Game Consoles

Sony PS3 40GB had been one of the best sellers in UK’ s popular game consoles range. The differences between the original 60GB version of PS3 and this 40GB version seems to be very little. The features that you would be loosing includes the ability to play SACDs, a multiform at card reader, an Ethernet cable and two USB ports. This being the end of the list, we are sure you might be hoping to go with Sony Playstation 3 40GB Console and saving around 50 pounds.

The play stations external looks:

Like the  Nintendo Wii and XBOX 360 , the Sony PS3 can also stand either vertically or horizontally. It has a curved top which means you cannot place anything else on its top. Coming to its colour, the earlier examples were depicted in silver and white but, it currently comes only in a glossy black finish. The look is not customisable, you must take it as it is. The console looks extremely attractive, you would not want to change it though. But, this unit is a real magnet to finger prints and smudges, Sony has thought of a solution to bring in more colours.

The dimensions:

The Sony Playstation 3 40GB Gaming Console has its dimensions as, 3.8 X 12.8 X 10.8” (H X W X D) inches and weighs around 11 pounds which is slightly more than the weight of the XBOX which is 9.9 pounds. One of the most impressive facts of PS3 is that, it does not have an external power supply. All that you need to do is, plug in the included power cable, and you are ready to begin. The PS3 has its loading done in a front slotted Blu-ray optical disc drive as opposed to the typical tray loaders. This feature also aids on its part to the sleeker look of PS3. The disc slides in and out smoothly without any issues.

Ports and buttons:

The front of the device has 2 USB ports which doubles as a connector and a charger. It is used for connecting the accessories like USB keyboards, the thumb drives and the PSP. Sony could have considered having one more USB port in the rear side for connecting some other accessories like camera, than the 2 ports in the front obstructing and spoiling the clean looks of the PS3.

The ports on the rear side of the unit includes an Ethernet port, an optical digital audio output, a HDMI output and AV output for analog audio and video. The composite AV cable is provided with the unit. Another good news is that the 40GB internal hard drive of PS3 is user replaceable, an area where the PS3 has again scored over XBOX 360. But the bolt involved is that, it uses the smaller 2.5-inch drive size, which is almost three times costlier than the usual 3.5” hard drive used on a system.

No backward compatibility:

The 40gb Sony Playstation 3 console will not play any of your PS2 games. This function was originally done with the help of a set of chips and software. But, keeping in mind, the cutting down of costs, Sony has decided to omit this, which according to us is not a very wise thought. This is because only one game (warhawk) was an appealing title that was included but its rival XBOX 360 had a big list of most loved games. Its backward incompatibility will not be an issue for you if you do not own a lot of PS2 games.

Inclusion of some popular titles:

Recently, Sony has included a lot of in which case, next-gen titles on the horizon. Eventually Sony 40GB PS3 now has some gig titles to be unleashed, including the great four player co-op mode, The incredible Haze is its counter to Halo 3, Indiana Jones-fest Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, Wipeout HD,  petrol-head favourite Gran Turismo 5, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Grand Theft Auto IV, Call of Duty 4, Rock Band and Assassin’s Creed. All of which has completely greened PS3’s games drought. Sound like great fun does it not?

Inclusion of DualShock 3:

The gamers were really disappointed with one of the absence, that is the sixaxis controller which lacked vibration, that was present in its rivals. A feature which was available even with its predecessor PS2. Giving ears to this complaint, sony introduced the DualShock 3 controller which is again a sixaxis controller with the vibration. But again, this does not come along with the 40GB version of PS3, you get it along with its 80GB version.

The Sixaxis is similar to DualShock 3, pretty identical to Sony’s older gaming consoles. The unit is wireless and to your families delight, you can connect up to seven of them via the system’s built-in Bluetooth. The range is available up to 65 feet or say, 20 meters. All that you need to do to recharge the built -in battery is, connect the USB cable which is included between the controller and the console. You can play up to thirty hours on a single charge. But, again the caveat is that the battery is irreplaceable and in case it dies some day, you will have to spend another 50 bugs in order to have a wireless play.

Design of the game controller:

Talking about the design of the controller, Sony has made a few changes. The R2 and L2 trigger buttons have got a larger size, the stroke has seen an increase in its depth which gives you a more subtle control over the game, the tilting angle of the joystick has also been increased which widens your range of motion. PS3’s DualShock has ten bit sensitivity whereas, the controller of PS2 has an eight bit motion detector.

Motion sensitivity:

Another most important up gradation includes the motion sensitivity. The controller is capable of detecting motion in six directions such as, down, up, right, left, back and forth.

A Blu-ray player too:

The PS3 is not only a gaming console, it is a blu ray player too, the winner of the hi-def war. The drives playback is extremely good. So good, that devices designed especially to play Blu-ray disks are struggling to match its quality. HD movies look to be phenomenal in the PS3, that is capable of a full 1080p video output through the 1.3 HDMI. Again, audio support looks no lesser is excellent too. It decodes DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD tracks internally, producing the same as linear PCM. This in turn is delivered as perfect lossless surround on being connected to any AV receiver that is HDMI-equipped.

User interface:

Coming to the part of user interface, PS3’s interface is similar to that of Sony PSP’s interface. It is a graphical UI (cross-media bar style). The main set of list is listed horizontally which includes the system settings, users, and a few media options. When one of these is selected, a upright list of its sub categories is listed horizontally. The menu is certainly attractive but not very simple to use as you will have to dig a lot to find certain features.

Supported file formats of PS3 40GB:

The sony play station three can support a decent amount of file formats. It has the capability to read photos from most of the digital devices such as, digital cams, USBs, CDs and PSP. But one strange fact is that, the pictures have to be located in a directory called picture or DCIM. It has some slide show options too, making it even more fun. The supported image formats include TIFF, JPEG, GIF, BMP, and PNG. The supported audio formats include AAC, ATRAC,MP3, and WAV. PS3 also has a built-in music visualiser. When it comes to the supported video formats, it lives up to the Blu-ray discs Profile 2.0 in hi-def and DVD videos and also the usual MPEG-4/h.264,MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. The latter files can be displayed from any disc or flash drive.

The built-in browser:

PS3 also has a built-in browser. On a happy note, if you connect your standard keyboard you can use it without using the dull virtual keyboard of Sony to type the URLs. The browser is quite good, offering limited flash support. The quality and sharpness of the web pages completely relies on the quality of your television screen and its dimensions.

The PlayStation Network:

The PlayStation Network had not been launched with play station three, but since its launch, it has been loaded with a lot of games and services. Connecting to this network is free but the games and other stuff come only at a price.

PS3 Vs XBOX 360:

When the final specifications of PS3 40GB (PS398006) and XBOX 360 were released, everybody’s eyes were on calculating which was more powerful. Said that, XBOX has more off-the shelf features whereas, Sony’s PS3 consists of parts that were designed especially for play station three. The vital thing to understand about the Cell would be that it has the potential of running an innovative physics of gameplay helping developers in creating brilliant effects thereby bringing about a whole new experience of gaming.

Regular updates:

Since the release of the Play Station 3, Sony has been continually upgrading its firmware. These updates address some of the bugs and improvements in the existing parts. All these are added via the free downloadable firmware updates.

Reduced cost:

It is a great Blu-ray player and gaming console but its bulky price tag and lack of some of the major blockbuster games had made its competitors Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii a better alternative choice. Considering this, Sony has now slashed down its price and the price of its original 60GB model too. In which case, this remains a brilliant multimedia home entertainment system. The impressive 40GB hard drive sure does seem big enough to satisfy most users and is by far your bet on Blu-ray players in the current market.

Verdict:

If you want only a gaming device with a lot of gaming features and big title, the XBOX 360 is a better choice but if you would like it to do the job of spinning the disks too, then Sony PS3 40GB will be a better choice.

Sony PlayStation3 40GB Console – Technical Specification Details

Manufacturer	Sony
Model Name	Sony Play Station 3
Model Number	PS398006
Dimensions (HxWxD) inches	3.8 x 12.8 x 10.8
Weight	11lbs
Colour	Black
Media Type	BD-ROM, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM
Processor type	Cell Broadband Engine
RAM Installed	256 MB – Integrated
Memory Storage	BD-ROM
Hard Disk Drive	Yes
HDD Capacity	40GB
Video Output	NVIDIA RSX
Video Memory Installed ( Max )	Video adapter memory – 256 MB – GDDR3 SDRAM – Integrated
Max Resolution	1920 x 1080
Connectivity Features	Bluetooth , IEEE 802.11
Input type	Game pad – External
Input Connectivity Technology	Wireless
Input type	Game pad – External
Input Connectivity Technology	Wireless
Connectivity ports	2 x USB 1 x Network 1 x HDMI output 1 x PlayStation 3 AV output 1 x SPDIF output
Cables Included	A/V cable, Network cable, USB cable
Power Device	Internal power supply