Love Home. I've been playing a good amount of chess and arcade games.

I'm mainly playing Resistance 2 though.

Apparently there's a Sony Home shoe store. Wonder how much virtual Air Jordans cost...

Yes, that spam is going to make me visit the site and buy Air Jordans so I can emulate people in music videos and be like everyone else.

This may come as a surprise but you are quite stereotypical.

Stereotypical elitist scumbag maybe, but not common sheepish brain dead slob stereotypical. The little me-too follower zombie masses are nothing but a virus.

How is home going to net them $17-34 million? From what it sounds like, any money transactions that are part of home, don't need the home interface to function - they could have had simple menus.

While I'm sure there will be many that will enjoy home, I'm going to try it but am not at all excited about it. It hardly makes the PS3 more valuable.

I don't think the PS3 is a sinking ship, its just not likely to take the #1 spot this round (or #2) in gaming. Its a decent console and a great blu-ray player, but for gaming, the 360 is just plain better. I have at least 4 games for my PS3 and hardly play it.

Home is a novelty, what PS3 needs is more and better games PERIOD. Sony is wasting time with irrelevant stuff. Biz 101 -- focus on core strength. PS3 is a GAME console when will the bozos at Sony get that.

"The PS3 is no sinking ship"

I beg to differ - I bought a PS3 at launch. At first, it was a mediocre BD player that didnt have a lot of titles I wanted and I quickly found out how bad the online gaming experience was with some of the demos.

They have improved BD to the point where it's the best player out there. Black levels are 500% better and profile 2.0 was added.

The fact is I bought a 360 months later and it has become the main gaming system due to the better online play. I don't care that it costs $50 for 12+1 months to play online. It's better than PSN in every way.

Look at what Sony has done so far. Copied the 360 Achievements with "trophies", released Home weeks after the Xbox Experience came out.

They are following MS every step of the way.

To be fair, MS did steal the Wii's Mii idea for it's new personalized avatars but made it so much better. They even stole the sounds and music from the Wii.

Basically MS took the best parts of the best selling console (Wii) and improved them but they haven't had to steal a single idea from Sony because the PS3 was flawed in a lot of ways since launch.

As an owner of all three consoles, I can at least be objective in poiting out flaws. The 360 is still an unreliable disc scratcher, the Wii is is just annoying with the pointer, and the PS3 blows for online gaming.

I'd still take the 360 with all it's problems.

-------------

*Updating PS3 right now.

oh please with your nonsense...lets be serious for a second...

bad online gaming? come on...it works PERFECTLY fine...there is nothing bad about it...it has worked like a charm since day 1...anyone else who says differently is just trying to bash the PS3...as for the gaming experience it does everything just as well as XBL...XBL is certainly a more fleshed out service, but when it comes down to it...as far as playing the actual games...its identical...period..

Sony is following MS in every way??..lets take a step back and check that for a second...

at launch...MS swore that a HDD larger than 20GB was not needed...and that Sony offering a 60GB version was a waste of space...enter the xbox 360 Elite with its 120GB HDD...hmm...

at launch MS swore that HDMI was a waste and totally un-needed...Sony had it from launch...a couple sku's later...ALL 360's have HDMI...hmm...

at launch MS swore that HD Media was a waste...Sony had it from launch...enter the 360 HD-DVD add-on...

but MS never copies anyone right?..lets be serious....

as for the PS3 and its games...IGN.com did just do a comparison of 2008 exclusives across the 3 systems and named the PS3 as the console with the best exclusive lineup for the year...the PS3 has plenty of AAA exclusive games...Uncharted, LBP, Resistance, Resistance 2, GT5P, MGS4...Killzone 2 in Feb, GoW III on its way....the 360 has what? Halo and Gears? big deal...

your hatred for everything Sony still shines through your new found love of BD, and its pathetic...

PSN works perfectly? Hmmm lets see, half of the time signing in times out with an error and takes 30-45 seconds when it does work.

Why doesn't my 360 have those problems? They are on the same network.

Game updates on the PS3 are brutally long. When the 360 needs to update the console for a game, it takes about 5-10 to download and install.

Eveything about PSN is slow and buggy.

As far as the other things you pointed out, spot on. MS did do the exact opposite of what they said at the beginning. HDMI, HDD, everything. I'm no 360 fanboy, I just know something better when I see it.

The Xbox Experience was launched about a month ago, then Sony went into scramble mode and released this abomination after two years of development, hoping to sell some consoles for the holidays.

The problem is you can't admit a single thing about the PS3 sucks. I know what sucks about the 360 and I still prefer it.

Once again, you have to defend your beloved PS3 purchase because you are deluded and don't know any better.

Your PS3 cheerleading is pathetic. It's a shame because the PS3 had so much potential to be better than the 360 in every way.

Sony f'ed up almost everything from the sterile menu system, non-rumble old PS2 controllers with motion control that sucks for anything except flight games, online play, you name it. They (finally) got Blu Ray right after over a year, which is the only thing I love about it.

Now this new huge Sony ad called Home.

In respons to your slow download times for game updates on the PSN... I dont have that slow an update... granted updates on teh PSN can be quite large at times... but even the largest of updates only take 3 minutes on my connection...

I downloaded the TC: End War demo (1.6gb) in about 20minutes... so the PSN being slow, is not the case.

As for sign-ins, I am on a shared network with over 800 other users, and I have only had a sign-in time out 2 times. More than acceptable given that I'm on a busy network.

And so you know, I am at uni and have to use the Uni's network for my connection.

"3 minutes on my connection..."

Just so you know, he meant 5-10 *seconds*, not 5 to 10 minutes.

LMAO - I have a 360 and ps3 and have not played my 360 in 3 weeks

ps3 online is JUST AS GOOD my xbl.

Home has been in the works waayyyy before the new xbox experience was announced.. home blows xbox experience away!

Games- ps3 has all the games xbox has! what are u people talking about? the exlusive games for ps3 are better (or just as good as xb ones)

I am not a fanboy of sony.. I just speak the truth.. with that being said.. I love my 360 as much as ps3, I just like the ps3 better ;-)

Very good points Hollywood. I agree with your points but beware the POS3 fanboi's are going to come in great numbers to defend their less than average console.

Videos of the upcoming killzone launch have gameplay exactly to that of Gears of War. The mobs say "hostiles" when your near.. huh same character structure with the squad. This is they're golden egg for releases because lets face it Resistence hasn't got the numbers to compete with Gears. They aren't going to release left 4 dead on the POS3 (at the very least for some time and even then its left in the hands of EA)

On Sony's defence I guess when you can't come up with your own original ideas its better to copy someone elses, regardless of the consoles flaws lets face it their multiplayer system sucks whereas with the 360 its much friendlier with joining your friends for online play or hopping into the game.

Any of the below who wish to continue to defend the POS's lackluster performance in gaming I want to say one thing to you "bring it on" I love reading your lame attempts!.

"as for the PS3 and its games...IGN.com did just do a comparison of 2008 exclusives across the 3 systems and named the PS3 as the console with the best exclusive lineup for the year...the PS3 has plenty of AAA exclusive games...Uncharted, LBP, Resistance, Resistance 2, GT5P, MGS4...Killzone 2 in Feb, GoW III on its way....the 360 has what? Halo and Gears? big deal..."

ah HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

..
..

*takes a breathe*

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

yes definitely thats why there are more ppl playing PS3 than the 360. Thats how come more sales are on the 360 for the games themselves (when dealing with both format releases)

Yes your right.. POS3 blows the Wii and the 360 out of the water..

Wake the F&#$ UP!

Go have another board meeting with the rest of the Sony staff to figure how you can play those numbers up. From what I see (a hardcore gamer (as in I play nightly)) I play my 360 more because of th ease and the game lineup. If the tables were turned I would be supporting the POS3. Unfortunately thats not the case the POSuck fails!

Dark_Helmet I couldn't have said it better.

Let me just add something: To everyone that bashes on Blue Ray or High Def video playback, obviously you haven't ever seen an HD video. Or maybe they can't afford it.

It's not for everyone neither is the PS3. It's for the elite few.

Besides there is a lot more to gaming then just first person shooters, and that's really all the XBOX360 has going for them. Peace out and catch me on the PSN: CARALI

"It's not for everyone neither is the PS3. It's for the elite few."

I don't even know where to begin with that asinine statement.

I'm guessing you posted that comment with an Apple... I mean, that's what an elitist would use, right?

Fanboy, its even in your name, just wow...

Anyways, the majority of games are not shooters, its what the x360 is known for but there is a lot more to it.

They have as much variety as everyone else does.

LOL @ "its for the elite few"

That's a good way for it be the next dreamcast with that kind of attitude.

ALL 3 consoles have their strengths and weaknesses depending on who you are and what you like that console would be your choice.

No one is bashing hi-def and hd video, its just NOT needed, sure it looks nice but all you get is better picture and sound for twice the price, an upscaler is good enough for most people.

Its like how the playstation was known for rpgs, now not so much...

What's funny about how these people bash the xbox360 I bet use Windows PCS...oh, the irony...

"That's a good way for it be the next dreamcast with that kind of attitude."

Don't you mean 3DO? :)

It will be interesting to see how a closed environment, that amounts to a "lobby/lounge" for the connected gaming environment does... My guess is that it will wind up being a ghost town.

Most "hard core" gamers do their socializing while they game... talking/chatting about the game, but also about whatever at the same time. For them, sitting around a static environment is just not going to happen.

Those who are interested in social interaction more than gaming, may get introduced to it via the PS3 platform, but will soon crave the more immersive and rich experience offered by VW environments like Second Life.

http://www.plurk.com/VWestland

I agree, people will check it out for novelty puposes, like the "party" feature with the new Xbox Experience.

I saw some Home screenshots, the graphics look pretty good.

Having been a Closed Beta tester, and being a part of the Open Beta, I can say that here in the EU, Home has been full constantly, there has never been a moment when Home has been empty or quiet, there is always something happening.

My only wish is that they hurry up and expand, before users complain of a lack of space... which is the current issue home is suffering from.

The PS3 is no sinking ship. While Home is a great feature, the PS3 doesn't need it to be a great console since it can play games and movies in high definition. There is no other console on the market that begins to compare with the PS3. Serious gamers and movie watchers would be insane not to buy a PS3. The price is perfectly reasonable too considering the hardware in the PS3 will not be obsolete anytime soon.

@ Jebus Kriest

"There is no other console on the market that begins to compare with the PS3."

Exactly. The PS3 is so deep into the ground that it's crawling under the radar of the competition.

Desperate fanboys have to cling to thier only console and defend it no matter how bad it sucks.

It reminds me of hardcore Republicans weeks before the election who convinced themselves Sarah Palin was smart enough to be vice president and Joe wasn't a tax cheating, non licensed hillbilly plumber and spread their nonsense as gospel.

Now Joe is releasing a book bashing Palin and McCain.

Purely delusional comments skewed because of buyer's remorse. At first I wished I hadn't bought a PS3 but the BD player alone is now worth the price.

The Wii is for my daughters to play Boom Blox and bowling when freinds come over.

We use the 360 to play a lot of 4 player / family games like Monopoly, Rock Band, SceneIt, etc .. I have six controllers (four black and two pink), four headsets, a chatpad, four controller stands, two chargers, and three dozen games.

For the PS3, I have ..... one controller and the Bluetooth remote for Blu-Ray, no games, just a bunch of dowloaded demos. I did have Motor Storm but I loaned it to my nephew and never asked for it back once I bought Burnout Paradise.

Wait a minute .... this is classic. The PS3 just updated and I need to hit the PS button to restart. It wont let me use the BT remote and my controller is dead from non use.

This means you have to have a PS3 controller to update your console. If you bought it for BD only with the Bluetooth TV style remote, forget about upgrading.

I plugged it into my notebook USB port to charge, but it won't turn on to connect while charging unless it's plugged directly into the PS3 USB port.

Nice.

I can plug a 360 controller into anything with a USB to charge and play at the same time. You can also use your 360 controllers with your PC for gaming if the USB charge cable is connected to the controller.

Vista and XP will install all the drivers automatically.

The new PS3 update is at 26% installed ............ it was a pretty quick download.

I also just realized I don't have a Sony proprietary headset. You can plug any standard 1/8" jack cell phone corded heaset into a 360 controller .....

----------------------------------

PS3 update installed ............ and Home is another 77MB dowload ..............

Man, I love this console.

-----------------

My screen reads "To use PlayStation Home, 3077MB of HDD space will need to be reserved"

I'm no NASA engineer but isn't 3077MB 3.07GB?

----------------------

Signing into Home ....... "An error occurred during communication with the server. This is a DNS error. (80710102)"

-----------------------

Try again .... same thing

------------------------

Yes, there is no other console that can compare to the PS3.

------------------------

Third time is the charm? No, for me, the seventh time was the charm. Now I get to create a scary looking wannabe tough guy character.

I'm posting screenshots of my 360 avatar and PS3 Home dude side by side later today. This is so retarded.

---------------------

I hope you dont have a beard of a goatee because you can only choose five gay mustaches ... no shorts for your character, only pants ...... but at least I can go barefoot and I have an apartment on the beach....???

I'll say it, the PS3 and Home now officially suck a bag of s***.

PS3 Home: http://img95.imageshack....y.php?image=homegs6.png

Xbox Live: http://img185.imageshack...y.php?image=livewn0.png

Wii: http://img95.imageshack.us/my.php?image=miiem1.png

The punk a** bleach blonde sunglass wearing douchebag football headed short wearing vagrant on Live is much more accurate except I rarely wear shoes and they don't have flip flops or bare feet as an option.

You are an idiot, i like the 360 but fanf**s like you make me hate it.

Play cod4 on both consoles, and you will see the ps3 is far superior, i am on my third 360 and still have my launch ps3.

Also not to disappoint you but bioshock recieved better reviews for ps3 (because of framerate and black levels) which the 360 simply cannot do.

Also lets look at bare system 360 - games, dvds, cheesy avatars, netflix (best thing yet), ohh and costly to play online.

Now ps3 games, dvds, bluray, bluetooth, internet browser, home, built in wifi,free online gaming. Plus i love it that sony releases firmware regularly, Dont have to wait 6 months between updates.

You are ignorant and naive, its hard for me to believe you have invested so much in a system that has completely tapped its full potential......

It gets better, I tried to leave my virtual "apartment" in Home but I need to download another 23.5MB just to get out the door.

I can plainly see you are a PS3 fanboy but as you can see, I own all three consoles and can decide for myself which is the best overall.

I'll take the 360 with all it's problems over the PS3 and the Wii doesn't count.

Wanna go to the mall in Home? ....... "Retrieving scene information........." five minutes now. Yes, the PS3 & Home is wonderful. Wait.... another 31.8MB download.

There is no way you can tell me the PS3 is a btter online experience than the 360. It's a shame people have to delude themselves about the PS3 (which was the first one I bought out of the three).

Best BD player .... yes.

Gaming offline, as good as the 360 or better in some games. Online, everything about it just plain sucks.

_____________

And what's in the mall? A store where I can actually buy gear with PS logos on it and virtual houses. This is laughable.

The entire "mall" is filled with Sony Home stores .... this is borderline pathetic, even for Sony.

There are even radio commercials playing in the background about Sony plasma TV's and cameras ..... ads for the Sony "chatpad" that is the size of a house.

Here is me at the "mall" http://img183.imageshack...y.php?image=mallzl4.png

Congratulations Hollywood, you just downloaded the largest interactive Sony commercial ever to your console ......

Someone else who downloaded this crap has to chime in on this pathetic attempt by Sony.

Want a pair of shorts for your character? .... you have to buy them.

Speaking of blind fanboy rage...

Did you even BOTHER to read Hollywood's review, he brought up a bunch of good points and pointed to the good AND the bad of ALL consoles.

You on the other hand start calling him names and recite the typical sony ps3 fanboy rant.

FYI on Bioshock - Metacritic doesn't agree with you...

http://www.metacritic.co...mp;ty=0&x=0&y=0

Not everyone plays online and if $3 a month is costly get a new job asap...

Better graphics doesn't mean better games either...

How is that orange box working for ya on ps3?

Also, if there was any problems with the first version of bioshock, of course they are going to try and fix it for the ps3, you are a moron to believe they would keep the same things broken...

COD4 is superior on the ps3 you say, eh?

I am going to trust a magazine more then some idiot fanboy who has proven he cannot remain objective when he claims he is...

From Gamespy...

Identical Twins

We've played both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions extensively and have had zero crashes, little to no lag or stuttering, or any other kind of technical issues. The online experience is a testament to IW's high standards of production.

Graphically, Modern Warfare is simply stunning. Both console versions of the game support 720p/1080i/1080p and full Dolby 5.1 Surround. Framerates seem locked down solidly at 60 frames-per-second, and rarely seem to skip a beat; this applies to both online and offline. The game is slammed with gorgeous environments, amazing superficial graphical touches and a coherent sense of art direction that's rarely seen. It's hard not to instantly fall in love with the look of the game. We're having a hard time thinking of a game that runs as smoothly as this and looks as good.

The sounds effects and musical score are also top-notch. With an epic, emotionally-charged score from composers Harry Gregson-Williams and Stephen Barton, the music fits perfectly with the single-player game's rich and diverse selection of locales, including the Middle East, Russia, and so on.

Control-wise, both the PS3 and 360 games fare very well. There are really no big differences between the two setups, and this in indeed true of the game as a whole. Anyone looking to pick holes in either version will be promptly stumped; this is truly the best example of how one game can look, play and sound identically on two different console platforms.

It's a rarity to play a game as highly polished and as well-crafted as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. We cannot recommend it enough and fans of the series are getting just what they've been wishing for since CoD2 released over two years ago. It's official: the World War II shooter genre has been well and truly buried, and we're of the opinion that it's about bloody time. Modern Warfare marks a new benchmark in the FPS genre and gamers across the globe should set their sights on it immediately. Let's do this.

Home - is broken and quite worthless right now, maybe after it leaves beta it might be something, right now its hardly anything to toast about.

Blu-ray - yes it looks nice but its not a must have feature and is what is killing the ps3 right now.

Bluetooth - while its nice that you can use most bluetooth headsets for it...It sucks also because it only uses this technology - regular remotes will not work with it ie no harmony remotes

Built in wifi is nice and all but its not the greatest for gaming.

Free online gaming? You get what you pay for is all I am saying on that one...

Firmware updates? Most of the updates it has added were things the xbox360 has had from the beginning...

Internet browser while it is convenient does not replace a computer in any shape or form.

While I recognize the xbox360 does have the red ring problems and the scratching of disks (I install them to the hdd to avoid ever this happening to me)

Most ps3 games require a mandatory install just to keep up with the same speed as the xbox360...

Bare 360 system?

Games, DVDS, yes the avatars are cheesy but who cares at least you have a gaggle of options to choose from.

Also you can stream movies and music or use media center if your pc has it. Also ALL games can be played with whatever music you want, the ps3 is still catching up on that one.

It can be streamed to play while in game or via a portable hdd

ps3 requires it to be on the console (unless this has changed recently, haven't tried as very few games even let you use the option to begin with)

Also when you pay for the gold membership there are other perks as well besides online play, you also get discounts on games and other member only stuff.

Next time try and talk like an adult rather then a child

The wii is spanking all the consoles and look at the graphics and capabilities on that...

Wow, you actually got on Home? I still haven't been able to it looks like its going to go then it kinda sits there, I get something to drink, eat, go out for a bit come back and its still not doing anything.

I understand its in beta but if I can't even use the damn thing its not very good at all.

It took a lot of attempts to get on. Then I was just embarrassed to be in there after two nice long additional downloads. Plus no goatee....

bwahahaha yea thats what I hear!
I haven't done the download myself yet.. I hear if your a girl you best make a male avitar because the seem to be surrounded by lobby rats who can't get any in real life so they need to try in a virtual world.

They still haven't made it easier to join with friends in the multiplayer.

On that note i guess you can call your friends online using bluetooth.. but hey I guess you could do that too in REAL LIFE.. its called a phone use it!

Home is nice, but it would be even nicer if it had more features and some purpose in it. Otherwise, it may be boring.

Here is a list of good additions to PS3's Home:

http://www.edepot.com/fo...opic.php?f=9&t=1148

Wow, this is a pretty great collection of comments from MS fanboys.

I've got a PS3. I've got over 70 BR discs. I've got a couple dozen games. I rip all my DVDs to my DLNA server, which also hosts my PVR, so I can watch any recorded TV show, or all my movies either on BR or streamed. Or I can rent movies from the PS Store.

Home is a beautiful eye-candy right now, and provides a smooth quality virtual world. Two days after launch and logging in and the sim itself is smooth and flawless. Sure, it's got a long way to go -- just look at how many stores there are in the mall that haven't opened up yet -- but it sure looks like a good base for future development.

My kids each have a Wii (my daughter has her's at her mom's house), but the PS3 sees FAR more play time than both Wii's combined. And that's not counting the time it's used for music or videos.

I'd rather see comments from PS owners about their experiences with Home than MS fanboys coming in here to bash and repeat the tired old rants about how the PS3 is dying.

They wish, but it ain't gonna happen.

(P.S. Sorry, edepot -- not meant as a reply to your comment. I clicked the wrong "reply" button.)

I posted my comments about PS3's Home, it's one big Sony commercial with endless plugs for Sony products and films. If you want to customize your avatar / character in any way, you have to pay real dollars to do so.

If you weren't so brainwashed by Sony, you could plainly see it's a desperate revenue generation scheme versus a cool, free online experience.

I don't want the PS3 or BD to go away as I have a lot invested in it and an entire dedicated home theater wrapped around it. As a gaming console, it has failed in a lot of areas like no rumble, the awful Sixaxis tilt controls, the worst online gaming experience since the Dreamcast, incredibly high initial pricing (in Nov 2006), a sterile, cold & complicated menu system, terrible styling and a regurgitated PS2 controller that feels like it's empty with proprietary headset ports.

It can't even do HDMI and optical audio at the same time, but my 360 can.

Did I miss anything?

We all know the 360 is unreliable, I have two scratched discs that won't even save to the hard drive (new feature in Xbox Experience) but play flawlessly by themselves. My freind Jeff is on his fourth console.

I already had my Elite go RROD. But MS did send me a brand new console (the manufacture date was about a week prior to me receiveing it), a free Elite wireless controller, a 12+1 month Live card and a letter of apology and it was back in a few days.

Do you think Sony would extend me the same courtesy if my PS3 tanked? No way.

How could I possibly be pissed about it? My second year of Live is on the house and I just used the free card they sent me about a week or two ago as my Live membership was due to expire in 24 hours.

The fact is the 360 is better in a lot of ways. I played Burnout Paradise on both consoles and the PS3 had some of the worst diagonal line rendering I had ever seen on a so called high end console. The 360 is much smoother and better looking with this particular game.

I also already had Netflix, that feature alone is one of the coolest things the 360 has right now. I have watched a dozen movies in my Netflix queue at no cost, right on my 360.

Sorry alpha, the PS3 is not even close and Home is not the answer. There are already people posting videos on YouTube making fun of it, and these are all PS3 customers obviously.

"I've got a PS3."

Thanks for letting me know, Captain Obvious.

1. You just said we're brainwashed by Sony to keep giving them money. As been said before; who plays to play online?

2. Face it; the PS3 is the better console. Not fully at this moment no, and yes it is all Sonys fault. But the fact is; it's obviously a brilliant console if it's still here, even after a bunch of their bad marketing moves etc. Give it a year or even two; and it will be on top. When game devs can do s*** with the Cell cheaper, bingo.

3. Home is gay anyway. Glad I'm not near my ps3 to try it. LOL you all wasted your time on it. Nice. Oh and your comment earlier that its only after MS' new deal. Um; Sony has been talking about Home since they got rid of IG XMB the first time.

4. Um duh you need a controller to turn on your ps3. Hey buddy...thats why you get one with the PS3. Its not just for show. Your fault for buying the remote tbh. And the PSx controller; PS2 and PS3 is the best design ever. I don't see how you want it chaged?

5. Remeber at the end of day both of these systems are made by two of the most massive and ruthless companies around right now. In all reality they both suck just because their companies are just exploiting us all.

6. And yes Sony did replace consoles. You don't know about the yellow light do you? Yeah of course I wouldn't expect you too. Only reason you got gifts is because MS knew they screwed up big time. Sony didn't have too; cause they didnt

So in short they both have their pros and cons. And when you come down to it and b**** about it like a noob and make comments lik "Well the ps3 is dying" or "Well the xbox is just s***" then you're just an idiot.

Plus my one boy had them both; had to sell them both; but always picked the PS3 over the Xbox because like one it doesn't freeze as often.

But alas; EA games seem to slowly be going PS3 and Wii only...who remebers dream cast? Oh thats right...
(And PS : The PS3 does pick up Media Servers...)

You proved my point exactly. I'd rather pay for great online play than settle for bad, free online play.

Keep defending your PS3 and keep telling yourself it's the best console ever built with the best controller ever made. One day, you may actually believe it.

At least I know the 360 has reliability (among other) problems and online is $50 a year, and I would still prefer it over the PS3 with it's incredibly low failure rate and free PSN.

@ hollywood

http://www.newegg.com/Pr...px?Item=N82E16874103030

$38.99 12+1 month

In case you didnt know...I keep seeing you quote $50

Actually, I bought the original one from Best Buy.

http://www.bestbuy.com/s...ct&id=1127507946517

My newest card was free from MS. I didn't know anyone sold them for less. It's easier just to stop and buy one from any store while I'm out and about. The good news is I dont have to buy another one until January 2010.

...the worst online gaming experience since the Dreamcast...

Now c'mon... the Dreamcast wasn't all that bad. Actually, it was pretty good for its time, it pioneered online console gaming, and it wasn't until Microsoft entered the scene before something tremendously better came along.

It can't even do HDMI and optical audio at the same time...

Do you mean that it's not able to output video via HDMI and audio via optical simultaneously? If this is true, then I'm no longer considering the PS3 as a Blu-ray option until I upgrade my A/V receiver (Pioneer VSX-816K), as it has no HDMI connectivity options. Currently, I have my Oppo DV-980H attached to my Sony KV-34XBR910 with an HDMI->DVI cable, and audio is piped in to the receiver through both coax digital and 5.1 analog (mainly for DVD-Audio).

If only I had waited a couple of months... then I would have gotten Pioneer's next model up that included HDMI (but then again, it wouldn't have been HDMI 1.3). Oh well...

I may simply just wait until Oppo releases their first true universal player (BDP-83) with Blu-ray support, as the one I have currently is hands down the best DVD player I've ever owned.

You have to choose audio from the HDMI or the optical output on the PS3, you cant have both on at the same time.

The 360 outputs both HDMI and optical at the same time. I need them both on at the same for my setup.

Oddly, my DirecTV HR21 will output HDMI, component, composite, S-Video, analog audio, digital (RCA) audio, and optical digital audio all at the same time.

I have one of them running to my DLP TV (component), projector (HDMI), spa TV (component), bar TV (component), and game room TV (component) all at the same time. I have a component distribution amplifier that has one in and four out.

The Pioneer receivers are the best for the money by the way and Esoteric makes an incredibly high priced universal player as well. It can play side A or B without flipping the disc over.

I am not familiar with the Oppp but I have heard good things.

Thanks. I'm still rather unsure of whether the PS3 can output video through HDMI while sending audio through optical simultaneously though. I'll do some more research on it before I commit.

Oppo makes one hell of a universal DVD player, and for the money you simply cannot find a better quality device... especially since they are consistently compared against the features and video/audio quality of Denons, which can cost $1-2k more. Their latest flagship model (DV-983H) utilizes Anchor Bay VRS, and is the first player to ever achieve a perfect 100 on the Secrets DVD Benchmark. At the time, I just couldn't justify an extra $200 over the model I chose. The one thing I do like better about mine is the ability to output DSD multi-channel SACD through HDMI (which hopefully I will be able to utilize soon).

http://www.hometheaterhi...d-benchmark-review.html

I know the PS3 is an excellent Blu-ray solution (and that may be all you care about, which is fine), but if you think its SD upscaling quality leaves something to be desired, I would seriously recommend an Oppo for your DVD library.

That's awesome, thank you.

And just to note, I also own all 3 systems. The Wii is fun for when friends are over, or the PS3, just for the game Singstar and all the extra "well-known" songs that you can buy for it.

But on a personal level, I rarely have a lot of people here visiting, so the console that get's the most use is the 360. I just like the smooth online experience and it's just nice being able to chat and visit with friends long after high school and college while playing games.

That is just the system that has been the most convenient for all of us, and none of us really mind paying a small fee for what I feel is a nice online experience.

Yes, the PS3 can output HDMI video and optical audio at the same time. It's what I use.

I just bought Rock Band 2, Guitar Hero 4, and the newest SceneIt for the 360. These are the most popular party games at my house.

We are having 40+ people over on Christmas day. I hook up the Wii to my 65" for the kids and run the projector for the 360. After the old people go home, we usually do a BD movie marathon and that's when the PS3 comes on.

I'll show the PS3 Home feature to the gamers and see what they think. I definitely underestimated the creepiness.

Thank you very much for that info. I will probably end up getting it then. Though, once I upgrade to a receiver capable of HDMI, I will have little need for any other type of audio connections.

The only thing is, I'm not too eager to retire a still fairly new receiver just yet. My old Pioneer VSX-9900S Pro Logic receiver I used for over a decade (actually, it's still being used as a power amp in direct mode to push a custom-built sub). But then again, I upgrade video cards much more frequently, and for about the same cost as any new receiver I would consider. Guess I just need to suck it up...

Of course it can do HDMI video and optical audio at the same time. I was talking about HDMI audio and optical audio at the same time.

You have to choose one or the other in the menu.

I need audio from both outputs to be active at the same time, otherwise I have to manually change it every time we watch a BD in our theater.

Heh... I still have a Dreamcast I sometimes play various RPGs on... still have working Saturns as well (3, actually. Heh.) and use those from time to time also. Just because the console is old doesn't mean that it doesn't necessarily get used or remembered...

I hear ya about the Dreamcast. I was reminiscing with Skies of Arcadia a couple of months ago, and recently I started playing through Grandia II again. Of course, it's also hard to go wrong with the Phantasy Star series. The Saturn was underrated, in my opinion. I periodically check to see if all my consoles are in working order, and Dragon Force seemed as good as any to test with the Saturn. Still working great. :)

Actually what Hollywood states, you can't do on the ps3...

You either get HDMI with audio/video or you get HDMI with Optical

You cannot do both HDMI audio/video and optical
you have to change the settings in the ps3 to switch between the two.

The xbox360 does it automatically no changes needed.