ImaginaryEngr76
Shared on Mon, 09/17/2007 - 10:24While I got a PS3 back in April, I really haven't tried playing any multiplayer games on it until recently. The reason was simple - I didn't have a headset, and after playing multiplayer games over Xbox Live for the last two years, having no mode of communication makes multiplayer, well, lonely and isolated. Anyway, Warhawk came out a few weeks ago and I figured this would be the perfect time to get my feet with the PS3 online since the retail version comes with a bluetooth headset. After playing with it some, there are definitely pros and cons to Sony's approach to chatting in multiplayer compared to Microsoft's.
Cons:
Let me start out by saying my experience with the bluetooth headset and chatting online on the PS3 makes me appreciate the much simplier approach Microsoft took with the 360. Every premium 360 comes with a (admittedly cheap but functional) headset, so everyone's got one and they're all going to work more or less the same. That also means, for better or worse, most everyone on Live has access to a headset and has the ability to communicate (and/or sing to their teammates). The PS3 didn't include a headset, so coming across people online with chat ability is a whole lot less frequent.
My main beef with using a bluetooth headset is the setup. First you have to "pair" your headset with the PS3 by using the registration feature. That wasn't so bad, and luckily the instructions were pretty easy to follow. But then every time you want to use it, you have to turn the headset on, go into settings in your XMB (the Cross Media Bar), drill down to "Bluetooth Accessories" and tell the PS3 to connect to it. You have to remember to do this every time you turn your PS3 on. I can't tell you how many times I booted up Warhawk after turning my PS3 on, got into a game, and then remembered that I forgot connect my device. This wouldn't be that big of a deal if you had access to the XMB within games, but you don't (at least not yet, though there is hope in firmware 2.0), so you have to quit the game, connect the headset, and boot the game back up. Maybe there's a way to do this automatically, but I couldn't find anything that told me how to do it. On the 360, you plug it into the controller and it just works.
The sound quality of the bluetooth headset (the Jabra that came with Warhawk) isn't bad, but it doesn't sound as good or reliable to me as even that cheapo free set that comes with the 360 premium. Yeah, the stock 360 headset technically isn't wireless, but the controller it plugs in to is, and that's usually good enough for me. I've rarely had any sound quality issues with the stock 360 headset while this bluetooth one is a little shakey sometimes.
The last thing I don't like is the fit. Now, this is just my personal preference, but I've never liked the fit or feel of bluetooth headsets. I might just be an idiot, but I never have been able to get those damn things to fit correctly over my ear - no matter how I place them, they always feel like they're about to fall off. If I do get a reasonably secure spot over my ear, then the speaker won't be sitting in my ear right. I may be an old curmudgeon, but I like headsets that have a band that bridges across my head like headphones. The 360 headset may be cheap, but at least it feels reasonably secure and the speaker sits in the right place.
Pros:
If you can get the thing to fit right, then bluetooth headsets are nice because they're light and you won't know they're there. Plus, if you've already got a nice headset that you like, you can use with your PS3. The Jabra one that comes with Warhawk comes with a USB cable, so you can recharge it right from your console or PC. If you're into that sort of thing, it's wireless, and it does work and sound much better than the MS wireless headset.
Warhawk:
On a related note, Warhawk is a lot of fun - it's almost ironic that arguably the best PS3 title currently out there is a online only game. The game looks and plays great - I've never experience even the slightest bit of lag even in 32 player rooms. It's also a very nice looking game - the only multiplayer 360 game that looks better is Gears, and this game has a much larger scale than that game. My favorite thing about the game is how the game scales to how you want to play, especially in larger rooms. You can have ground based melee/gunplay shootouts on the ground with 10 or 12 people in a small area of the map and when you get tired of that, you just jump in a Warhawk and have Crimson Skies-esque dogfights in the skies with another 10 or 12 people all on the same map in the same game. I really enjoyed that whole micro/macro dynamic. Although it's been said to death, the game has a very fast paced Battlefield or Unreal Tournament type style, so there is very little consequence for dying. Even though it is fast paced and very arcadey, it does have a pretty steep learning curve for the vehicles. The motion controls actually work surprisingly well, but they do take a lot of getting used to. It doesn't help that there aren't any tutorials and the instructions are pretty sparse - it's pretty much trial by fire. Another user here, Aragorn72, suggested to start a room and lock everyone out with a password so that you spend time learning the vehicle controls without getting blown up every 15 seconds - good advice. Like any other MP game, there are plenty of Timmies, but for the most part they don't seem quite as obnoxious as they do on Live. This is probably due in part to the "Push To Talk" implementation of chat - it kind of cuts downs on random shouts of "asshole", "motherfucker", <racial slur>, and constant unmelodic singing. The only real pet peeve I have about the game is that you can only get experience and increase rank by playing ranked matches, and those are often nearly impossible to get into.
In a way, it's almost too bad that this game isn't on the 360 - had it been on that platform, it would have attracted a lot of attention. There are tons of 360 owners that would kill for a Crimson Skies like game on the system, and this is pretty damn close. But then again, Halo 3, which is the second coming in many 360 owner's minds, will be here in a couple weeks and this game would have gotten buried. All in all though, it's good to finally see something fun on the PS3.
Cons:
Let me start out by saying my experience with the bluetooth headset and chatting online on the PS3 makes me appreciate the much simplier approach Microsoft took with the 360. Every premium 360 comes with a (admittedly cheap but functional) headset, so everyone's got one and they're all going to work more or less the same. That also means, for better or worse, most everyone on Live has access to a headset and has the ability to communicate (and/or sing to their teammates). The PS3 didn't include a headset, so coming across people online with chat ability is a whole lot less frequent.
My main beef with using a bluetooth headset is the setup. First you have to "pair" your headset with the PS3 by using the registration feature. That wasn't so bad, and luckily the instructions were pretty easy to follow. But then every time you want to use it, you have to turn the headset on, go into settings in your XMB (the Cross Media Bar), drill down to "Bluetooth Accessories" and tell the PS3 to connect to it. You have to remember to do this every time you turn your PS3 on. I can't tell you how many times I booted up Warhawk after turning my PS3 on, got into a game, and then remembered that I forgot connect my device. This wouldn't be that big of a deal if you had access to the XMB within games, but you don't (at least not yet, though there is hope in firmware 2.0), so you have to quit the game, connect the headset, and boot the game back up. Maybe there's a way to do this automatically, but I couldn't find anything that told me how to do it. On the 360, you plug it into the controller and it just works.
The sound quality of the bluetooth headset (the Jabra that came with Warhawk) isn't bad, but it doesn't sound as good or reliable to me as even that cheapo free set that comes with the 360 premium. Yeah, the stock 360 headset technically isn't wireless, but the controller it plugs in to is, and that's usually good enough for me. I've rarely had any sound quality issues with the stock 360 headset while this bluetooth one is a little shakey sometimes.
The last thing I don't like is the fit. Now, this is just my personal preference, but I've never liked the fit or feel of bluetooth headsets. I might just be an idiot, but I never have been able to get those damn things to fit correctly over my ear - no matter how I place them, they always feel like they're about to fall off. If I do get a reasonably secure spot over my ear, then the speaker won't be sitting in my ear right. I may be an old curmudgeon, but I like headsets that have a band that bridges across my head like headphones. The 360 headset may be cheap, but at least it feels reasonably secure and the speaker sits in the right place.
Pros:
If you can get the thing to fit right, then bluetooth headsets are nice because they're light and you won't know they're there. Plus, if you've already got a nice headset that you like, you can use with your PS3. The Jabra one that comes with Warhawk comes with a USB cable, so you can recharge it right from your console or PC. If you're into that sort of thing, it's wireless, and it does work and sound much better than the MS wireless headset.
Warhawk:
On a related note, Warhawk is a lot of fun - it's almost ironic that arguably the best PS3 title currently out there is a online only game. The game looks and plays great - I've never experience even the slightest bit of lag even in 32 player rooms. It's also a very nice looking game - the only multiplayer 360 game that looks better is Gears, and this game has a much larger scale than that game. My favorite thing about the game is how the game scales to how you want to play, especially in larger rooms. You can have ground based melee/gunplay shootouts on the ground with 10 or 12 people in a small area of the map and when you get tired of that, you just jump in a Warhawk and have Crimson Skies-esque dogfights in the skies with another 10 or 12 people all on the same map in the same game. I really enjoyed that whole micro/macro dynamic. Although it's been said to death, the game has a very fast paced Battlefield or Unreal Tournament type style, so there is very little consequence for dying. Even though it is fast paced and very arcadey, it does have a pretty steep learning curve for the vehicles. The motion controls actually work surprisingly well, but they do take a lot of getting used to. It doesn't help that there aren't any tutorials and the instructions are pretty sparse - it's pretty much trial by fire. Another user here, Aragorn72, suggested to start a room and lock everyone out with a password so that you spend time learning the vehicle controls without getting blown up every 15 seconds - good advice. Like any other MP game, there are plenty of Timmies, but for the most part they don't seem quite as obnoxious as they do on Live. This is probably due in part to the "Push To Talk" implementation of chat - it kind of cuts downs on random shouts of "asshole", "motherfucker", <racial slur>, and constant unmelodic singing. The only real pet peeve I have about the game is that you can only get experience and increase rank by playing ranked matches, and those are often nearly impossible to get into.
In a way, it's almost too bad that this game isn't on the 360 - had it been on that platform, it would have attracted a lot of attention. There are tons of 360 owners that would kill for a Crimson Skies like game on the system, and this is pretty damn close. But then again, Halo 3, which is the second coming in many 360 owner's minds, will be here in a couple weeks and this game would have gotten buried. All in all though, it's good to finally see something fun on the PS3.
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