I'll be getting a PS3 fairly soon (early March most likely). Just wondering if anyone else here has one? I'm mainly getting it for improved graphics on sports games (that's really all I play), the Blu-Ray player, and the free online play. Couple questions:

*Is there much point to shelling out for the 80GB version when the 40GB is a lot less money? I don't need 80GB of storage, do I? I'll mostly just be storing my music on it (maybe 2,000 songs at most).

*It supports custom soundtracks, right?

*Any upcoming games I may be interested in? I'll probably pick up MLB 08: The Show, the new Smackdown, Burnout Paradise, College Hoops 2K8, and the various new NBA 2K, Madden, and NHL 2K games that are released...

*Am I understanding correctly that I don't need anything other than the console itself for online play?

*The 40GB isn't backwards compatible, right? Not that it's a big deal, I'm keeping my PS2 anyway...

*Anyone heard of any rumors of a price drop of these babies before I drop $400?

Thanks

Well, I don't think the 40GB model has the backwards compatibility with it from what I've read too. But if you have a PS2 yet, might as well just get the 40GB model.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I just don't wanna go out and drop $400 on one and see a month later that they're now $300 or something...

I don't blame you. But I haven't heard anything about a drop in price though.

The 80 gig version is in the process of being discontinued by Best Buy and a few other places. I'm not sure if Sony is going to release a comparable model or if they are just waiting to get rid of all the ones that were packaged with Motor Storm. This version is also not 100% backwards compatible, but there's a feature at Sony's website where you type in the name of the PS1 or PS2 game in question and it tells you how well it will work on the system.

The 40 gig is not backwards compatible at all. If you aren't concerned with that due to still owning a PS2, you might as well go with this one.

Picked up the 40GB version tonight, just hooked it up and realized I probably should have bought a game. Spiderman 3 it is, I guess. Still haven't seen it and it'll look good with the HDMI cord I picked up with the PS3...

How was your movie watching experience?

Quality-wise, fantastic. Looks really good on my 32 inch flat screen. I compared and contrasted with and without the HDMI cord, and it makes a huge difference. Well worth the money.

The movie itself was alright. Now I need to go back and watch the second one, which I've also never seen.

Today, a friend of mine is lending me Devil May Cry 4, so that should rule.

Devil May Cry 4 does look pretty excellent. It's one of those games (that and Assassin's Creed) that's making me tempted to get a PS3 or a 360. I love the Wii and all, but those two games just look too awesome.

So how is your PS3 experience going? I actually got a wild hair up my ass last weekend, and based largely on the fact that Wii Rock Band was announced (I'd been anxiously waiting since Rock Band hit for PS3/360) and it was also announced that it would indeed be crippled with no online, no DLC, and it would basically be a PS2 port. ANYWAY, that inspired me to finally jump off, and go grab a PS3.

Picked up a used package from a guy with a 60 GB (fully back-compatible), 2 Sixaxis Controllers, Madden 08, MotorStorm, one HDMI Cable, and 4 Blu-Ray Movies for 400 bucks. I was happy with the deal, and had the cash.

My thoughts on the games:

Rock Band - The reason I bought this, and it has lived up to EVERY expectation. After the Final Four games on Saturday, myself, my best friend, and my wife engaged on a 7 hour play session in Band World Tour mode. So much fucking fun I can't describe it. My wife and I played some Drum Solo Career the other day for a few hours, and also just so fun. I haven't even begun to dig into this thing yet, but I love it, and think about it every goddam day.

Madden 08 - Haven't put it in yet. Not cause I don't love Madden, but because I've been playing everything else. My last Madden was PS2 Madden 06, and I play it ALOT. I think I'm in year 17 with the Cleveland Browns. I'm gonna miss my franchise stud QB Nate Thomas, who smashed all of Peyton's rookie records, and was heading for Favre land. Oh well, time to start over.

MotorStorm - Totally didn't care about getting this game, and never would've taken it if I had the choice -- but holy FUCK, this is a fun game. Picking from a bike, ATV, buggy, car, truck, semi. Just awesome, and it looks so frickin brilliant on the machine, and handles very well. Plus, TONS of jumps. I really like this game.

Hot Shots Golf (5): Out of Bounds - No clue why they cut off the number on the sequel, but they did. I picked this up from a guy on craigslist for 40 bucks the other day, which is awesome considering it didn't even come out a month ago. I have LOVED LOVED LOVED the Hot Shots series since Playstation 1, and think it absolutely smashes the Tiger Woods Golf system/engine/execution. People hate on it cause its "cartoony", but we're the ones playing f'n video games. Brilliant game, and it looks great on the PS3. So vivid, so much detail, and so much color and vibrance. I've played quite a bit of this in the last 2 days, but I'm also just barely scratching the surface. Also, it has a full online lobby where you can play up to 50 players in any of a ton of online tournaments. Pretty sweet, and as soon as I feel more confident, I'll duck in there.

So, theres my (not quite) one week impressions. I just today tossed some music on the PS3 to check out the interface, and I really like it. I also really like the Playstation Store, despite the internet telling me how shitty it is. It gets a makeover and update on Thursday next week, and should be awesome.

Anyway, my username is "jamiegeist", so you should add me, and I'll add you. Would love to hear your thoughts on any games you have played, and any recomendations, problems, experiences, etc.

Oh, and did you get The Show 08? I downloaded the demo and was BLOWN the fuck away. So pretty, and the gameplay was much tighter. I think I'll be picking it up too. I'm trying not to buy so many games, cause I know I'll be grabbing GTA4 at the end of the month.

Wow, sorry for the 2 month+ response to you jamie...

I'm not too high on any of the Rock Band/Guitar Hero games, personally. I'm a party pooper.

I'll actually probably get Tiger Woods when the new one is released, but I rented Hot Shots and had a blast. Like you, I've loved these games since PS1.

The Show is phenomenal. Let me know if you get it and we shall play online. It's the only game I've actually bought so far (I'm pretty goddamn poor) but I've rented Burnout, Hot Shots, Smackdown, and NBA 2K8 and loved every one of them.

Also, a dumb question, but I still haven't started putting music on my machine yet. Can I just drag songs onto a flashdrive and then put the flashdrive in my PS3 to get music on it? Or is it more complicated than that?

Nope, you pretty much got it there with the flashdrive.

Its kind of an odd sorting/organization of the files, especially if you have any poorly ripped shit with bad ID3 tags.

I tried it quick before work but it didn't work, couldn't really mess around with it because I had to go, I'll have to mess with it some more when I'm off.

Get MLB The Show, Jamie?

Nah. I was real close to buying it, but ended up backing out. I got bored with the real baseball season in about a week, and I'm guessing I'd do the same with The Show. The demo is really f'n fun though.

I've had Hot Shots Golf in there for close to a solid month now. I'm hooked and busting ass in their online lobby to try and improve my "level". That an the occasional Rock Band get together, which we're doing again here on Friday.

I held off for quite a while but finally bought myself a 40gb PS3 and it's awesome. I had gotten a Wii but after the old games wear out, for me, there's really nothing left.

So far, I only have GTA 4 and NHL '08. GREAT games. I'd like to get a golf game next, not sure if I want Tiger Woods '09 or Hot Shots. I loved TW golf for PS2 so, I'll prob stick to that series.

I think I wanna get Nascar also.

Hot Shots is amazing, but if you're locked into the "Sports Sim" of Tiger Woods, I think changing is hard. I've always been a Mario Golf/Hot Shots guy and I tried Tiger and hated the SHIT out of it, so you could have a similar experience on the other side of the coin.

Reading through this thread again, I see you mention the EA games at the top.

I just recently downloaded the NCAA 09 demo from the PSN and it is frickin fun. I hadn't played an NCAA since 04 on the PS2, so it took a little bit of getting used to, but felt really natural and fun after a little bit of time. I had been planning on getting Madden 09 (my first "next gen" experience) and still will, but just may get NCAA 09 as well based on the demo. I'm just worried it'll hit the shelf for good when Madden hits.