Night for PlayStation passion

QUEUING at a midnight launch is a labour of love for the modern day video game fan. But the agonising wait for Sony’s Playstation 3 last Thursday night was a sacrifice well worth the following morning fatigue.
I joined about 30 other enthusiastic fans at EB Games in the Dandenong Plaza to welcome the much-delayed PS3 onto the Australian video games market.
At $999, the PlayStation 3 is pricey but the feature-packed black-beauty is worth every cent. Under a spell-like spending spree at the late-night launch, I added Resistance: Fall of Man ($99.95) and the Sony PlayStation 3 Blu-ray remote control ($49.95) to my purchase. I didn’t forget a HDMI cable ($49.95) either.
The seven-kilogram console is a sleek, futuristic and shapely accompaniment to any plasma or LCD television. Unpacking the next-generation console felt strangely similar to meeting a grown-up version of your high-school sweetheart – it was the gaming machine I had waited for my whole life.
The PlayStation 3 features a Blu-ray drive, the evolution of DVD, which offers developers a storage capacity of 25GB – 50GB, as opposed to 8.5GB for the Xbox 360.
Other notable features include built-in Wi-Fi, 60GB hard drive, wireless controllers and free online play.
Musically, the PS3 supports most of the major file types, including MP3, AAC and WAV. It also plays MPEG video and supports JPEG images.
But how does it game? – amazingly.
Let’s be honest, none of the 25 Playstation 3 launch titles will revolutionise the way games are played. Virtua Tennis 3, Formula One Championship Edition and Ridge Racer 7 are all delivered predictably and hardly worth the hefty price of admission.
But Resistance: Fall of Man is in a league of its own. The first person shooter couples an imaginative plot set in 1950s England with futuristic weapons and technology.
Power up the Wi-Fi with an internet connection and Resistance shines online, with lag-free (and cost free) multiplayer games at your fingertips.
Given Xbox 360’s one-year head-start in the marketplace, the PS3’s ability to offer a title as impressive as Resistance on launch day is definitely a sign of good things to come.
The Playstation 3 is the most expensive games console on the market and, despite the initial wave of uninspiring games, has the future-proof features to make a mark on the gaming world, and is ultimately hard to resist – even at $999.
Now let me get some sleep.
Pros: Sleek design, intuitive interface, high-definition Blu-ray, no external power source, free online play.
Cons: Pricey, glossy black finish is a dust-magnet, HDMI cable not included, most launch titles are not inspiring.
Verdict: 9/10