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 March 1, 2007Sony PlayStation 3: Beauty and the Beast I am not a gamer. Really. Oh, I admit I bought a Dell XPS with lots of RAM so I could play Half Life. But a real gamer would have gotten an Alienware. I’m a piker. One reason I’ve never gotten too deeply into the whole thing is a fear that I’ll disappear down a Carrollian rabbit-hole, sticking my head out only for wine and bathroom breaks. I admit to taking some joy in nailing the bad super-power monsters, and I enjoy the adrenaline rush of trying to figure out how to get to the bottom of every game without getting eaten, zapped, or shot. But I’m not sure I could control my game compulsion, so mostly I avoid them. Well, my wife, that temptress, for my birthday gave me a Sony PlayStation 3. Her reasoning was that I’d enjoy the occasional game, and both of us would be able to watch Blu-ray discs. It sounded like a great rationalization. I would just have to learn a little restraint. The PS3 is a surprising piece of gear. The first thing I noticed was its gorgeous gloss-black finish -- it’s the quality of a fine piano. Add to that the swoopy, postmodern shape, and just sitting on a pedestal, it’s a work of art. This was only the second piece of electronic gear my wife had ever wanted to leave out where people could see it (the other was a Classé SSP-600 processor). Nor is it a case of form following function; the PS3 can be placed flat, where it looks tame, or upright, where it looks like something straight out of Star Trek. The second surprise was a dramatic one: the thing’s weight. It has more the heft of a power amp than a DVD player. I’m not exactly sure what makes it so heavy, but it might be heatsinks -- the thing is soooo quiet. Hookup is a snap, especially if you have one of the newer processors or receivers that will accept uncompressed audio via an HDMI connection. With the exception of the wire-company owners, who’ve thrived for decades by selling us dozens of wires to cover our video and audio needs, everyone will be rejoicing. With the PS3, all you need is an HDMI cable and you get a high-definition picture and the highest-def sound this side of the master tapes. But Sony made a marketing mistake; they didn’t include an HDMI cable. At these prices, they should have. The PS3 includes a few hidden surprises. It’s one of the first players to send multichannel SACD audio in digital format. The digit police feel that HDMI has robust enough copy protection to finally allow us access to the digital signal -- no more 5.1 analog. Of course, it would have been nice had Sony or someone else offered this at the beginning of the SACD era, instead of waiting until it’s on life support. But for any of us early adopters who’ve kept the faith, here’s a chance to hear what’s really on those discs. Sony has developed a no-brainer graphic user interface called the Xross Media Bar. When you first start the machine, you sync your wireless SIXAXIS controller by connecting it to the PS3 via a supplied USB cable, then you set your preferences. The controller has more buttons than the PS2 (or so my nephew says; I never owned one), and adds a motion sensor for those tense moments when bugs are crawling all over you and you have to shake them off (see below).
Fearing that rabbit hole, my first purchase was the optional Blu-ray remote. That way, I could still believe I was really taking advantage of the least expensive Blu-ray player available, and that I now had a game machine only by accident. I was also pleased to find out that Netflix rents Blu-ray discs at no extra cost. I sent for three that looked good. The stunner in the bunch was The Lady in the Water, surely one of the most misunderstood films ever made. The critics took glee in disemboweling writer-director M. Night Shyamalan, calling his film a hubristic exercise, an onanistic orgy, and downright stupid. It’s a fairy-tale, folks, and a damn good one. But more to our purposes here, the sound and images are extraordinary. Shyamalan’s eye for beauty is incontestable, and sound designer Steve Boeddeker creates everything from delicate fantasy tinklings to wall-rattling attacks. This is the best video and sound I’ve ever seen and heard from my system. And for you HD DVD lovers, the PS3 smokes your machine in terms of ease of use and quick loading. The other two Blu-rays I got were less satisfying as films but still wonderful to look at. Stir of Echoes got a bouquet of kisses from critics, and it has its moments. You’ll want to see it for the mayhem, reproduced with great fidelity on the Blu-ray. Firewall, too, has lots of banging and pounding to keep your subs woofing, and the ever-more-beautiful Virginia Madsen looks delicious. Now content that I really was the owner of a Blu-ray player that just happened to have some gaming ability, I decided it was safe to get a game and check out the action. I didn’t want anything that was just a PS2 fix-up, so Madden and Woods were out. And anyway, my favorite games have always been the shooters: Doom, Quake, Half Life. The only choice was Resistance: Fall of Man. In this alternate reality, the Allies lost WWII, which was won by mutants intent on world conquest. The last stronghold is Great Britain, whose only hope is to be joined by American reinforcements.
You enter a scene of astonishing chaos. Sonically realistic explosions detonate all around you. Fire, smoke, and myriad hiding places obscure the enemy. Hordes of insects attack. Your adrenaline rushes as you try to twist and cavort away. It’s mind-boggling. Now I understand why people put their disposable income into these games. Not that all is perfect. The characters are not very realistically drawn. Animators are capable of greater verisimilitude. There are still silly problems, such as the way your own men run stupidly into the line of fire. I also wish the creatures wouldn’t just move back and forth to make them tough targets. I’d like to see them move in a more realistic manner. But there are some new twists that make up for these problems. The creatures can often see you before you see them, and, unlike the old days of jump thrills, there seems to be at least a little strategy going on. Lots of fun. In fact, I’ve already ordered a second game: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. But at $60 a pop, these games really eat into my entertainment budget, not to mention my schedule. I’m trying to stay out of the Twelve Step Program at PS3 Anonymous. Thus far I’ve been able to keep my playtime under control. I can always quit tomorrow. The way I look at it, I’ve got the best Blu-ray player made, and it just happens to also be a media server and game machine. I wouldn’t call that a rationalization. I’d call it a bargain. …Wes Marshall Sony PlayStation 3 Sony Computer Entertainment America E-mail: www.us.playstation.com/Corporate/ConsumerServices
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My wife bought the upscale version of
the PS3, which can act as a wireless media hub, playing or ripping music, photographs, and
video. You won’t be surprised to learn that it won’t play Windows’ WMA
files -- after all, those pesky Microsoft nerds have their Xbox to protect. But just about
anything else on a silver disc is fair game. Connecting wirelessly or via wires is a model
of simplicity. The only drawback I found was that there doesn’t seem to be much of a
buffer; if your server is streaming the Internet erratically, the PS3 will want to give up
and start over each time it loses the connection. This is mainly a problem when you first
get the PS3, because it tries to upgrade its software to the current standard. When it
connects, if the signal drops for any reason, the PS3 just sits there and waits for you to
start over. The solution is simple: Download the upgrade to your computer, put it on a USB
stick, then feed it into one of the PS3’s four front USB outlets.
