Metal Reviews

i'll probably go with the ps3. I'm not worried about the machine, i'm worried about the market. If it doesn't sell very well, we probably wont get as many good games as the xbox360 since it has become more expensive to develope games. And it doesn't make it less expensive that ps3 games can get many times bigger than the xbox360 due to the capacity of blue-ray. But who knows?!
I don't think i will buy the machine right away, i'll wait a few months. No reason to get a machine anyway if there's no good games to buy.

and to those who say ps2 break easily.. bah!!... i'm using my second ps2 as well, but that's because i broke my first ps2 with my own clumsy hands - at little later i found out that i could have fixed the problem easily. But that happened after 5 years of intensive gaming.

at least here in Portugal i don't see many people blowing 600€ straight away for the PS3, but the PS2 is by far the most popular console here, i think many people can wait for a price drop (it will have to come sooner or later). the PS2 has many great games to last the wait.

i think the Wii will be a complete failure here, though :(

I agree, though I joke about it now and then its really not that bad at all. I got my PS2 the day it came out Oct 26th 2000, and Im still using the same one over 6 years later. the only problem its had was DRE problems with select games, which I fixed by removing (very carefully) a few pieces and cleaning it out, since then its worked fine again.

i've been using the same ps2 i got in llike 2001, and I use it mostly for dvds. But recently it's started to really fuck up, it won't read many dvds... blah.

Sometimes DREs are not because of your system, but because the game disks themselves are damaged. I've had that problem several times, but once I bought new copies of these games, they worked just fine.

Whoever said the PS3 is $700, it's $600, and there's also a $500 version. Unlike what 360 did, the $500 version isn't a rip-off...in fact, it's probably the practical choice for most people. Unless you're going to be playing online or on an HDTV, $500 is the way to go.

Anyways, my brother's going to be getting a Wii, so I'll get to play it. Looking forward to shooters and Super Smash Brothers Brawl--I pwn at Melee. Hopefully, this upcoming summer I'll be able to save enough for a PS3. A PS3 would be my number one choice, because although the Wii will own I'd take a PS3 over it (not that it matters since my brother is getting one). For me, 360 just has nothing going for it...I'm not a big FPS fan and I'm not a huge online gamer, and those are really the only things 360 beats PS3 at. And, the PS3 online system is looking to kill (not to mention it's free) so nothing's certain yet about Live beating the PS3 online.

btw, i have a question.. The xbox360 is cheaper right now, but when the time is ready you can install a HD-dvd disc. But what about the games? What if game companies desides to release their game on HD-Dvd format, then the old xbox360 owners need to pay extra money in order to play them, anyway. Isn't that a bit stupid? It means that the xbox360 won't be THAT cheap in the end, and right now it's incomplete

Ahh, sorry. Should have mentioned I'm talking in Canadian bucks here.

Oh, no problem...didn't see that you live in Canada .

I don't see that happening any time soon. HD-DVD is brand new here in the states, and most Middle-Class folks are perfectly happy with normal DVDs. I think HD_DVD will be an issue for the next generation after this one, but right now it's a non-issue to folks who aren't loaded with money. Most homes don't even have High-Definition TVs right now.

I only own a PC, and i don't play to buy a console, firstly because i would seriously harm my social life and probably my school results and secondly because i don't have the $$$ yo!

yeah, but that wasn't the point. My point was that if game companies desides to use the HD-DVD format rather than the old dvd, then xbox360 owners need to pay extra cash if they wan't to play those games, and in the end that is probably going to happen since the normal dvd's can't contain that extra space the new games will require. Sure in the beginning it works just fine, just as ps2 used normal cd-rom in the beginning, if i'm not mistaking, but as games get bigger and more complex they need that extra space.

some game companies are already programing games for ps3 that makes full use of those 20+ gb something something, (one-layer - not a problem, since they can add extra layers on blue-ray, just like dvds)... sure it could be due to sloopy programming, but still - games will require that amount of space in the end.

I don't see 360 games switching to HD-DVD since 360 owners would have to buy an add-on to play...game companies don't want to risk their sales like that.

While we're on the subject, what do you guys think of Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD? Right now it looks as if Blu-Ray is going to win the race, with so much storage and the backing of most of the major movie companies (namely Sony pictures).

I think neither will win the race. They're both too early; nowhere near enough people have the type of TVs that make HD and Blu-ray advantageous. Maybe in about five years; right now, regular DVDs are fine.

HD-DVD seems more promising as it has already been out for a year, players are compatible with DVD media(which blue ray isn't from what I read) and HD-DVD movies are cheaper to buy. The HD-DVD movies come with the normal DVD on the fip side that allows owners to still play it in a regular player if needed.


But right now I agree it's not really an issue as not everyone has an HD capable tv.

that's why Sony is trying to push blu-ray, they're using a popular system (the playstation) to get things going (and apparently a blu-ray player costs $1000+, making the ps a good deal if that's what you want) and mustering studio support.

but i agree, it's not an issue now. maybe for the next gen, but not now.

i don't think that will be such a problem. You can get tv's that are HD-ready fairly cheap in my country right now, and big too.
My parents have a 42'' plasma tv or bigger, can't remember, it's not HD-ready or anything, so it doesn't look that great, but it points in one direction, many ppl nowadays want bigger tv's, but it looks like crap if it's not in HD, so there is a market for it, i think.
But yeah, it'll take time, just like when the dvd came on the market. Not only was the dvd-players expensive, but they weren't that great and there wasn't that many dvd to choose from and it took 3 years, or so, before ppl finally started to change their old VHS-mashine with the dvd-player - and now you can't find VHS, unless u look very hard.


Blue-ray is a cool feature for ps3, since it means the games eventually will outdo the xbox360, imo, since they can contain more complex data, more sounds and graphics.
However, i think blue-ray will have a hard time winning over Hd-DVd, and i think it stupid to have several formats on the market. And for the time being i'm happy about the dvd's, they're good enough for me, and cheap as hell nowadays


i'm going in circles, sry

VHS vs beta max anyone ?

me thinks blue-ray is the next Beta.

hah! i don't even know Beta Max! I guess VHS won
perhaps you're right. Consumers usually stick with one product and i don't think they like to get confused with all those formats, so one of them probably has to go.
But so far it looks like Sony has the upper-hand - first on the market, right?


however - there were yet another format back in the days, actually.
From 1978 to the early 90's there was laserdiscs, only saw them once - a 12 inch cd with both image and sound - with 30 min of movie on both sides, just like a normal LP. It is still considered to be the highest video quality among enthusiasts, but i dunno if that's true. I remember watching Universal Soldier on Laserdisc when i was a child. Can't remember exactly, but i don't think they were as fancy as nowadays Dvd's with menu and selectable language and subtitles etc.

Laserdisc/dvd comparison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:LDDVDComparison.jpg

from wikipedia:

A multitude of technical drawbacks along with the proprietary nature of the Betamax format hurt it in its competition with VHS, in spite of the Betamax's superior video quality. Other proprietary formats from Sony, such as MiniDisc, MemoryStick, UMD and Blu-ray, have since been similarly criticized.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Max