I was "unsold" on the PS3 yesterday

So I went into my local Gamestop yesterday to see the trade in value on my slim PS2, as I was thinking of using that money, a Best Buy gift card, and some other holiday monies to get myself a PS3. The guy there pretty much "unsold" me on that idea, though, and I'm wondering if he's just full of crap.

He tells me that Sony will be filing bankruptcy on the PS3 division unless they have an amazing holiday season. He said that as the better games are on the other consoles, those are the ones selling. I said that my main reason in getting one is that it's a blu-ray disc player, and my local blockbuster has a pretty good selection of BR-DVDs. He says that I'll be better off just getting a stand alone player then, as you can get them for about $100 less.

Personally, I'm willing to pay the extra $100 for the multimedia capabilities, the internet capabilities (I can surf the web with a PS3, right?), and for the fact that I will most likely end up getting at least Madden, GT5, and maybe other future games.

Am I missing something, or is the writing really on the wall for the PS3? Am I wrong in looking at one of these as a nice blu-ray player with a lot of cool extras? Any help or thoughts on the topic would be very much appreciated. The guy told me I would be much better of in getting a different (cheaper) console as it has HD-DVD capabilities (don't want to start a flame war here, but I'm sure you know which one he's referring to).

 

While I would buy it there just to spite him if/when I get one, I did get a nice sizable gift card from Best Buy that I would use in this purchase.

I will, though, take my PS2 back there and trade it in toward the cost of either Madden or GT5, and say, "man that PS3 really kicks butt!"

Really, though, what's the outlook on Blu-Ray? It looks like Blockbuster has picked it over HD-DVD, and Dell has Blu-Ray as an option on it's laptops. I'd just hate to be stuck with a $600 Beta disc player in a year or two, even if it does play one hell of a video game.

 

Well, Blu-ray is selling better at a 2:1 ratio. Not sure how exactly it'll be later on. The HD-DVD supporters would say that that lead is pathetic because there are so much more Blu-ray players out there including the PS3. I went with Blu-ray since I bought a PS3 myself.

 

Well, I'm not so much asking about one format over the other. I mean it's here now, and I'm sure will be for the next 2 years at least. That being said, there are many movies out now, and more that will come out. Even if Blu-Ray isn't the format of the future, movies will still come out on DVD for at least the next 5-7 years no matter what, very possibly 10+ years, and the PS3 will still play and upscale all of them.

I mean, I'm not much of a gamer, so even if games were stopped in 6 months if the PS3 itself wasn't being continued, I think I'd be ok with the current Madden version and the GT5 game when it comes out.

The other thing which really interests me is the multimedia and "computer" capabilities. I was also hoping someone could expand on these capabilities some, if they wouldn't mind. I know you can store music and video and picture files on it, and hopefully can easily find them on the unit. What about the "computer" and connectivity abilities can you tell me? Can I surf the web? Can I stream video from the web (ESPN 360 video streaming). Can I plug my iPod into it to move files to/from? What about my new digital camera? Any other "neat" capabilities that I'm overlooking?

Thanks again for the insight.....

 

Well this is your first clue that the employee isn't very smart. A division can't file for or declare bankruptcy.

 

Again, really not so worried about the Blu-Ray format as it looks like it will be around for at least 2 more years. In that time there will be more than enough discs to make a respectable library, but I'll honestly do most of my movies through rental and Blockbuster.

I'm fairly familiar with the PS3 as a gaming machine, it's more power than I'm really in need of as I'm not much of a gamer (would be surprised if I owned more than 5 titles on the PS3). Really, just give me a decent version of Madden, a decent Gran Turismo title, and something else where I actually get to kill people in 1080p, and I'll be happy.

Can someone expand on the computer and multimedia capabilities for me, though? Thanks.

 

Multimedia is pretty good. There are some good options around for audio and video streaming that work quite nicely. However, no xvid so you will have to convert or transcode using a media server or something. But honestly, DVD or BR is the way to go. If I download a movie, I burn it to DVD and watch it on my PS3 upscaled. Audio playlists work pretty well and more features will probably be out soon, who knows maybe internet radio or something even.
Computer capabilities aren't great. The web browser works but I'm more efficient with firefox or safari. You can run linux and it works well enough but limited distributions work because the PPC x64 is somewhat of an uncommon architecture and linux distros are typically x86, x64, or PPC. Howver, there are still a lot of things you can do with it using linux if you so please.

 

the employees from gamestop are always talking to me about how bad
the ps3 is doing and that sony are going to stop making them so eventually
i got sick of it and said ok then way is home still coming out mgs 4 is still exclusive
and so is final fantasy 13 (a few week before it was confirm ps3 he said microsoft has the rights to it) they
talk alot of bullshit

 

Don't pay them Micro spot tools any attention because for some reason every store they have got some micro nut spreading false info.Ask him why 360 sells have stalled & PS3 has gotten better even with a high price tag.Ask him why in the future all 360 are going to requirer you to use your HD because of space issues reason being that UT3 hasn't launched on 360 because they can't fit all the maps on the game but Microsoft clearly said that they was going to charge for them if they come to L.I.V.E. They are going to charge for something that comes with the game.If someone ask me which to buy i tell them if you want a console thats for now than the 360 is for you but if you want a console for the now & the future the PS3 is for you.

 

That guy is probably just someone mad that they got a 360 at launch or something so wants to bash the PS3. Don't listen to people like that, look up information online and ask places like here! A PS3 is a good buy for sure.

 

nice i didnt no the xbox sales went down
but it really pissed me of when he lied and said final fantasy 13 was exclusive
to the xbox because at first i believe him

 

What about being able to plug stuff into the PS3? My camera or my iPod? Will they play nice and be able to move files and and from each easily?

 

You can transfer photos and stuff from your iPod onto it. You need either a USB cable for the camera or you can take the memory card out and put it in the PS3 if you use one. Only SD, Compact Flash and Memory Sticks fit in the PS3 though.

 

that guy is an idiot while the ps3 does have its drawbacks every console has them it just depends on the games themselves in my case i got the 360 first because of halo3 but do plan on getting the ps3 for gt4 and and silent hill5

 

Obviously the gamestop near you has some idiot employees too.....Seems to be the trend...

 

If Sony doesn't pull itself together PS3 will fail soon. And its a bad bluray player by itself.

There are already bluray disk features which are unaccessible with playstation.

I hope for the fanboys that it turns out for the best.

 

the ps3 is one of the best blu ray players around, and with a firmware update to profile 1.1 will have all features accessible. i don't see any standalone bd players updating themselves, and with the array of exclusives coming next year the ps3 is going nowhere but up.

 

I don't know about you but I bought my PS3 to play games. The Blu Ray player part and the other cool feature were perks.