Late last year, gaming enthusiasts saw the much awaited release of Sony's
Playstation 3. Hard core PS3 gamers did not seem to mind the hefty $500 price
tag, as Christmas seems to have come early for those early adopters. So what's
the bonus gift? The built in Blu-Ray technology on the brand new PS3. The high
definition Blu-Ray dual-layer discs can store up to a whopping 54 Gigabytes
of storage plus up to a 60gb hardrive and offer 1080p Hi def resolution. Anything
higher than that could get you a nosebleed.
Not impressed much? Then maybe it's time you moved out of your cave and
into the 21st century. The Blu-Ray is the cutting edge technology
in HDTV. With more than 5 times the storing capacity of a
DVD, one dual-layer Blu ray disc (BD) can store up to 9 hours of
Hi-def video and 23 hours of standard yesteryear's CD quality
video. The humongous storage also means it can support a 7.1 channel
surround sound for that ultimate gaming sensation. So throw out
all your moldy Betamax tapes, dude. This is as far into the future
as you can get.
Aside from the Blu-Ray drive, the PS3 also has a 7 core processor, that's
about 2 trillion calculations per second. I bet your computer can't do
that either. It still supports online gaming as well as internet downloadable
content just like its predecessors. It also comes with a motion sensing Bluetooth
controller that is in a class of its own.
You may be wondering what's in it for you aside from being an early adopter.
Well, if you haven't been reading up on your gadget homework, then you
couldn't have known that Blu-Ray technology does not come cheap. Standard
Blu-Ray players are expected to cost no less than a $1,000 per pop. So at $500,
the PS3 is certainly a steal, considering you get to play Blu-Ray gaming AND
watch Blu-Ray movies as well. Just pop in a Blu-Ray movie disk on your PS3 and
you're good to go.
Don't worry if all your current stash in Playstation games are in cd's
and dvd's. The Blu-Ray technology in the PS3 is backwards compatible, meaning
you get to keep and play with all your old PS and PS2 cd's. Plus, it has
4 USB ports, SD slot, compact Memory flash, as well as Memory Stick slots. BJ
Blazkowicz of Wolfenstein would have been proud.
But Blu-Ray wll not be able to run HD DVD for now. Why not? Because HD DVD
and Blu-Ray are at competition with each other over which technology will replace
the much maligned DVD format. With so much having been invested in the HDDVD
and Blu-Ray wars, it would have been senseless to make themselves compatible
with the competition.
So, why not add a PS3 to your home theater system? It's not just for games,
anymore. All you will need is an HDTV, 7.1 surround speakers, and a warm, buttery
bowl of popcorn. And now, the only problem seems to be how to cough up $60 for
every single PS3 game.
