This past Christmas I was given a 160GB Playstation 3 console. I was truly excited since I had received a game for it last year and lots of Blu-Ray movies as gifts this year. I also got some great video games this holiday season for it as well.
It’s hard to explain why I really wanted a PS3, but I did for a few reasons I’m going to highlight here.
Blu-Ray playback: Blu-Ray is the clear winner in the new movie format wars. It’s like the VHS vs. Beta days from years back — the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray war was declared over years ago and now I can finally catch up with the times amd put my HDTV to a little better use.
Netflix: Netflix has been around since 1997 technically, but has only been available in Canada since 2010. It’s true that the library pales in comparison to the US version, but it is improving every day. The cool part about it as well is that I can use it on my iPad or iPhone as well.
Online play: The fact that I can play games with my brother who lives on the other side of the city, or a friend a few hundred kilometers away – or even someone I’ve never met, far off in the world – is totally something awesome. A lot of the games also sync with online servers to ensure current accuracy. Games like NHL ’11 sync to get current team rosters to emulate real NHL play as much as possible. Something that I was talking about with my friends back in the NHL ’91 days when I used to use a dial-up modem to connect to various USENET servers.
Wireless controllers: Ditching the wires has to be one of the greatest advancements in any game console on the market. I can now lounge on the couch or sit on my elbows hunched over into the action waiting for the last play as time runs down. Not having to be within a specific distance (i.e. 8 feet) is great. I can play further back, on the comfy couch and relax.
Hi-def output: No Blu-Ray player would be any good with out some method of hi-definition output. The easy use of HDMI cables, composite or component output makes the system versatile enough to connect to any system. The fact that I can run games and movies at 1080i (yes, my TV is a little dated) certainly helps get a better experience from the system.
So, are you going to get your PlayStation 3 160GB too?
