Here, there, and everywhere, Sony has finally revealed what we all knew: the PS3 Slim is a reality, it is a PS3, and it is slim. And it’s $299, and God dammit, but now there’s just no reason not to get the thing.
Looks like PS3 Slim arrives next Monday (in North America), encapsulated in its new svelte shell, featuring a 120 GB hard drive. Better yet I hear tell that Slim will gobble about 35% less power than PS3 Chubby, which should make a difference since PS3 is a hungry beast and a hot one to boot.
Like a dork, I maintain a color-coded Excel spreadsheet to keep track of games I want based on platform. I promised myself that once the PS3 list reached six, I’d splurge on the thing… and it passed six long ago. Here’s what my Excel sheet says about PS3:
- Demon’s Souls
- Folklore
- Heavenly Sword
- Infamous
- Killzone 2
- LittleBigPlanet
- Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
- Resistance
- Resistance 2
- Uncharted
- Valkyria Chronicles
You’ll note that it’s also alphabetical. My Excel prowess knows no bounds. Of course, this list doesn’t include the Flowers and PixelJunks of the world, available on PSN; nor does it include upcoming titles like Uncharted 2 and Heavy Rain. If I included those the list would be even longer.
I really don’t have enough time to play the games I’ve got now. But at $299, in a new slender carapace, with 120GB of delicious space and a free Blu-Ray player, I may just have to buckle. Who’s with me?
I’m terribly tempted now that the price has dropped. And because it’s a lovely matte finish, it would blend in nicely with my media cabinet; however, I still have PS2 games to play and I want the BC put back, dammit! Yeah, yeah I can keep my PS2, but having that many consoles hooked up just seems… messy.
I heard talk that Sony might add software backward compatibility in a future firmware/OS rev. I would very much like to see this, and it would make the purchase decision easier.
The lack of BC is what would rain of my parade if I didn’t already have the original 60GB hardware BC model. I am sure Sony will “add” it later in a sense that you will be able to purchase PS2 games through PSn and play them on your PS3. Whether you will be able to play physical copies you own is another question…
But, yeah, still, a great deal this. Really no excuse not to get it now. But, what, no MGS4 or Siren: Blood Curse on this list??? WTF???
I long ago pulled the trigger on a stand alone Blu-Ray player, don’t really mind the look of the “fat” PS3 and lack of BC is just annoying. I guess Sony is going to lower the original BC model to 299. That would be my choice if I were to buy one tomorrow and didn’t care about power consumption or heat. Now if the BC were put back, yeah it would be a no brainer. But no BC = no purchase.
MGS4 doesn’t interest me since I missed all the others (I was a PC-exclusive fellow until this generation, not counting a few exceptions on a borrowed PS2). And Siren: Blood Curse looks too scary for me. I’m very fragile, like a delicate egg.
BC is less of an issue for me since I only ever owned a few PS2 games, and I’d be happy to buy Shadow of the Colossus again on PSN. But I can definitely see how it’d be a major factor for those with big collections.
I’m just about ready to buy one. A good sale would seal the deal. I have to play Project Trico, or whatever they are calling it. The Blu-Ray player interests me too somewhat. I’ll be keeping my old PS2 to play the pile of games I’ve been ignoring.
Steerpike: Here’s just what the MGS doctor ordered for you people who have never experienced the brilliant (and frustrating) mind of Hideo Kojima: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-43-49-en-70-2jtb-4-6.html
Get that collection while it’s hot and THEN tell me you are not interested in MGS4. Come on, man, I know that Kojima has got the reputation of being into impossibly convoluted stories and improbably long cutscenes (well deserved too) but his game design is actually awesome. Even the spinoff MGS games (like Portable Ops, Metal Gear Acids etc.) are actually very good.
As for Siren… That game is brilliant and the Blood Curse is actually the most accessible of the whole series. YOU ARE MISSING OUT if you miss it. It was one of the first four games I ever bought for my PS3 (the other three being MGS4, KZ2 and Valkyrie Chronicles). There’s a reason for it!!!!!!!!1!1
And as for BC being essential: I still have a well functioning Playstation 2 but being able to play older games without cramming a bunch of consoles under my TV, being able to play them upscaled for my big HD screen as well as with a wireless controller is a big advantage to me. I fuly understand how Sony consider BC to be a hindrance rather than a desired feature: it costs them money to implement it, it potentially cuts into the sales of PS2 (which are still going strong) plus it prevents them from selling recompiled PS2 games to PS3 audience through PSN at a later date. However, on the other hand, keeping BC is a way of saying thank you to your loyal customers who have been with your platform for years and generations and who have invested sometimes substantial amounts of money into software. I have a ton of PSX and PS2 games at home and for me Sony telling me that, tough shit, I’ll just have to make do with old consoles, PC emulation or repurchase these games IF they are made available, it’s just bad show. It’s a fart into the general direction of customer loyalty and just what a soulless, greedy coropration will do. Hence I hate Sony one little bit more since yesterday.
But really, do you know which is the best JRPG of the current generation? Is it White Knight Chronicles? The Last Remnant? Blue Dragon? Lost Odyssey? Is it Eternal Sonata? Or Demon’s Solus? Quite possibly, it’s Persona 4, yes, a mere PS2 game. That the PS3 audience can not play and will not be able to play. And Atlus also made Devil Summoner 2 this year. For PS2. Not to mention that Melty Blood Actress Again is out and this is again a PS2 game. I love my next gen games but PS2 games are still awesome and being unable to have them all played by one and the same machine is giving me physical pain!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, wait, my machine can actually play them, hell yeah – pain free!!!
“What is the best JRPG of this generation?” That is a tough question! Assuming we discount all PS2 options, we’re left with the ones Meho listed, plus maybe… Enchanted Arms? Not much else leaps to mind, though I know there are a few in the oven.
Though I was reared on Genesis JRPGs – Phantasy Star, Shining Force, Sword of Vermilion – I’ve found it difficult to have patience with them recently. As beautiful and fun as Eternal Sonata was, I got distracted not long after starting. Same’s true for Star Ocean 4, though according to reviews I didn’t miss much anyway.
Can the JRPG be saved? If it is to be, I suspect it will happen on the PS3.
Final Fantasy XIII? It’s coming to the 360 too don’t forget that!!! Then again, it might be Persona 5.
Yes, despite much preferring the darkness of the Phantasy Star stories, FFXIII is oddly intriguing to me. I’ll almost certainly pick it up – though if I have a PS3 by then I’ll probably go that route, if only because a single Blu-Ray disc is more convenient than 3-4 DVDs, which is what the 360 version is supposed to ship on.
Resonance of Fate looks interesting, if the writeup in this month’s issue of Play is any indication. Tri-Ace hasn’t exactly been knocking our socks off, what with Star Ocean 4 and Infinite Undiscovery, but maybe the third time’s the charm.
You didn’t stick with Eternal Sonata until the end? The ending was the biggest wtf moment I’d ever seen! I’m thinking the devs dipped into their supply of mystery mushrooms before putting it together. I have both the other Tri-Ace games in my huge backlog and you’re not instilling me with any confidence.
Yeah, Tri-Ace didn’t realyy do such a great job with Infinite Undiscovery and Star Ocean 4 (neither of which I played to the end yet, I’m afraid), but on the other hand, Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume is superb, so they still have it when it comes to their most important series. Resonance of Fate looks nice, but I’m afraid that this gen a lot of Japanese developers do similarly as their western brothas and invest a lot of development time into presentation rather than in game design, so let’s see how this game plays in the end. I admit that the setting and the description of the gameplay that I have read on Eurogamer sound really appealing.
Final Fantasy XIII also looks really appealing, but then again Square-Enix know which side their bread is buttered on and are pretty sure to make sure that this game floors everyone who plays it. They experimented a bit with IU and The Last Remnant which I respect, but I don’t think they’re taking any chances with FFXIII. As a side note, anyone with a DS out there should get Square-Enix’s The World Ends With You as it is probably the best RPG SE’s published on the platform (with the possible exception of the new Dragon Quest that I haven’t played yet due to not speaking Japanese…).
I’ve played TWEwY and adored it. Totally dug the storyline, music and frenetic pace. I think we talked about it before the old forums were invaded and imploded. The only reason I stopped playing was because it was hell on my poor repetitive stressed-out wrist… too many small movements required to keep that glowing orange ball in play during combat *and* keep myself alive.
I’ve looked at Valkyrie Profile a few times, but I don’t have the necessary strategy gene, so I’m pretty sure I’d be toast in a matter of minutes.
Awww, you should play TWEWY until completion because, of course the finale is SHOCKING and emotional and everything and then you can play the new game+ that actually provides you with further insights into the storyline. What a game!!! (Also, you can of course set the difficulty to the easiest in combat so you don’t have to worry about keeping the damage multuplier high.)
I *am* playing on easy! But I like the damage multiplier.
I haven’t completely given up on it.
The PS3 slim definitely has me interested. The only things holding an ounce of doubt with me are the fact that I barely have time to play the games I already own, and point number two, a major one, is that I can honestly find no games exclusive to PS3 that I feel are must haves, or that I haven’t already played on the 360, with one exception: Little Big Planet.
I already own the handful of acclaimed titles and my personal favourites from this generation: Bioshock (PC & 360), Mass Effect (PC & 360), Fallout 3 (360), The Orange Box (PC), GTAIV (360) [oh, and let me say I am so very glad I'm not alone in that FFC/T-R also believes GTAIV is grossly overrated!], Gears of War 1 & 2 (360), Call of Duty 4 (PC), and Braid (XBLA).
So yeah, I pretty much own every acclaimed title of this generation, not including the large collection of groan-inducing music, car, and extreme/cool/underground sports games, plus Halo (gack!) and Oblivion (grrr, sold it out of frustration).
So the question I pose to myself is this: I know it’s a great deal, but am I really buying anything more than LBP and a Blu-Ray player? (Oh, and I hardly plan on moving to ANOTHER disc format that will be dead or dying in 5-7 years.)
So am I missing anything, really? I can’t see it…
Well, seeing how you don’t seem to be into JRPG or Japanese stuff in general, I guess pointing out Demon’s Souls, Valkyria Chronicles and MGS4 don’t sound like system sellers? Also, Killzone 2 is actually very good despite my negative bias toward FPS games that you’re supposed to play with a controller. Also, Siren: Blood Curse is a very worthy title if you’re into serious survival horror. I am actually looking into my PS3 collection as we speak and of course, there is Uncharted which is VERY good despite me believing that marrying Tomb Raider to Gears of War would never work. inFAMOUS is not bad either…
That’s it when it comes to retail (unless you count Motorstorm, of course… and Warhawk). Then on PSN, there are some very good games that are worth checking (my advice is to start with Flower and Nobi Nobi Boy).
As for the upcoming stuff, well, there’s Uncharted 2 to look forward to, followed by FFXIII Versus, God of War 3 (yes, I believe it will be every bit as good as it should), White Knight Chronicles (that I kinda hope will be astonishing despite the somewhat controversial reports) and of course The Last Guardian.
I’d say there are plenty interesting exclusives here…
Toger: Don’t give up. That game was MADE to be finished. The designers went out of their way to ensure you have every single bit of advantage possible short of cheating. Do it, play it to the end, it’s good for the soul. A word of advice: set an hour per day for, say, three days just for combat because I assume that when you level up a bit more, you’ll be able to finish some battles quickly and not strain yourself too much.