PlayStation 3 HD details revealed at Gamers Day
Sony hasn't exactly...forthcoming with information about its upcoming PlayStation 3 but over the last couple of days solid information has come out about what we can expect this November thanks to the company's Gamers Day event. What does it mean for HDTV owners? Some of it's good, some of it makes us shake our heads in disbelief and wonder what Sony is doing, but here it is:
The Good:
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is going to be a pack in with the launch consoles, so in exchange for pre-ordering early or freezing outside overnight, PS3 owners will come home with at least one Blu-ray movie to watch. While this may not be the first title to come to mind in terms of showing off incredible visual and sound quality, it is a funny smash-hit movie that most will enjoy.
The PS3 loads Blu-ray movies fast. Reports are that within 10 seconds of selecting the movie from the menu, its playing. Long load times have plagued standalone Blu-ray and HD DVD players so far, in that respect, the consoles may have them beat.
18 launch titles, including true 1080p games like NBA '07. Most are multiplatform, but Madden, NBA 2K7, Fight Night Round 3 and others have added a few features to take advantage of the tilt controller, or just enhance them slightly over their Xbox 360 counterparts.
HD Movies can be stored on and played directly from the hard drive, although codec support is still unknown.
The Bad:
No, there aren't any HD cables in the box. Really. The HD era starts now, but BYOC. That may be old hat, or maybe even preferred by many home theater enthusiasts, but for $500/$600 you shouldn't have to buy anything else to get HD out of the box. If you already have component cables from a PS2 however, the AV connector is the same and they will still work. Standard HDMI cables will of course be necessary for digital connections.
Yes, there are native-1080p games, but Resistance: Fall of Man is not one of them. Previously touted as 1,920 x 1,080, 22GB of goodness, it is now merely 16GB of 720p goodness. All in all this is probably for the best, but this game is one the PS3's most anticipated games and is supposed to show why gamers need 1080p and Blu-ray...and not Xbox 360s.
The PS3 does not do DVD upconverting over any connection, and there are reports that despite previous claims, it will not enhance the visuals on PS1/PS2 games. This is a joke, the console has more than enough power for upconversion, and with its HDCP-protected digital output it is perfectly capable of upscaling to 1080p. The Xbox 360 does it and there is no reason why the PlayStation shouldn't.
That recently-reduced-to-400k in the US launch number is really more of a "target", which may or may not be hit due to production issues. Either start lining up now or mortgage the house to buy one on eBay, getting a PlayStation 3 in 2006 won't be easy.
No included remote, the BD remote will ship "soon" for $24.99 and operate via Bluetooth, not IR.
There it is, are we missing anything? All that's left now is the waiting. We hate waiting.
Read - DVD upscaling "not part of the feature set" - IGN
Read - PlayStation 3 launch window titles announced - Joystiq
Read - Sony PlayStation 3 may not meet shipment targets - Bloomberg
Read - Sony Computer Entertainment America Announces Extensive Line Up of Game Titles for PlayStation 3 - Sony
Read - PS3 features lightning-fast Blu-ray playback and video sharing with the PSP - Ars Technica
