Playstation 3 thoughts

Here is an article I wrote discussing my thoughts on the PS3 http://gap.us.playstation.com/?q=node/52514 Since not everybody can access this site beow is the text of the article. This is not a review of the PS3 rather my thoughts on it verses the XBox 360. I have both the PS3 and 360 both are the high end models offered. I'm also not trying to pump up the PS3 just look at them apples to apples. I should also state I do not work for either company or in the gaming industry. If you consider that the PS3 60gb version has built-in wireless and Blue Ray and on the 360 these are options that you can add if you want/need them. Microsoft made the right choice to allow people to add these items if they are wanted. But for our discussion we will look at the price for an XBox 360 with the wireless adaptor and the HD-DVD drive along with the XBox console. The prices are even but again you just have only 2 choices on the PS3. Now consider Sony built the power supply into the unit and that the PS3 hard drive can be upgraded with a off the shelf drive. Additionally, the PS3 includes readers for standard memory cards. From an design stand point you would have to give the PS3 higher marks than the 360. Now this part can go on forever but it's safe to say Sony's Playstation Networks is sub par and that's being nice. Like many of you, I have been reading for the past two years about all the great things the PS3 would do, when it comes to the Playstation Network. While I know Microsoft has been at this several years longer than Sony but come on Sony. Sony has had the past 2 years to develop a first rate solution. There is a fair amount of talk about the update for the PS3 coming in March '07. I am really looking forward to this update for simple things like multi-tasking support, which I have no idea why it was not included out of the box, besides Sony being rushed to get these on the market. Which makes you wonder how many engineers Sony has and what they are doing. Because the hardware delays on the PS3 should not have put the software engineers assigned to the PSN behind at all., other than testing on finished hardware. The simple truth is XBox Live is the best by far, Nintendo and Sony can learn a lot from the ground work Microsoft has laid in this area. What made me look at both systems like this, it was a questionnaire Sony sent to me a couple of days ago. The botton line is this, until the PSN offer something more compelling than XBox Live I will buy games that come out on both systems for the 360. The online experience is that important to me, for others this has not been a big deal at all. The bottom line is Sony will continue to improve the PSN and PS3 experience over the life of the product. I for one hope that they address the PSN sooner rather than later.