the real John Virgo and break a snooker cue over his head. Also, the quiet murmur of the crowd sounds as realistic as my Commodore 64, and the murmur disappears altogether when you take a shot. All things considered, you'd be better off turning the sound off altogether. Visually the game is disappointing too. The aim guides are not particularly accurate and you can't get a proper 'behind the ball' view for most long shots where you need the view the most.

All in, it's not a great game if you expect dazzling graphics and amazing AI - but then again, it is snooker after all. As a two-player game, however, it's as addictive as anything and countless hours of fun.

 

[Formula1Driver]

It has struck me that the prices of older PS3 games are not dropping. It seems to me that with the PS2/X box games would drop in price after three or four months, & by six months to a year after release would be at half price. This does not seem to be the case with PS3 games.

On the other hand, the hardware has dropped like a stone...

I have kind of noticed some weird prices with PS3 games as well, my friend picked up CoD4 after I told him how much I liked it and in the store he said that CoD3 was listed as more expensive than #4 which I found very weird.

 

[land sea air]

go buy LEGO Star Wars now



















WHY AREN'T YOU GOING YET?!

 

[agent kri]

I have kind of noticed some weird prices with PS3 games as well, my friend picked up CoD4 after I told him how much I liked it and in the store he said that CoD3 was listed as more expensive than #4 which I found very weird.

Saw that too today! Very interesting indeed

 

[Robin]

Its been annoying that the prices of old PS3 games havent fallen, in some places they are even higher than the new ones, games like Vegas are still full wack price, same with RR7 etc etc... I always wait a while till games come down in price but they dont seem to in this generation which is making me mad... even the unpopular rubbish games are not dropping in price!

And on some other news MS has announced a 360 news ticker for the dashboard to get info about games etc.... what a coincidence!

Robin

 

[FoolKiller]

I notice it is mostly non-US members complaining about the prices. Do you all ever have any decent used games sales? Looking at things like the Gamefly Store I see a huge list of next-gen games under $30. Now, a lot of those are after 10% off since I am a longstanding member, but even without my discounts it seems that you all should be able to get older games cheaper than retail.

And with BD discs having the scratch resistant coating on them I am much more comfortbale buying used games than I was before. And Gamefly has a pre-played guarantee that all games are inspected.

The only PS3 game I bought new was Warhawk, and that was because I wanted the headset.

 

[land sea air]

I just bought my 4th game (Lego Star Wars tcs) which is normally 49.99 for 44.99 with a $5 gift that I used on the same purchase (not sure if that was supposed to be allowed but the cashier did it) so it came out to $40 which ain't too bad for a new game. Like I said I have also seen plenty of the older games start to come down in price at my local store.

 

[Formula1Driver]

I rarely ever notice any used PS3 games on sale in the local store I go to, lucky I probably wont buy a new game for a while, and if I really want one I may just go looking for a used copy for the same reason FK said.

 

[Dead_Poetic]

Rainbow 6 vegas is on sale at target now. Target often has sales around christmas, and throughout the year, they often give 10$ gift cards with the game so you save ten bucks.

 

[LaBounti]

go buy LEGO Star Wars now

I plan on it soon. I've never really played the first two. Its $50 so it wont hurt.

 

[Vasco]

So are there any rumours of Sony releasing a higher capacity model in the near future? Or reverting back to a PS3 with backwards compatibility? If not I guess I'll just wait until there's a GT5 pack to buy it.

 

[Solid Fro]

Higher capacity model? You can add your own 2.5" SATA hard drive to any of the PS3 models. Think the 80GB is not enough? Swap out for a 160GB drive.

Let's be honest here, backwards compatibility no longer important, for any system.

 

[Small_Fryz]

And the backwards compatibility of the PAL ps3 is crap anyway.

 

[Famine]

And the backwards compatibility of the PAL ps3 is crap anyway.

I've had literally no issues on my 60Gb launch day machine.

Higher capacity model? You can add your own 2.5" SATA hard drive to any of the PS3 models. Think the 80GB is not enough? Swap out for a 160GB drive.

Do we have a guide anywhere around here for that? I'm aware that the physical steps are covered in the manual - just as the physical steps for LANing GT4 are in its manual - but I'd like to see some tips'n'tricks from people who've already done it.

 

[Scaff]

Do we have a guide anywhere around here for that? I'm aware that the physical steps are covered in the manual - just as the physical steps for LANing GT4 are in its manual - but I'd like to see some tips'n'tricks from people who've already done it.

Do we have a guide anywhere around here for that? I'm aware that the physical steps are covered in the manual - just as the physical steps for LANing GT4 are in its manual - but I'd like to see some tips'n'tricks from people who've already done it.

PAKO is the man to talk to about a HDD upgrade, he put a 160 gig in his (as well as a Linux install), here's the thread about it....

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=90648&highlight=pako+linux


....myself I just went for a 250 gig external drive (well work may have given it to me for backups, but that takes up a small amount of room so it was a shame to waste the rest).

Regards

Scaff

 

[Flerbizky]

I've had literally no issues on my 60Gb launch day machine.



Do we have a guide anywhere around here for that? I'm aware that the physical steps are covered in the manual - just as the physical steps for LANing GT4 are in its manual - but I'd like to see some tips'n'tricks from people who've already done it.

Do a backup, remove the plate that says "Remove to change harddrive" or something similar, remove blue screw with fitting screwdriver, pull cage right, then towards you, unbolt stock HDD from the cage, bolt new HDD into the cage, re-insert cage into PS3, put screw back in. Done.

 

[Famine]

Do a backup, remove the plate that says "Remove to change harddrive" or something similar, remove blue screw with fitting screwdriver, pull cage right, then towards you, unbolt stock HDD from the cage, bolt new HDD into the cage, re-insert cage into PS3, put screw back in. Done.

Yep, that's the manual. It's not really the same... I guess I'd best ask specific questions then...

I've heard tell that some 2.5" SATA drives are physically too big (tall) to fit the PS3. Is this true and, assuming it to be so, what's the maximum dimensions of a drive to fit the bay?

With what would people recommend backing up the existing PS3 drive?

 

[FoolKiller]

Let's be honest here, backwards compatibility no longer important, for any system.

That would be why I bought Q-Bert, Twisted Metal 2, and Lemmings from the PSN and why GT4 sits beside my Warhawk disc unshelved for easy access?

I think the importantce of BC is purely based on the individual. For some people space is limited, or wives/parents play a factor in having multiple systems stacking up.

 

[Robin]

Just out of interest didn't the early 60GB UK machines have the EE/GS on board? or was it emulation from the start?

Robin

 

[DustDriver]

My PS3 starter pack has arrived. Much faster as i expected, since it has only been sent yesterday afternoon.

Already configured the wireless connection, and currently updating.

 

[Scaff]

Just out of interest didn't the early 60GB UK machines have the EE/GS on board? or was it emulation from the start?

Robin

Emulation from the start for all PAL machines.

Scaff

 

[Flerbizky]

Yep, that's the manual. It's not really the same... I guess I'd best ask specific questions then...

I've heard tell that some 2.5" SATA drives are physically too big (tall) to fit the PS3. Is this true and, assuming it to be so, what's the maximum dimensions of a drive to fit the bay?

With what would people recommend backing up the existing PS3 drive?

In the 8-10 years I've spend my life supporting servers as well as (L)users and their boxes, I've never seen a 2½" drive differ in size.. I used a std. 160Gb Seagate 5400rpm I got from Dell.. Have a 7200rpm version here as well that I'll be trying out - See if 5400 vs. 7200 makes a difference in loading times..

I used an external 2½" 80Gb USB2 harddrive for backup. Works like a charm...

Only thing is, it needs to be formatted with Fat32 - And XP / Vista doesn't really want to do that to something bigger than 32Gb.. So I found a small app called - Tadaaaaa - Fat32Format, which will basically Fat32 anything...

 

[Pako]

I'd really like to see some reviews on this product! It would be great for those first person shooters, in my opinion.

 

[Omnis]

I'd really like to see some reviews on this product! It would be great for those first person shooters, in my opinion.

That won't work because the analog control is a direction input, whereas a mouse is a position input.

When you move the mouse, it will only go in the direction you pushed it as fast as the analog stick would.

 

[Pako]

That won't work because the analog control is a direction input, whereas a mouse is a position input.

When you move the mouse, it will only go in the direction you pushed it as fast as the analog stick would.

Yeah, I don't see how it can work without specific in-game support for it, but it would be nice.

 

[FoolKiller]

A mouse without a keyboard? What about hot keys?

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

I notice it is mostly non-US members complaining about the prices. Do you all ever have any decent used games sales? Looking at things like the Gamefly Store I see a huge list of next-gen games under $30. Now, a lot of those are after 10% off since I am a longstanding member, but even without my discounts it seems that you all should be able to get older games cheaper than retail.

And with BD discs having the scratch resistant coating on them I am much more comfortbale buying used games than I was before. And Gamefly has a pre-played guarantee that all games are inspected.

The only PS3 game I bought new was Warhawk, and that was because I wanted the headset.

I was looking for something like this. The only game I have so far is Oblivion and that is getting shipped. I'll probably get Motorstorm off of that site. +invisi-rep

These games don't come with manuals by any chance?

 

[FoolKiller]

I was looking for something like this. The only game I have so far is Oblivion and that is getting shipped. I'll probably get Motorstorm off of that site. +invisi-rep

These games don't come with manuals by any chance?

As a purchase or rental?

If you buy them they come with full box and manuals. Rentals come in little sleeves like Netflix DVDs.

If you rent a game and like it they have the Keep It option, where you then pay the pre-played price and then they send you the box and manual. As the box and manual is only handled when you purchase the game it is in new condition.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

As a purchase or rental?

If you buy them they come with full box and manuals. Rentals come in little sleeves like Netflix DVDs.

If you rent a game and like it they have the Keep It option, where you then pay the pre-played price and then they send you the box and manual. As the box and manual is only handled when you purchase the game it is in new condition.

That is pretty cool, sounds better than going to Gamestop.

 

[DustDriver]

I noticed the L and R 2 buttons are very slippery.
Am i the only one who thinks this?

I tried out motorstorm and slipped off the r2 button once or twice.